The 411: Small Business Saturday

Holiday season is upon us.  While we are welcoming back another year of holiday commericals enticing us to get our wallets ready for this huge shopping weekend, there is one new movement that is gaining a lot of steam: Small Business Saturday.  SBS is actually in its 2nd year and the whole point is for consumers to shop only at small businesses this coming Saturday, November 26th. 

We all know that Black Friday is a HUGE American phenomenon, with thousands of people camping out on Thanksgiving night in anticipation for stores opening at midnight with mind blowing deals on holiday shopping.  And yes, we all love the big retailers, but think of how many small businesses are overlooked?  Taking one day to support will make a huge impact on small businesses across the country, a boost we all need.  Shopping exclusively at these small businesses is not only good for the them, but think of all the personal interaction that you miss as just another face in the crowd at the nationwide stores, not to mention the unique gifts for your friends & family.  And just to be clear, small businesses are located in your community and online (hello Etsy!) so show your support however you want.   

Not sure where to find these great businesses?  Since social media is king, Small Business Saturday has a facebook page which allows small businesses to register and consumers can search their local businesses!  According to the Small Business Saturday Consumer Spend Survey 2011, 61% of consumers plan to shop at locally-owned clothing and accessories stores on November 26.  I'll be posting local vendors this week for you to check out, focusing on the great wedding vendors I've worked with through Felicity C Weddings.  Because of course you can shop for wedding items along with holiday shopping!  

 

Guest Post: The Wilmington Photo Booth Company

Chances are that if you have attended a wedding in the past 2 years, you probably have seen a new vendor who is making a splash in the wedding industry: the photo booth!  This new option is guest friendly but being so new, some couples may not know what to look for in a photo booth vendor.  Enter Pete Marroni, owner of the Wilmington Photo Booth Company in Wilmington, DE, with some insight for couples to consider when choosing a photo booth vendor.  Take it away, Pete:

Photo booths are quickly becoming a must at wedding receptions. The buzz they create is unmatched at a wedding. So where do you start if you are choosing a photo booth company?

Have you seen a photo booth in action? If you have seen one or two photo booth companies in action you can use them as your starting point. Nothing beats seeing the photo booth company in action. As there are huge differences in quality and fun with the various companies. If you haven’t seen any companies ask around. Who should you ask? Anyone who has hired a company in the past is a great way to start. You can ask friends and family who you’ve known to been at an event with one, however you may not get the complete feel fro how the whole process worked and how the dealings were with the company. If you’ve hired an event planner they are a great resource. Event planners have typically seen many photo booths through their work. Often they can tell you the pros and cons of each company. The venue contact should know a great deal about photo booth companies as well. Both the venue and event planners love sharing this info as if you hire someone who has a good reputation it makes their job easier. Once you narrow down a few companies we recommend setting up appointments to go and see the photo booths in action. This can be done at their office or at a bridal show/public event. Be weary of anyone who is not willing to show their product.

What does the photo booth look like? There is nothing worse then having a great setting and having a cheesy looking photo booth. Again this comes down to seeing is believing. Also ask or see how many guests can fit into the frame. Many times you can only get two or three faces in a shot. If you want large group shots (which enhances the fun) make sure that the photo booth can accommodate. 

Is the company full time?  How quickly did the company get back to you after initial contact? Many companies have started a part time business and if they have you want to make sure that they are still responsive. Make sure that the company is fully licensed and insured. Many venues require the latter and require a certificate to confirm this. Also the quality of website that the company has is a pretty good indicator of how serious they are about their business.

Is the company receiving good reviews? As with all wedding vendors, on-line reviews are a great way to weed out the less than stellar performers. Testimonials on the company website are fine, however they are only going to put up the good ones.  A great resource for reviews are independent sites like the Knot and the Wedding Wire for instance.

How nice are the prints? A photo booth company that spent the extra time ensuring that they are producing high quality prints is worth looking at. How nice does the graphic and text look on the strip? How quickly do the prints come out? This is a very important aspect of your photo booth experience and is often overlooked. Ask to see samples from different companies.



