Hey ya’ll!  I just wanted to give you a head’s up on a great new site for wedding planners.  Planner’s Lounge was initiated by my sweet friend, Debbie Orwat in Colorado as a site to help wedding planners share and receive information, chat and get inspired.  It’s a great looking site and I found myself last night reading through every single post!

Debbie is an amazing lady – not only does she own and operate a very successful planning business in Colorado – Save the Date Events, she also is the owner of the Colorado StudioWed.  There is much to be learned from her experience, so you will definitely want to sign up for the email newsletters from the Planner’s Lounge and follow on Facebook and Twitter too!

Congratulations, Debbie on a great site launch and thank you for giving back to the wedding industry!

Ok, this will be a touchy subject, I know.  I’ll go ahead and provide a disclaimer in advance – I’m climbing on my soapbox for the duration of this post.

This morning, I posted a comment on a fellow wedding planner/friend’s facebook page in which I thanked and concurred with her opinion that wedding planners should not offer discounted services on Black Friday/Cyber Monday.  Linnyette Richardson Hall is someone that I respect and admire in the industry and many of you know and follow her as well.  If you are not following her, then you need to be – and if you ever get a chance to hear her speak at a conference, don’t pass it up!  Here is a link to her facebook page, with the status update and comments from others.  Her point was that these discounts are intended for merchandise, not services, and I agree.  I also feel the need to elaborate, so read on, please.

While I have noticed lots of discounted services over the last several days, the most extreme discounted example I noticed was for 40% off month of wedding coordination services, making this particular person’s discounted month of coordination price $600.  I will not single this person out, so don’t even ask me who it is, please.  I am not writing this post to belittle her, because guess what?  When I first started, I did a couple of 3 – 6 month partial planning jobs for $300 each.  Yes, it’s true – and that pause you may have just noticed was me taking a moment to hang my head in shame.  Most of the lessons I have learned about pricing my services have been learned the hard way…I’ll share with you two specific stories.  I think they will drive home the message I want to convey.  

Story #1:   I was really eager to get in good with one of the top catering companies here in Atlanta, so when the sales consultant asked me for a “favor” for his client, I caved.  The lesson came into play when the sales consultant wanted me to match the ridiculously low price for several more clients, and dropped me like a bad habit when I conservatively increased my prices 6 months later. 

Story #2:  A bride and groom gave me a sob story about the planner they had hired being non-responsive, but they couldn’t pay more than $300 to hire a new planner.  I wanted to help them, so I gave in.  The lesson from this one came on the night prior to the wedding when I was taking an inventory of the couple’s wedding items they had just passed off to me at the rehearsal.  I opened an unlabeled box to see what was inside, only to find the cake topper in all of its Swarovski Crystal glory, and a price tag still attached that was $150 more than the fee I had charged them.  That one hurt people, it still does.

Time tracking has been the best thing I have ever done for my business.  I track every moment within reason that I spend on a client.  At the end of each year, I average the amount of time I have spent on each client for each type of service that I offer and use this information to adjust pricing for the upcoming year.  I will admit that my pricing does increase each year, but I’ve noticed that so do the services that I have included over the past year, as well as the amount of hours that I have spent on each client.  I would add that most of the additions were via client request, not at my own suggestion.  It’s a battle we fight every day, clients want more service for less money, and in my experience, that does not apply only to “budget” brides.

Using the example of the $600 discounted month of coordination service pricing mentioned above, please consider the following:

Hypothetical number of hours spent working with a month of coordination client – 41 hours spent as shown:

• Average of 10 hours on the wedding day
• Average of 2 hours spent on the rehearsal day
• Average of 2 hours spent on initial consultation meeting
• Average of 4 hours spent on final details meeting/walk-through/tasting, etc.
• Average of 3 hours spent on any final vendor meetings
• Average of 5 hours per week X 4 weeks spent on administrative/in-office work

41 hours of work divided by $600 = $14.63 per hour.  I made $15 an hour as a typist with no college degree in 1991.  I do not wish to make less today than I did 20 years ago.  How about you?

If you think you are spending less than 40 hours on each month of coordination client, I challenge you to track your time and take a closer look.  41 total hours is actually pretty conservative, in my opinion.  Simply add an assistant planner to the equation for the wedding day at the 10 hours shown and you’re up to 51 hours, with no additional tasks or in office hours applied.  We all know that there is some problematic issue that comes up at the last minute, or an unforeseen task that requires our attention and adds to the total number of hours we spend.  I have chose to price my services in a range that allows me to take on some of these tasks without telling the client, “I’m sorry, that is not included in our agreement.”  Larger tasks that come up unexpectedly are quoted in a separate invoice on a case by case basis.  We should carefully consider each client and offer custom or semi-custom pricing even with month of coordination services.  Every wedding is unique and requires different services.  I have a chart that I refer to with factors that affect pricing such as number of guests, number of wedding party members, ceremony & reception venue locations, etc.  While each type of service starts with a base price, certain factors contribute to an increase in the pricing.  Maybe I will write in detail about this in a future post if enough of you express an interest.

