Wedding Industry Marketing Secrets with County Brides’ Duane | Supplier Bonus Episode

In this special bonus episode of Totally Absolutely Engaged, we dive into the business side of the wedding industry with Duane from County Brides — one of the North West’s most recognised wedding marketing platforms.

Following on from our previous County Brides episode dedicated to engaged couples, this supplier-focused special is packed with honest advice, marketing strategies, wedding fair tips, networking insights, and industry truths for wedding professionals looking to grow in 2026 and beyond.

Duane shares decades of experience from attending over 200 wedding fairs a year, running the famous County Brides Wedding Awards, and helping suppliers build visibility, bookings, and long-term success in an increasingly competitive wedding industry.

In this episode, we discuss:

✨ Why too many venue open days could be damaging the wedding industry
✨ How wedding fairs should actually work for suppliers and venues
✨ The biggest wedding trends for 2026 including sage green, monochrome weddings & tropical colour palettes
✨ Why consistent marketing beats “being the best”
✨ The truth about supplier networking and referrals
✨ How to stand out as a new wedding business
✨ Why suppliers MUST ask for the booking
✨ The importance of LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube & Google for wedding marketing
✨ County Brides Wedding Awards explained — and how finalists are chosen fairly
✨ Why visibility, consistency and relationships matter more than ever in the wedding industry

Whether you're a wedding photographer, DJ, florist, venue stylist, content creator, celebrant, videographer, entertainment supplier, venue owner, or just starting your wedding business — this episode is full of practical advice, real industry insight, and honest conversations.

If you work in the wedding industry in the North West or beyond, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

🎧 Listen now and discover how to market smarter, network better, and grow your wedding business in 2026.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Totally Absolutely Engage.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

We welcome Duane of County Brides, probably the region's most recognised wedding marketing platform. Not to pig you up too much.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Do you have a biggest piece of advice for your suppliers?

SPEAKER_04 0:23

There's that many venues now. Yeah. That many open days. Don't get me started on open days. Well, if that if they've ever got a wedding, they have an open day. That's that's the problem. It's it it's killing the industry.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 0:39

Um, within not just for suppliers, not just for brides, but for the venue as well. Because if you're you've got a wedding fair, a wedding open day every single week, it's like a funnel. Think of a big funnel. Yeah. So there's your leads, yeah? So there's your big funnel, and you've done your wedding fare, and you do another one the next week. What's going to happen? The funnel's getting smaller. Then you do another one, and it gets smaller, and then it gets smaller. Next drip, and that drip tube. Yeah, and that and that drip is gonna stop, and no more leads are gonna come in.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:17

Personally, and what works and has done for many, many years is to do a wedding fair. Loads of different suppliers, yeah. That that money when the exhibit, yeah, goes to the advertising and promoting of the venue and the actual wedding fair itself. So couples come along, have a look around, but it's not the best selling point for a venue. No, right? And the reason for that is you've got the pull-up banner for the car and the cake and the photographer and the dress company and the menswear and the uh the added extra and this down the other. You've got all these different things, and it's not showing the venue off. But it's getting people interested in the venue. So all those leads come in and they get passed to the venue. Now, what the um the venue should do then is two weeks later, I would say 10 to 14 days later, maybe on a Wednesday evening or a following sun another Sunday, yeah, is to do an open day. But the room is set up for a wedding, so you'll have your venue dresser and maybe your DJ playing some background music.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

That is it. Yeah, so you haven't got all the banners, all the time got all the banners, all the advertisements.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

They're walking in and they're going, wow, yeah, and seeing the venue full potential. Now, personally, I got a I I go to God 220 wedding fairs I went to last year, giving out the magazine. The times I saw Sage Green was unbelievable. Yeah. So if a bride walking in and going, oh sage green, but I don't want sage green, she's gonna look at that, turn around and walk out. You have just lost a sale because of one colour. Yeah, try and keep with the trends. So, what I would suggest is find out what the trends are. So at the moment, yes, sage green and pastel colours are in. Pastel colours I'll always be in. Yeah, I think it's some sort of uh salmony coral pastel colours in at the moment. Olive green is overtaking sage green, black and white, which is monochrome. That's in. So uh things evolve over the year, it'll swap all around, and you never know in another five, ten years. You might get your cabries purple that fall.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