How nice are the extras? The same could be same for props, memory book, frames and other options. See if the company reuses props. Ask to see a memory book and ask to see what company they use for their memory book and check out their reputation. The memory book is something that you will look at for years to come. Quality may not mean anything now but 5 or 6 years down the road a book that has held up well will stand out. Also check to see about place cards, thank you notes or save the date magnets. All of these options enhance the total experience.

How accessible are the prints after the wedding? With social media being king you want to make sure your guests and you have the ability to get the photos digitally after the event so they can easily be put on facebook. Some companies may not host the photos at all or they may charge you extra. Sometimes they are watermarked or they only get put up for a month. Also check to see what size photos are accessible and if the strips themselves are accessible. You may also want to check to see if guests can get additional strips after wedding at no extra charge? Many times only two strips print out and if there are ten people in the shot either 8 or 9 people are losing out on that memorable shot.

What kind of value are getting? Getting what you pay for is very important in today’s day of age. When comparing prices make sure you look at the overall picture, as sometimes cheaper is not better. True value comes from weighing all aspects of your experience. Good luck!

Sincerely,

Peter Marroni
Owner/Event Consultant

The Wilmington Photo Booth Co.

(302) 388-3619

http://www.finestbooth.com/

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Knowing When To DIY

Personalized and cost effective are two words that come to mind when most brides decide to take on DIY projects.  In reality, "Do-ing It Yourself" can be overwhelming and stressful if you take on too much.  So how do you know what will be a great project and when should you leave it to professionals?  The main rule is to consider the actual amount of time/energy/money needed for the project.  Ask yourself if your bridesmaids available to help, can it be finished in a weekend, is this project really going to add to my wedding and are you really saving money by DIYing?  When DIY projects succeed, they are spectacular personal items with real sentiment.  On the down side, I did once see a reality tv bride stressed to the max scrambling to finish individually painting 200 mini pumpkins for her escort table the day before her wedding- who needs that hassle?

DIY items can range from decor to attire to favors to stationary.  The main areas brides should stay away from DIY are the vendors- especially forgoing professional photographers, caterers and rental companies. Any web savvy bride can find multiple DIY posts on wedding blogs each week.  Here are a few of my recent favorites.  The Wedding Chicks have a whole DIY section and frequently post on their blog DIY wedding details.  Like this post detailing how to make your own birdcage veil, this post giving instructions on how to make your own strawberry jam favors, or this post on how to create custom drop earrings.  Another one of my favorite blogs, Hostess With The Mostess, posted this floral DIY, making your own country chic decor.  This post on no sew bow ties is perfect for adding some prep from Style Me Pretty.  Last but not least, Ruffled blog showcased upcycling vases & lanterns.  Enjoy!

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Videography Just Got Really Cool

A huge part of my job is creating & maintaining relationships with amazing vendors.  Aside from contacting local vendors, I am always on the lookout for new approaches/ services for my wedding clients.  Budget is always a concern for couples in planning mode but especially in this recession, couples are choosing very carefully which vendors they select.  Typically, videographers are the first vendors cut from the list, a lot of couples view wedding videos as an unnecessary cost and let's be honest, a lot of wedding videography from a few years ago is pretty boring and standard.  I've only had one client use a videographer, the service was a family friend's gift to the couple.  Videos are supposed to capture the fun & excitement of the day from all angles and I am so excited to have found a really cool way to get the wedding video couples want at a price they will love. 

Enter StoryMix Media.  In addition to offering different videography services for business, weddings (save the date videos!) and consumers, they just launched a new service, My Flip Wedding.  The idea is to have your friends & family be your videographers for the whole day with flip cameras and then you send all the footage to StoryMix Media to be edited and packaged.  Starting at $99.99, you will receive 1 HD flip camera (with 2 hours of footage), 3 day rental with return shipping label, get to choose from 10 movie themes, get a Hollywood intro to your final video, access to an online storyboard to pick scenes & arrange order, captions, titles, preview & approval of final edit online and 1 dvd with edited movie plus the raw footage!  And there are plenty of other options available such as 3 and 5 camera packages and a week long camera rental for your honeymoon.  And if you already have your own flip camera, there is a customizable package for you as well! 