Your pricing is your business, but I hope you will consider this post when you begin planning your 2012 pricing.  Please don’t take offense to my comments and suggestions – I really only mean to help other planners.   There simply was no forum like this when I first started as a planner.  Hey, I do have an unpublished, unspoken deeply discounted price that I offer to certain clients.  I call it the “friends & family rate” and some of my own rules surrounding this pricing is that I need to have known either the bride, groom, or their parents for at least 10 years to offer this pricing to them.  Also, I only offer a couple of these rates each year – preferably in the slow season.  My discounted service is a gift to them and I am very clear that the pricing is to remain confidential.  I also let them know what the pricing would be without the discount.  Tacky?  Maybe, but I need them to value me and I find that when I discount deeply, sometimes my services are perceived as less of a value.

Do visualize something with me, though regarding your own pricing – ok?  Come on- just humor me!

Again, using the example I mentioned above (40% discount on month of coordination = $600 final coordination price after discount), imagine you are sitting face to face with a potential client right now.  Seriously, close your eyes and picture this.  Would you be willing to take $240 cash from your own wallet and hand it across the table to them in order for them to enter a contract with you for $600?  Essentially, that is what you are doing when you discount.

My guess is that if you are working as a wedding planner, it is because you love the work.  If you truly love the work, then I will assume that you are good at what you do.  If you are really good at the service you provide, you do not need to discount your services EVER.  If you are in the midst of negotiating, I think it is much more effective to offer an extra service, such as rsvp tracking, extra vendor referrals, budget/final payment assistance, etc.

This post could easily turn into a dozen more.  If you have specific questions about pricing, I would be happy to correspond with you via email – just message me at info@thestylishplanner.com.  Comments are also welcome below, but please note that I do moderate comments.

Special thanks to Linnyette for a sharing her opinion so openly on a timely and thought provoking topic.

Source

I almost feel as though I am preaching to the choir in this post.  I think most professionals would never dream of allowing a potential client or a third party to alter their contract in any way.  While I am always open to suggestions, and am happy to answer questions, I can honestly say I have never had someone try to manually add or change my contract, and I’m grateful for that because I would not allow it.  While I may agree to whatever change/clarification, etc. is being requested, I would make the change myself in the document file and then forward that on to the client myself.  For instance, I have a clause in my contract that outlines photography rights, basically saying that I will share any photos taken by my staff or myself with the client, and that they will share images from their professional photographer with me upon receipt of them.  I once had a very private and reserved couple say that they would prefer their photos not be shared on my blog or website.  We discussed this through carefully, I explained to them that I need to be able to showcase my work in order to obtain future clients and we agreed that I could use photos of the reception details only.  I amended the photography clause to outline this compromise, they we all signed the contract and acted accordingly.  No biggie.

Recently, I had two vendors ask/tell me to make changes to their contracts that were sent to me as word document files.  Their casual approach to their business contract amazed me, and I have been wanting to post about it for some time.  Following are some background details on each:

Photographer:  In this instance, the photographer’s contract did not include the mailing address and telephone number.  The client needed this info in order to be able to mail the deposit and final payment, as well as to be able to reach the photog with any questions.  Additionally, there were several blanks that were to be filled in, such as photography start time, end time, bride’s getting ready address, addresses for ceremony and reception site, couple’s mailing address after the wedding, etc.  I didn’t want to write this in because the type was so small.  I sent an email with the request for the photographer’s address and phone to be added, along with the addresses and other info that photog wanted.  They replied back, asking me to make the changes to the contract and email it back to them. 

Huh?

First of all, while gathering the information from my client and forwarding that to vendors as needed does fall within the scope of my responsibilities, amending and completing the contract does not. 

Second of all, If I were a dishonest person, I could have changed anything in the contract that I wanted to because the photographer basically gave me complete access to it.  Maybe the photographer would catch any changes, maybe they wouldn’t.  Of course I didn’t do this, but you get my point.  What if I accidentally made a typo in fee amounts or number of hours of service included?

Now, to be fair, this is a photographer that I consider a friend and work with on a regular basis.  In the interest of time, I did make the additions myself in order to get the contract complete for my client.  In hindsight, I think my willingness to help sent the wrong message.  I won’t do this again.

Reception Band:  In this instance, the band’s contract seemed to indicate that they required guest meals and access to the bar.  I suggested to my client that they receive a vendor meal just like the other vendors.  The contract also seemed to be very strict in their requirements for a rain plan.  In fact, it seemed to indicate that they required to be moved indoors in case of inclement weather.  This was not possible at this venue, so I needed to address it prior to the contract being signed.  The contract also requested a very specific electrical set-up, and access to two separate, private areas for both the male and female members of the band to get dressed.  Again, not possible at the venue we were working with, so I verbally addressed it on the phone with the band manager.  He assured me that they would work with us and understood the limitations of the venue.  I asked him to add notes or amendments to the contract to cover the issues we had discussed.  He was hesitant to do so, and both my client and I were uneasy about signing based on verbal agreement only.  The band manager suggested that I type our conversation up in an email and send it and he would reply with “ok”.  In the process of hashing this out, my client took the initiative to type everything up as agreed and added it to the end of the band’s contract (sent to us as a word document file) under a general “Amendments” title.  The band countersigned and deposited the check.  I would like to say that on the wedding day, there were no issues and the band did a great job.

However, in my opinion, as with the photographer’s contract mentioned above, amending the contract should not have become the responsibility of myself or my client.  The contract holder needs to be in control of the document/file at all times.  I would go so far as to say that contracts should ALWAYS be sent out in a “read only” format.  For me, that means my contract is sent out in a protected PDF document that only I can alter. 

