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Brides Need A Reality Check

April 10, 2012 By 10 Comments

On my continuing rant of “Where do they come up with this shit” I had some very interesting conversations this week.

I was talking to a planner that is trying to, umm, fix the budget a bride prepared for her. Some of the little things the bride got WRONG:

Budget for invitations: $0.47 each. Can you even get a postcard and mail it for that?

Total budget for bouquets for herself and 8 attendants: $200. No, not one bouquet, all of them. Oh ya, she did toss in an extra $50 for the 9 bouts.

Moving on. I spoke with a florist that was dealing with a bride that found the perfect rose in the perfect color online. Problem is, the rose was on a site for hybrid tea roses, the kind you grow in your garden and they only came as bare root plants. The wedding is 2 weeks out. Um, that’s not happening!

Same florist different bride. Bride wants anemones for her wedding in November. Florist double checked with growers. Anemones start hitting the market in late December and hit their peak from January to April. Bride said,”NO, we Googled it and they come into season in October.” Maybe Google knows something the growers don’t.

Then I found this little video from Planet Money. The author obviously forgot little things like shipping and overhead for the shop selling it and maybe even a bit of profit. I’ll bet she is also the first one to scream”SWEATSHOP” at the first mention of Chinese manufacturing.


YouTube

One of your jobs as professionals is to educate your brides. That isn’t the easiest thing to do. There is a show on HGTV that I am addicted to called Property Brothers. They have figured out a way to educate their clients; it’s called shock therapy! They show them the house of their dreams and give them just enough time to fall in love with it. Then they hit them with the asking price which usually runs about double their budget.

Reality Check!

Once the shock wears off, the client is ready to tackle some less than perfect homes and some serious renovations to get what they want.

You may want to consider this with your clients. That is if you have the chops to pull it off.
A very wise friend once told me,

“It’s easy to pull off a gorgeous wedding when you have a $60,000 budget. It’s the real pros that can do it for $15,000.”

 

Please, oh please leave your examples of brides in need of a reality check. I could use the chuckle.
Besides, it would be good for us all to know we aren’t the only ones hearing this shit!!
Filed Under: Back to Basics, Blog, Horror Stories, Rants & Raves Tagged With: , , ,

The Wedding Industry Has Turned the Corner

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I keep hearing the rumblings of recovery in the wind.

It’s little things. Bridal show attendance is up nationwide. Brides are booking appointments at the show and after. Vendors are telling me that brides budgets are creeping up. The median price of bridal gowns is up. Vendors are hiring and expanding their business. The business’ that are making it are starting to buy up the one’s that are failing.

I spoke with one bridal salon owner that increased her business 600% over last January. I spoke with a caterer that is up 130% over last year and almost on track with 2007′s numbers.

Everywhere I hear “It’s gonna be a helluva year.”

 

So here is my question, why are the same people who were tossing fairy dust last year now spreading volcanic ash telling people how bad the industry is and that you have to buy their seminar/coaching/white paper?

Oh right, it’s a sales tactic.

Don’t listen to them, listen to your gut. Listen to your phone and the brides you talk to. Hope and the power of positive are powerful things. Don’t let the volcano ash merchants steal that from you.

You know that if nothing else, I tell it like it is. I was one of the first ones out there to tell you it was bad and going to get worse. I was right then and I’ll bet my lunch I’m right about this.

Listen, our country has been through some tough economic times. We have learned some lessons and made some adjustments. Now those are starting to pay off. Couples that put off their weddings were busy making adjustments, now they are ready to go. They are booking in larger numbers and spending in greater amounts. Last night a caterer was telling me how nice it was to have couples once again have decent budgets for 250 guests.

I am not the only one seeing this trend.

According to Paul Pannone of eWedNewz,

No one I have spoken to that has an established business has told me things are still bad. Over the last two years, they have looked at the parts of their business that were lacking and have made adjustments. Whether it was a website that needed upgrading or styles that needed to be brought up to date or investing in social media, the downturn highlighted them. Two years down the road, the adjustments have been made and the businesses are starting to take off.

