Bride & Groom Balloon Sculpture Recipe

Original Bride & Groom

Some years ago... I cannot exactly remember how many, maybe 15 or so years ago, I designed a Table Top Bride & Groom sculpture for a competition. It did not win any prizes then, but for me it's been a 'winner' in it's own right! 

I have been teaching this design to balloon artists around the World for more than a decade, I see it on MANY websites and Facebook pages and it still proves to be popular with both customers and balloon artists alike!

Over the years I have adapted and modified the design, making it quicker, more robust and using the many skills that I have learned along the way... I do not use glue anymore for example which is a great improvement!

Newest version of Bride & Groom

Recently I was asked if I would share my recipe with another balloon artist and thought that maybe others might like it too, so here it is! Above is the newest version, which I am teaching in my new 'Simple Balloon Twisting Skills Course', later this month (check out my website www.suebowler.com for details)! 

Bride & Groom 2

The recipe below is for the Bride & Groom 2 version. It can be made into a floor standing version by using 646Q balloons.

You need to keep scrolling down to see all the instructions, there are 6 pages in total! You should be able to right click on each of the instruction sheets and save them to your computer.

646Q Bride & Groom

I would love to have any feed back from you regarding this or any of my versions of a Bride & Groom sculpture if you have been making them.

• How successful has this design been for your business?
• What changes have you made to make the design your own?

If you are willing to share a photograph of your version please email it to me with the header "Bride & Groom" to Sue@Suebowler.com and I will display them in a future blog along with your comments! 

Here are a few pictures from my recent Simple Balloon Twisting Course, where all the delegates made a small bride.

Good Luck!

Sue

 

Wedding Fair Decor... and how my day went!

Well, I have to say that this wedding fair was so very different from my first over 20 years ago! With a few years of experience behind me and a greater knowledge of what a bride is looking for, I felt much better prepared, even mildly nervous and excited all rolled into one!

Sue Bowler Wedding Fair Display

Deciding how to decorate your stand at a Wedding Fair takes a little bit of thought. I decided to opt for the 6' table option with a little space each side... that's how it was described when I booked my place at the Wedding Fair. The venue was made up of a series of small rooms with an easy pedestrian flow from room to room. The ceiling was a good height and pretty neutral which made it a little easier for me to add colour to my decor.

Last year I wrote and designed a Wedding Decor Course which is made up of a series of days known as Complete Wedding 1 and Complete Wedding 2, there will hopefully be a 3rd and final part to the series... yes, you've guessed Complete Wedding 3! But this has yet to be written, so maybe it will be added to the training calendar in 2012 or 2013?

There are a number of aims and objectives to these courses, not only do I teach balloon artist how to create elegant wedding decor but also how to work with different colour palettes, some subtle others bright and bold, this for me this is where I believe brides find balloons too domineering or intrusive at weddings, and subsequently decide that balloons are not for them... so I thought that I would use some of the concepts that I have been teaching and create decor using the very same rules.

My space was limited, so I needed to ensure that whatever decor I created will look elegant within the space that I had. 

Deco Bubble Scroll Filigree All Around ＃23593 20"

I love the Filigree pattern, it's elegant and it is perfect for wedding decor and the venue I was exhibiting in, so using the Qualatex 24" Filigree & Hearts-A-Round and the Qualatex Deco Bubble Scroll Filigree-All-Around was an easy option for me as my main focal balloons.

I like to keep a large percentage of my wedding decor neutral and worked with Qualatex Pearl White and Qualatex Diamond Clear balloons, to continue with the filigree theme, I double stuffed some of the Pearl White balloons with 11" Filigree & Hearts-A-Round, which added visual texture to my decor.

For colour, I introduced Burgundy Organza, with Burgundy and Quartz Purple satin ribbons and a selection of small silk flower heads, all of which complimented the decor beautifully. Organza is a very light and airy fabric and although the colour was dark it really does not appear heavy or overbearing within wedding decor and it swags easily which is important to create the look that I want in my work.

You will see that I have kept my decor simple, just two columns, linked with a 'Cloud 9' cluster and the swagged organza. On the table I added an air-filled centrepiece design that complimented the columns perfectly. I swagged the front of my table and added my portfolio along with a screen that showed different wedding decor idea's and concepts on a rolling presentation, and finally adding my new brochure ready and waiting for brides to pick.

I first introduced my Bride & Groom sculpture at weddings fairs over 15 years ago, I was a little apprehensive then as to the response that they would get, but discovered very quickly that they were a huge hit and very popular. So I had no hesitation to to include them this time at the wedding fair, as I could not see why they would not have the very same reaction. This time a created an updated design, something that I have not taught as I wanted something fresh and uniquely mine, I was very happy with the result... I used the Qualatex Man's Face 5' balloon for the groom, but drew a simple face for the bride as I wanted to show both options. I used the Qualatex 5" Diamond Clear Butterflies-A-Round, double stuffed with Pearl White 5" inside in the brides dress, knowing that Butterflies are very much a wedding theme for 2011/12!

