While I don't believe in being an indentured servant to your clients, I do believe that many wedding planners (as well as other professionals) need to let their ego take a backseat and really focus on making the day about the bride and groom. I once heard a deejay remark that the deejay or band should be the focal point of the reception. Um, no. The couple should be the focal point of the reception. The wedding should never be about the vendors who make it happen; it should always be about the guests of honor.
When it comes to placing marketing materials at a wedding reception, I am a big stickler on this. Business cards should be handed out upon request, not placed on every table or on the deejay's booth. In fact, I would argue that placing your brochures or an email sign up sheet or business cards at a reception is disrespectful to the client and smacks a little of desperation. When a couple has spent months poring over the design of their tables and has then spent several hundred (or thousands) of dollars on each table to achieve the look, then having a vendor's marketing materials on the table or in the reception space is a sure-fire way to tacky it up. Again, this wedding is about the bride and groom, not about the people who produced it. (Caveat: I do think that a photographer's slideshow of photos from the day is fine, as it is an added value for the couple.)
When a guest asks me who the photographer is or who the deejay is, I hand them a business card for that particular vendor from a few that I keep on me during the wedding. This allows that vendor's information to get into the hands of those who want it in a discreet manner and keeps the focus on the bride and groom. A wedding professional's signature should be their excellent work, and when a they do a great job, people will and do ask for their name and information.
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For millennials, the generation that accounts for more than 70% of today's weddings and the first to grow up with the Internet, technology has done more than give unprecedented access to information; it has physically changed their brains on a microcellular level. What worked in bridal marketing just ten years ago is no longer effective because the way today's engaged couples think is actually different than couples of generations past. In 
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12 comments:
Couldn't agree more! DJs are the event professionals that I see that do it most(or I should say, try to do it) at our clients' weddings.
This is one of my big pet peeves. You hit the nail on the head with your post. The day is about the bride & groom. We have to constantly keep that in mind. Just think about how embarrassed you would be if you were the bride and you found your vendors (vendors that you PAID good money for) hitting up your precious friends and family members for future business? Tacky doesn't even begin to describe this unseemly practice.
Heck, I even briefly hesitate when a guest specifically requests my business card! It's so engrained in me that we should not be the focal point. I hope vendors really start to understand this.
This is so far my favorite post of 2009!
I had wondered how other vendors felt about this exact thing since I started in the wedding industry. I had always thought it was tacky, but I've seen a lot of other vendors doing this exact thing.
I SO agree - I have seen caterers do this (actual business cards, not just logo napkins), djs, etc. I did have one client request not to have an excellent caterer back despite the fact that they thought the food was amazing - they were annoyed that the caterer used logo'd napkins to promote themselves. I know that the whole photography slideshow thing is accepted, but I still see it as a gimmick to promote yourself - the guests don't need to see photos of the event they are currently at in my opinion, and the photographer could miss spontaneous happenings while working on the slideshow instead of being ready to shoot - I have had this several times as a planner, and found it frustrating. I know that may bother some photographers, but there's got to be a better way.
I couldn't agree more. There's nothing that drives me more crazy than a DJ with a huge sign hanging in front of their booth. It happens so often.
Wow, I had no idea people actually did that! That is so tacky to place your card at a wedding.
I have a huge issue with the caterers in this area doing this. TACKY! I discreetly remove any cards I see, and if someone asks, I give them one. After being as nice about it as possible three time, I simply stopped referring one local caterer.
However, I have often wondered how to best deal with the situation of being asked for my own card, as I feel it is a breach of etiquette to give out my companies information as someone's event. I appreciate your insight to this dilemma. Thank you!
THANK YOU! it's never a good idea. ever.
Again, as other professionals have mentioned before me... I didn't realize that wedding "professionals" did this. Totally unacceptable - and unfortuneate that there has to be a post about it... but glad that you did.
I couldn't agree more with every last word you posted on this subject, Liene! It is ridiculous to me the audacity some of these vendors have.
I have even had florists place business cards at every table....which I promptly pick up and discard!!!!!!
It is untolerable to me for ANY wedding vendor to use someone's WEDDING DAY as a way to promote themselves.
Absurd!
(Can you tell I feel pretty passionate about this subject?! LOL)
Oh, I hate it when vendors do this! I go pick them up or tell them to stop as soon as I see it. I once had a caterer try to put a business card at every placesetting- right next to the napkin. No thank you!
totally,totally on point,or more accurately, on several points. The couple has, no doubt, spent a lot of emotion, time, and money orchestrating the look that they imagined (whether that look is created in a firehouse, a back yard or a five star hotel), and the last thing that the guest should see is a giant banner with the Dj's logo on it. Ditto for business cards placed on tables, bars or any where else. Frankly, I don't even like to see logo'd aprons or shirts on catering staff.
If I am asked for one of my cards, (as a civil celebrant), it is not always for someone planning an event; sometimes it is because they loved a particular reading or have more details about a ritual we've included. I am happy to give them one, but I nip any further conversation in the bud, suggesting that they enjoy the event and give me a call at their leisure....
Celia Milton, in NJ!
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