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What is Driving the Vintage Trend in Weddings?

March 27, 2013 By 4 Comments

At market you connect with people in all layers of the bridal business from designers to retailer to publishers. Last weekend I kept having a similar conversation over and over again.no more mason jars

When will the vintage trend in weddings be over?

In my mind, this trend should have already died and I said so, but it got me thinking more deeply about what is driving it.

  • First off, I think it is really in their hearts less about vintage than it is about ‘casual’. Vintage is just the name that got hung on it. Couples today are more concerned about having fun and seeing to the comfort of their guests than they are about being aspirational. Many see the more traditional hotel or banquet hall wedding reception as stuffy and constrained. In an effort to reduce stress they are abandoning that look for something they perceive as more casual and laid-back.
  • Second, I think the economy is driving it. Today’s couples are reaching out to alternative venues because they believe, correctly or not, that they are less expensive than a traditional wedding venue. These alternative venues are seen as unique and edgy. The venues, also effected by the economy, are reaching out to the bridal world as a new source of revenue.
  • Third, the vintage trend is seen as a Do-It-Yourselfer’s paradise. They can search flea markets and thrift shops for mismatched vases and mason jars and plop in a single daisy rather than rent beautiful silver vases and bowls from a rental company or a florist for over the top arrangements.
  • Perhaps the most important point, they are at heart copy-cats. Designing a wedding is something they have not done before. They search Pinterest and the wedding blogs not just for ideas but validation. If someone else has done it successfully they feel validated in their choices, even if it was done in a style shoot.
  • Which brings me to my last point. The blogs and style shoots, in an effort to “give the brides what they want” keep styling and showcasing vintage. It is stuck in a loop.

So how do we stop it?

As designers and stylists, you first have to understand what is driving it and then fill those needs. Today’s couples want highly personalized wedding with a casual, easy feel at a cost-effective price point. That doesn’t by default mean “Vintage”. It just means that is all they have been shown.

So put on your thinking caps, find some new inspiration, design your little hearts out and give them some alternatives. In your style shoots, don’t default to either vintage or over the top bling, find a middle ground. Understand their needs and desires and find new ways to execute them.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Inspiration, Marketing, Website Design, What's Hot Tagged With: , , , ,

Your Best Referrals Come From Other Vendors and I’m Going to Show You How to Get More

February 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

You have heard me say it when I talk about Bridal Shows and in articles like The Art of the Suck Up. One bride may send you one or two referrals, but a fellow wedding professional can send you dozens and even more over the course of your relationship. Isn’t it time you made it a bit easier for them to refer you?

I met with my friend Scoobie Schneider over lunch last week to talk about his new company, ShareWed.com. In a word, it’s brilliant!

Just imagine how much more often you would refer your fellow vendors (and they would refer you) if it was just a mouse click away? Bunches, I’m betting.

This system is so seamless and so intuitive that you will not believe it. Working with partner Glenn Cooper on the tech (FYI, Glenn works as a consultant for companies like Cisco Systems and Microsoft ) they solved the puzzle.

Here is how it works:

You meet with a bride and as a natural part of the conversation you ask her what other services she needs.

You plug her name, date and email into the system and all the vendors in your network pop up, conveniently sorted into categories.

You scroll down the list and click on your favorite vendors that fit her needs and the system sends her an email with your hand curated recommendations.

What could be easier?

Oh, ya, if that vendor is already booked for that date, they are marked out in red. Brilliant!

Not only that, but the vendors you referred get a heads up by email or text. Now they know you referred them. Good stuff.

Oh heck, why don’t I just let them explain it.

 But Christine, there aren’t any other vendors in my market yet :-(

That is a good thing! Huh? Because they have an affiliate program. For every vendor that signs up for ShareWed using your affiliate link, you get $20. Sign up your 6 favorite wedding professionals and you have recovered your costs for the first year.  