If you are sending your contracts out in an unprotected word document or excel format, please stop now.  You can thank me later.

Here’s a hypothetical situation:  Let’s say the final amount on your contract for services to a client is $4,810.  Let’s say you started at $5,000 and the client talked you down a bit, asked for a discount or opted to omit an item to bring their pricing down to the agreed upon $4,810.  You agree and tell them to make the change to your word document contract that you have already emailed to them with fill in the blank areas for pricing and services.  They make the amendment, but accidentally transpose the final amount due to $4,180.  Neither of you notice the error, the contract gets signed and countersigned.  You just lost $630 due to a typo, unless of course, your client is wonderfully honest and understanding.  Also, what do you have to back up the originally agreed upon price of $4,810?  Emails or was it a verbal discussion?  Good luck to you.

Let’s take this one step further and remove the wedding industry element from the equation.  Hypothetically, you are selling your car.  Let’s say you are asking for $10,000.   A buyer comes in, asks for you to add new floor mats, a new stereo installed and offers $9,500.  You agree to new floor mats and $9,500 but no stereo.  They hesitantly agree – they really wanted the new stereo.  Would you then forward the contract or bill of sale to them and ask them to type in the changes?  Of course not, this person is a complete stranger and you don’t want to get screwed.  You would make the changes (or have an attorney make them for you) and go from there. 

Business is no place for casual attitudes towards contracts.  It doesn’t matter how many times you have worked with another vendor, that you may be friends outside of work, etc.  Protect your contracts like you protect your reputation.

Also, don’t put the responsibility of making additions or corrections to your contract on the client or a third party (such as the wedding planner).  First of all, it isn’t their responsibility, it is yours, and secondly, you are putting them in an awkward situation.  Not to mention that depending on their schedule, the entire contract process could be held up because I can almost guarantee they weren’t counting on being your legal assistant.

Happy Monday!

If you should have any questions about why protecting your contract is important to your business, please do not hesitate to contact me at info@thestylishplanner.com.

This week my family and I are enjoying our annual week at the beach.  All week long on The Stylish Planner, you will enjoy “reruns” of the posts I’ve done over the last couple of years that have received the highest traffic.  These are all great posts that the site still gets hits on in seaches and they still receive re-tweets, etc.  I know you will enjoy these posts, whether you have read them before or not. 

Have a great week!

The following article was posted on March 10, 2010.

…………………………………………………………….

Today I am finishing up a series called “What to wear” for wedding and event planners.  Over the last couple of months we have covered the following topics:

What to wear: To the rehearsal

What to wear: for wedding/event set-up

What to wear: to a client meeting

What to wear: to the wedding/event

What to wear: to evening events

These topics have had some of the highest number of visits on the blog, which tells me that what you wear while representing your business is important to you.  If you should think of any other “what to wear” topics I could cover, please feel free to send an e-mail to  info@thestylishplanner.com and I’ll be glad to cover it!

Today’s topic is what to wear on your day off.  I suppose I really should give a disclaimer here.  I am “one of those girls” that rarely leaves the house without makeup.  Go ahead, roll your eyes, I know you want to.  Now, in my defense, on my days off I’m not going for glam, just put together.  If the only plans I have outside of the house are to drive my son to school and pick him up, then it’s a no make-up, sunglasses and yoga pants kind of day.  (I should add that I drop off and pick up via carline, so I never even get out of my car.)  If there are plans to run a few errands, I usually pare things down to just mascara and lip-gloss, but even then, I pull on a pair of jeans and a fitted t-shirt.  To summarize:  if I am going to be seen, I make an effort.

I could not agree more with this quote from Tim Gunn, host of Project Runway:  “Soft cotton pants should be avoided if one is going anywhere other than the yoga studio.”  I would possibly make a rare exception to this rule for something like a quick run into the grocery store.

Why do I feel this way?  Here are a few reasons:

1)  I live in a small community and I’ve been in this area for most of my life.  I almost always run into someone I know in a public place, whether it is a neighbor, parent from my son’s school, past co-workers, church friends, previous clients, high school or college friends, etc.  I still see people that remember I worked at the local K-mart when I was 17.  Murphy’s Law #142 says that if you leave your house looking terrible, you will quite certainly run into everyone you know.  (Just kidding, I made that up, but it seems to be true in my case.)

2)  People in small communities (and large ones too) talk, a lot.  Let’s call a spade a spade, it isn’t just talk, it’s gossip.  It’s not likely they will tell others that they saw me in the frozen food section at Publix and I looked fabulous, but they will tell everyone they know if I looked horrible.  I learned this truth about small town life the hard way.

3)  You never know when you will meet a potential client, or someone that will refer you to a potential client.  Your chances are greater of being referred or hired if you look nice.  Also, when I look good, I feel good.  I’d be terribly uncomfortable having a conversation with someone while wearing sweatpants and no makeup.  I simply would not be at my best.  It would be difficult to come across as professional or even polite.

