Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Vendor Selection Part one!
Today's topic is a very important one for any bride. Even as a coordinator I know the importance of picking the right vendor because I have to work with these people every day. The reason why you want to make sure you have the right vendor for you is that you are trusting this company or person with an element of your very special day. You want to make sure and interview each vendor and get quotes as well. I will give you some sample questions for each vendor and hopefully that will shed some light onto this for you.
Reception Site:
1) What is the charge? What is included in that rate? How Many Hours will that cover?
2) What is the seating Capacity?
3)How is the parking situation? Is there Valet Parking?
4) Is Catering provided and if not can you provide your own?
5) Is Alcohol provided and if we have to provide our own is there a charge?
6) If we would like to have a band or a DJ is there a place to set them up?
7) Is there a cleanup fee or is that included in the rental?
8) Can we rent other necessities? What are the fees associated with this?
Cake Vendors:
1) Do you have pictures of cakes you have made for other weddings?
2) If we want something different, can you do a customized cake for us?
3) If we need a cake for a certain amount of guests can you do that? How much will that cost?
4) Will you deliver the cake to our reception site? Is there a delivery charge?
5) How far in advance do we need to order the cake?
Catering Vendors:
1) What can you offer us within our budget?
2) What about substitutions for special dietary needs?
3) Will we need to provide our own dishes, silverware, napkins and so on? If you provide them can we see samples?
4) How many servers will there be, and will there be cleanup?
5) Is there a charge to cut and serve the cake?
6) What is the deposit schedule?
7) When Do you need the final count?
These three things are a lot to think about. Tomorrow we will focus just on flowers and music.
Above anything the importance of great selection is that this is YOUR day. You want everything to be perfect and you need to find a vendor who will supply you with what you need. Do not get discouraged right off the bat. If you live in a small area and you think there is only one way to go you may be surprised to find out more by going to bridal expos or just joining forums.
As always the importance of having a coordinator is that they can go with you to these consultations and make sure that the vendor is a reliable one. Coordinators also have a suggested list of vendors they have worked with before.
Good luck!
Reception Site:
1) What is the charge? What is included in that rate? How Many Hours will that cover?
2) What is the seating Capacity?
3)How is the parking situation? Is there Valet Parking?
4) Is Catering provided and if not can you provide your own?
5) Is Alcohol provided and if we have to provide our own is there a charge?
6) If we would like to have a band or a DJ is there a place to set them up?
7) Is there a cleanup fee or is that included in the rental?
8) Can we rent other necessities? What are the fees associated with this?
Cake Vendors:
1) Do you have pictures of cakes you have made for other weddings?
2) If we want something different, can you do a customized cake for us?
3) If we need a cake for a certain amount of guests can you do that? How much will that cost?
4) Will you deliver the cake to our reception site? Is there a delivery charge?
5) How far in advance do we need to order the cake?
Catering Vendors:
1) What can you offer us within our budget?
2) What about substitutions for special dietary needs?
3) Will we need to provide our own dishes, silverware, napkins and so on? If you provide them can we see samples?
4) How many servers will there be, and will there be cleanup?
5) Is there a charge to cut and serve the cake?
6) What is the deposit schedule?
7) When Do you need the final count?
These three things are a lot to think about. Tomorrow we will focus just on flowers and music.
Above anything the importance of great selection is that this is YOUR day. You want everything to be perfect and you need to find a vendor who will supply you with what you need. Do not get discouraged right off the bat. If you live in a small area and you think there is only one way to go you may be surprised to find out more by going to bridal expos or just joining forums.
As always the importance of having a coordinator is that they can go with you to these consultations and make sure that the vendor is a reliable one. Coordinators also have a suggested list of vendors they have worked with before.
Good luck!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Time to dust off this blog
Was it me or did that holiday season just wipe us all out?! Between working what I call my big girl job and trying to keep my coordinating going- I was beat. Now here I am refreshed and ready for whatever life throws my way!
I have joined forces with some other local small business owners to put together a co-op, we refer to ourselves as the Co-Op of DOOM! We are currently planning a Bridal Expo for our area. Its not as easy as it might sound to some. At this point we have the vendors pretty well on the way to being secured- now we get to advertise. Which brings me to today's topic... advertising. I know up until now I have focused on Weddings but indulge me a moment here.
What makes an event an event? It is not the mere planning of it no- we must have attendance! I have done BIG advertisement with radio and television! But nothing proved better to me than an old fashioned grass roots scheme with a bit of the big advertisement mixed in.
