What?? Well, not entirely, that is! If you are interested in truly getting the best deals, the best information and have your questions answered in real time by someone who isn't anonymous or unknown to you, you must meet vendors face to face! It's hard as millennials to get comfortable with this concept. This is uncomfortable for a lot of individuals, but particularly in this age group.
It feels like I am online almost constantly, but as a Wedding Coordinator, I know all too well that you cannot get the very best information for planning a wedding online. You will only get the best prices and advice by talking to people who are in the business and have relationships with real people who specialize in their particular area pertaining to weddings.
It's easy to sit at the computer, and it's actually a ton of fun to see all that is available out there to customize a wedding. However, planning a wedding isn't all about what it will look like or just picking vendors without really getting to know them. How do you know what questions to ask a vendor? How do you know if you are seeing the warning signs or not? How do you know if you are even going to like them? Do you really want to get advice from other brides on how to plan a wedding versus people who know what the realities are to every detail of a wedding? Do you know what you should ask before signing any contracts with a particular venue or vendor. Do you know why things costs what they do for your wedding, i.e. catering vs. a nice dinner out or why you might not be saving money getting your wine or champagne at the big box stores? Do you know why you're going to pay more for a particular type of flower at certain times of the year? Do you know what the laws are in your particular state as compared to advice you get online? How will you know if you have all the bases covered without getting an education first on the essentials of planning a wedding spoken from proven professionals?
What you don't know can hurt you! As a bride, you would have no way of knowing how many venues and vendors are hoping for Wedding Coordinators to conduct workshops to teach brides about the wedding industry. It's a concept that would prove to help brides and also make wedding vendors and venues be able to serve their clients much more efficiently which saves money for everyone in the long run. So why mention all of this? If this was not true, you would not be hearing more about venues requiring that a bride hire an independent Wedding Consultant in order to book a wedding at their venue.
For the benefit of all brides out there planning weddings, you must look for opportunities to learn in real live situations, workshops and stop limiting your advice only to websites, forums and yes....blogs! You have to get out in the real world to save yourself a lot of time and money. Hey, wouldn't it be cool to have a shorter engagement? Now that can save you a LOT of money! One example of how you can do that is to go to
www.bridal4-1-1workshops.com and take a look at what you're not taking advantage of. For every 10 hours (maybe more) you spend on the computer filtering through information about planning your wedding, you could find more information from a workshop or a Wedding Coordinator in just 2 hours.
So it depends on how much you trust information online to be reliable as compared to a professional who makes it their livelihood and truly has a passion for what they do. If they didn't have passion for what they do and the greatest desire to help brides, they would probably choose another line of work. Their jobs require long hours before and after the wedding, weekends away from home and family, and a phenomenal amount of time marketing for the number of clients they might receive.
I absolutely love being online and I wouldn't have a business without it, but brides and wedding vendors alike, we have to get out in the real world to really know what is going on in the world of weddings. No matter what we would prefer, there is no substitute.
Wishing you the greatest of days!
Janis Flagg, Event and Wedding Coordinator
Creating memories to bring a smile to your face for years to come!
http://www.bridal4-1-1workshops.com/
http://www.greatestofdays.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkKIjSu9dbA