4)  The general public has a perception that wedding and event planning is a glamorous career.  Likewise, I think people believe that we make tons of money.  People are fascinated by this profession.  They always expect us to be just like Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner, and usually that is their frame of reference.  In a strange way, these perceptions bring value to what we do.  I think we would all agree that J-Lo’s character was well put together and fashionable.  She was good at what she did, a consummate professional.  (Well, except for falling in love with the groom to be, but I digress.)  My point is, I choose not to contribute to lowering the expectations of the public, or devaluing our profession by going out in my pajamas or some other fashion foolishness.

5)  In a downed economy, we are faced with the unfortunate situation of justifying the need for a wedding/event planner.  Yet, we want to make more money, to reach clients in the luxury market, the “high-end” bride.  How would you suggest that we do that while wearing crocs and oversized sweatshirts?

Having said all this, I realize that I haven’t really addressed what to wear on your day off.  I think it would be easier to address what not to wear on your day off.  Here’s a summary:

Photos courtesy of www.peopleofwalmart.com 

Basically, ladies, make an effort.   A well groomed ponytail is fine.  Jeans are fine.  Pajamas and sweatpants, not so fine.  I think you get the idea.

What are your thoughts for dressing on your day off?  Are there any clothing items you feel should be banned from wearing in public?

Photo courtesy of Couture Caterer

Back in February of this year, the Question of The Week on The Stylish Planner was about Vendor Meals.  Specifically, do you accept a vendor meal, or do you request the same meal as the guests?  I am closing out the Question of the Week series this Fall, but in the process of that, I am providing my own answers to the questions I posed.  So….here is my take on Vendor Meals:

In case I have any newer planners or brides reading this post, I’d just like to clarify which vendors typically are fed at the client’s expense at a wedding.  My rule of thumb is any vendor that remains on site while dinner is being served should also be fed, especially if the service they are providing is crucial to the event and they cannot leave to go and get something.  This usually includes the photographer(s), videographer(s), the band, the wedding planner and their staff.  In cases where security is being provided, I also recommend a meal for them, especially if they are working alone or are an off duty police officer.  I do not typically recommend that onsite event staff be fed by the client, although sometimes the caterer will provide food for them as a courtesy, especially if the venue and the caterer have a good working relationship.

I highly recommend to planners that you include the topic of vendor meals with your clients as soon as you begin budget discussions.  It may not seem like a big deal, but a $300 – $400 unexpected expense in the last days leading up to the wedding can be a big deal to a client who thought they had everything covered.  Prepare them in advance for this and discuss with them any vendors that are requesting anything above a vendor meal.  In my market, vendor meals range from $15 – $27 depending on the venue and what kind of meal the chef prefers to prepare for vendors (see below).

There are a few ways that vendor meals can be provided:

1)  A boxed lunch type meal that was prepared earlier in the day and refrigerated. 

2)  A separate, less expensive meal than what is being provided for the guests is prepared.  (I see this frequently at country clubs and other private facilities.)

3)  The vendor receives the same meal as the guests.  Sometimes the caterers will prepare a plate for the vendor, sometimes the vendor is asked to go through the line with the guests. 

I have worked with several photographers that request the same meal as the guests.  Some even have it written in their contracts.  What I hear over and over from photographers is that, “We work very hard.  We are on our feet for 8 – 10 hours shooting and carrying heavy equipment.  If we leave to go buy a decent meal, we will not be able to capture all of the wedding.”  I hear you, I really do.  If you have it in your contract to be provided a guest meal, then that is what you will receive, but please don’t show up expecting to eat along with the guests – even if you are provided the guest meal, vendors typically sit separate from guests, unless you have been specifically invited to be included as a guest by the client. 

I’ve also had bands request the same meal as the guests, as well as access to the bar, but either myself or my client typically declines.  To me, regarding bands, it is purely a money issue.  With an average of 8 – 10 members per band, at $75+ per person for food, with another $10 – $15 for alcohol, very quickly the cost of an average band in my market would go from about $3,500 to well over $4,200.  Pertaining to the bar…I’m pretty old fashioned when it comes to that.  If you are working, you don’t need to be drinking. 

The policy that I have chosen to implement for my company, FAVOR Events is that we will gladly accept whatever vendor meal is provided.  I do, however, have it written in my contract that we will be provided a meal and a designated area for breaks.  Over the years, I’ve only had one or two weddings, where we were not provided food and could not leave the venue to go and eat.  At one wedding in particular, I sat on the kitchen floor and ate a Subway sandwich that my assistant had to go pick up for me because we were not provided either a meal or a place for breaks.  Every family is different and you can’t assume anything, so whatever you are asking for, it is best to put it in the contract.

There are so many reasons I have chosen not to ask for a guest meal.  For one thing, I rarely get to slip away for more than 15-20 minutes at any wedding.  If I were wolfing down a heavy meal in that time frame, it would literally make me sick.  It would quite honestly be a waste of money for my client to provide that for me, my meals go half eaten anyway.  Another reason is, I need the down time away from guests.  15 minutes of quiet away from the noise and the demands is so helpful to me.  I can analyze how the first portion of the event has gone and strategize the next portion of the evening.  Being able to slip my shoes off and put my feet up for a few moments is what gets me through the rest of the evening.  Whenever possible, I have my assistant take their break before me, then there is always someone near the client if they should need anything.  I try to take my break last after all other vendors in case there are not enough vendor meals, then I can always see if the caterer has something left from the guest meal, or I can grab a protein bar from my emergency kit.  I’m usually too busy to think much about feeling hungry.

