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How much money do Canadians spend on Weddings?

by Danielle Andrews Sunkel I really don't like when Wedding Vendors give a couple a list of what the average spend is on Wedding Items.  I have never given one of my couples such a list or budget, because there is no set formula. One couple will value the party, while the next is more interested in the decor. No two weddings will ever allot their budget the same way, everyone has different priorities.  To give an example: if someone gave me $50,000 to decorate and renovate my house, and they gave you the same money, we would spend it in two completely different ways. You may put it into a kitchen and bathrooms, whereas I may put it into the basement and flooring, etc.  Its all about priorities and to tell a couple, this is how you should be spending your money, could really mess up the planning process.  I understand some people just really like to know what the stats are, so here you go. Here is the average spend on weddings by Canadian couples, as compiled by Weddingsbells/Mariage Quebec Magazine.As you can see even the type and formality of the wedding affects how a couple will spend their money, so average is just that, average. Its not a guideline at all.  You will notice that Wedding Planners are not listed in the budget. Wedding Planners/Coordinators are not typically included in the budget, as they charge 10-15% of the TOTAL budget (excluding Honeymoon, unless they planned that too).

WPIC Goes for High Tea at The Windsor Arms

By: Tracey Manailescu

On Wednesday, Lataysha, Kim, Danielle and myself went to the Windsor Arms for their High Tea. If you have never been, then it is an experience you should have at least once. Danielle and I have been fortunate enough to have gone a few times at various venues for Mother's Day with our mother & grandmothers, and for Bridal Showers etc.

Coordinators, let your clients know that it is a great time to catch up with the bridal party and the mothers. As well, to wrap up a day of shopping with their girls for last minute wedding related items at Holt Renfrew, Coach, Channel, Dior etc. (which are all steps away.) *It would be appropriate to give the thank-you gifts to the bridal party at this ocassion, if it is the week or two before the wedding.

The Windsor Arms Hotel has been serving tea since 1927 and still has the original working fireplace. The Tea Room holds 42 seated guests.

Here is what the High Tea menu included: (We chose the Complete Tea, which included a glass of Sherry or Sparkling Wine. I was the only one who opted for Sherry, and it was wonderful...)

A Choice of Loose-Leaf Teas (There were 4 pages of tea to choose from! Danielle had the Tibetan Tiger, I had Citralicious, Kim had a Fu Man Chu, and Lataysha had Eve's Temptation.)

Fresh Scones with Preserves
and Devon Cream

A Presentation of Fresh Sandwiches:

Smoked Salmon and Wasabi Sour Cream
with Salmon Caviar

&
Cucumber with Sundried Tomato Paste
and Dill Cream Cheese

While I was researching the history of High Tea, I found some interesting tidbits. Apparently tea drinking started in France in 1636, twenty some odd years before England made it famous. It was believed to cure all illnesses, and reportedly some drank up to 40 cups of it daily!

The "Afternoon Tea", as we know it, was made famous by Anna Maria Stanhope who was known as the Duchess of Bedford. The regular meals of the day were served early and late, so the Duchess would feel faint mid-afternoon. She began having a light snack of tea and bread to curb her hunger, while waiting for the dinner meal. She then began inviting friends to join her for a more social aspect. The menu increased with some more sweets added, and other socialites picked it up for their own circles to enjoy with their girlfriends.

A wonderful tradition that Queen Victoria started in 1860 (how I would have loved to meet that wonderful woman) and now carried out by Queen Elizabeth II, is to open the private gardens at Buckingham Palace three times yearly for afternoon tea. A modest 8000 guests are invited. You can view the Buckingham Palace Garden Party Statistics as it is amazing to see what goes into the event.

Yes, of course there is High Tea etiquette too. If you want to know more, you can click on the link to read more about it. It is actually very informative, and may surprise some of you. It goes into detail about where "pinkies up" came from, how to place your napkin and how to eat a scone, it explains what a moustache cup is, etc.

