Yesterday we travelled from London up to the Suffolk coast for a Wedding Fayre.

It was held at Woodhall Manor just outside the lovely little town of Woodbridge, and the fair — sorry, fayre – featured around 45 exhibitors and a couple of catwalk-style live shows to showcase wedding dresses.

The other exhibitors included wedding dress designers/retailers, photographers, wedding stationary suppliers, musicians, wedding cake makers, classic hire car companies… and of course Woodhall Manor itself was on show as a (very fine) wedding venue.

There were a couple of other jewellery companies showing off their wedding rings, but diamondthrills was – unsurprisingly – the only diamond jewellery hire company present (of course we’re not averse to making diamond jewellery sales in addition to our hire business, and we had a few enquiries about our bespoke diamond engagement ring service and one or two people asked us about buying the jewellery rather than hiring it…).

It was our first wedding show, so how did it go? Well, we spoke to a lot of brides and their entourages, and we had some of our lovely diamond jewellery on display so that we could get direct feedback from some brides and from others in the wedding business.

Actually, we (my lovely wife Fiona and I) were really pleased with our little stand (pictured right) and with how people responded to the idea of diamond jewellery rental.

Quite often people’s first reponse was to give the jewellery an admiring glance before telling themselves that it was far too expensive for them to consider.

But once we had explained that diamondthrills hires out this exquisite jewellery, people were pleasantly surprised and they wanted to hear more.

Key questions from people yesterday (and answers):

• How much does it cost? (from £50 up to £475, with most pieces below £300)
• How much is the jewellery worth? (retail prices start at £1250 and rise to almost £12,000)
• Is it insured? (Yes)
• Can we try it on? (Yes – generally, depending upon availability and location)
• Is it real? (Yes: all diamonds – no fakes – and they’re set in 18 karat white gold)

We chatted to the brides, their grooms, mothers, in-laws, sisters, etc…etc… and it was clear that getting married is, for many people, a long lead-time activity. By which I mean that they are starting to plan now for weddings that are happening well into the future.

We spoke to many couples who hadn’t yet named a date but were intending to tie the knot in 2011 or even in 2012 (and one of our co-exhibitors said that she was talking to a couple about their plans for 2015!).

Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise – it’s just that when my wife and I decided to get married we did the whole thing from engagement (atop a mountain in Scotland, with no diamond ring – oops!) to strolling up the aisle in less than six months. At least one couple told us that they were looking at suppliers now in order to pay for a few things a year in advance so they could spread the cost over a longer period – which seems very sensible.

We appealed to this sensible sort of frugality by telling people that they could either (a) buy crystal jewellery such as a tiara for their wedding day, which might cost several hundred pounds and be rather pointless after the big day, or (b) hire genuine diamond jewellery for much the same sort of price, or even less!

Thanks to everyone we met at Woodhall Manor yesterday: organisers, fellow exhibitors, and especially to the brides, their grooms and families – thank you so much for considering hiring diamond jewellery from diamondthrills and best of luck to you as you plan for your amazing wedding day!

Lastly, here are a couple of our jewellery pieces that were especially popular at yesterday’s Fayre:

Aphrodite bangle

Lakshmi peardrop hoop earrings