The last reason I have chosen not to ask for guest meals is my concern over the appearance of impropriety.  If I am having the guest meal, the best time to have it is when the guests are also having their dinner time.  I need to eat quickly and get back to work, so I have 3 choices:  1)  Ask a server to make me a plate, 2)  Jump in line in front of guests, or 3)  Wait until all guests have gone through the line.  None of these choices are especially good.  If I ask a server to make me a plate, first of all, I am pulling valuable resources from the catering staff at their peak service time in the evening.  Second of all, if a guest notices that I had a server making me a plate, they will form an opinion about me, likely not a good one, and that opinion will forever become their impression of me and my company.  Same thing if I jump in front of a guest.  If I wait until all guests have been served, then it isn’t very likely that I will have time to enjoy the food and make it back in time for the next item in the timeline.   If, instead, I go with the vendor meal, at the top of the guest dinner time, then I have easily enough time to enjoy my meal and put my feet up.  Even better, there is no worry about the food getting cold!

I think as planners, we see the budget side of things and think more about the logistics of serving a second set of guests or serving a separate meal than other vendors do.  You will never hear me say that a photographer or band member does not deserve a wonderful meal or an extended break for their hard work.  Quite the contrary, and if I could, I would treat the whole vendor team to a great meal after the wedding.  I just prefer to see egos put aside and the emphasis placed on the client on their wedding day.  It is not about you or how hard you work.

Having said all that, I do my very best to make sure every single vendor gets a piece of cake or other dessert, and my staff and I will serve them water or sodas all night long as time allows.  It’s a small token really, but there is almost always more than enough dessert, and it doesn’t take away from the service staff for me to arrange this for the vendors. 

What are your thoughts on vendor meals?

Lake Toxaway, North Carolina – site of a FAVOR Events 2009 wedding.  Photos by LaCour.

Well, tomorrow officially welcomes Summer to 2011, although if you are in a warm climate area like me, we have been experiencing hot temperatures since mid-March!  With outdoor weddings so popular among couples, we sometimes spend weeks praying for no rain on the wedding day, only to be faced with extreme heat when the wedding day finally arrives.  What’s a wedding planner to do to stay cool when working an outdoor event in warm temperatures?

Before I share with you my favorite tips, let me add that I’m not sharing this post for purposes of vanity only.  Oh no, working in the hot sun and heat is a serious matter and we need to be careful out there.  Some possible side effects of working in extreme temperatures are:

Increased body temperature and pulse rate
Dehydration
Heat stroke
Heat rash
Increased risk of heart attack or other cardiac problems
Fainting
Nausea/vomiting

I highly recommend creating a buddy system among your staff or vendor partners.  All of us want to do our best work and not slow down production on a wedding day, so having vendors watch out for each other throughout the day can go along way in the prevention of a heat related incident.

Here are some practical tips for surviving the heat:

Build exposure to outdoor conditions over a period of time.  Seriously, spend at least 15 minutes outside for a few days leading up to the wedding day.   Try to replicate the conditions you will be working under – full sun, partial shade, etc.  Humans are, to a large extent, capable of adjusting to the heat. This adjustment, under normal circumstances, usually takes about 5 to 7 days, during which time the body will undergo a series of changes that will make continued exposure to heat more endurable.  With each succeeding daily exposure, any negative responses will gradually decrease, while the sweat rate will increase.

Pre-determine a shady area for tasks and breaks.  By the time you are a week out from an event, you probably have the “lay of the land” when in comes to the areas surrounding the wedding venue.  Choose a shady spot out of the way of other vendors where your staff can assemble set up items, or just sit for a 15-minute break throughout the course of the day.  Providing cool rest areas in hot work environments considerably reduces the stress of working in those environments.

Hydrate – this is a given, of course, but I can’t stress enough how important it is.  Most people exposed to hot conditions drink fewer fluids than needed because of an insufficient thirst drive.  Therefore, we really cannot depend on thirst to signal when and how much to drink. Instead, we should drink 5 to 7 ounces of fluids every 15 to 20 minutes to replenish our body’s necessary fluids.  In the course of a day’s work, a person may produce as much as 2 to 3 gallons of sweat. Because so many heat disorders involve excessive dehydration of the body, it is essential that water intake during the workday be about equal to the amount of sweat produced.

Eat light snacks throughout the day.  Even though it may seem counterintuitive, this is a good time to skip heavy meals.  Light, crisp vegetables or fruit with a little protein will suffice if you are hydrating properly throughout the day. 

Now that we’ve addressed the physical aspect of keeping cool at a summer wedding, here are a few ways to remain looking polished in the heat:

Hair:  Summer weddings are not the time or place for fussy hairdos.  My go-to hairstyle is a simple side-part bang and bun pulled back at the nape of my neck.  I wrap it up pretty tight in the morning and all I need to do later to freshen up is comb through my bangs again and spritz with hair spray.

Make-Up:  Likewise, I keep my make-up very simple and light when it is hot.  Moisturizer with SPF is a must, and I wear very light foundation and eye make-up.  I carry a small bag with me for touch up’s that includes my eyebrow pencil, powder blush, mineral foundation with brush, and lip gloss.  I can touch up in 5 minutes.