That is why I am posting this. I want my savvy readers to be the first in their markets. I want them to be the ones that benefit the most. There are coins to be made here; not just from the referrals but from the affiliate program too! I want you to be the ones to make that money. You deserve it.

Now, not only are you building an air tight, seamless referral network of your favorite wedding professionals, but you are basically doing it for free. What’s not to love.

Compare that to what you pay for listing type sites like the Knot or Wedding Wire where you hope brides see your ad.

Go on, click the link. You know you want to.  While you are at it, share it on Facebook and Twitter.

 

ShareWed

 

Filed Under: Announcement, Building Your Business, wedding marketing, What's Hot Tagged With: , ,

Understanding Pinterest

February 21, 2012 By 2 Comments

For the un-initiated, Pinterest can be a confusing mess. Some see it as a time waste, while others can’t figure out why it would even be popular or useful. Maybe I can help.

I am going to approach this from a marketing stand point. Be warned once you are hooked it will go way beyond that.

A poll just out from Shareaholic shows Pinterest refers more traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined. That should certainly answer a part of the ‘why’. The rest of that answer has to do with today’s brides. Pinterest is over 90% female. Today’s bride and millennials in general are very visual. They look at the pictures rather than read content. Pinterest is right up their alley. What once was a wedding planning binder is now a pin board. Got it? Good.

The next thing I keep hearing is “I signed up but I don’t know what to do”

 

Getting started with Pinterest

Give yourself an hour or four to get familiar with it. In this image you see a couple of things  I am going to point out to get you going. Hint, click the images to enlarge.Pinterest: An Overview

At first you have nothing, no boards, no pins so hold off on finding friends until you populate a little bit.

In the middle top under the word Pinterest you have some options. Click on ‘Everything’ and a drop down menu opens, you probably want to choose weddings & events as a jumping off point. An entire page of images will open. Now just start pinning stuff you like. Click on a picture, you will have the option to Pin it, Like it or Comment. You will also have a button to follow that person. If you like the stuff they are posting, by all means follow them. You can always unfollow later.

When you pin something it will ask you what board you wish to pin it to. Better create some boards! You can create boards on the fly when you pin something. So maybe “table decor”, ‘cakes’, ‘gowns’ whatever you fancy. It really is easier to create boards this way because you will be able to see what you’re pinning and organize it accordingly.

Now that you have a bit of a feel for it and some boards and pins it’s time to start connecting to people you know.

Finding friends on Pinterest


On the left hand top, under your name the drop down menu has the option to find friends. You can see which of your friends from Facebook are on Pinterest and
connect to them. Since I am talking about using this as a marketing tool you might want to start with the people in your industry that you know from Facebook. You don’t need to limit yourself to that, it is just a good place to start.The next time you open Pinterest, you will see all the pins from the people you are following. Repin all you want.

How, Christine, is this marketing my stuff?

It isn’t yet, that was just learning the ropes.

 

Marketing with Pinterest.

At the top left it says Add+  Open that and you have a screen that gives you the option to Add a pin, Upload a pin or create a board. You want to Add a pin. Just copy the url for an image on your website and paste it in. Rather that choosing the Upload option, the pin will link back to your website.

You need to have a Pin it button on your website so visitors can share your images and they will also link back to your website.

One more thing, when you set up your profile, you did make sure to include the name of your business and your website address, didn’t you?

How about using Pinterest for research?

When you open a pin, it show you who all has pinned it. With a little luck and a bit of intuition, you can tell which pinners are brides and which are in the industry. See how this one calls the board “Our Wedding?” Dead giveaway. Just takes a bit to get the hang of it. Check out the boards on the ones you suspect are brides. See what they are pinning. It should give you a decent read on the pulse of the market, both their dreams and their reality.

Also pay attention to which of your pins get repinned. Obviously something in that pin is worth paying attention to, it may just be a coming trend. You can change your email setting in your profile to notify you when certain actions take place.

I haven’t even touched on the search function.

Just like any other social media, if you are using this for business, think about what you pin. The pins you choose will show your personality in a way you can only imagine.

