by Shannon Underwood
There’s no love affair between our next generation of brides and mass produced services or products.
You, as a wedding professional, ASSUME that she wants to craft her retro/rustic looking wedding on her own. Instead – she might be looking for a DIY theme, but is willing to pay a professional price.
Pinterest and lifestyle blogs make us crave baking, crafting and designing…regardless of whether we have the skills to achieve the desired level of perfection. See:
https://www.pinterest.com/MariaWiggins/pinterest-fail/
“Instead of cursing the DIY wedding tutorials and photos I embrace them. I create a homegrown look and charge a designer price. The only downside is I typically don’t get as many referrals. The bride wants to claim that she did it herself…I’m okay with that.”
Commented Lindsay with Studio Blu
Orphaned Pins:
Only 8%* of all wedding pins are ever executed. When asked why, brides listed the following as major reasons: “I ran out of time,” and “I was unable to make my project look like the picture I modeled it after.”
How to capitalize on this trend:
Florists…
Create an herb garden that can be planted into the couple’s new garden.
Rental Companies and Caterers…
Ditch the shiny silver candelabras (does anyone really rent those from you anymore?). Create serving platters from clean cut wood; offer signage with chalkboards; suggest mix & match plates – anything with a West Elm look. Caterers can offer homemade jam as guest favors.
Bartenders…
Provide a customized cocktail recipe booklet for the guests. How about: Wooden drink tags that the guests can personalize. Rosemary or mint infused ice cubes. Frozen fruit instead of ice cubes.
Invitations:
There are companies who offer seminars to instruct brides on creating their own invitations, providing guidance and tools, which are available for purchase. Of course, should the bride discover she is in over her head, she may wind up hiring the company to produce the invitations for her.
* of the 492 brides surveyed in August, 2013 (metro Phoenix, AZ market)