In what might be construed as a threat to my manhood, this weekend I attended the Austin Bridal Expo down at the Palmer Events center. Now, I didn't think about this until last Friday when I started telling friends what I would be doing this weekend. After I mentioned the words "Bridal Expo", I'd either get laughs from the guys, or "Awww"s from the girls.

Regardless, it was an interesting time to say the least. I went with Carolyn, her sister, and my mom. We were amongst thousands of brides-to-be there looking for the perfect ingredients to the perfect wedding. I made it a point to get out of the way of any "bride-zillas" that happened to cross my path. Who knows what might have happened if I was standing in right of the perfect dress, the perfect bouquet, or the perfect cake.

As we perused the vendors' booths, I noticed that just because something is labeled "for weddings", for one reason or another, it means that the price is automatically inflated 3 to 4x. Cakes are one example. You can get a simple sheet cake for $15 at the grocery store which will feed maybe 30 people. That same sheet cake, if labeled "wedding cake" automatically goes for $50-60. Argh.

The first day we went, Saturday, I had the allergies of death. I basically couldn't function all day. We would go talk to vendors, and I would have to excuse myself in the middle of the conversation to either step outside, or go to the bathroom to blow my nose. Fortunately for me, Carolyn was more than capable of asking the right questions and finding out the right information. We ended up having to leave early that day, but we had enough information to make some good decisions and came back the next day to book some things and pay some deposits.

So all in all, it was a good experience. Through it we were able to book our photographer, which we're really happy about.