Example: Did you know that "taking tea" was actually frowned upon by the upper class, and considered a vulgar expression? Actually, I am incorrect for calling what we had, High Tea. It should be called Afternoon Tea. You can read more about that in there as well.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, as I certainly did, researching it.

*All photos were taken by me, Tracey Manailescu

 

"Feeling Good" Chronicles of a Wedding Coordinator

by Caryn Lim, WPICC of A Timeless Celebration Weddings & Events Inc.

One of our most rewarding experiences took place last summer when we saved an outdoor wedding from being drenched in the rain! The ceremony was planned to be held on the terrace of a hotel. Of course, the most difficult situation for an outdoor wedding is to decide if the wedding should be kept outside or change the location to the backup indoor venue due to bad weather condition.

On the day of the wedding, my partner and I had to set up the ceremony and reception decor. The weather was beautiful and it didn't seem like it was going to rain at all. The banquets manager was suppose to make the final call. He said, "no worries, it's going to be beautiful all day, just look at the sky." We bugged him about it a few times because the weather forecast said otherwise. At first we let him have his say because he was supposed to make the final decision.

As the early afternoon passed by, we kept our eyes on the hour-by-hour weather forecast, it continued to indicated a 90% chance of rain by the late afternoon. As we setup outside, it was getting darker and windier. We stopped setting up and start on the inside in case we would be doing the outside decor for nothing. We also told the DJ to hold off on his setup and tried to convince the hotel staff to stop setting up the chairs, but unfortunately, they couldn't because they had to follow orders. This is something we have never done before, but we called the bride three times, yet she continued to say she REALLY wanted the wedding outside. During our last call, the groom said to us "listen, I know she really wants the ceremony outside, but use your best judgment and you make the call." We said "OK. We're moving everything inside. Bye."

We immediately went to look for the banquet manager, but he was nowhere to be found! We waited a bit, couldn't wait any longer, went to his assistant and told her "the ceremony will be inside, anything you need help with, we're here." Why we said that was because it was only 1.5 hours before the ceremony was to begin and the backup ceremony location was the restaurant of the hotel and all the cutlery, linens, tables and chairs had to be moved out of the way to fit 200 guests! The banquets manager was no where to be seen, the hotel coordinator finally came in to work, but all she said to us was “I am not happy with this last minute decision” and left us with only two hotel staff to help make this ceremony possible! They were already occupied moving the chairs from the terrace into the restaurant, it was only my partner and I left putting away the cutlery, linens and moving the tables and chairs without any hotel staff there to direct us! We had no choice but to grab a few guests who already arrived, explained to them the urgent situation, had them roll up their sleeves and started the workout! As soon as all the chairs and sound equipments were moved from the terrace into the restaurant, it literally started raining cats and dogs! It poured and poured and poured, so hard that we couldn't even see the outside from the large windows of the restaurant. Everyone started cheering. HUGE sigh of relief! CLOSE ONE!

That wasn't the end of the story! None of the chairs, decor and sound equipments were wet, but we still had to deal with a restaurant that was in a HUGE mess! Tables and chairs were everywhere because we didn't know where to put them! My partner and I had to improvise and we had to dismantle the head table backdrop from the lower level, bring it up to the restaurant and set it up so that we can close off a section of the restaurant and hide all the (horribly stacked) tables and chairs behind the backdrop!

Everything was pulled together JUST IN TIME! Everyone stayed beautiful, handsome and dry. The backdrop served as a beautiful background for the ceremony and photos. No one else knew what had gone wrong, not even the families of the bride and groom, not unless they were there during all the chaos or unless they peaked behind our backdrop!

-Caryn Lim, WPICC

A Timeless Celebration Weddings & Events Inc.

The Wedding Professional's Guide to Conferences

by Danielle Andrews Sunkel

“Hello.  My name is Danielle and I am a conference junkie.” 

Let me preface this article by saying, yes, I am the Co-Producer of the WPIC Conference, so of course I want you to come to our conference, but I realize our conference is not right for everyone.  I truly believe conferences are an important part of continuing education for Wedding Professionals.  You MUST attend conferences to stay current, educated and constantly improve yourself and your business.

