Desi Wedding Shows: Suhaag and Kismet

I went to my last wedding show this past weekend – after 2 years, this was the final one! WOOT WOOT! It’s actually a little sad but I’m definitely more excited that the wedding planning is almost over.

Before I started planning my wedding, I had no idea what happens at wedding shows nor that there are wedding shows specifically for South Asian brides. Naturally, I was shocked when I found out that the GTA hosts not one but two desi wedding shows – how awesome is that? 🙂

Suhaag and Kismet are the 2 largest South Asian wedding shows in the GTA. The turnout at both of these events is HUGE – we’re talking close to 200 vendors and a few thousand “guests” throughout the day. Pretty impressive!

Both of the shows happens twice every year – once in the winter and once in the fall. I think wedding shows are a great way to meet different vendors and get a taste of their work and personalities. I totally recommend that brides should go to wedding shows – the amount of information (and deals) available at these shows is amazing. If you organize your thoughts before the shows, you will come away with lots of useable information.

Top Reasons For You To Attend

• Information Overload: The best way to meet a variety of vendors at one location – this means you save time. You don’t need an appointment to get a feel for someones work… you can walk up to their booth and skim through their work! You can also check out the latest wedding trends whether it’s dresses or decor
• Great Deals: Many vendors offer a discount if you book them during the shows – who wouldn’t want to save 10% off a certain service? 🙂
• Inspiration: There is a little something for every type of bride and the wedding shows are a great way to get inspired. So many different displays, so many people with different backgrounds – you’ll be full of ideas!
• Prizes: Let’s be honest, everybody loves to get free stuff, right? Wedding shows offer loads of gifts and prizes – you might be the lucky winner! 🙂
• Have Fun: You’re getting married – how can you NOT go to atleast one wedding show? 🙂 It’s all part of the experience and you need to have fun while you’re planning!

While both of the shows are great, I think I like Kismet slightly more than Suhaag. The reason? Simply because I find Kismet to be more interactive – you can get makeup demo’s, henna on your hands, pictures taken at Photographers booths, and my favourite; you get to taste some cake (also at Suhaag)!

All the below pictures are from the wedding shows

Bite Bar

Big Al Studios - Our Photographer! Their booth was set up in Valentines Day theme

I got a demo done by them - pictures coming soon 🙂

That's me - completely shocked at winning something at Suhaag last year.. because I NEVER win. Not even at Bingo. Sorry the picture quality sucks - it's a camera phone

The vase got knocked off and broke... right at the end of the Kismet show

p.s. One more day until FRIDAY!! 🙂

Review: The Civilized Bride Show

Thanks to Steph at Babbling Brides, I was able to get media passes to the Civilized Bride Show. And now, it’s time for me to tell you guys all about it!!

The Civilized Bride Show was held at Airship #37 at the Distillery District. G and I arrived around 6:00 pm and were instantly wow’d by what we saw – walking up to the entrance, there was a small enchanted looking tent with candles lit inside it.

I won’t lie, I was slightly apprehensive walking in… it was my first time at such an event and I had no idea what to expect! We dropped off our stuff (we had gone shopping – I bought a gorgeous pair of shoes) at the coat check, gave our names at the door, and walked in… to a gorgeous room!

What I loved:

• The opportunity to speak to every single vendor in the room – everyone was really nice and I didn’t leave with a headache!
• The uniqueness of the vendors: the mesh of people at the show was great. There were wedding planners, photographers, cake shops, florists, vintage cocktail hats/veils, etc – there was something there for every type of bride.
• Culturally inclusive: the show was a good representation of the diversity in Toronto.
• Ability to see (and taste) samples of work done by the vendors
• The yummy appetizers

Favourite Vendors:

• Perfectionista Inc: Sabrina was super friendly and did a great job organizing the event!
• The Wedding Cake Shoppe: Oh em gee. The ladies at the Wedding Cake Shoppe are super nice and sooo talented. The cupcakes were to die for! They had many desserts out: Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Icing, Red Velvet, Green Tea Cupcake, Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Cupcake, Pecan Tarts (I have to say, these tarts are among the best I’ve ever had!) and some yummy macarons!
• Studio Studios Photography and Video: The nicest photographers there! Very friendly, knowledgeable and innovative (one of the photographers, Keith, is an illustrator and showed us a comic-book inspired illustration of a couple).
• Fresh Inc Mehendi: I’ve had the opportunity to meet with Fresh Inc before and as always, I love their work!
• Sara Baig Designs: a very sweet person!

A few pictures from the event:

Curly Girl Flowers

Star Productions & The Emulator DJ System

Fresh Inc Mehendi

Sooo gorgeous!!

Organic Bison Burgers - Toben

Butternut squash ravioli with maple butter sage... sooo yummy and buttery!! Courtesy of Toben

Hard at work!

The Wedding Cake Shoppe

The Wedding Cake Shoppe

All the guests got a personalized rose along with a goody bag!

*Pictures courtesy of The Civilized Bride

Goody bags - so nice!

Yummm... cookies!

Hope you had an awesome weekend too 🙂

Friday’s Feature: The Civilized Bride Show

I’ve got some awesome news to share with everyone!

Since I guest blog on Babbling Bride, I have the opportunity to check out The Civilized Bride Show. I am SUPER excited and encourage all of you bride-to-bes to attend!

The Civilized Bride Show is a boutique show where you get to meet top vendors with a fancy cocktail and canape in hand – how civilized! I’m imagining Sex in the City meets bridal show – fancy shmancy.

You’ve probably been to Kismet, Suhaag, Canada’s Bridal Show and numerous other weddings shows, right? While you may have had the opportunity to check out a billion vendors, you probably left with a headache and still wanting to speak to your favourite vendors in more detail. That’s exactly where the Civilized Bride show comes into play – it’s more intimate, with selected vendors… so you can actually speak to vendors isntead of screaming at them. A list of vendors can be found here.

The Civilized Bride Show is taking place TODAY from 5pm – 10pm. Tickets are $15 at the door. If you’re in Toronto, come check it out!!

Stay tuned: I’ll be posting a review of the show next week!