If you are newly engaged and are just starting to think about the wedding, here’s a bit of advice:

Do NOT give out your contact info willy-nilly at bridal shows!

Over the last couple months, I have been deluged with wedding-related snail mail and e-mail offers.

And some sketchy phone calls.

I got one from “Amanda” at American Prestige and another call from Unintelligible at Bridal Awards. Wouldn’t you know, I’ve won not one, but TWO free honeymoons! All this for a woman who’s never won a raffle in her entire life.

As it turns out, Bridal Awards is a distributor for Royal Prestige, which appears to be part of the same outfit as American Prestige. I did a little bit of research on these companies, and their modus operandi appears to be:

1. Call unsuspecting bride, who may or may not have actually entered some kind of contest.
2. Tell her she’s won a free honeymoon.
3. Tell her that to claim it, she needs to show up somewhere, with her fiance.
4. That “somewhere” turns out to be a high-pressure sales pitch for the company’s overpriced household goods.

Thanks, but no thanks.