This from Jim Duhe, long time publisher of Bridal Guide,

Today’s bridal couples are older, better educated, and more affluent than ever before in history.  It’s logical to assume that there will be tremendous changes in the bridal market place — changes that affect the way that we all do business.  In spite of these changes — or maybe even because of them — there are amazing opportunities for all wedding professionals.   That doesn’t mean that business will fall in our laps but it does mean that it will be there for innovative professionals who embrace the change rather than fight it.

This from Steve Lang, CEO Mon Cheri,LLC

All I can add is that I had a record year in 2011 and so far my shipments are up 11% this year
January was the single largest shipping month in the history of my firm.

 Have you used this time wisely?

You see, back before the bubble burst, the money was rolling in so fast you couldn’t see the parts that needed improvement. The positive thing to come out of the economic upheaval is that the smart entrepreneurs used this new lens to take a good look at their business and make the adjustments needed. Now that the brides  have made their own adjustments, it’s time to rock and roll.

Are you ready for this?

 

Filed Under: Back to Basics, Blog, Building Your Business, Inspiration Tagged With: , , , ,

We All Just Want To Be Big Rock Stars*

December 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I watched an interesting documentary this weekend, Page One. There were several takeaways that I discussed with my journalist friends. There is one I want to share with you.
Have you noticed the growing industry within the industry?  Wedding industry sales and training conferences.  Why is that? With even more information on the web everyday you would think that getting people together to hear the same group of talking heads spout generalities and rehash the same old tips would be fading. I wondered why people would continue to pay thousands of dollars to have someone blow fairy dust up their skirt.You’ve seen them.

Double your income in 5 easy steps!
Be a six-figure wedding planner!

Now I think I understand.

In the film, Page One, Brian Carr, a long time reporter for the New York Times, was asked why there were suddenly so many conferences for newspaper professionals. His answer set off a light bulb in my head. He said that it was a way for people in a deeply troubled industry to get together and feel like they are still relevant.

Oooo, ouch. You aren’t going to like my correlation.

I have always maintained that the most learning at these conferences took place in the halls and over food and libations with the people you met. I stand by that. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against learning and expanding your view and knowledge, but there is one of these “Industry Expert Conferences” every month now, if not more often. So why bother with the conference part? Because there are people that make a heck of a lot of money off them for one thing.

Another thing is all that fairy dust. The cold hard numbers about the wedding industry aren’t anything to write home about. Brides are spending less, in more unconventional ways and there are more people entering the industry than ever before. Yet here are these ‘experts’ sprinkling fairy dust and telling everyone to “believe.” Every one goes home in a bright eyed endorphin fueled haze, been there, done that. Six months later they crash and need another fix. Quite simply, the fairy dust merchants make them feel better.

OK, here is the rock star tie in…
Have you ever wondered about these industry experts? There are a few out there that I have a ton of respect for, like Jacqueline Johnson and Sheryl Davis. Oddly, those are the ones you rarely hear about. They go quietly about their jobs of helping to shape their part of the industry with out waving banners proclaiming themselves know -it -alls.  Most of the rest of them, they are either selling their product or they just want to be industry rock stars. Either they rehash the same old information over and over again or instead of teaching you anything you are subjected to a very thinly veiled sales pitch. Oh, but you did get your dose of fairy dust.

*Thanks to Nickleback for the inspiration and the headline.

YouTube

Filed Under: Announcement, Back to Basics, Rants & Raves Tagged With:

We All Just Want To Be Big Rock Stars*

December 13, 2011 By 2 Comments

I watched an interesting documentary this weekend, Page One. There were several takeaways that I discussed with my journalist friends. There is one I want to share with you.
Have you noticed the growing industry within the industry?  Wedding industry sales and training conferences.  Why is that? With even more information on the web everyday you would think that getting people together to hear the same group of talking heads spout generalities and rehash the same old tips would be fading. I wondered why people would continue to pay thousands of dollars to have someone blow fairy dust up their skirt.You’ve seen them.

Double your income in 5 easy steps!
Be a six-figure wedding planner!