Cool water:  One thing I do to stay cool is rinse my hands frequently with cold water, concentrating on my wrists.  Years ago, I read somewhere that if your wrists are cool, you remain cool all over, and I have found that to be true.  Rather than drying my hands off with a towel, I will pat my arms and neck after rinsing to cool my body.  It doesn’t create a mess; it dries very quickly and really does the trick. 

Clothing & Shoes:  I actually find light, knit dresses to be more comfortable than pants or even shorts when working in extreme temperatures.  I find cotton to be the best all around choice.  Not only will it absorb sweat, but also the loose fibers breathe easily, wicking away sweat from your skin instead of trapping it on the surface, which leads to body odor.  Also, my feet swell terribly in hot weather, so as much as I love my comfy running shoes, you won’t find me wearing them for set up at a summer wedding.  My go to shoes for summer weddings are Yellow Box flip-flops.  I probably could not find a less glamorous shoe but they offer the support and cushioning that I need for long days on my feet.  While my summer wedding look is definitely not as stylish as I like to be, I know that I am much more effective for my clients when I keep my look simple and comfortable.

Happy Summer Planning!

NOTE:  Parts of this article were taken from The Centers For Disease Control site: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/86-112/

By far one of the most difficult things to me about being a wedding planner is explaining to brides how their budget will be spent.  My heart sinks when I talk with brides and they tell me they have a not so small guest count and an unrealistic budget.  I get inquiries all the time through a leads website for (I am not kidding you) $5,000 total budget and 250 – 300 guest counts.  I don’t even respond to these inquiries of course, but many of my qualified leads start out with small budgets that increase, sometimes even double by the time the bride and her family have made informed decisions.  While I have a budget form that I often share that breaks down average spending per category, lately, I have been starting budget discussions with a very simple formula and a detailed dialogue.  It goes something like this:

Hypothetical Scenario:  Bride’s budget = $20,000, Anticipated guest count = 200

The first thing I tell clients is that the national average for weddings is around $27,000.  I also explain to them that Atlanta is a healthy market and most of my weddings average closer to $40-$45,000.  I tell the client that a good general rule of thumb is that 50 – 60% of their total budget will be spent on the reception, with 40% of the total budget going only towards food and food service.  The remaining 10 – 20% of the reception budget is spent on wedding cake, venue fees, alcohol, rentals, etc.   Are there exceptions to this?  Absolutely.  This is merely a jumping off point, to help the client begin to wrap their head around realistic wedding costs.

I literally take out a blank sheet of paper and write some simple calculations for the client.

Based on the above scenario, my notes on a piece of notepaper look something like this:

Reception = 50% of total budget = approximately $10,000

Food & Service Costs for reception = 40% of total budget = $8,000

Divide the food & service costs by the number of guests. $8,000 divided by 200 = $40 per person.

I then ask what they would expect to pay per person for a meal a a nice restaurant that would include an appetizer, a salad, a nice entree with two sides and a dessert.  Then I tell them to add a couple of glasses of wine to that total.  At this point, I can begin to see the realization (and disappointment) sink in.  They are starting to see it all come together.  Very quickly, they can add the actual food total up to about $75 per person, which is the average estimated per person cost that I use for catering with my couples in Atlanta. 

So, a more accurate estimate would be $75 per person X 200 guests = $15,000.  (Remember, this is for food only!)  This only leaves $5,000 for EVERYTHING else for the wedding!  At this point, the client has already exceeded the TOTAL reception budget.  We haven’t even started discussing decor, flowers, linens, tables, chairs, etc.

I then share with the client the good news…by cutting your guest count, you can decrease your budget significantly, and decreasing the guest count has a trickle down effect on almost all budget categories.  Less guests = less cake, less food, less alcohol, fewer tables, fewer chairs, fewer centerpieces, etc.  For every 25 guests removed from the count, clients can expect to save over $2,000.  Cut the guest list by 50 and you’ve successfully decreased your budget by about $4,000.  I find that with weddings over 150 guests, it is very difficult for the couple to make their way around to everyone anyway.  The lower the guest count, the better your wedding will be if budget is a concern to you.

NOTE:  I always budget the alcohol over and above the food cost.  More and more couples are going with beer and wine only instead of a full bar to cut costs, or specifically looking for venues that allow them to bring in their own alcohol.  Because there are so many variables to alcohol, I prefer to keep it separate from food. 

At this point, I talk with the client about other budget categories and give them some ballpark estimates on what they can expect to spend based on what they have in mind.  I talk about some general ways they can save money such as using a DJ instead of a band, repurposing bridesmaids bouquets for centerpieces, etc.  I encourage them to go home and think about what we have discussed, and decide if they will be lowering their guest count or increasing their budget.  I also ask them to prioritize their remaining vendor categories.  For instance, photography is increasingly more important to couples than flowers.  Couples today are open to creative desserts such as pies in lieu of a 5 tiered, ornately decorated wedding cake.

The key thing to remember is that every couple is different and some things are non negotiable for them.  For my clients on a budget, I have started including in my packages a comprehensive budget spreadsheet with an estimated spending category and an actual spending category. Anytime a vendor is booked, I add it to the actual spending and send the client an update so they can see in real time where their spending is taking them.  Many times, my clients do exceed their budgets, but I have always recommended less expensive options for them. 