Bride & Groom designed by Sue Bowler

Once I had set up my display, I was approached by venue staff and other exhibiting vendors, "Wow, these are the nicest wedding balloons I have seen", was one of the comments, along with "what a beautiful display"! I had many compliments throughout the day for my designs, brides who were not considering balloons at their wedding previously were now interested, which is exactly the response that I was looking for!

As expected the Bride & Groom sculpture proved to be extremely popular, so I am expecting to take plenty of orders for these over the coming months and years hopefully!

My very first wedding fair was such a different experience, I really did not know how to present myself or my company. I made the fatal mistake of attempting to show every colour of balloon that was available, I had not prepared good literature to hand-out along with many many other mistakes.

Wedding fairs can be expensive, making sure that you are fully prepared is the key to success. As I started by saying, I am no expert but I hope that by reporting my experiences has given maybe some of you some valuable hints and tips to make your wedding fairs a huge success!

Good luck!

Sue

If you are interested in attending the Complete Wedding Series courses visit www.thequalatexevent.com the courses are currently held in the UK and some European countries.

Wedding Fairs for Event Decorators... the preparation!

Preparation - where do I start?

Last weekend I exhibited at my first Wedding Fair for more than 10 years! Wow, what a quick and huge learning curve it was, as I only decided at the last minute to do the fair, so where do I start? I only had 2 weeks to get everything ready!


Although I am a competent balloon artist and wedding decor designer, being prepared for a wedding fair is another matter!

I started by asking some very good friends of mine who run a very successful balloon business for some advise...


“You need some literature to hand out”
"Literature... like a brochure type literature, with pictures, prices and all that”? I replied
"Yes, Brides need something to take away to look at once they leave, to show their future husbands and families, a reminder of you and your services”!


Of course, they were right, I would need to have something they could take away with them and thinking back to the blog I wrote recently about business cards (Benefits of Business Cards as a  Marketing Tool- August 2011) I knew that it would need to look professional and truly reflect my business and services.

I am very lucky, I have many great quality photographs of wedding designs that I have created over the years, so finding good pictures was not difficult for me, but I know that many balloon artists struggle to get great pictures, here are a few suggestions:

Downloaded picture from the QBN Resource Center

If you are a QBN member (and if you are not a QBN member... why not, join today)! There is such a great resource area as well as many other fantastic benefits!

On the left hand side of the Qualatex home page there is a side menu with purple writing, under Qualatex Balloon Network, there is a sub-heading, QBN Resource Center, click here, once inside,  click on Marketing Resources. You’ll now need your QBN number and password to go any further. You will now see QBN Marketing Resources Search, if it’s specifically Wedding resources you are looking for then under Theme, select Wedding, but if you have never visited before leave all the options at ALL and see whats available, you’ll be amazed at how much great stuff is there! You are allowed to freely download and use these images!

Downloaded picture from Bouquet Ideas -Everyday

Another great suggestion is again on the Homepage side menu, click on Bouquet Ideas - Everyday, then click on Love, again you’ll see some great bouquets that you can freely download and use for your marketing.


There are other resource options such as attending good quality balloon courses that not only offer a days training but portfolio quality photograph images of the designs being taught, such as the Qualatex Complete Wedding 1 and Complete Wedding 2.

Complete Wedding Series 1

Complete Wedding Series 2

Please do not be tempted to ‘borrow or copy’ pictures from other balloon artists websites, or Facebook pages, there are copyright laws and you would be breaking them, so only use pictures that you have permission to use, such as those on the Qualatex website or are given as part of a course... and make sure you have the ability to recreate to the same high standard any of the designs that you use :)



With  a good range of wedding pictures, I was now ready to design my brochure.
Now, came my next hurdle, my computer abilities are limited and designing a printable brochure is a little outside of my league... again I asked my wonderful friends to help me and together we created a simple but effective brochure, just an A4 folded leaflet (A4 is slightly larger than US Letter) this would give me an A5 (half of A4) 4 page leaflet/brochure, perfect size to give away, with enough space to give all the relevant information.
You might need to pay to have yours set up in the correct format by the printer, but as long as you have a good idea of how you want your brochure to look and all the information and pictures that you want printed ready then the cost should be minimal, most printers offer this service, but it will cost you, it may pay to get quotes from different printers?

There is another fantastic option if you are unable to put your own brochure together in time, once again as a QBN member you can download from the same resource area this Magical & Memorable  flier, perfect to show brides how elegant, romantic and magical balloons can be for weddings.