“Tracey Manailescu and I have attended at least 40 different conferences in the past 5 years.” 

We've attended Wedding Conferences, Meeting Conferences, Travel Conferences and Event Conferences. Some are better than others, but for almost all of them, we have taken away something we could apply to business. 

No doubt, you make an investment when you attend a conference, but you are investing in making your business better and more profitable. 

“If you learn even one tip that books you 2 clients, then the conference has more than paid for itself and you've still made a profit.” 

I am going to break down the conferences that I feel are best for Wedding Planners to attend, BUT, just because it is on my list, does not mean its the best conference for YOU, and just because its not on my list, doesn’t mean you won’t gain something valuable by attending. You need to look at what the target of the conference is, what they will be teaching you and if it is applicable to YOUR particular business and area. Just like a Wedding, Conferences are personal to the person.

My Top 5 Picks, their targets and costs: Conferences are set up so that you can learn important business strategy and the latest trends from the best and most successful in the Industry. In order to be a better professional, you need to learn from the successful professionals. 

Your government lets you write off conference expenses for a reason :) In my opinion, you are doing a disservice to yourself and your clients if you are not attending at least one Industry conference each year.  

Event Graffiti for Your Clients

By: Tracey ManailescuAttention GTA Wedding Coordinators:

Your clients look to you for guidance, creativity and something different.  Check out Event Graffiti. 

Event Graffiti is very thin pieces of vinyl that look painted when applied to most smooth surfaces.  It is simple to use and will quickly personalize your clients special day in a very classy way.  They have great prices and add that special touch.

Event Graffiti is not only easy to apply, it is just as easy to remove without harming underlying surfaces, even the not so skilled and  coordinated could apply it.

Where can you apply Event Graffiti?  It can be applied to the dance floor, reception area wall, behind the head table, along the front of the bar, the possibilities are endless.  Large or small, practically  anything can be customized to continue the look and
theme of your event.

They do vinyl work, print custom backdrops, seating charts and can also print custom favour stickers and labels. 

*All photos were taken by Corrie & Norm Oliveira of Event Graffiti

Etiquette Training with The Etiquette Guy

By:Kim Choy

Last week, Lataysha and I, along with other WPIC Alumni attended The Etiquette Guy's Business and Dining Etiquette Seminar at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto.  This event was organized by one of our WPIC Alumni, Holly Carney of Holly Matrimony Weddings.

I was so excited to attend this seminar!  For some reason I've always been fascinated with etiquette.  Why we practiced it, where it originated from and how to improve my etiquette. 

Growing up, my family always went out for dinner, I was in my first restaurant when I was a week old.  As children, my siblings and I were always raised to sit nicely at the table, use our fork, remove our hats, and be relatively quiet.  I wouldn't say we grew up in a household of impeccable dinner manners, but we weren't the kids running around the restaurants screaming!  By the time I was 18 months old, I could use chopsticks, and by the time I was 12 I knew which cutlery to use even for a 4-6 course meal at a restaurant.

It surprises me so much that adults these days simply don't know the proper etiquette of meeting someone for the first time, the courtesy of removing a hat while in a building or proper dining etiquette.

Lataysha and I attended this seminar on behalf of WPIC Inc.  I wanted to attend this seminar, not only because I like learning about it, I wanted to have the training behind me from someone who knows what he's talking about! 

Jay Remer is the Etiquette Guy.  He has been trained by the Protocol School of Washington, which is the leader in etiquette and protocol services.  He has planned royal, corporate, political and social events over the past 40 years.

Jay states on his website:
"Good manners and proper etiquette are based on common sense. There are reasons why we do certain things in certain ways and not in other ways. My goal is for clients to have fun sharpening their knowledge and updating their skills, and in doing so, to gain greater self-confidence, to set a good example for their peers and their families, and to develop a deep sense of respect for all people."

The first day we learned about business etiquette. 