Now I think I understand.

In the film, Page One, Brian Carr, a long time reporter for the New York Times, was asked why there were suddenly so many conferences for newspaper professionals. His answer set off a light bulb in my head. He said that it was a way for people in a deeply troubled industry to get together and feel like they are still relevant.

Oooo, ouch. You aren’t going to like my correlation.

I have always maintained that the most learning at these conferences took place in the halls and over food and libations with the people you met. I stand by that. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against learning and expanding your view and knowledge, but there is one of these “Industry Expert Conferences” every month now, if not more often. So why bother with the conference part? Because there are people that make a heck of a lot of money off them for one thing.

Another thing is all that fairy dust. The cold hard numbers about the wedding industry aren’t anything to write home about. Brides are spending less, in more unconventional ways and there are more people entering the industry than ever before. Yet here are these ‘experts’ sprinkling fairy dust and telling everyone to “believe.” Every one goes home in a bright eyed endorphin fueled haze, been there, done that. Six months later they crash and need another fix. Quite simply, the fairy dust merchants make them feel better.

OK, here is the rock star tie in…
Have you ever wondered about these industry experts? There are a few out there that I have a ton of respect for, like Jacqueline Johnson and Sheryl Davis. Oddly, those are the ones you rarely hear about. They go quietly about their jobs of helping to shape their part of the industry with out waving banners proclaiming themselves know -it -alls.  Most of the rest of them, they are either selling their product or they just want to be industry rock stars. Either they rehash the same old information over and over again or instead of teaching you anything you are subjected to a very thinly veiled sales pitch. Oh, but you did get your dose of fairy dust.

*Thanks to Nickleback for the inspiration and the headline.

YouTube

Filed Under: Announcement, Back to Basics, Rants & Raves Tagged With:

Get Married Folds. What’s Next?

December 1, 2011 By 6 Comments

All the buzz yesterday in the Wedding Water Cooler was about the demise of Get Married. According to their press release, the once promising platform will cease operation on December 16th, 2011.

When they first hit the scene, it looked like a winning idea; the marriage of print, online and TV. Sadly, they never got the kind of support from TV that was needed.  Web TV is still in it’s infancy and didn’t come fast enough for the folks at Get Married. They needed big backing from networks like Bravo or Lifetime and it didn’t come. Now whether that was a money thing or the programming they were producing just wasn’t that good, it was still a fail. Without the TV component being big, really big, Get Married was just another national wedding portal. Yawn.

Another nail in their coffin was the deal with Taylor Corporation. While I’m sure it brought a much needed cash infusion, it came at a price. The magazine became little more than a catalog for Taylor’s products. That was a slap in the face of any small local advertiser that Get Married hoped to attract. It also brought the unwanted problem of corporate masters. As long as Get Married retained it’s independence, it could remain nimble. Not so much with old school corporate investors breathing down your neck every quarter.

In short, another one bites the dust.

There was much discussion yesterday about whose next on the chopping block.  Here is how I see it:

The big boys aren’t going anywhere. Oh they may hunker down, shrink and layoff some folks, but I don’t see them folding. For instance, I can’t see Conde Nast folding their one remaining bridal title. David’s and the Knot have enough cash to ride out the economic storm for a while longer. They are the exceptions. What I don’t see them doing is gobbling up the small competitors as they start to devalue. Get Married tried that and no one was buying.

 

Here are the losers:

The Gajillion small websites that thought they could be the next Knot. National portals are dead and they are going to start folding quietly but at an amazing rate.

You will probably see more closings along the line of Encore Studios. I don’t just mean in the invitation business, but bloated, old-school thinkers that deal in volume rather than service. This group may or may not include some more bridal gown manufacturers.

I think a large percentage of the folks that rushed into the bridal world when they lost their corporate gigs or graduated university and couldn’t find a job will give up. It isn’t the “paved in gold”  party all the time, recession proof industry they thought it was.

What does this mean for we that remain? Hunker down, market local, build your own online presence and sit back and watch. It’s gonna be fun!