I decided to keep my brochure simple, a good selection of photographs, a little information about me and my abilities and a sample guide price list, just to give an idea of my pricing structure and of course all my contact details along with my website!

I have to admit, I was so excited when they arrived, it was a momentous moment opening the box!

Sue's brochure centrefold

Sue's brochure front and back cover

With my brochure ready, I now needed to get everything else prepared for my big day...

Wedding Fairs - I am no expert but here are a few tips!

I recently exhibited at my first Wedding Fair in over 10 years! Before I tell you how I prepared myself and how the day went, I want to give a short insight into the pro's and con's of wedding fairs and how to choose the correct wedding fair for you.

Wedding arrangement with Fantasy Flowers, Hearts and Bubbles

Firstly, why exhibit at a Wedding Fair? The obvious answer is of course to take bookings for weddings!

Maybe it is not as simple as that, I know the reason I wanted to do a wedding fair after so many years was to re-establish myself as an event decorator within my area, one that would be noticed not only by the brides visiting the fair but also by the other exhibitors and the venue itself!

Other Exhibitors

This would give me the perfect opportunity to network with fellow bridal business's such as photographers, cake makers and bridal wear companies and build relationships with them, which could be great for referrals and other potential leads, and not necessarily for weddings!

 Missenden Abbey - photograph by Mark Sisley

The Venue

I was also very keen for the local venue to see my work, the venue is beautiful (see above) and very popular as a wedding venue. It was very rewarding to hear the hotel wedding coordinator say that they had never seen such beautiful balloon decor, however, they also said that they were not very keen to have balloons in their venue due to a highly sensitive ceiling alarm system and previous bad experiences with balloons being released and causing the alarm to go off! I told them that I total understood and informed them I can create beautiful event decor that is totally air-filled and that the decor that I had created for my stand was in fact 90% air-filled decor... this again was information well received by the venue and I hope that this will make my company stand out over others who may not offer the same reassurances and solutions to potential problems.

Bride created by Sue Bowler cba

 

The Brides

Brides visit wedding fairs for inspiration, information and to make a few key bookings. What better way to meet brides face to face and showcase your work!

Your personality will go a long way to securing business at a wedding fair. Are you bubbly and outgoing? Do you find it easy to start a conversation with a stranger? Are you confident enough to really sell your business, without being pushy? (Or do you have a friend who would come with you and help out with that side of things?!)

For a lot of wedding businesses, personality is a key selling point. If brides like you, you'll get their business. It's simple when you look at it that way! 

Which Wedding Fairs should you choose to exhibit at?

There's a massive difference between a local wedding fair in a hotel and a national wedding exhibition.

The first major difference is the cost of exhibiting. Local wedding fairs are less expensive, they can vary in price depending on the venue and location but are generally in the hundreds rather than the thousands of pounds or dollars unlike a major regional exhibition that really can cost that much!  Major exhibitions have booths of different sizes, and will charge per square foot for your stand space.

Wedding Centerpiece- design created by Sue Bowler cba

Personally, I cannot see the benefit of exhibiting at one of the major regional shows. Brides travel from far and wide to visit these events which means that many of the wedding locations will be too far for you to travel to, I know that I will only want to take bookings within a defined region, this can be determined by miles or travel time, I suggest taking a map and create a distance circle from your starting point, remember, you could get bookings on the same day at the furthest distant points, so be careful not to make your boundary too wide!

So my recommendation is to exhibit locally, it is less expensive and you will get many more bookings from local fairs, maybe selected 2 or 3 venue based wedding fairs within your defined area, this way you will really establish yourself within the area you wish to work in.

You may also find that the venue and or other exhibitors may well want you to decorate their stand or the venue, this could offset some of your costs!

Choose your wedding fairs carefully, ask lots of questions, find out who else will be exhibiting, check to see how many of any of one business type is exhibiting, too many and your opportunities to generate business reduces! Make sure that the venue holding the wedding fair is balloon friendly, they may have restrictions due to alarms, such as the venue that I exhibited at, but as long as you know you can be prepared and design your decor accordingly.

Find out how the fairs will be advertised, to ensure a good attendance the fairs need to be well promoted and advertised.

Do as much research as possible to ensure you are booking the right wedding fair for you.

I would often recommend attending a wedding fair before exhibiting at them, but if like me you are keen to get going then you may just have to speculate to accumulate!

Once you have made the decision to exhibit you need to prepare yourself to maximise your opportunities.

To find out more about my wedding fair experience watch out for my next blog where I will give you tips & hints on how to prepare yourself for a wedding fair.

I love the 4" Hearts displayed in a vase, they make great favors, gifts and show off the pastel pearl range beautifully!