Bridal panel of seven shares their ‘wedding planning experience’

aliante logo02 Bridal panel of seven shares their wedding planning experienceSeven brides, married from as recently as 4 months ago, to four years ago, shared the good, the bad, and the ugly at a Las Vegas Wedding Network meeting, hosted at the Aliante Hotel & Casino.

There is so much information to share that I will make multiple posts over the next week to cover the range of issues.

To provide some context, Moderator, Ricky Gulati (Memory Lane Videography) started by asking what type of venue each bride selected, and why. That opening qualifier had an even more significant 2-part follow up.

  1. Approximately, what was your initial budget or budget range for your wedding?
  2. Did you stay within your budget, or did you go over it? If you went over it, by how much?

The dollar-numbers were not the important answer, here, as they were approximate. What clearly stood out was that six out of seven brides exceeded their budget. The range of excess was from 50% to 200%. In real dollars, these cost overruns were in tens of thousands of dollars.

Observation – Conclusion – Reality Check – Opinion

By their own admission, the brides didn’t really have a budget. They had a chunk of money, but didn’t really know the cost of things. Moreover, when they got into the process of planning, particularly when attending bridal shows, they discovered opportunities for products and services they didn’t know existed.

A good example of that was uplighting. More than one bride commented, that once demonstrated,

uplighting was a dramatic decor upgrade. They wanted it, and bought it.

That comes under the heading of “You don’t know, what you don’t know.” It’s not reasonable to have planned or budgeted for something you didn’t know existed.

Several brides expressed that “When I found a particular vendor that I clicked with, price went out the window.” This seemed to particularly important with vendors, such as photographers, who work at close range with a couple, for many hours.

Overages were absorbed by parents, in-laws, or the couples, themselves.

Worth A Read: A while back, I posted a provocative item, titled: A ruthless discussion of the term ‘Budget Bride’ and wedding decision making

It relates well to this post, and the ones that will follow, about the bridal panel.

Congratulations to the program organizers for putting on a fine, informational show.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

Las Vegas Wedding Network Brides Focus Panel Event Huge Success

Our recent  Las Vegas Wedding network event held at Aliante Hotel & Casino was attended by 65 wedding professionals who came to hear what brides would say after the wedding was over. Here is a photo slide show from the event. Be watching for videos of the event, so if you missed what we learned from these brides, you still have a chance.

You can meet these wedding professionals at the next Bridal Spectacular bridal show!

Come Hear What Brides Have to Say at LVWN

Date: July 7, 2010, Wednesday

Location: Aliante Hotel & Casino with Host: Shauna Lederman

7300 Aliante Parkway

Seminar Topic: Brides Focus Group – Come find out what brides really think!

REGISTER HERE!

Las Vegas Wedding Network has new members and committees!

The Board of Directors of the Las Vegas Wedding Network are happy to announce this months new members as well as report on how excited we are with the work our new committee members are doing. LVWN is continuing to grow and serve the wedding industry community at large.

New Members:

Lyn Saculles of Brian Saculles Photography

Elen V Marsh of Elegant Wedding Dance

Henri Sagalow of Henri Sagalow Photography

Pastor Pete of Elegant Vegas Weddings

Yamilet of LV Custom Cakes

LVWN Committee Members as of April 2010

Education & Programs:

Andy Ebon: The Wedding University, Board Member and Committee Head

Faith Chapin of Faithfully Yours

Michelle Parsons of Tuxedo Junction

Jacqueline Johnston of Memory Lane Video

Membership:

Debra Hansen of Bridal Spectacular, Board Member

Ricky Gulati of Memory Lane Video- Committee Head

Todd Herod of Shutter Booth

Mike Briggs of Good Vibrations

Hospitality & Registration:

Sue Gestring of Bridal Spectacular Events, Inc.:  Committee Head

Mary Ann Reilly of Wildflower Linens

Cymbra Frazier of Artistic Imaging

Madelyn R. Nitzkin of Madelyn R Studios

Doris Lofton of DAL Weddings & Events

Sponsorships & Raffles:

Monica Morgan of VegasVows.com - Board Member and Committee Head

Gabriel Ortiz of All Events DJ

For those of you who expressed interest in being on a committee at the May meeting, we appreciate your desire to serve and will be looking to add new people to commitees in November. Our next committee meeting will be in June.

Cinco De Mayo Las Vegas Wedding Network Event was a hit!

Everyone had a great time at the LVWN event held on May 5 at View 215. The speaker Colleen Wheeler of Wedding Festivals in Greenville, SC shared a timely topic in her seminar on “The Richest Man Who Ever Lived”  based on the book by that title.  It was interesting to hear how Solomon’s wisdom still applies today!

Enjoy this animoto from the event and join us in July for our next meeting at Aliante Station where we will feature a panel of brides sharing with you what they learned in the process of planning their wedding.

Video Clips From March Las Vegas Wedding Network Event

Alicia Lynch of Orange Soda Photography

LVWN Testimonial Alicia Lynch from Debra Hansen on Vimeo.

Great Food, Great People, Great Times

March 3, 2010 Event at Elks Lodge from Debra Hansen on Vimeo.

Las Vegas Wedding Network forming Committees! Join us!

The Las Vegas Wedding Network has grown to the point that we are accepting people to head up and work on various committees. These will be actual working positions, but we will try to keep any time commitments to a minimum. This is your association, help it grow, get involved!

These people signed up at the March meeting, but you can join them, just give Debbie Hansen a call at 702-368-0088

Membership: Ricky Gulati of Memory Lane Video, Todd Herod of Shutterbooth, Mike Briggs of Good Vibrations DJ’s

Programs: Faith Chapin of Faithfully Yours, Michelle Parsons and Nicole Smith of Tuxedo Junction, Jacqueline Johnston of Memory Lane Video

Hospitality and Registration: Doris Lofton of DAL Weddings, Mary Ann Reilly of Wildflower Linens, Cymbra Frazier of Artistic Imaging, Madelyn Nitzkin of Madelyn R Studios

Raffles & Sponsorships: Gabriel Ortiz of All Events DJ and Rebecca Gillilan of Special Day Cinema.

Thanks for all the volunteers, we will put together a board meeting asap!

Special Guest Speaker, Colleen Wheeler from South Carolina to Appear at May Meeting

Date: May 5, 2010, Wednesday
Location: View 215
Seminar Topic: “The Richest Man Who Ever Lived” Ethics in Business from the wisdom of King Solomon. Presenter: Colleen Wheeler of The Wedding Festivals. Colleen along with her husband Marc are  owner/operators of The Gassaway Mansion,
a reception venue in Greenville, South Carolina and producers of 10 bridal shows in South Carolina, Wedding Festivals. This fun couple actually live, eat, and sleep in their business place, as they live and host weddings in their ”Roaring 20′s”  Mansion. Colleen is known for her amazing decor and as part of her presentation she will share photos of her events.

 Register Here

Y’all Have to Come to This Meeting!

Wedding Professionals Meet and Ask Questions Regarding Marketing Decisions

See Animoto of this fun and informative event!

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 – 6:00 to 8:30 PM

Seminar Topic: FAQ HOT TOPICS, Ask your questions regarding Internet & E-mail Security, Google Analytics, Pay Per Click Advertising on Google, Yahoo and Facebook

Speakers: Monica Morgan, Andy Ebon, Debra Hansen with Moderator, Ricky Gulati

Elk’s Lodge – Host: John Squitieri of Casual to Elegant Events

office: 702-645-4406 | cell: 702-281-1868 | Email: John@CasualToElegantEvents.com

Elk’s Lodge

4100 West Charleston