The courtesy of a reply-Breaking up with your vendors

I felt the need to write this post because given my current status, I sit proudly on both sides of the fence (or as my twitter hash states, I am a #giddyplannerbride). I recognize this blog is followed by colleagues, clients and potential clients and I am hoping that what I say resignates with you all.

As a vendor, I make it a top priority to respond to my couples in a timely fashion. That's actually one of reasons that couples retain our services, as compared to some of the other local Coordinators. As a couple however, you have a responsibility as well. It is common courtesy to respond to the vendors you have for consideration, in a timely fashion.

The industry has taken many turns since I first entered it. We live in a virtual society where "tweets" and "bbms" have replaced real human contact. Where telephone calls are made in the event of an emergency and email is the norm. I get it.

What I don't understand however, is when entitlement became par for the course. Planning is a very hectic, though enjoyable experience. When you're meeting with multiple vendors and trying to match your needs with your budget, personalities, expectations, that too can become extremely difficult to manage.

As a couple, while it's not your responsiblity to go out of your way and document why you are not hiring a vendor, I would strongly suggest that you atleast communicate whether you are or are not. Many vendors offer a complimentary initial meeting and extend a right to refusal allowing an extended period of time for your decision to be made. In the interim, business goes on and opportunities present themselves that at times do conflict with other scheduled events. The key to having a good vendor is that during your experience, you feel as though your wedding is the only one they are overseeing, the reality is, it's not.

I know "breaking up" with an individual that you really hit it off with is difficult. When perusing the wedding blogs, I often see brides asking each other "how do I tell the xxx we're not going to go with them...I really liked them" and I do a double take. It's simple, just do it. It's ok, really it is. A successful person in the industry understands that they are not the only vendor you will meet with and at the end of the day, you will have to do what's best for you. Always remember, be it the wedding or life in general, treat people the way you would want to be treated and things will naturally fall into place.

Off my soapbox now

The Groom's Perspective

I will be honest. It's not the easiest conversation to have with a newly engaged couple that the fee for our services can be between a $1500-$7,000 expense. Though I truly believe that in this day and time, many couples recognize the benefit of a Planner, I highly doubt most are prepared for the cost.

As the couple and I sit in our office and we entertain the concept of what a fantasy wedding means to the Bride, I'm always amazed at the eager, yet silent spirit exuded by the Groom. Is he excited? Of course. Opinionated? Of course. But somehow, we live in a society where the "groom's perspective" is often overlooked and everything defaults to the common notion of "It's all about the Bride, whatever she likes".

My outlook on planning is a little different in that it is very important for me to include the Groom in the planning process. After all, what good is an equation with only half of the formula?

I received a recent review on weddingwire and I must say, not only was I honored, I was humbled by what my recent Groom Colby had to say:

Jennifer and I found Isis through a co-worker. We went to Philly around the middle of November to interview Isis along with a few other planners. The first thing that I noticed about Isis was eye contact. To explain, other planners that Jennifer and I had interviewed had about 85% eye contact with the Bride, as if I the groom did not exist. To me, that is a sign that the planner will not consult the groom or interact with the groom about wedding decisions. With Isis, she gave both Jennifer and myself equal eye contact when interviewing. She was confident in answering questions, and she appeared to be a sensible and reasonable person. Jennifer and I knew that Isis would be our pick before we even left Philly that night. During the wedding planning process, Isis was persistant, motivated, and attentive to all of our needs. She even went over and beyond to make sure we were satisfied. What I liked the most about Isis is that if she happened to miss our call, she gave us a call right back. Email was the same as well. It is not uncommon for her to email back in the same minute you sent her a message. She is always accessible and even though she is also planning other weddings, you would never know it. We always felt like she was our own personal planner. We sort of got jealous when we saw other wedding pictures. We were like, what is our Isis doing planning their wedding!!!! LOL. From the interview to the big day, Isis stayed on top of all of our milestones, deadlines, and insured that we did everything we were supposed to do when we were supposed to do it.

