I'm thinking about organizing a Live Chat for our community. We would all log on at the same time and chat about one specific topic. What do you think we should chat about? Please send me your thoughts. Thanks!
Hi Christine- no one wants to chat. I would love to know how other planners are surviving this economic mess we are in. I am struggling and don't know how to let the brides know how valuable we are to their day. Hope you get more feedback!
Wendy - Thank you for your reply. Please let me know what you mean by 'no one wants to chat?' Also, I think that your topic is such a great idea. Thank you for letting me know about this major issue. I think the other vendors would be extremely receptive to this.
I just meant that no one had responded to your request for topics. Getting the word out to brides is a really hard thing to do. they think that if they have an on site person at the venue or a helpful aunt, they don't need a planner. That is so wrong. The investment in a wedding is huge and knowing there is someone there to see to all the details is so important. Unfortunately, too many brides think they are planners after they get married and too many event designers call themselves planners. There is a glut in the industry and a lack of knowledge on the part of the bride. Looking forward to hearing what others are saying.
Wow. That is really interesting. Thanks for your insights. I hope you'll be around on June 3 when we discuss this. Please pass the word along. Thanks again.
I would love to hear from brides to be and ask them what media venue (besides BridalTweet of course)do they turn to for wedding apparel, tips etc. Do they turn to national or local sites, magazines, print, radio etc???
I notice that the Wedding Cost Estimator, like a lot of budget estimators, charts wedding photography way to low. This is one of the things that really hurts our business because brides have an unrealistic idea of photography pricing and I would lover to see these estimators give actual real world cost. The estimator is basing it on number of guest which is really not a determinator for photography. We base pricing on hours, number of locations and package items included. This is because we tend to do the same amount of work no matter the number of guests because the bulk of our work is covering, couples photos, bridal party, family, the ceremony, details and then the reception and all the activities. Number of guests only plays into our coverage when it is either a very large wedding over 500 guest or a very small wedding under 50 guests. Unless a wedding is less then 50 guests and 2 hours, most average photographers will start packages at $3000-. The estimator shows starting costs at $1500 which is only going to get someone a shoot only with no package items or only about 4 to 5 hours coverage depending on the studio.