Lets say you are hosting a benefit. On one side of the benefit you may be asking select investors to attend. For this is suggest an intimate cocktail party with a very nice invitation sent out to those you wish to have in attendance. You have to have a gimmick in place to make them want to come. If you live in a rural area people love to have a chance to do something out of the norm. Throw a traditional cocktail party and send out beautiful invitations. If you live in the city you can do the same thing. Just make sure they want to be there. Put the cause on the invitation.
Lets look at the other side on a benefit. THE BIG EVENT. First step is to secure your setting, time and what is going on. Then pick an advertising chair for the event. This person will be in charge of creation and delegation. This is the face of your event. Your advertising chair will speak to local television and radio professionals, they will also approach stores with posters to hang. Yes, you have to do BOTH forms of media. They may hear it on the radio but a 60 second spot can only do so much for you. People are bound to only hear part of your message in any kind of media but if you cover all bases they are bond to hear it all!
Important information you want on ANY type of advertisement.
1) WHAT? What the heck is going on?
2) WHERE? Where in heck is it happening?
3) WHEN? When in heck do you want us there?
4) WHO? Who the heck are you?
5) WHY? Why the heck are you doing this?
Follow that up with a nice image that displays what you are doing. If you are hosting a Halloween benefit make sure the image goes with the theme. Do not confuse people by placing a Christmas tree on it.
Make sure you proof read your advertisement. Send it to a friend and have them read it. Read it backwards (it works try it). Whatever you do DON'T Send it to print with typos (I learned this the hard way). Typos mean you have to redo the whole process and not only is that expensive but it is also not earth friendly.
So once you have all the ads made- its LIST MAKING TIME! List all of the business' you want to approach to hang posters. Check them off as you go... this way you will not keep sending people to them to ask to hang posters.
Once you advertise make sure you follow through with all of the things it says on your advert. Don't change your mind about something you promise- that is false advertising and people tend to not like that. Just make sure that whatever you say you will do you do. Enjoy your well attended event!
Thank you for entertaining my off wedding tangent!
I have joined forces with some other local small business owners to put together a co-op, we refer to ourselves as the Co-Op of DOOM! We are currently planning a Bridal Expo for our area. Its not as easy as it might sound to some. At this point we have the vendors pretty well on the way to being secured- now we get to advertise. Which brings me to today's topic... advertising. I know up until now I have focused on Weddings but indulge me a moment here.
What makes an event an event? It is not the mere planning of it no- we must have attendance! I have done BIG advertisement with radio and television! But nothing proved better to me than an old fashioned grass roots scheme with a bit of the big advertisement mixed in.
Lets say you are hosting a benefit. On one side of the benefit you may be asking select investors to attend. For this is suggest an intimate cocktail party with a very nice invitation sent out to those you wish to have in attendance. You have to have a gimmick in place to make them want to come. If you live in a rural area people love to have a chance to do something out of the norm. Throw a traditional cocktail party and send out beautiful invitations. If you live in the city you can do the same thing. Just make sure they want to be there. Put the cause on the invitation.
Lets look at the other side on a benefit. THE BIG EVENT. First step is to secure your setting, time and what is going on. Then pick an advertising chair for the event. This person will be in charge of creation and delegation. This is the face of your event. Your advertising chair will speak to local television and radio professionals, they will also approach stores with posters to hang. Yes, you have to do BOTH forms of media. They may hear it on the radio but a 60 second spot can only do so much for you. People are bound to only hear part of your message in any kind of media but if you cover all bases they are bond to hear it all!
Important information you want on ANY type of advertisement.
1) WHAT? What the heck is going on?
2) WHERE? Where in heck is it happening?
3) WHEN? When in heck do you want us there?
4) WHO? Who the heck are you?
5) WHY? Why the heck are you doing this?
Follow that up with a nice image that displays what you are doing. If you are hosting a Halloween benefit make sure the image goes with the theme. Do not confuse people by placing a Christmas tree on it.
Make sure you proof read your advertisement. Send it to a friend and have them read it. Read it backwards (it works try it). Whatever you do DON'T Send it to print with typos (I learned this the hard way). Typos mean you have to redo the whole process and not only is that expensive but it is also not earth friendly.
So once you have all the ads made- its LIST MAKING TIME! List all of the business' you want to approach to hang posters. Check them off as you go... this way you will not keep sending people to them to ask to hang posters.
Once you advertise make sure you follow through with all of the things it says on your advert. Don't change your mind about something you promise- that is false advertising and people tend to not like that. Just make sure that whatever you say you will do you do. Enjoy your well attended event!
Thank you for entertaining my off wedding tangent!
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