Leeds Castle Wedding Show

At the weekend The Artful Doodler attended a new wedding event at Leeds Castle.
It was an interesting weekend where I met a great deal of lovely people, had a few laughs and drew countless caricatures all of which seemed to go down well.
We turned up on the Saturday to find ourself located in a nice little booth with a decent size table to display our bits n pieces on. Stupidly I had failed to look thoroughly at the paperwork and hadn't realised that we weren't supplied with a tablecloth.. whoops! Luckily the lovely lady on the stall for Demelza House next to us loaned us a cloth which was red with white spots, it actually went very well with our crazy display so I very much appreciated this.
And so the drawing began.. there was a steady stream of people wanting their faces doodled and we were entertained by our magician friends Spencer Wood and Adam Smith as they popped by with tricks in the quiet patches.
As the first day came to a close we had received a lot of interest but no actual bookings, which, as I insist on honesty in my blogs, is something of a rarity at a wedding show. I have been luckily enough in the past to always get a booking, even at the quietest of shows, but we put this down to the size of the venue and the fact that partitions make people feel they are missing things elsewhere. Possibly my highlight on the Saturday was staring goggle eyed at the Delorean from Back to the Future on display. I told Mai that as much as I loved it, we cant afford it for our wedding, one bit of craziness too far I'm afraid.

On the Sunday we returned to find our banner evicted from our pitch. Another stand that had nowhere to go had been placed in our area. This had meant we had to find another spot and so we pitched up next to the fire exit opposite (see Mai in her sales pose above). I was still busy with drawings on the Sunday, although I admit we did feel as though we had been treated a little unfairly, especially as the booth opposite still displayed the name The Artful Doodler on one corner.
I must have drawn between 40 to 80 caricatures each day of the show and my arms and legs were a bit creaky by the end. From this show I have no confirmed bookings as yet but time will tell. I think the problem with shows of this size is that it makes the bride and grooms look completely daunted by it all with so much to take in. Some shows I guess just aren't right for certain exhibitors and so sadly with the lack of bookings and pitch confusion I doubt I will return next year. Thanks to all who did have a picture drawn and if you are thinking of booking call me asap, as despite the lack of bookings this weekend, dates for next year are filling up fast!
For my next public appearance I will be returning to The Wedding Experience show at Detling next week which is always a good one for us and so I'm really looking forward to it. Pop along and say hello!