The awards are coming up, aren't they? Yeah, we are what's in place to stop cheating.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

It's it's just the situation is no, they don't pay us to enter. No, they get if they get through to a finalist uh to be a finalist, no, we don't charge them, and they can actually win without paying. So there's no bribery involved, none whatsoever. The only pay for anything is if they want to attend the event, which is a three-course meal, so nice drinks, reception, three-course meal, entertainment, casino tables, magician, a band, a DJ, a raffle, the awards.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

I've still never been to one holiday, I'll do every time.

SPEAKER_04 4:35

So it's a great night, and the amount of networking that goes on, and I know people who have met other people's.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

I've pulled business from it. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

They got from 2010, and they're still doing business today, 16 years later. Yeah, so yes, do it's it's not what you know, it's who you know, but it's been in the right place at the right time.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

Where's that? The awards. Well, it helps when they're all in one room, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:02

Yeah, because say hello. Yeah, don't just sit on your table going, oh you're the added actor, oh you're you're DJ Chris, oh you're you're you're the the venue dresser, oh you're this, all right. Get mingling, yeah. Can I drop some cards off in your shop? Can I drop some leaflets? Can I have some of yours? Do you want to drop some off to me? Yeah, okay. We're all networking then, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

And it's so much easier as well with social media because you actually see them doing their work, and there's people that you've seen, but you wouldn't have a clue what they look like. No, and then you go to the awards and you've got a face to a name, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that helps me.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

And the amount and the amount of the amount of business that's done, and it's from from a couple's point of view, if they're if you've got that, I've been nominated by a bride. Yeah, that's a past customer going saying, I trust these, they did my wedding, they were brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

Yeah. Now to me, you got they're good. Oh, they're a finalist, top ten finalists. Yeah. Or they won. They must be good. Let's have a look at them, let's have a look at the reviews, let's have a look at the website, let's have a look at the socials, let's go and see them at a wedding fair, they're flicking through a magazine, oh, they're there again. Yeah, oh, I've just seen a video, oh, I've just seen this, and it's sublimable promotion. Yeah, it's just been dropped all the time, and they're seeing your name. You know, if you think of a burger, who are you gonna think of?

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Mackeys.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

Why? Because you see the golden M. Yeah, just the golden M. And it's just the best. Oh, I think they do all of them. No, that's the consistent, yeah. They're not the best, but they're consistent. Yes, and that's great marketing basically. Yeah, so you see the golden M. Yeah, you see it uh in the in the newspaper, yeah. You see them on the TV, you hear it on the radio, and you just you don't think of KFC, you don't think of because you don't you don't hear them that much, and that's that's marketing, and at the moment the best thing to do right now in 2026 is to up your marketing. And the reason I'm saying that is and the main one is your competitor is not they've pulled back or on hard times. Oh, I'm not I'm not gonna spend I'll just do uh I'll spend five pounds a day or ten pounds a day on Facebook. And that's it. Yeah. But if you spend ten or twenty pounds, or you do an advert and you do a blog and you do an email campaign and you do a video or a TikTok, and you're doing all these different things, your name's getting seen more times than not I'm pulling back. And prime example, I'll give you two here. The 19 I'm going back to the 1920s.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:02

I wasn't there, I wasn't in short 1920s. Um Quaker Oaks was uh the the biggest selling company breakfast. Yeah. And 1920s came along, and basically what happened uh they pulled back all their marketing budget. Kellogg's booked, they trebled it, they quadrupled it. Who's number one breakfast company now? Is it Kellogg's?

