Posted on Feb 19, 2009 under Secrets Of The Trade |
5. “If it’s for a wedding, it’ll cost you 30% more.”
You might have suspected that a wedding costs more than any other kind of similarly scaled event. You would be right. Diane Warner, author of “How to Have a Big Wedding on a Small Budget,” tells of a bride-to-be who wanted to test this theory for herself.
“She called a service in San Francisco, asked for just what she wanted, and they gave her a bid,” Warner explains. “The next day, she had her fiance call and bid on the same items for a party. He got a lower price.”
In researching Bridal Bargains, Fields and his wife spoke to several florists who told them that if they get the sense a bride has big bucks, they’ll suggest exotic or out-of-season flowers.
”If you’re wearing a big diamond ring or your fiance is a doctor, it seems you suddenly have to fly in orchids from Hawaii,” he says.
Posted on Feb 05, 2009 under Secrets Of The Trade |
1. “We’ll do it our way.”
You’ve been planning your wedding for months — if not years — and even the tiniest detail is taken into account. Too bad that all too often, the people you hire to help carry out the plans are oblivious to what you want. When Marie Jane Shroper of Ducanes, Ga., arrived at the church on her wedding day, she found that the L-shaped white bouquets she had requested had somehow become Christmas tree-shaped arrangements of large pink lilies and red flowers. The bride had also ordered a single rose for placement at the altar in remembrance of her recently deceased grandmother and a corsage for her husband’s stepmother, wanting her to feel included as one of the family. The florist brought the wrong flower to recognize the grandmother and omitted the corsage altogether.How to avoid mistakes like that one?
Jeane Pichard, a Ventura, Calif., wedding consultant suggests checking affiliations with groups such as the Association of Bridal Consultants (whose members include wedding planners, videographers and caterers), the Leading Caterers of America and the American Disc Jockey Association.