 

Let me know if you need an invitation.

 

 

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Marketing, Social Media, Trends, wedding marketing, What's Hot Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Understanding Pinterest

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For the un-initiated, Pinterest can be a confusing mess. Some see it as a time waste, while others can’t figure out why it would even be popular or useful. Maybe I can help.

I am going to approach this from a marketing stand point. Be warned once you are hooked it will go way beyond that.

A poll just out from Shareaholic shows Pinterest refers more traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined. That should certainly answer a part of the ‘why’. The rest of that answer has to do with today’s brides. Pinterest is over 90% female. Today’s bride and millennials in general are very visual. They look at the pictures rather than read content. Pinterest is right up their alley. What once was a wedding planning binder is now a pin board. Got it? Good.

The next thing I keep hearing is “I signed up but I don’t know what to do”

 

Getting started with Pinterest

Give yourself an hour or four to get familiar with it. In this image you see a couple of things  I am going to point out to get you going. Hint, click the images to enlarge.Pinterest: An Overview

At first you have nothing, no boards, no pins so hold off on finding friends until you populate a little bit.

In the middle top under the word Pinterest you have some options. Click on ‘Everything’ and a drop down menu opens, you probably want to choose weddings & events as a jumping off point. An entire page of images will open. Now just start pinning stuff you like. Click on a picture, you will have the option to Pin it, Like it or Comment. You will also have a button to follow that person. If you like the stuff they are posting, by all means follow them. You can always unfollow later.

When you pin something it will ask you what board you wish to pin it to. Better create some boards! You can create boards on the fly when you pin something. So maybe “table decor”, ‘cakes’, ‘gowns’ whatever you fancy. It really is easier to create boards this way because you will be able to see what you’re pinning and organize it accordingly.

Now that you have a bit of a feel for it and some boards and pins it’s time to start connecting to people you know.

Finding friends on Pinterest


On the left hand top, under your name the drop down menu has the option to find friends. You can see which of your friends from Facebook are on Pinterest and
connect to them. Since I am talking about using this as a marketing tool you might want to start with the people in your industry that you know from Facebook. You don’t need to limit yourself to that, it is just a good place to start.The next time you open Pinterest, you will see all the pins from the people you are following. Repin all you want.

How, Christine, is this marketing my stuff?

It isn’t yet, that was just learning the ropes.

 

Marketing with Pinterest.

At the top left it says Add+  Open that and you have a screen that gives you the option to Add a pin, Upload a pin or create a board. You want to Add a pin. Just copy the url for an image on your website and paste it in. Rather that choosing the Upload option, the pin will link back to your website.

You need to have a Pin it button on your website so visitors can share your images and they will also link back to your website.

One more thing, when you set up your profile, you did make sure to include the name of your business and your website address, didn’t you?

How about using Pinterest for research?

When you open a pin, it show you who all has pinned it. With a little luck and a bit of intuition, you can tell which pinners are brides and which are in the industry. See how this one calls the board “Our Wedding?” Dead giveaway. Just takes a bit to get the hang of it. Check out the boards on the ones you suspect are brides. See what they are pinning. It should give you a decent read on the pulse of the market, both their dreams and their reality.

Also pay attention to which of your pins get repinned. Obviously something in that pin is worth paying attention to, it may just be a coming trend. You can change your email setting in your profile to notify you when certain actions take place.

I haven’t even touched on the search function.

Just like any other social media, if you are using this for business, think about what you pin. The pins you choose will show your personality in a way you can only imagine.

 

Let me know if you need an invitation.

 

 

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Marketing, Social Media, Trends, wedding marketing, What's Hot Tagged With: , , , , , ,

BHLDN by Anthropologie Turns 1

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I am always talking about change and thinking differently; well here is an example that seems to be working.

BHLDN, the bridal and party dress line from Urban Outfitter, parent company of Anthropologie turned a year old on Valentine’s Day.  They took the position of being centered more on changing things and offering new options than just trying to jump into an already saturated market.