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Horror Stories, Trends Tagged With: , ,

…of Pirates, Rockstars and Wannabes

May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There has been much grumbling swirling about lately of some wedding vendors getting a bit to big for their britches; or as my father used to say “If your head gets any bigger I’m going to have to enlarge the door!”

Then along comes the best quote on the topic I could imagine. On the DVD extras for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Keith Richards, one of the biggest, honest to God Rockstars, has the the following exchange with Johnny Depp, a star in his own right. Depp calls Richards “The Maestro” to which Richards responds,

“I didn’t become one, everybody out there made me one. Pleased to meet you, glad you know my name.”


YouTube

Now baby, that is genuine humility.

Follow this up with the article on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times titled “The Gossip Machine, Churning Out Cash” and you begin to get an understanding of what is going on in our industry. The article talks about B and C list celebrities that are busy feeding the tabloids their latest atrocities just to extend their 15 seconds of fame. People like Lindsay Lohan’s dad and the Kardashian’s. People who have done nothing and have nothing to offer besides their meager ‘fame’.

In our industry, you have 2-bit planners feeding the media machine with there greatness. You have videographers stating on their blog that the other vendors at a wedding are only there to make the video look good. Meanwhile, the real celebs in the wedding industry are keeping a low profile and doing what they do best. They are working hard and attracting clients by putting on the best weddings possible.

Now you know me, I am all about marketing.

But I have got to tell you that using social media to market how famous you are is not the same as marketing what you do. If you have to tell people how famous you are, you aren’t famous.

I am beginning to get the distinct feeling that some of these freshly minted, self-proclaimed wedding gurus are having a really hard time making a living doing weddings since the crash and are now earning their income just being celebrities.

Listen to Mr Richards. Let your fans make you a star, don’t try to make yourself one. You just end up looking foolish, like Micheal Lohan.

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

…of Pirates, Rockstars and Wannabes

May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There has been much grumbling swirling about lately of some wedding vendors getting a bit to big for their britches; or as my father used to say “If your head gets any bigger I’m going to have to enlarge the door!”

Then along comes the best quote on the topic I could imagine. On the DVD extras for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Keith Richards, one of the biggest, honest to God Rockstars, has the the following exchange with Johnny Depp, a star in his own right. Depp calls Richards “The Maestro” to which Richards responds,

“I didn’t become one, everybody out there made me one. Pleased to meet you, glad you know my name.”


YouTube

Now baby, that is genuine humility.

Follow this up with the article on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times titled “The Gossip Machine, Churning Out Cash” and you begin to get an understanding of what is going on in our industry. The article talks about B and C list celebrities that are busy feeding the tabloids their latest atrocities just to extend their 15 seconds of fame. People like Lindsay Lohan’s dad and the Kardashian’s. People who have done nothing and have nothing to offer besides their meager ‘fame’.

In our industry, you have 2-bit planners feeding the media machine with there greatness. You have videographers stating on their blog that the other vendors at a wedding are only there to make the video look good. Meanwhile, the real celebs in the wedding industry are keeping a low profile and doing what they do best. They are working hard and attracting clients by putting on the best weddings possible.

Now you know me, I am all about marketing.

But I have got to tell you that using social media to market how famous you are is not the same as marketing what you do. If you have to tell people how famous you are, you aren’t famous.

I am beginning to get the distinct feeling that some of these freshly minted, self-proclaimed wedding gurus are having a really hard time making a living doing weddings since the crash and are now earning their income just being celebrities.

Listen to Mr Richards. Let your fans make you a star, don’t try to make yourself one. You just end up looking foolish, like Micheal Lohan.

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Are You Chasing Unicorns?

April 25, 2011 By 2 Comments

This quote from today’s eWedNews really got me fired up.

eWedNews’ ongoing discussions with every category shows most wedding professionals have not taken the most basic, simple steps to know what their market value really is. Many say they’re focused on products, website traffic and honing efficiencies to make their business run better. Many have no answers when asked if they could be chasing after business that really isn’t there.