A final note I would give to my planner colleagues is this:  just because a client may come to you with a small budget does not mean you should discount your services.  I find that I actually work harder on small budget weddings than on larger budget weddings.  Much of my value comes from knowing ways to decrease costs and having creative solutions for my clients that honor their desire for a beautiful event along with their desire to be frugal.

I hope this is helpful information for you.  Feel free to use the formula I shared with your clients. but please keep in mind that my dollar estimates are based on my experience in the Atlanta market.  It will be very helpful for you to know estimated costs in your area.  If you have any questions at all about my method, feel free to email me at info@thestylishplanner.com.

Happy Planning!

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Rebecca Greenberg, a casting producer for a new show coming to the Oprah Winfrey Network called, “Don’t Tell the Bride!”

This is a portion of the email from Rebecca:

“We are casting dynamic couples who are currently engaged, but lack the funds to have a dream wedding.  “Don’t Tell the Bride” gives $25,000 to 8 cash-strapped couples to create the wedding of their dreams.  The only catch is the bride and groom can’t see each other for three weeks before the nuptials, AND the groom has to plan the whole wedding in secret (with NO input from his bride). 

Casting Requirements:

- Must be over 18 years of age

- Currently engaged

- Willing and able to get legally married between July 2011 – September 2011

- Have a few groomsmen and bridesmaids with big personalities willing to be on the show with you

- No long distance or destination weddings. You must be willing to marry within driving distance of couple’s residence(s).

For more information or to recommend an engaged couple for the show, please contact REBECCA at 323.904.4680 x1050 OR email me at rgreenberg@shedmediaus.com with your name, age, number, city/state, photo of the couple, and brief description of why you’d be ideal for the show.”

Now wouldn’t you know that all my couples are currently underway with their planning?  This sounds like such a fun opportunity – I hope my fellow planners will pass the info along to your clients.

Here is a flyer that Rebecca sent also:

Wishing you all a great week!

It is sometimes hard for me to wrap your head around working on anything a year in advance.  We are only into the fifth month of the year, yet, as the 2012 inquiries are FINALLY starting to trickle in for me, I know I need to look ahead and set my 2012 calendar.

www.viscoimages.com

The way I did this last year has really worked well for me.  I’ll share with you here what I did, but keep in mind that every business is different and you may need to expand these methods for your business structure.

Step 1)  Take a look at the 2012 Holiday Calendar.   Decide what Holidays you are willing to work and which Holidays are important for you to take time off.  I do not work Holidays at all.  I did in the past and found that I was a grumpy, resentful mess when I did because my family was having fun and I wanted to be with them instead.  Not to mention Holiday traffic in Atlanta is HORRIBLE and many venues are poorly staffed around Holidays.  I simply found that for me, the money was not worth the extra trouble.  Hey – if I’m anything, I’m honest.  This also ensures that I am not working when my son is out of school for various Holidays, so childcare does not become an issue for us.  Additionally, December is pure chaos in our house.  Between my husband’s corporate Holiday party, our social events, my son’s school schedule and trying to shop, wrap, cook, decorate, etc. I am a bonafide crazy lady.  I once did a wedding a week before Christmas. Talk about a Scrooge.  Neither the wedding or my family got the best of me that year.  I know who I am, ok?

Step 2)  Take a look at your honey’s company holiday schedule.  If you enjoy traveling, you may want to maximize your significant others time off by taking 3 day weekends here and there.  We always schedule our vacations around my husband’s work schedule so he has days built up for a long vacation in the summer while our son is out of school.  Speaking of school…

Step 3)  If you are a parent, take a look at the school schedule for the next school year.  Our school system just finalized and released the official schedule for the 2011 – 2012 school year back in March.  We quickly began to discuss what to do & where to go during my son’s time off because we take our time to plan out fun trips and look for travel deals well in advance. 

Step 4) Plug it all in.  Incorporate all three of the above calendars into your “master” calendar.  Whatever weekends remain are dates you could be available for weddings.  I like having two to three available dates in any given month.  If I book one of those dates, I also mark off the weekend prior and the weekend after.  I block off the weekend prior so that I have additional time to prepare if needed, and to spend time with my family – the calm before the storm, so to speak.  I block off the weekend after a wedding just for downtime for myself and to catch up on other weddings that may have been put aside while working on the recent wedding.  I burned out a few years ago and this is my way of maintaining sanity.  It has worked really well for me and ensures very prompt service and undivided attention to my clients.

Step 5)  Take the seasons into account.  If you live in a particularly warm or cold climate, historically, you may not have booked many weddings in a certain month of the year.  For instance, I have never booked a wedding in July.  People do get married in Atlanta in July, I’ve just never booked one.  The first year, that was devastating to me – I thought, “This is peak wedding season and I’m not working!!”  It turned out to be a blessing.  July is miserably hot in Atlanta, so it’s kind of nice to kick back and spend extra time at the pool with my son.  I still work, of course, but I’m working on Fall weddings in the comfort of my air-conditioned office.  The down time helps me recharge, get my kid ready for the new school year and enjoy a couple of weeks at the beach.  Also, consider if your area receives an influx of traffic around the Holidays.  If you live in a beach town, does your town fill up around the fourth of July?  If you live in a major metropolitan area, do Holiday attractions create an influx of tourists into your city?  If so, do those factors affect your desire to work or not work around seasons or Holidays? 

