What a Fake

What a Fake

September 29th, 2011 @ 1:07 pm by Miss Doe
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The same day that we booked the Monte Verde Inn, there was also a Bridal Expo being held in Sacramento. Our wedding coordinator gave me a fantastic and valuable tip. She told me to create another email account on the way there and give that out instead of my real email account. She said that often times vendors will sell your information to others which will result in excess junk mail. On the drive to Sacramento, I whipped out my iPhone and created another email account. Oh, the joy of modern technology. This is by far among the best tips I have received so far in wedding planning. I’ll tell you why later.

The Bridal Expo was very fun yet not very productive. All of the vendors there passed out a whole lot of pamphlets and information sheets that were not of much use to me. Let’s just say I recycled a lot of paper when I got home. Even though we did not accomplish a ton, we had a blast being surrounded by wedding stuff. In fact the best part of the day was the free photo booth. Check it out—don’t we look hot?

Now back to the email situation.

The only time I gave out that fake email was when I signed into the Bridal Expo when we got there. Other than that, I never gave it out. Guess what? I currently have over 600 emails from Northern California wedding vendors in that fake email account. Can you believe it? Had I given them my real email, it would be overloaded and I would be frustrated. Haha, duped you wedding vultures!

I am so glad I took the advice of our wedding coordinator and created that fake email account at the last minute. I highly recommend that sneaky tactic to anyone who might be attending any type of function similar to a Bridal Expo. You still have access to it in case there is something you need, but it is going to a separate account and not the one that you use everyday.

We may not have had much success at the Bridal Expo, but at the very least we got a pretty cool photo strip out of it.

Does anyone have any secret methods that they use to avoid being bombarded with junk mail, emails and phone calls?

{All photos are personal.}

Tags: northern-california |

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24 Responses to “What a Fake”

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Member

sarahbabs (message) 2,679 posts, Sugar bee

I asked the boards here for tips before my first bridal show, and they shared that vital tip with me too - spared me a lot of crap! Thanks for featuring it here

9/29/11 @ 1:12 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Ticket (message) 475 posts, Helper bee

Holy cheese that’s a lot of junk mail! Kudos to you and your bridal expo prowess!

9/29/11 @ 1:13 pm (reply)

Member

ktell16 (message) 31 posts, Newbee

I did that too! Best advice ever. I use it for everything wedding related and now I have different folders for DJs, photographers, venues, etc. I am soooo glad I didn’t clutter up my real account with that. (I also have a separate email address that I give to family members who like to send chain letters, and another to stores who like to send promotional mailings. Sneaky, sneaky…)

9/29/11 @ 1:22 pm (reply)

Member

alicia1745 (message) 468 posts, Helper bee

I created an email specifically for wedding stuff. Anything I do pertaining to the wedding I use that email address. It helps keep it all in one place… plus it keeps all the junk mail out o my personal email. When the wedding’s over- I can just delete the email address if I choose! =)

9/29/11 @ 1:27 pm (reply)

Member

TinyTina (message) 3,312 posts, Sugar bee

Yeah I totally wish I had done that. I get SO much junk mail from the bridal show I went to it’s insane. Luckily my email address has my last name in it so I will probably just ditch it for an entirely new email address when we get married.

Fresh start and lesson learned!!

9/29/11 @ 1:31 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Sunhat (message) 865 posts, Busy bee

Holy cow that is a lot of e-mails! We got a free photo booth pic too!

9/29/11 @ 1:38 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Warbler (message) 154 posts, Blushing bee

I attended a wedding exp over nine months ago. I am still getting calls from random vendors and organizations claiming I won a free prize. Vultures indeed!

9/29/11 @ 2:12 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Pony (message) 4,171 posts, Honey bee

Such sound advice, especially if they spam you with nearly 700 emails, yeesh.

9/29/11 @ 2:33 pm (reply)

Member

mija22 (message) 321 posts, Helper bee

Thanks for the advice it will come in handy…for my other friends getting married, I didn’t go to any Bridal Expo…always had something planned and now I am glad I didn’t.

9/29/11 @ 3:41 pm (reply)

10.

Bee

Miss Fox (message) 859 posts, Busy bee

I never went to/gave info out to an expo, but I never created a second account and used my personal one for things like Wedding Wire, Project Wedding, etc. I can’t even tell you how many emails I get from them alone, much less other outside companies. ::bashing head on table:: I”m glad you outwitted them, though!

9/29/11 @ 3:56 pm (reply)

11.

Member

StacyM (message) 19 posts, Newbee

We did the wedding email thing too. We also created labels with all of our information so I didn’t have to keep rewriting it over and over and over. 2 of the best decisions I have made in regards to wedding planning that I share with all my bride friends!

9/29/11 @ 4:11 pm (reply)

12.