Isn’t one of the most basic parts of a business plan the question of whether a market even exists for your product at your price point? What you want to sell may or may not have any relationship to what your market will buy.

I hear it all the time.

Client:I really only want to do luxury weddings.

Me:Really. How many weddings over $250k are there in End of the Road, Idaho?

C: I don’t know.

Me: uh-huh….and what is the average budget of a weddings in your market and what is the total market value in your area?

C:I don’t know, exactly, but my usual bride has about $12K. I see weddings in the magazines all the time that must have budgets more like a quarter of a million. I know I can do those weddings.

Me: uh-huh.Why do you think better marketing will really make those $12k budgets magically find more money? How many people in End of the Road, Idaho can afford that kind of wedding?

The wedding industry is beginning to make some small gains after the debacle of 2008, but we are no where near the free spending heyday of  pre-recession America. Oh, and you can keep hoping but the wedding of Wills and Kate isn’t really going to change that drastically. The recession has changed the way many of today’s couples look at all things wedding. It is less about the spectacle and more about the meaning.

Rather than just wishing for the market to miraculouslly rebound, or building your business plan around the weddings you see in magazines, how about taking a real look around your own market. The information is out there, it’s called The Wedding Report. Take the time to find out what the budgets in your area really are. What are the couples in your area really spending on gowns and venues and flowers and transportation.

You may just find that you have been pinning your hopes on catching a Unicorn while ignoring the herds of beautiful horses that surround you.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Back to Basics Tagged With: , , ,

Shane McMurray on How to Price Your Product

March 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Nobody knows how to sweep away the fairy dust with a GIANT broom of numbers, facts and statistic like McMurray.

Shane has been the undisputed champion of honest numbers for as long as I have been in the market.  Every day we face the major media in the wedding industry sprinkling their peculiar brand of fairy dust to convince you that the world and the economy is a big bowl of cherries. McMurray’s honest numbers and analytical approach has a way of pointing out the pits in that bowl.

In this video, McMurry takes that same analytic approach to show you what you need to do to price your business to dominate the marketplace and your bottom line.

Pour a cup of coffee and learn something.

Filed Under: Back to Basics, Building Your Business, wedding marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Fairy Dust in The Wedding Industry

October 4, 2010 By 1 Comment

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the drop in the number of weddings and the move away from the over the top wedding to a new style of causualness. Certain people have been crawling out of the woodwork to shake their finger at the so called predictions of gloom and doom.

I am sorry to say that these are no longer just predictions; they are facts backed up with empirical data. Read the Wedding Report. Shane McMurray has been doing an outstanding job of getting the data and getting it out there.

I don’t bring you these facts and warnings to get you down. I do it to open your eyes. I have been predicting for the last 2 years that the climate was changing; that what the wedding industry had become was unsustainable. My goal is as it always has been, to keep you ahead of the curve.

Unfortunately there has also been a real uptick in seminars and conferences that are beating the same old drum from a few years ago. They are trying their best to sprinkle fairy dust over reality in hopes of getting you pumped up to keep doing things the same old way. They want you to leave their workshops with a cheery smile and a “the world is GREAT” attitude. That is how they get you to talk it up for next year.

Well in reality, I want the same thing for you, but I won’t do it by blowing smoke up you skirt and sprinkling the truth with magical fairy dust. I do it by arming you with the unvarnished truth and the tools to meet this new reality.

Pop your head out of the wedding bubble for a minute and read some of the hard news that is out there. The mood and the thinking of this great country of ours, and a great part of the rest of the world, is changing.  People are reordering their thinking. Life isn’t about the show anymore.

You have got to see today’s brides for who they are. You can not base your business or your marketing on who the brides of even 2 years ago were.

There isn’t a silver bullet. Social media and blogging won’t do it if you aren’t offering today’s bride what she wants in the way she wants to receive it. The key is facing reality and making the changes needed to fit the new model.

Face it, if all you are pushing are silver candleabrum and the brides in your market are all suddenly in love with daisies in mason jars, you aren’t going to book her. No matter how good your social media skills are.

Filed Under: Facts & Stat Tagged With: , ,