Weddingbee Blog

On Sunday, Mr. Pearl and I attended A Soolip Wedding at Social Hollywood. We were both excited to go because we’d heard good things about Social from other friends who had been there. Since Mr. Pearl works a couple of blocks away, we parked at his work site lot and walked over. Good thing too, because the parking was valet only and there was a long line (more on that later).

One thing we both hate about wedding shows, and this was no exception, is the info sheet each place asks you to fill out. We just find it particularly intrusive that they ask about our household income. In any event…

Upon entering the building, we were given a tote bag from Sephora to lug around our show wares. Much better than the typical plastic bags that either break or cut into your hand at other brida shows! Servers on the first floor walked around bearing tray-passed goodies, courtesy of Social — sliders, hazelnut chocolate chip cookies, and a bunch of other yummies. There were other exhibitors on the first floor, including Red Loft Studios (the fabulous photographers who took pics at knottie WeezerMonkey’s wedding), BBJ Linen, and Jo Malone (who was advertising their orange blossom scent as *the* wedding scent). One of the exhibitors there was Linnae from Asiel Design, who is our florist. It was great to see her display her floral loveliness for everyone. Oh, and they also served lunch. It was an inordinately long line (waits of about 45 minutes), but delish food! Also, the open bar served champagne, Pinky vodka drinks (one of the sponsors), water, etc.

The second floor had other exhibitors, but mostly had green vendors on display for the “ecological and socially conscious bride and groom.” In fact, the show was powered by 100% wind energy! Visiting the Soolip Wedding website will give a list of the green vendors who exhibited at the show, as well as tips for incorporating green ideas into your wedding. They also had tray passed food from Wolfgang Puck Catering. One part I was particularly excited about was the Conversation with Experts — a sort of small presentation and Q&A session with different wedding experts. I was particularly excited as one of the presenters was Jo Gartin, wedding planner extraordinaire from Love, Luck, and Angels. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed in the end, as I found most of her advice was stuff I’ve learned from reading The Knot’s message boards! I asked what advice she had for maximizing a floral budget and her advice was candles. Kinda lame, IMO. Overall, I found the Conversation with Experts to be the most lacking part of the event.

At 2PM, Mr. Pearl and I went to the area for the cake and champagne, as well as the fashion show. This was a sucky experience, as all the attendees were forced to line up on the sidewalk for entry into that area…so we’re all standing out on display on the sidewalk on Sunset Blvd! Once we got into the space, we were given cake samples from Sweetcake and Sweet Lady Jane. For anyone looking for cakes, both of these bakers were phenomenal!! The fashion show featured flowergirl dresses from Saeyoung Vu and bridal gowns from Monique Lhuillier. When the show ended, we were all treated to gigantic, awesome goody bags (which included cookies from Violet Bakery, ring and jewelry cleaner, and various magazines and coupons for discounts from exhibitors there that day).

If you’ve read this far, you’re possibly interested in attending the event next year. My analysis (confirmed with Mr. Pearl in our event postmortem discussion) in a nutshell:

1. Great show overall. Well worth the discounted price of $35 per ticket. I would have a hard time paying the higher regular price for the event simply because I don’t believe there is enough that one would get from it to warrant the cost.

2. It needed a bigger event space. The event company who produced the show were uber organized, but there were still long waits and packed rooms. A Soolip Wedding was possibly a victim of its own success. I believe they should limit the amount of tickets they sell in order to keep up the air of the high scale bridal show and eliminate the cattle call feeling.

3. Many of the vendors there were of high quality, so the event is useful for those with unlimited budgets. If you have a limited budget, still consider going and taking pictures of some of the exhibitors’ designs to see if your vendors can replicate something on a less expensive scale.

4. Take ONE person with you. I saw some people there with giant posses, and in addition to being expensive, it’s also inconvenient to herd big groups of people around, especially in the tight space of a bridal show like this. But, do be sure to go with someone because splitting up and multitasking gathering information enables you to NOT feel rushed and enjoy all different aspects of the event.