Bee

Miss Doe (message) 540 posts, Busy bee

@sarahbabs: I heard angels singing when I got that tip…it made so much sense!
@Miss Ticket: Haha no kidding, I can’t believe they are still emailing me junk 10 months later! Ridic.
@alicia1745: Good idea! I should have done that but I don’t think I am diligent enough to check that account haha. So I just send all junk to that account and I gave my vendors my “real” account haha.
@TinyTina: Heck yeah, make a new account with your new name! I know I will be doing that
@Miss Sunhat: They are SO fun, huh?!
@Miss Warbler: ME TOO! I was smart enough to give a fake email but apparently not smart enough to give a fake phone number. I didn’t think they would actually call, but sure enough they do! I just ignore those calls now…drives me nuts.
@Mrs. Pony: I know, pure craziness sending that much junk email!
@mija22: Yes, it is definitely the one thing I tell people now who are planning on going to an expo. They offer great stuff sometimes…but other times not so much.
@Miss Fox: I know…I signed up for all those sites before I learned this trick…and I too got all that junk email. I finally went through and unsuscribed to all of them except Project Wedding. I like Project Wedding’s because they do a countdown to the wedding in their subject line every day hehe

9/29/11 @ 5:30 pm (reply)

13.

Bee

Mrs. Parasol (message) 2,132 posts, Buzzing bee

Great idea, Doe! I actually used my blog email address for most of my wedding signups (since my blog is a wedding blog and all). Thank goodness because I get spammed like wildfire all the time! It’s crazy how quickly email addresses get passed around. I hated when my phone number got out. Getting calls is the worst, especially when it’s people asking if you’ve got a photographer two weeks before your wedding. Um, yes I do, now leave me alone!

9/29/11 @ 6:00 pm (reply)

14.

Member

Roux (message) 1,352 posts, Bumble bee

Woah thats insano! Good idea with the different email address.

9/29/11 @ 7:21 pm (reply)

15.

Member

Kura (message) 17 posts, Newbee

Yeah I totally agree withe your wedding consultant. I’m the bride’s “wedding planner” I created a wedding specific email account for them to give/contact vendor cause I KNOW their normal email would have gotten bombarded otherwise. Plus it keeps things more organize.

9/30/11 @ 6:27 am (reply)

16.

Bee

Mrs. Balloons (message) 132 posts, Blushing bee

excellent piece of advice to share! I still have the same problem with junk mail, but unfortunately no one told me about the creating a fake account tidbit.

9/30/11 @ 10:41 am (reply)

17.

Guest

Brandy

I guess I don’t understand why you would give out contact information to potential vendors that you never have any intention of looking at - was it just for the free stuff or drawings or discounts?

You don’t want your time wasted, but neither do those vendors. They are taking the time to email you, per the information you have given. Unsubscribe and they are required by law to stop sending you emails. Or politely respond with a thanks for the information, but no thank you.

I totally understand why you are still getting emails if you aren’t married yet. Things happen and there is still the potential to get your business.

9/30/11 @ 2:01 pm (reply)

18.

Bee

Miss Doe (message) 540 posts, Busy bee

@Brandy: Oh this makes me sad My point was not to take advantage of anything free. As I mentioned in my post, you are required to sign in when you arrive at the expo. I did not freely give out my email to every vendor there. In fact the only free stuff I received was coupons that I never needed or used. I never entered any drawings either.

Unfortunately vendors are allowed to sell information. Of course not all do that, but some do. Which is why I currently have almost 700 emails in my account that I created. Basically the ones who do this ruin it for the vendors out there who choose not to sell information. I have never received a personal email from any of those vendors. They are all blast emails that go out to their database…a database I never wanted to be on.

I do check this email from time to time to see what’s in there. So if something noteworthy is sent to me, I of course see it. But most of the time that is not the case. If I had to unsuscribe and/or respond to every single one of those emails…that would be quite a chore.

I hope you see the value in creating a second account. For me and many others, it saved our personal account from being bombarded

9/30/11 @ 4:09 pm (reply)

19.

Guest

aggie

I always use a different email account for all of those things cause I figured out a long time ago, companies email you for forever. As for a phone number when required, I give (area code) 867-5309 …Does that number sound familiar? Try going to CVS without the little card. When you tell them you don’t have your card, give them the number (along with whatever area code you live in) - it will be accepted. Greatest number ever!

9/30/11 @ 6:36 pm (reply)

20.

Member

LadieLexx (message) 23 posts, Newbee

The moment we got engaged, I created a ‘wedding’ email address… I gave it to friends and family and told them that if they HAD to sign me up for something, to use that email. It’s also the email I’m using for all vendors and everything wedding related. After the wedding I can stop checking it if I want to and I won’t have to worry about unsubscribing to anything at all… =)

9/30/11 @ 8:31 pm (reply)

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