A friend of mine sent me this article about wedding professionals and so I thought I'd share it. It speaks tons of truth. Just wanted to give everyone an insight into the wedding business world. Courtney Hammons, owner of A Magical Affair wrote something very special that I think you should read. It is an open letter to brides.
My Dearest Brides and Grooms -I adore you, without you I would not have this most amazing career – but there are some things I really feel we need to take a look at and talk about. Weddings are an amazing time in your life and we as wedding vendors get that! We want to provide you with the most amazing service and product and experience. We want your guests to walk away wowed and want you to walk away with memories to last a lifetime. In order to do that there are costs involved. Yes Yes Yes I hear all the time how expensive weddings are and I read all the ways to “save money” and “negotiate with vendors” and so now I want you to look at it another way -When you go to the doctor do you ask well - since it’s Wednesday and you aren’t to busy could I have a discount?Do you ask the hottest realtor in your market if they would take a less commission because you are sooo excited and want to work with them but you really need to make more on the house?When you check out at your local grocery store do you ask if you can leave with the goods and than send a payment later?Take a group of 100 people to McDonald’s and get everyone a extra value meal and you would pay on average – $675.00Would you ask your local electric company to offer a discount since you are not home from 9am – 5pm Mon – Fri?So why would you expect professional wedding vendors to take down their prices? No it is not just 8 or 10 or 12 hours on the wedding day that you are paying for. You are paying for the expertise to get you the best price on the hard goods, to know the flowers that are in and out of season, to know what food works with what wine, to know what will and will not work on a buttercream cake and how much cake you need, to edit down the 4,000 images that they shoot, to edit down the 8 hours of video they have, to bring together 10 – 12 vendors who normally do not work together on a daily basis and make it seem like they work together daily.So next time you consider asking a professional wedding vendor for a discount ask yourself would it be okay if they came into my place of business and expected a discount?Wishing you a MAGICAL Day ~Courtney Hammons P.B.C.
