What inspires you, what challenges you, and what have you learned from your experiences to date?
Strong personalities inspire me! Color inspires me and difficult spaces inspire me. That's more than one thing, I suppose. I love when couples come to me and want to do something outside the norm or bold with their color palette or something reflective of their cultures with the menu. I guess I'm really inspired by couples who are excited to have their day be very reflective of who they are. I am inspired by weddings with strong point of view, because I'm able to adopt that perspective and run with it. I love bold colors because those events seem to come alive and more than anything, I'm inspired by difficult or unusual spaces. I just wrapped up a wedding on Ellis Island and the process of transforming the space from a historic museum to a reception venue in 45 minutes had me revved up for months!
Challenges for me are usually less logistic and stylistic, and more about people. I think difficult parent-client relationships challenge me, because there are a few chefs in the kitchen, and it's important to make them all feel that they have a voice in the process, especially if the bills are being split. Plus, the truth is, I don't know all the back story, so it's still a constant challenge to fit my way, in my temporary role, into my clients' families and relationships.
I've learned so much since we started this business six years ago, I don't even know where to begin. I think my greatest lesson is to practice the golden rule and build great relationships. It helps your clients and it helps you. Some planners like a more pit-bull approach, but our style is really much more team based and it's created a sense of real camaradarie at our events that I think the clients really notice. There is a seamlessness because vendors want to do their very best because they ENJOY working with you.
If you had to start your business over today what would you do differently and why?
Ultimately, we learned so much from our errors, I don't know how things could have played out differenty. However, I would probably have spent a lot less money on advertising, valued our service more, and I would have had a better contract that better protected my business. In the beginning we were afraid of intimidating brides with very thorough contracts, but over time, experience has taught us to add certai clauses that initially we were afraid of putting in. Finally, I would have hired differently. We squandered a lot of money on bad staff while we got on "hands on" HR experience! Wekarina've learned a LOT about management.
What is one change you have successfully implanted within your business that has allowed you to better navigate through the current recession?
We've done a couple of things that I feel have helped us. The first step was dramatic cost cutting and evaluation of what things cost us more than they offered in return. We re-structured our staffing and packages to enable us to take on more "smaller" clients without exhausting ourselves and we diversified our service offerings to make our luxury service seem a little more attainable.
How do you see the industry evolving over the next few years?
I think that over the next few years, we're going to see wedding consultants become more ubiquitous , but I think the profession is going to split more rigidly into planners/ event designers and consultants/ event coordinators. By that I mean that there will be a more rigid luxury market, while there will be a burgeoning market for mid-market and even "budget" brides seeking partial service and DOC. I think that Wedding Planners/ Consultants are turning into the realators and contractors of the wedding industry. Would you buy a house or do major renovation without one? Some people, maybe, but not everyone. I Venues and vendors are starting to see the value and ease of working with qualified planners and I think brides and grooms are starting to see a good planner and a DOC as a bit of insurance on their investment. That said, I think that the industry needs an industry standard, because for young consultants and DOCs starting out, the hurdle to overcome poor performance by bad, "wanna be's" for lack of a better term, is very difficult.
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