SPEAKER_03 8:34

It's Kellogg's. I do love Kellogg's. We did the party, not some.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Yeah, so you got some um crunchy nort, didn't you?

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Chevrolet, I think it was Chevrolet or Oldsmob Oldsmobile was in the again 1920s, the the Great Crash. They were the number one manufacturer of cars. Yeah, yeah, and somebody brought a vehicle out, you could have it in any colour as long as it's black. The Model T and it was Ford. Who was one of who is one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world? Ford. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

So marketing is everything. You're you will.

SPEAKER_04 9:16

You will get twice as much for your money now than you would four years ago. Yeah. Because everybody was on an e equal level playing field, but now everyone's pulling back. So it's just hard to get your head around.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

When you're a business that's losing money, yeah, it's almost it's speculate to accumulate.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

You've just got to speculate to accumulate, almost trend your way out of it. Jump up and down and wave your flag and say, I'm here. Don't go to my competitor, come to me. I'm here. Look, I'm I'm in the newspaper, I'm in a magazine, I'm in at a wedding fair, I'm doing a blog, I'm doing this. I'm at the bottom of whatever it may be. But the situation is, and you know, you know, I do know something, I haven't even mentioned County Bride. Giving all this advice, I haven't even mentioned my own name. One thing that you were saying about um suppliers, one top you wanted one top tip from me before. Don't forget to ask for the order. It's amazing how many people go through. Oh, I can do this, this, all right. There's a leaflet. Well, I'm available that day. Would you like to proceed? I'm not saying give you money. I mean, would you like to proceed? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Would you like me to send you a contract? Or would you like a booking form?

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

Ask for the order. Yeah, you've just done all the hard work, you've just spent hours setting the stall up.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Yeah, so actually get some details.

SPEAKER_04 10:52

Yeah, get the details, follow it up. Because what happens is that at our wedding fair, you'll give a mag uh give a magazine, give a leaflet and a card out, and they've walked past and they've talked to another 20, 30 exhibitors, and they've gone home and they've gone out, got a bag full, and they've emptied it out, and they've gone, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, which been.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:15

But if you've got their details, and you got and you ring up on the Tuesday, let's say, hi Jenny, how are you doing? Uh, we we met at the the Etiad or whatever it may be, um, and we're chatting. You get married at um, I don't know, Swrigley Hall, you said before. So we're getting married at Strigli Hall on the on the 27th of uh July. Oh yeah, yeah, because you've got the details, you've taken interest. You said that you were interested in this, this, and this, and you were having a colour scheme of this, this, and that. Oh, yeah, okay, then find this, that, and the other. You're in through the door. Yeah. So get details and follow it up. That's a good one. Please and ask, please and thank you. Manners cost nothing. No, but don't forget to answer ask for the order. So meet how people don't. It's scary.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Mental, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 12:09

Sorry, come on, I can ramble on. Sorry, I do apologize. Well, one company actually said, I'm starting out in the industry as a vendor.

SPEAKER_04 12:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

What advice would you give me? A for the promotion, b for the awards. And because it's I wish I'd have written the name down the company because it wasn't anonymous.

SPEAKER_04 12:26

But well, the for well, one good thing is um, I don't think, as you said before, what makes us different. I think we've actually got a section of new business of the year, yeah. And they and then that's up to 18, they have to be up to 18 months old. There should have been uh winner last year, I think it was a year before, and they were a month out. They were they've been going 19 months, and they would have walked it. Honestly, they would have walked it, they were absolutely fabulous. So his situation is they can go for new business of the war uh of the year, put their name forward, and we can uh under their category and we'll check them out, etc. Uh, but his situation has a bit of everything what we said before. Jump up and down, wave your flag, do a blog, do a reel. Um just get your name out there. Yeah, it's yeah, make sure you've got a decent website. Um be careful if you're going to go on to these GoDaddy ones and all the rest of it. Make sure you own your own website domain name first before registering. Because if they do it for you, they own the website name. So you try and get it back. It'll cost you a lot more than 25 quid that you spent on nominate or whatever it is. Yeah. So just be careful. Um the largest search engine is is Google, as you all know. Number two. Any ideas?

