Watch our video from The Wedding Show 2011!

THE sun shone and the brides turned out in force for the firstever Wimpole Wedding Show, which was held last weekend.

Ninety-six exhibitors were on hand to display dresses, invitations, bouquets, wedding rings, cars and discos – indeed everything you would need to plan a wedding from start to finish.

Doors opened at the inaugural event at 10am on Saturday with brides and their parties queuing to gain entrance to the luxury marquee that had been put up in the grounds of the stunning National Trust Estate property.

The most popular destinations during the day for the crowds were the professional catwalk shows, which were hosted four times a day and showcased beautiful gowns from local suppliers as well as suits for the grooms. The models had all been choreographed by the same team that gets Gok Wan’s naked beauties onto the catwalk.

The event also launched BRIDE magazine to the public, distributed from a 1972 VW camper van.

The 180 page bride’s bible was snapped up by wedding parties at the event eager to enter the £20,000 worth of competitions that are contained within the pages. If you haven’t managed to track down your copy you can buy it online from www.buyamag.co.uk/bride for just £3.50.

The Wimpole Wedding Show was staged by the WeddingLink team – which is part of the Archant family.

Sam Newby-Ricci, weddings business development manager, said: “The success of this event has been down to the hard work of the team involved in staging it but also the faith the exhibitors had in us to put on a good show.

“The feedback we have received both from the visitors and the exhibitors has been extremely positive, and we’re hoping that the event will grow for 2012.”