During the business etiquette seminar we were taught the 3 main proper etiquette practices:
We were taught how to greet someone with a proper handshake with the right amount of firmness, depending on the sex of the person, the positioning of the hand and how many times you "shake" the person's hand.  This was such useful information, as so many times we are meeting new clients and their parents, new vendors and other important people.  It is really important to know how to shake someone's hand properly - without crushing them or being too dainty!

Some other things Jay covered in the Business Etiquette:

• TOO MUCH eye contact is distracting and just plain creepy!
• Handwritten notes are always a must!
• Business cards aren't handed out like candy, they are only given to someone once you have decided you would like to continue a relationship with this person (I love this rule!)

The second day was the seminar most people were looking forward to: Dining Etiquette.  Everybody eats three meals a day, so we should all know how to eat, but do we know how to eat properly?

We learned the proper seating etiquette when there is a host and one guest or many guests.  We were taught how to sit - bet you didn't know there was a proper way to do that, eh?

I think one of the most important things we were taught on the second night was The Host Duties and The Guest Duties.  Jay taught us whose right it is to do certain things when being the host or the guest.  I find that this is so helpful not only for dinner parties, but also weddings as well. 

After a few hours of teaching, it was time for our 4-course meal!  It was so good!

One of the hardest things we struggled with was how to eat with a knife and fork - I know this sounds silly!

• Once you commit to using a knife (which should be in your right hand), you can never, change your fork back into your right hand to shovel food into your mouth?  This was the most challenging thing for all of us to accomplish!  We were so tempted to switch hands!  
• In order have to a comfortable amount of space at the table, there must be at least 24 inches between each dinner plate (center to center of the plate)

• Cutlery never touches the table again once you have picked it up.  It must rest on the plate or bowl.
• For dessert, sometimes a spoon is used as a substitute for a knife. 
• For ladies, if your purse is small enough, it goes on your lap and for larger purses, they should go inbetween your feet, under the table.

Overall I enjoyed both nights at the seminar.  I had fun catching up with old friends and meeting new people and most importantly brushing up on my etiquette and learning some new tips I never knew before!

Thank you to Holly for organizing this event and to Jay for teaching us!

The Truth About Competition - Wedding Planners by the numbers

by Danielle Andrews SunkelDownload The Truth About Wedding Competition pdf

Wedding Ring Tattoos

by Tracey Manailescu

Source

This is one of our most viewed blogs (2009), so I wanted to repost it.

Lately, I have to admit, I have been oddly fascinated by the growing trend of wedding band tattoos.  I decided to read up on them, and share my findings with you.

Tattooing your wedding ring onto your finger is a way to show your enduring love for your partner, forever.  It cannot be taken off during an argument, or put in a pocket while out-on-the-town for a night with friends. :) 

Apparently, this is not a new trend.  In fact, it started about 5000 years ago, in ancient Egypt when the pyramids were being built, Egyptians would tattoo their wrists and fingers to ward away illness.  In Scotland and Ireland tattooing your wedding finger has been popular for many years.  One of the designs that is most popular in North America stems from these two countries: the Celtic ring. The Celtic ring symbolizes “never ending love and devotion’, so what better symbol to be permanently etched into your finger. 

Wedding ring tattoos will cost you about $100 each.  The top half of your finger’s tattoo will last a lifetime, but the underside, or the palm side, tends to fade and blur rather quickly.  This results in having to do touch ups every few years, or you have the option of only getting a half ring done.

In the US, it is illegal in some States to get tattoos below the ankles, wrists, or above the neck, so check it out first if you are going there to get them.  It is said to be very painful, as there is no fatty tissue to block the pain.  It can even result in hairline fractures, if not done properly, or done by a professional. 75% of UK people, who have gotten wedding ring tattoos, regret it. (Sorry, I could not find any statistics in N. America).