“”What we saw was a limited market,” said Kristin Norris, chief creative officer at Anthropologie and the creative force behind the BHLDN concept.

Elizabeth Cooksey works to set up the new bridal and event dress store BHLDN from the owners of Anthropologie on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 in the Gold Coast.

“We saw a lot of space for dresses that weren’t the princess dress, maybe with details and embellishments that are less expected. Maybe the bride didn’t want to pick up the dress nine months ahead of time.”

The chain launched the concept online to test the waters, followed by flagship stores in Houston and Chicago’s Gold Coast. While they state no plans for more stores in 2012, if the concept holds strong they would like to increase to between 50 to 100 locations.

Also from the same article

The idea behind the BHLDN shopping experience is to erase the intimidation that can often accompany shopping for a wedding dress, said Elizabeth Cooksey, director of stores.

In contrast to bridal salons, where a sales clerk sizes up the bride, disappears into a stock room and brings out gowns she thinks the bride will like, BHLDN keeps its wedding dresses on the racks so shoppers can browse on their own. And one room is devoted to a dozen mannequins dressed in wedding gowns and posed as if at a party, allowing shoppers to walk among them.

In a nod to both nostalgia and modernity, sales clerks are dressed in gray pinafore shopkeeper uniforms, while oversized dressing rooms tout iPod docking stations that allow the bridal party to listen to their own music selections as they shop.

Party dresses are near the entrance so shoppers don’t feel they have to be a bride to enter the store. Dresses and gowns range from $400 to $7,000.

Thinking differently seems to be working out for Urban Outfitters. ”According to the Chicago Tribune article, “ the company has said initial sales exceeded their expectations.”

How are you thinking differently?  Are you trying new things, boldly and fearlessly? You better be!

You can read the full article here.

 

Filed Under: Back to Basics, Building Your Business, Trends, wedding marketing, What Brides Say, What's Hot Tagged With: , , , , , ,

3 Reasons You Need to be on Pinterest

February 3, 2012 By 9 Comments

Surely you have heard of Pinterst by now. Pinterest is an invitation only site  (but invitations are easy to come by) where people curate images.

 

The number one reason you should be on Pinterest

is because your brides are.

Pinterest has replaced the binder full of pictures. Don’t be surprised to have brides waltz into your shop, pop out their iPad and start showing you their pins. You want them to be pinning your work! You can upload your images or just pin images of your work that others have posted.

Number 2. There is no better way to know what trends1 are rising then to keep up with what brides are pinning. Follow brides in your market and around the world. You will quickly see what is catching their eye.

Number 3. It gets your creative juices flowing. One idea leads to another. Don’t be afraid to pin the work of others. Brides will get a good idea of your taste and that helps them choose you.

 

FYI Pinterest is also the biggest time sink going right now, so be forewarned. You really should  follow my boards.

1 Top trends I am seeing, ombre cakes and it seems every other bride is in love with chuphas and mandaps, regardless of their religion.

Filed Under: Trends, What Brides Say, What's Hot Tagged With: , ,

Is E-commerce Something You Could Do?

January 6, 2012 By 1 Comment

I am seeing the twinkling of a trend among small independent wedding vendors. E-commerce is beginning to come into play more and more as either an additional service or product or a full on pure play. Monday I’ll start my third E-commerce site in the last 2 months.shopping carts and ecommerce for wedding vendors

How, you ask, are wedding vendors using Ecommerce? They are using it in a variety of ways. I’m not going to give away their ideas, but I can tell you that it runs the gambit from hand-crafted products, to personalized design services to gift cards.

This all ties into what I have been saying about really thinking about what makes you unique and how you can use that to enlarge both your offerings and your niche.

Capitalize on your reputation to expand your business.