I just found out about this company so while I haven't recommended this to any of my clients, I definitely will in the future.  And if you aren't currently planning a wedding, this makes for a great gift for your favorite engaged couple!  Most people are not video editing whizzes and you can't beat the price for everything included, especially the behind the scenes coverage from the couple's nearest and dearest.  Since I'm not tech whiz myself, I couldn't figure out how to upload their sample videos on this post but check out the links for complete information.  Enjoy!

 

The Importance of Editing Your Wedding

Anyone planning a wedding knows how many decisions there are to make & this process is too often complicated by the enormous amount of bridal resources- blogs, wedding websites, wedding tv shows, magazines, bridal shows, etc.  Yes, this planner is saying that there is such a problem as too many resources.  Indecisiveness is not only very time consuming but too many choices in addition to the desire to have "the best wedding ever" puts a lot of pressure on today's brides. 

As someone who subscribes to various bridal blogs, everyday I see hundreds of new and inspiring wedding ideas.  It is very tempting to incorporate every cool thing you see but no one wants a wedding that is all over the place & incohesive.  Editing simply means separating what you like & why you like it to focus the planning and design process.  Here are my top 4 rules for editing your wedding:

#1. Start out with a list of what you want your ideal ceremony and reception to be.  If you want a romantic feel, that will rule out industrial spaces and modern colors.  The budget, season, location, and formality of a wedding strongly dictate the rest of the planning so make sure you have those details sorted first.  Did I mention the budget? Yes, the budget directly effects every aspect of your wedding.  There is nothing that will ruin planning faster than a bride being disappointed because she has unrealistic expectations.     

#2. Keep a file (on your computer or an actual folder) of images that you like with notes of why you like those details. Also keeping track of details that you strongly dislike (no roses anywhere, no gold, etc.) can sometimes be more helpful in the beginning stages than figuring out what you do want.  It is kind of similar to how you pick a major in college- knowing what you don't like helps to eliminates most of the choices right away.  Focus on the feeling or environment that you want to create inside of what you need to have.  Once you have a few images picked out, creating an inspiration board is a strategic way to make sure all the elements are cohesive.   

#3. Make peace with the idea that you have one wedding and you cannot (in good taste) jam in everything you see from online, tv, and magazine resources.  This is not a competition. Repeat.  A wedding should reflect the couple & their families, not bragging rights to compare against any other wedding.  Trends change every couple of years and you should not feel obligated to stay away from or give into a popular trend.  Weddings that equally focus on the couple and the guest experience will never go out of style.

Friendors- Partying Like Its 1975

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My lovely, amazing, incredible parents got married in 1975. As I'm told, the proposal was in February and the wedding was a mere 6 months later in August. Today, a 6 month timeline is not completely unheard of, but most couples prefer to take 9-18 months to make sure every detail is perfect and so they have enough time to save for their ideal wedding. My parents had a definite idea of what they wanted- a small, intimate, family oriented wedding. Long story short, my mom's aunt was holding a huge family reunion for around the same time and when she heard about my parent's wedding date, the aunt decided to combine her reunion with the wedding. My mom's plans to have a traditional Polish polka band and a cool reception site were traded in for lots of out of town family and a homespun wedding.

Not that my parents were that upset, they were just excited to be married and celebrate with their favorite people. Due to the large amount of guests, my parents decided to ask family & friends to help with all aspects of the wedding. They were pretty smart to utilize a lot of 'friendors'. Wow, my parents were soooo ahead of their time. If you are not familiar with the term, a 'friendor' is a friend of yours who is also a vendor, such as a photographer, baker, DJ, etc. There are obviously pro's and con's to this.