Some famous people that have had it done for the exchange of their wedding rings, and have lived to regret it are:

• Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee (divorced after 5 years, she changed "Tommy" to "Mommy")
• Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock (separated after only 4 months of marriage)
• Kathy Griffin and Matt Moline (married for only 5 years)

There are only a few ways to have the tattoo removed from your finger, and none of them are pretty.

1. Laser removal: An extreme amount of heat in the form of a beam is lasered into the tattoo; it will then break up the tattoo into pieces.  The skin will ingest these pieces and slowly make it disappear after several treatments.
2. Dermabrasion: The top layer of skin is sanded away.
3. Excision: The tattoo is cut out and the skin is sewn back together.

What I have found just by reading up on it, is that I do not want to get wedding ring tattoos any time soon.  If you or any of your couples do, please consider the serious repercussions of being unique or different.  

Love can last a lifetime, but I will stick to my eternity band, thank you very much.

Quality vs. Price - Why Hiring a Budget Wedding Planner Could Backfire

by Christina Frizzell,WPICC of Sweet Bliss Weddings in Edmonton, AB

Everyone loves a bargain! And when are you more likely to look for a bargain than when you are planning on making a big purchase?  Whether it’s a car, an entertainment system or a camera, chances are that you want to do a bit of research to determine what the best model is for the best price.

This practice should be no different when you are looking for a wedding planner.

The average cost of a wedding in Canada is $25,000.  That’s a LOT of money to invest and chances are you will have to trim up on a few wedding expenses to stay within budget.  However, I am here to explain why hiring a budget wedding planner could end up costing a lot more than if you had hired a professional in the first place.

If you’re getting married (congratulations!) and are starting to research all-things-wedding, then no doubt you have already checked out websites like Kijiji looking for décor, vendors and services.  While sites like Kijiji are great for finding bargains, they’re also a free bulletin board for self-described “professionals” to get your business.

Aside from the usual red flags (no company website, a hotmail address, no business materials), you should also be looking at their pricing as an indicator as to whether or not these so-called professional planners are actually qualified to be entrusted with your special day.

For example, I am always told about “wedding planners” who charge $400-$500 (or less…yikes!)  for Wedding Day Coordination.  While this may sound like an absolute steal, let’s do the math:

For us WPIC certified planners, what’s known as a “Day Of Coordination” actually doesn’t just include your wedding day.  We are doing a bunch of work behind the scenes in preparation of your wedding day.  We are contacting all of your vendors to confirm everything they contractually agreed to provide you with; and if we are not familiar with the vendor that you have booked, we may contact a reliable vendor that we know of and ask them to be on stand-by in the event that your chosen vendor fails to show up.  We are also creating your wedding day timeline and itinerary for you and coordinating your rehearsal.  In total (including being there on your wedding day), we are putting in 40 hours or more for your “Day Of” coordination.

Photo by Nikko Lim

If we only charged $400 for this service that means that we are only making $10/hr, which is slightly above Alberta’s minimum wage (less than minimum wage in Ontario).  At this point, you should be asking yourself: “How is this business making money?” And that’s a great question!! 

The main goal of all businesses is to make money.  So if you are hiring a wedding planner who is willing to work for minimum wage, what level of service will you be getting?  And if their business is not making money, will they even be in business by the time your wedding rolls around? 

The bottom line is: You Get What You Pay For.  Anyone can claim to be a wedding planner and take out an ad on Kijiji or start a page on Facebook.  However, it is education, past experience, professionalism and industry connections that set professional planners apart from the “weekend warriors” who are just out to make a quick buck. 

Would you hire a wedding dress maker who has no formal training or experience other than “I watch a lot of Project Runway”?

When it comes to your wedding day, who would you rather have in your corner?

About Christina Frizzell, WPICC - After earning her Bachelor of Arts degree and living abroad in London, England, Christina returned home to Edmonton and created Sweet Bliss Weddings. Christina believes that a wedding should be a reflection of who you are, both as individuals and as a couple, and will help you incorporate those personal touches that will leave your guests talking about your wedding for years to come. She is also the first and only Wedding Planner in Alberta to be certified by the Gay Wedding Institute.