Step 6)  Religiously maintain the calendar.  Things happen, schedules change.  Unexpected snow days this year resulted in my son’s winter break being cancelled with only a month’s notice.  Make sure you update your calendar frequently and mark off any days where your schedule may conflict with working.  I could recite dates and times for everyone of my weddings off the top of my head, but I have to refer to the calendar when it comes to school schedules.  I need the calendar to be totally current.  I recommend updating it once a week at the least to ensure you don’t have scheduling conflicts.  Even better, use your Smartphone calendar so you have updates  24-7. 

So, what exactly is the purpose of putting this much prep work into my annual calendar?  For me, it ensures that I am in control of my schedule and my schedule is not in control of me.  I also like being able to tell a bride as soon as she contacts me if I am available for her date or not.  She can move on to another planner, or we can proceed quickly with getting her under contract.  There’s also no internal debate on my part about whether or not I want to work on any given date.  I got an inquiry for a Memorial Day wedding once and really struggled with whether or not I wanted to take it.  Memorial day is usually a three day weekend for us to get out to a Braves game, sleep in, take a drive, cookout with friends, etc.  Nothing special, but not something I wanted to give up either.  Having the pre-set calendar eliminates the debate with myself.

I hope you find this helpful and use these guidelines to help set your 2012 calendar.  

Do you have any tips or tricks for setting your annual calendar?  I’d love to have you share them in the comments below!

Just a few weeks ago, I attended my favorite conference of the year.  Eventology, the Science of a Wedding Business is an awesome conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.  This year was the third annual conference hosted by Katasha Butler and I was extremely honored to be a speaker among so many other ladies that I admire.  Linnyette Richardson-Hall spoke on Confidence – I love hearing her speak, so I really enjoyed her session.  During Question & Answer time, one planner asked how to show confidence as a new planner.  My mind immediately took me back to my early days.  It isn’t too hard to remember how awkward and inept I felt when I first started.  The good news is, there are ways to overcome those feelings.  Here are my recommendations:

1)  Dress the part.  You may be young, you may be right out of college, but you don’t want to look like it.  If you want to be taken seriously, then dress seriously.  If you look like a college student when meeting with other vendors, you will have a hard time gaining control over the event, and your planning efforts will be an uphill battle.  Furthermore, being dressed well will make you instantly feel more confident and that will show in your overall demeanor.

2)  Don’t point out that you are new.  Of course, don’t lie if you are asked how long you have been in business, but don’t open your conversations with that.  You will have a hard time overcoming the judgments made about you and shedding the label of the “new” planner.  Instead, you might say something like, “I haven’t coordinated an event at this venue yet.” or “I haven’t had the pleasure of working with that vendor yet.”  A statement like either of these indicates that you are in unfamiliar territory without calling your capability into question.  Even seasoned industry veterans work with vendors that are “new” to them as circumstances dictate. 

3)  Pull from your past work experience.  If you had 10 jobs prior to becoming a wedding planner, then you probably have at least 10 very different skills that will help you as a planner.  Did you work in accounting?  Then budgets will be a breeze for you.  Did you work in retail?  Then you will have strong client service skills.  Were you a file clerk?  Then you will be highly organized – a must have quality of a wedding planner!  My past jobs include stints in insurance underwriting, insurance claims, receptionist, executive assistant, etc.  Along the way, I picked up a paralegal certificate that helps me tremendously as a planner.  This knowledge helps me review and negotiate the best contracts for my clients.  As an Executive Assistant, I planned travel itineraries and meeting agendas for the V.P. of a fortune 500 company.  That knowledge helps me today when drafting wedding day timelines and meeting agendas.  I also planned the companies annual meetings for shareholders, which were usually held in tropical locations.  That knowledge helps me today when planning destination events.  One past job in particular afforded me the opportunity to act as a corporate hostess to international employees and clients during the 1996 Olympic Games held here in Atlanta.  While I love my weddings, being involved in something as monumental as the Olympics was the opportunity of a lifetime.  That experience took out of town guest hospitality to a whole new level.   No doubt, you have similar experiences to draw from that will prove to be invaluable information for your career as a planner.

4)  Make up for your lack of experience with passion.  When a client asks for something from you, turn it around as quickly as possible.  Double check your details.  Over deliver – every time.  Inexperience does not equal incapability.  Show everyone that you can do the job effectively and efficiently.  Any doubts about you will soon dissipate if you consistently deliver the best results possible.

5)  Get creative.  Literally – if you have little to no weddings to showcase in your portfolio, partner with an up and coming photographer and design a creative shoot together.  This is a great opportunity to show your design talent, build relationships with other vendors and work on your coordination skills at the same time.  Even a creative shoot needs a schedule and attention to details, and while photo shoots are much more laid back and less detailed than weddings, use a shoot as an opportunity to showcase what you can do.  When the shoot is done, shop the images around to blogs and magazines.  You will need to learn the ropes on how to do this so that you can submit your future fabulous weddings!

6)  Be patient.  Each wedding will bring with it new knowledge.  Before you know it, you will no longer be the “new” planner in town and you will have several weddings under your belt to draw from.  In the meantime, make sure you are tapping into the knowledge that is available to you through books, magazines, blogs, conferences, etc.  When you are doing work that you love, your confidence will show and no one will question your abilities.

Any other tips on how to build confidence for new planners?  Feel free to share them here!

Happy Planning!