A Visit to Bridal Market by our Intern Amanda

This April I was lucky enough to tag along with Erin and Amy to the Bridal Market at the Apparel Mart in Chicago!  What an experience!  It was my first time at market and let me tell you, there’s nothing like it! 

We were on the road at 7:30am to make sure we got to the show right when it opened at 9am - we had a lot to do!  When we got there we had to register.  I had to show them my Miss Ruby business card (my first one!) and my driver’s license to get my pass into the show.  They don’t let just anyone in, buyers only.  Wow, did I feel important!

From there, we took the elevator up to the eighth floor where the bridal vendors were.  I loved walking around and seeing all the gorgeous gowns on display.  Our first stop was Watter’s booth.  There, we got to sit at a table with a couple of other buyers and watch a private fashion show of the Watters bridal and bridesmaid collections.  It was really great to be able to see the fabulous gowns up close and on a live model before we placed our order!

Next, we went on to Alyne’s booth.  The process here was a little bit different.  Again, we sat down at a table, but the sales people spoke directly to us.  They showed us each individual gown they had to offer and explained the details and features of it.  Additionally, they had a live model put the gown on if we decided we wanted to see it on an actual person.

After we placed our order with Alyne and took a lunch break we visited Steven Birnbaum and Robert Bullock.  My favorite part about this stop?  Robert Bullock was there!  He was the one showing us his and Steven’s gowns.  What’s better than buying gowns than buying them from the designer himself!  He was super helpful and friendly!

After we browsed the entire bridal show we ventured to the seventh floor to check out StyleMax.  What a difference from the calm and collected feel of the bridal floor!  The ready-to-wear floor was all hustle and bustle!  I thought there was a lot to look at in the bridal section, but it seemed that there was ten times more to look at in StyleMax.  The amount of ready-to-wear merchandise made this very large floor seem small.  While browsing through all of the booths I got to see some great visual displays and really cute fall clothing.

It was a productive, fun, exhausting day.  I couldn’t stop walking around because there was so much to look at from all the vendors.  I felt like a tourist - I was taking so many pictures!  I saw so many fabulous garments and I learned a lot about buying.  I want to go back for the spring show in October!