Think about what you can pre-package, so to speak. Suppose I were still baking. Now my wedding cakes were all one of a kind designs and not something I could have sold on the internet, but my hand made truffles would have worked. For that matter, if I had really wanted to go for it, I could have sold just the designs, cake blue prints, if you like. Brides could have then taken them to their auntie or local baker to bake and decorate.  Do you see where I am going with this?

Put on your thinking cap and go for a walk outside the box. 

One of the amazing things about the internet, is that you can try these kinds of things out relatively cheaply. Put a page on your site with your products and a simple shopping cart for a small investment. If it works, then you can think about really investing in it. If it doesn’t, take down the page off your site and you are out a couple of hundred buck, tops.

Next week, I’m going to take you on a tour of what I think are a couple of the best sites to emulate to market both your current business and an eCommerce play.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Blog, Building Your Business, Trends, Website Design, What's Hot Tagged With: , , ,

The Changing Face of The American Wedding

June 29, 2011 By 3 Comments

I set out this morning with the intention of doing one of my Trend Tracker post. You know, where I run through about 1000 posts in my reader quickly to see what jumps out. Well today, what jumped out was a little deeper than colors and feathers, circuses and painted signs.

What jumped out was a different way of thinking about weddings, to be more precise, how couples are thinking differently about their wedding.

There seems to be a feeling or yearning for the small town, tight knit community of family and friends. Gone is the urban chic. Even the Mad Men look was no where to be found. I felt transported to a time and place when life was simpler. A time of picnics in the town square, concerts in the band shell, carnivals that appeared magically on the outskirts of town, a time of farmhouses and faded picket fences.

I saw more and more of families pitching in to help the couple realize their dreams. Think of the new American wedding as a modern day barn raising.

If you will notice, I used the word ‘couple ‘ in the 4th sentence instead of ‘bride’. That is another change that is just beginning to emerge. Because weddings are increasingly being financed by the couple, the men are becoming more involved and to a lesser degree, more excited by the wedding planning process.

I have long maintained that more and more, brides are getting their information from blogs, chat and forums. I ran across an interesting thread that helps to explain why. There are several pages to this thread, but this one statement tell the story better than I ever could. Mainstream wedding media, pay attention.

Shortly after getting engaged, a recently married co-worker suggesting I check out Weddingbee. She said of all the wedding websites, Weddingbee was her favorite as it followed real brides on real budgets. (emphasis mine)

Two more  interesting threads concerns the desire of some brides to blow off the fluff and pouf altogether. The first is from Weddingbee and illustrates that despite their desires, brides were into full on planning mode due to pressure from not only their families but also the groom.  In the second thread the Tribe Community manager for OffBeat Bride explains that she really isn’t all that OffBeat. This quote explains why she wasn’t a fit for traditional wedding media:

I don’t do the poetic schmoopy thing very well, but to ME, being offbeat is putting your marriage and relationship ahead of your wedding and being true to the people you are every day. It means that your wedding (ie: a party) exists to honor the two of you, and to celebrate you choosing to spend the rest of your lives together with the people you adore. It’s not a showcase of wealth and taste, carefully tailored to inspire envy, covetousness, and awe in as many people as possible … it’s a showcase of your love

Well said Ang.

More and more I see the face of the American wedding changing in some very positive ways. Oh maybe not positive for the wedding professionals that still yearn for the “More is better” heyday of  2008; but a big plus for our society and for the vendors that change and adapt with it.

 

Oh ya, the Trend Tracker

 

Colors are softer, dresses are softer, finishes are softer, it is like the world is looking at wedding by squinting.

 

 

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Filed Under: Announcement, Trends, What Brides Say, What's Hot Tagged With:

Twitter. How the Big Boys Roll

May 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

…and I bet you are doing it better than some.

I ran across this article that shows the results of an experiment digital agency IQ ran to see just how Fortune 500 companies were doing at social media. With the exception of a few, most of them sucked.  Check this quote:

The results? HP, UPS, Wells Fargo and GM stood out as top-performing brands, according to five best practices that IQ gleaned from the study: clearly labeling the purpose of a Twitter account; clearly identifying who is replying to a question; keeping the tone light and friendly; making sure you respond; and responding quickly.