To use my parents' wedding as an example; they had a friend of my mom's make all the bridesmaid dresses for my 5 aunts, the mother of a friend of one aunt made the wedding cake, and a friend of my uncle was the bartender. The seamstress had enough material left over from each bridesmaids' dress, that she created roses from each dress fabric and put the "rose bouquet" in a shadow box which still hangs in my parents' bedroom. My mom still talks about her wedding cake as being better than anything she imagined and the baker really personalized the design by incorporating the wedding colors and flowers in the cake design. After the church ceremony, the reception was held at my mom's parents house and all the food was made by family. Apparently, when my mom's grandmother found out the original catering menu and prices, she decided she would cook all the food and that was that. You don't tell your Slovak grandmother no, especially when you know her cooking could put any caterer to shame. When my parents talk about their wedding (it'll be 35 years this August! Go Jack & Ellen!), they only have good memories. They don't wish it was at a huge venue or that anything was different. Except one thing. There are virtually no photographs from the whole day! If you are reading this and you know my parents, you are well aware that the above photos are not of my parents. Those photos are what I found when I searched for "1975 wedding pictures". A friend of my dad's offered to be their photographer. I guess my parents did not specify their expectations, because this friend left the church immediately after the ceremony ended. No family group pictures on the altar or anywhere else. And since this friend was also a wedding guest, he enjoyed the reception as a guest and not a photographer, meaning that he only took a few pictures the whole day. All the photos my parents do have are not professional quality (lighting, angles, etc) and they are very few portraits.

Let's start with the obvious disadvantages. You are asking your friends to essentially split their time on your wedding day between celebrating and working. But that is the least of your worries. It is very common to have a friend that dapples in photography, but has never shot a wedding. This is a definite problem that is clear to experienced wedding photographers- wedding photography is different than any other job because you can never re-do those special moments and there are a thousand variables to great wedding photography including lighting. Also, there are friends who are amazing cooks and who are used to whipping up a huge party menu, but that is nothing compared to a wedding of 100+ people with food that needs to be kept heated, having a serving staff, and arranging the specifics with rental company for all the plateware, silverware, barware, linens, etc.

Now back to the advantages. The upside of using 'friendors' is obvious- you trust them, you can help your friends out by allowing them to use your wedding in their portfolio/ as a reference, and they can 'gift' you their services so it is of little or no cost to you. These are great reasons. In fact, I started out planning weddings on my own thanks to some amazing friends (you know who you are!) who trusted me enough to give me those great opportunities. Before I sound like a total hypocrite, let me explain exactly when you should use friendors.

Rule #1. You should only use friends who have actual experience in their field and have done many weddings previous to yours. By the time I planned my first wedding on my own, I had worked on over 60 weddings at the Sheraton Dover Hotel. It is a great thought to want to help out your friend with a portfolio, but do not volunteer to be the 'guinea pig'.

Rule #2. Make sure you both are clear on the expectations. This may sound obvious, but make sure to have a meeting to discuss every detail and to let your friend know that by volunteering his or services, that friend is now first a vendor, then a guest. Depending on the service provided, the friend may not have time or opportunity to go dance with everyone else or socialize and should definitely NOT be knocking back drink after drink if he or she is working throughout the day. Most vendors don't have the opportunity to really show you what they can do before the big day. Fortunately, caterers, hairstylists, and make up artists have the opportunity to present you with a "run through" a few weeks or months ahead of time which is something to definitely take advantage of.

Rule #3. Make sure that you know exactly what each vendor is responsible for leading up to and on the wedding day. This may sound similar to #2, but this rule focuses on the vendor responsibilities. Photographers typically ask for a set list of VIP guests and a list of pictures for the cocktail hour. DJs ask for a set list of the "definitely" and "no way" songs plus the first dance, father/daughter, etc. Your friend should treat your wedding like any other client and it is well within your right as the client to make sure everything is covered.

Rule #4. Trust your instincts! My friends have always known me to be very organized and I have been obsessed with weddings and event planning since I was in high school. So, they knew that I would take their wedding seriously and that I have the experience to back it up. If a friend offers his or her services and immediately you feel uncertain, it is perfectly fine to turn them down. This is your wedding and you shouldn't have to wonder throughout your big day if your friend is holding up his or her side of the deal.

All in all, friendors can be a great asset to a wedding. It just makes sense that your friends want the best for you and will put forth the extra effort to make sure you fully enjoy your big day. Just with "regular" vendors, couples should always do their research on both the individual person/ company and the vendor responsibilities. By trusting your instincts and following the rules, couples can be sure that they come away with all the advantages of using a friendor without dealing with any disadvantages.

P.S. I did find the few pictures of my parents wedding and will be featuring the photos in an upcoming post!