This was our first wedding and neither one of us had a clue as to what we were doing. We were blessed to have someone like Isis that helped us put the pieces together to create a wedding that my family is still talking about almost a month after. If you have been contiplating whether you should get a wedding planner, take it from me, when you are about 2 months from your big day, you will see why spending the extra money on a planner is worth it; especially if it is Isis. There are so many loose ends to tie 2 months out that it is almost impossible to enjoy your big day if you are worried about everything going right. Isis will tie all the ends and put all the pieces together to insure that on the days leading to the wedding and on the big day, you will not have to worry about a thing. Just tellem to "Call Isis"!!!! LOL

Isis is passionate about what she does and loves to plan weddings. This is not just a job for her, this is what she lives for. If you are the type of person who believes that paying attention to detail is important, good quality of service is fundamental to excellent customer support, and addressing small issues may solve big problems, then you will be more than satisfied with Isis. Believe me, when it is your big day, you want someone who has all angles covered and is prepared for anything.

I loved Isis so much that I am actually considering getting married again!!!!!!

Just kidding... LOL

Thank you Colby and Jennifer. For allowing me to be a part of your big day!

It's not what you know...

When you are newly engaged, it's very easy to go from calm to overly excited and in a matter of seconds. More often that not, it's been my obversation that couples literally just don't know where to start.

Beyond the obvious narrowing down your Vendor categories, when it is time to actually participate in initial meetings, it's common place for selecting of a Vendor to become quite the daunting task. Here's my advice, instead of just focusing on what you DO like, cutting out pages and pages of every flower that gets you to smile, how about you narrow it down to your top 5/10 items that you like and also select 5 that you DO NOT like.

Here's why....

As a Vendor, it's just as easy for us to help guide you down the right path to wedded bliss knowing what you do not like (i.e. bright colors, floral patterns, the outdoors, children, etc.) as it is knowing what you do like. Weddings are about personalization. You want your day to be memorable and to ensure that we can translate your vision for the day, and letting us know what you don't like is just as important.

So, if you find yourself struggling to figure out all the right things to select, how about starting from the opposite end of the spectrum, literally. You'd be surprised. Sometimes you know more than you think!

A Little bit country. A little rock and roll

Ok, ok, I'm neither but I totally support life outside of the box. Truth be told, I don't even own a "box". Well...maybe a little one, but it often takes a back seat.

Saturday we were honored to participate in the Unbridaled Expo at the Crane Arts Building where we joined a number of the areas most creative event vendors for one amazing bridal industry event.

Unfortunately, my camera suffered from exhaustion and would not cooperate for photos. Luckily I was surrounded by quite a few amazing photographers who don't mind me sharing some of their work.

I present...Unbridaled...

Because, well, who needs a box anyway?



Crane


Erin's Booth


The above images were taken by the amazing Erin Antognoli. Erin is my DC "connect" through a mutual Photographer friend and I can't say enough great things about her. If you follow me on facebook, last week you would have noticed my semi-stalker updates about my first time meeting with Erin. Now do you see why?

Fashion Show


The lovely ladies of Love Me Do Photography who provided the (2)images above


You can also check out additional photos at the event gallery at Cami's Paperie. Cami was my "neighbor" at the expo and is an amazing invitation designer in Northern Virginia. (You'll also notice her photography eye is pretty awesome too :)

You do the math…100=126

No, really it does! When you think in terms of your catering budget, $100 per person truly equates to $126 per person.

One common mistake I see too often when I meet with Clients to discuss their budget, is the intuitive calculation that you base your headcount on how many people you think you can feed. Here's how it actually works.

If you have a budget of $50,000 and a venue charge of $100pp, that does not equate to the ability to feed 500 people or less…Many couples mistakenly divide their budget by the venue cost for the number of invites.

Instead:

First you must realize that when budgeting, approximately 42% of the overall budget will go to catering cost. The remainder of the budget will be allocated across the various other Vendor expenses. That being the case, the true budget for food & beverage is only $21,000.

Now, you have to account for NJ tax (7%).

You must also deduct the service charge amount, which can range anywhere from 18-21%.

With a service charge of 19%, your cost per person cost is $126.

Dividing $21,000/126, you can comfortably afford to feed 167 guests.

So, unless your per person cost is all-inclusive, be sure to account for tax and service charge before you begin compiling your guest list. This way, you can avoid over-spending and the embarrassment of too many guests not enough cash to feed them all.