Design is design, Right?

That’s the way we see it. If we can put together a bouquet we can put together a tradeshow booth. We did our first tradeshow in January of ‘07 and it was a huge success. Our brides loved it, as did the staff at KC Weddings. We weren’t terribly surprised, then, when Jeri with KCWeddings asked us to be the floral sponsor for the show.

The booth

Of course, like all good things, the sponsorship came with a bit more responsibility. For starters, we had to double the size of our booth… Now, we’re not crazy. I mean, we had just built a booth the year before and the idea of building a new one every year was, well, a bit daunting. So we decided that what we needed was a system that would allow us to expand or contract to any size, display floral arrangements in ideal lighting, and allow brides to wander freely through without feeling claustrophobic. It was a tall order for sure.

A sense of space

What I really wanted to do was create a sense of space. I wanted to step into the booth and feel like I was arriving somewhere. Creating such a space can be difficult in a convention hall. You can throw up walls and a ceiling, but that would leave people feeling cramped. The solution, then, is to suggest walls and ceiling.

It occurred to me that if I put up a grid overhead, there would be a definite sense of ceiling while still maintaining openness and freedom. Of course, the grid system would also allow versatility from show to show – we could hang things from it however we liked.

Next I needed walls: I settled on upholstered panels. These could hang from the grid and give a real sense of space without making our visitors feel cramped.

Lastly, there was lighting. That was easy with the grid system, though.

Putting it all together

So I knew what I needed to do; I just had to find a way to do it. The grid had to be strong enough to hold the panels so I decided on steel pipe. Then came the real trick – how would I suspend almost 1,000 lbs of steel over the heads of hundreds of unsuspecting brides?

Well, I’m no mechanical engineer, but I did make it through design school with flying colors and I know a bit about building structures, so I got to work. I drew up a scale model, ordered all the parts and put the thing together. It worked too! Just as planned. Not an adjustment needed

Putting it to use.

The show really was wonderful. We filled my booth with flowers and one impressive centerpiece of birch trees and dendrobium orchids. Our brides really loved it and so did the other vendors. Of course, there’s no way we’re going to be able to just leave the booth as is. We’re going to have to change things up a bit and make improvements for each show. We’ll keep you posted.

Those of you who missed the show really should come out to the next one in July. We have a lot of fun and we’d love to have you join us.