I recently attended my 3rd Bridal Spectacular - I love getting free stuff and attention as the bride.
My first experience, August of last year, was amazing, My second time, in January, was awesome and my most recently experience two weeks ago was...meh at best. I don't think it was because it was my third time attending it, but because it just didn't seem as organized this year as it had in the past. This year they tried to get us to use their app...which was a nightmare. Apparently there were two separate apps, one for scanning things and one that just served as a map of the venue. I thought it was the same app, so I was confused when I couldn't get it to scan. The vendors had no idea what was going on either and couldn't seem to help me. On top of that, a lot of the vendors on the app weren't even there, and they didn't have a booth. I was specifically looking for makeup artists, and although there were 5 or 6 listed I only found two. The rest of the listed "health and beauty" businesses were weight loss people, which I'll get into next...
I'm starting to get really fed up with how many "weight loss," "face lift," and "free vacation" booths they're allowing to be set up. When I come to these events, it's because I am looking for an easy way to get in touch with various wedding vendors across the Valley. I do not like being harassed by these other booths that are either scams, or decide call me at 2 in the morning. I feel like Bridal Spectacular really needs to work on finding new, and unique vendors to invite to their events. Last August I felt like they had way more booths that offered experiences for bachelor/ette parties, rehearsal dinners, and fun things to do before the wedding with your bridal party. This time I felt like less vendors were there, and it lacked variety.
I will probably return for the January event, because like I said I love free stuff, but I will not hesitate to do my own wedding research if they don't improve the quality of the vendors.