Of the 50 companies, IQ did not send tweets to 16 because the agency couldn’t find a Twitter account, couldn’t find an account that seemed credible, or the Twitter accounts it did find were too specific in their topics.

Of the remaining 34 companies, 23 responded to McFather’s tweets. Among the 11 that didn’t: Boeing, Exxon Mobile, Home Depot, Walgreens and Wal-Mart. The fastest to reply were GM, UPS and Best Buy — getting back in 2,3 and 4 minutes, respectively. (Best Buy has previously gained recognition for its Twelpforce customer service page on Twitter.) These companies also quickly redirected messages sent to the incorrect accounts for customer service.

For companies that spend more on marketing than you or I could ever fathom, that says something. What that something is I’m not quite sure.Are you a Twitter Queen?

  • Are they afraid to take risks?
  • Do they just not get it?
  • Are they still trying to turn the battleship of their giant company?
  • Like so many, are they deluded into thinking that things will go back to the way they were 10 years ago?

I follow the Twitter feeds of many of you and I see how in touch you are. I also see far too many client come to me with no plan or in some cases even a glimmer of understanding of the what, why and how of Twitter.

Everyday, social media like Twitter becomes standard operating practice as a way for people to find the information that they need. The simple fact that Twitter is searchable is reson enough that you can not ignore it.

You can read the full article here at Media Post Publications or download the white paper with the full results from IQ’s website. It’s a short paper; be sure to check out page 2 for some great examples.

Filed Under: Social Media, wedding marketing, What's Hot Tagged With: , ,

My Flip Wedding and Staying Ahead of the Curve

March 15, 2011 By 1 Comment

I have built a reputation of being pretty spot on in terms of trend tracking, well here is the next one.

I rarely take on clients for full on marketing campaigns anymore, but this one was too hot to pass up.  I want you, my faithful readers to be ahead of the curve.

In the coming months, your brides are going to be asking you about My Flip Wedding. What, you ask, is a Flip Wedding? It is the brain child of the wonderful folks at Storymix Media and it is a way for brides and grooms to capture the memories of their wedding (before and beyond) in a DIY way with amazing results.

Storymix Media will rent the simple to use little Flip cameras as a package, your bride then gets them into the hands of the people who know her best, her friends and family. Once they have filmed the bits and pieces of the big day from their unique point of view, the cameras are packed up and sent back to Storymix Media. They upload the footage and then the bride can use their easy-peasy storyboard editing system to pick the scenes, the theme and the music. The Apple Certified Pros at Storymix then edit them into a wonderful highlight reel.

Videographers, don’t panic. This isn’t to replace you, this is in addition to you.

I think, even cooler than couples using it for their wedding are all the other applications I am seeing. Grooms are using them for their bachelor party, brides are capturing their shower and girls day. Couples are taking them on their honeymoon. The possibilities are endless. You see the thing is, sometimes your best friends and family see things that you (and your videographer) miss. It is like getting to be a guest at your wedding.

You can find out more in today’s press release. You can also check out the Man Registry for a post later today. Next month, OffBeat Bride is doing a feature on My Flip Wedding.

Here is one more thing that you might find useful. Mike and Ariane Fisher, the brains behind Storymix Media are offering an affiliate program. If you have a retail storefront or are a planner, this is one more way to add a little cha-ching to your bottom line. Think of the impluse buy possibilities. We are still in the building stages of the affiliate program, so if you have some input, let me know.

Here is another heads up. I am seeing some copy-cats start to climb out of the wood work. Don’t go there. Mike and Ariane at Storymix Media have been doing this since 2006 for pros and consumers alike. The new part is that now they have launched a wedding division specifically for the bridal market. Trust me, the team at Storymix Media knows what they are doing.

 

For the record, no this isn’t a sponsored post but they are a client of mine.

Filed Under: Announcement, Trends, What's Hot Tagged With: ,
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