SPEAKER_03 13:58

No idea these days.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

TikTok's number two now. I mean, so many maze number three is YouTube, yeah. So, and then you go down to the others. Amazing how many people don't don't use LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Oh, yeah, that confuses me. Does it? Um, yeah, I don't understand it. Not one of those.

SPEAKER_04 14:23

LinkedIn. Lesson 101. LinkedIn is amazing because who's on LinkedIn?

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Everyone. No, they're not. See, I know nothing about it.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Facebook, uh Facebook and TikTok and it uh Instagram, yes, Instagram is better for weddings than uh than Facebook now. Because Facebook has just become like a digital yellow pages. That's my personal view. That's what's yeah, that's what's happened. So um for quality leads, if you think about it, all your managers, business owners, CEO professionals are on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

This is true.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

That means they've got better jobs, they've got more spending power. So if you want corporate work or you want that better bride or bridegroom, come back and promote yourself on LinkedIn. And I wouldn't be surprised if you if you would go, oh, works event, would you like a magic mirror? Or it's your annual function, would you like large letters? Or you're having a party, would you like a dance floor? Where are they gonna pay? LinkedIn. Yeah, they'll pay attention on LinkedIn rather than Facebook. Right, okay. So then they would look at LinkedIn and then look at um Google uh and look at websites.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

So to newbies in the industry, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_04 16:06

Do a bit of everything, post videos, things like that. So I mean I'm supposed to be doing TikTok, but I don't do I'm not getting dressed up in a wedding dress again.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Again, go check it out.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

I'm not gonna go into that story. The only thing I would actually say is again, it's the most obvious question. What makes you different from other awards?

SPEAKER_04 16:27

Um because that's yeah, I would say as I said before, it's being truthful, honest, uh being impartial. Yeah. Um and putting something spectacular. There is one other company who has copied us literally down to the nth degree. I used to get upset at being copied.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

I don't anymore.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

You know you're good when you're getting copied.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

I used to get totally stressed out, I don't anymore. And two reasons. Number one, Dorma, a good lady says don't sweat the small stuff. And my business coach turned around and went, if it's taking if you if you come up with a new product and it's taking you two, three months to do that product and launch it and get going, yeah. So that's gonna take you another two months to get going by the time you get your first orders, etc. So you're five, six months down track now, yeah. And someone sees it and goes, Oh, right, I'm going to do that. That's going to take them another month, and they've got to launch it and build it and all the rest of it, and get that's another so that means you're always be three to six months ahead of your competitors, yeah. So yeah, always be a follower and and um you know you let them be a follower and you always be a leader.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Yeah, that is exactly the same conclusion I came to. Yeah, because I kept getting copied with stuff, and it was like I I I learned very quickly that I had to make my money, get the orders in, probably within those six months.

SPEAKER_04 17:59

These little secrets that you don't let out, yeah, that only the bride and bridegroom know. I I know I gave an idea to a pianist a few weeks ago, and I went, How about doing this, XYZ, and it'll cost you literally pennies to do, but you're unique. Yeah, and he's done it about five, six times since, and he sent me a lovely message afterwards because that is an amazing idea, and it was so simple. Why didn't I think about it years ago? And I went he's just BFO, blinding flash of the obvious ding light bulb knob at the moment, and that's and he that makes him different to everybody else, and that's the same with us. We do things different on the night compared to other people, but I do believe we're on another level, yeah. We are definitely on another level, yeah, and um, yeah, they do people do one thing one one way, we do it another. Uh, but one thing I can reassure you everything that we do is above board 100%.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Right, thank you for watching, and we will see you all next week.

SPEAKER_04 19:11

Bye bye, see you guys.