This proposal is from the 2011 Epiphany. Clearly, he “got” her!
(…and if you want to skip to the song and get to the goods, slide in to the 2:40 mark.)
We routinely donate to a few fundraisers and have lovely relationships with some local organizations and event planners. Having recently learned the results from two fall events, we’d like to share their good works.
SAHELI for Asian Families
The Silk Road: An Asian Epicurean Journey is a wine and food event that raised $13,200 for those in need. SAHELI represents six words that define their services: Support, Advocate, Heal, Empower, Listen, and Inform.
Bollywood 2011
“Bollywood Nights keeps getting better and better! This year we had a band, multiple dance performances, henna, a big silent auction, delicious food, and a Bollywood dance lesson for all to round out the night. We raised $4,500, topping our past two years!”
Consider As You Wish
If you are helping with a fundraiser, we might be able to make a donation. See if your group is a good fit for us!
We are thrilled to be a vendor in this year’s LGBT Wedding Expo. If you are planning a wedding in Austin, this is a great place to find everything you need for your big day.
“Join us on Saturday, November 5th, 2011,
from 12:30-3:30pm
for an afternoon of elegance, joy, music & activism
at the beautiful Renaissance Austin Hotel!”
Learn more at SameLoveSameRights.com.
Brilliance Loose Diamonds
Friday Fun: Kardashian Wedding vs. Average Wedding
So, what are your thoughts? Was her wedding worth the publicity for her careeer?
We just love the Bollywood event hosted by the Austin chapter of Room to Read. This annual event raises money to build a library in India and gives girls, in particular, access to education and learning.
This fun event features Indian food, music, art, and dance. And, in just a few short hours, the event raised almost enough money for an entire library!
Kudos, Room to Read Austin! Good work.
Click any image to view the full gallery.
Click any image to view the full gallery.
Click any image to view the full gallery.
Click any image to view the full gallery.
This Wedding Wednesday, is all about contracts.
Contracts are a necessity in the wedding industry, particularly for photography.
Industry
Save the Date
In the wedding industry, there are only a few dates per year when weddings are likely to happen.
- Most brides want Saturday (52 in a year).
- Most brides do not want a holiday weekend. MLK, Passover, Easter, Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s eve/day can eliminate anywhere from 7 to 11 weekends.
- Some local events can make that weekend a bad choice for your wedding date. After all, you probably don’t want your reception and the local prom in the same hotel on the same night. Area graduation weekends could affect your family’s ability to be at important events for everyone.
- Vendors take vacation and have family responsibilities, too.
- So, 52 Saturdays – 7 holidays – 2 family weekends – 1 vendor day off = 42 weekends left.
In order to secure your date with any vendor, you need a contract so you are sure you have them on your date.
The vendor needs a contract because they can only take a certain number of weddings on any one date. They have to know if they are your final decision or not before they can turn away another couple.
Set the Standards
A contract is your written agreement to ensure everyone has full understanding of what the costs, services, and products are. The contract should repeat all that you discussed verbally. There should be no surprises.
For Photographers
Contracts are especially important for Photographers and other sole-proprietor vendors, because we can only take one wedding per date. A baker can bake multiple cakes and drop them off during each ceremony. A florist can arrange flowers for multiple weddings and deliver them to each ceremony venue. A photographer is there for you all day or weekend.
…and Planners
The same is true for Professional Planners. While they may have more than one wedding per day (with a staff of Professional Coordinators to be on site for each event), you still need all their services and prices in writing. That part of the industry is diverse and varied. Be sure you know what you are getting!
…and everyone else, too.
In all honesty, it’s just a good practice for all your wedding day services. It only adds clarity. And, if you happen upon a vendor who “doesn’t do contracts,” you’ll know to run fast and far away from them.
Kids at Weddings
This weeks’ Wedding Wednesday tip is about inviting kids to weddings.
An Observation
At a recent networking event, we were part of this conversation:
Guy 1: We missed you at [a friend's] wedding. You missed a good time. It was a great meal and an open bar.
Guy 2: Yeah, we were invited, but what were we going to do with the kids on a Sunday night?
Guy 1: There were a few babies there, but kids weren’t invited. (With an implied “it was nice to go to an adult event where no kids were present”.)
Me: It’s actually really expensive to invite kids to weddings. Catering charges the same for them as they do for adults. It can be as much as 30% of the budget.
Guy 2: I never thought of that.
Guy 1: Me either. I never considered that.
Me: Yeah, the most recent average I heard was $37 per guest for a wedding reception.
Guys 1 & 2: [Clear look of shock on their faces....and them digressing into a conversation about the "extremely fiscally conservative" nature of their friend.]
The Stats
In the above conversation, I was simply quoting what I have heard. So, I did a little digging for real data.
Wedding budgets are different for every couple, of course, but thanks to our wedding magazines, we have some averages we can apply. However, almost no one would invite kids to the ceremony and not the reception. Furthermore, while receptions cost a lot more on the per-kid basis, we’ll use the whole wedding. However, if you want to apply the numbers to your real budget, then feel free to use the most conservative percentage we’ve found: 46%. Just consider each kid’s attendance .46 of the amount of your total budget.
Using averages
$27,000 Average Wedding in Austin
$27,000 is the average wedding cost in Austin, Texas
($26,984 to be more exact, but for simplicity, we’ll just add in the extra $16), average wedding cost
46% of the average wedding:
$12,420 for kids to attend the wedding. That’s a pretty big chunk of change just to guests who, for the most part, don’t want to be there, anyway.
More Specific Prices
Online published per-person meal prices in Austin, Texas (rounded up to the whole dollar, including real (not disposable) place settings.
$18 Chicken-Fried Steak
$39 several beef options
$50 hors d` oeuvres, two light courses, main course
average: $36
…without linens, extra tables & chairs, a larger venue to accommodate more people, etc.
The Etiquette
There is no reason for a couple to invite any one group of people that does not fit into the budget. Weddings are a very personal, and sometimes private, occasion. Weddings might be a social occasion, but they are sacred to the couple; there is no reason for a wedding to be “the” social occasion.
Inviting kids to your wedding is a big decision.
If your budget is tight or if your tastes are more elegant, excluding children might be a good choice. Still, we present both sides, so you can make the decision that is best for you.
How much should you spend on an engagement ring?
Shopping for an engagement ring can be a scary process for guys. It’s the most important piece of jewelry they’ll ever buy and quite likely the most expensive, too.
Tacori not only makes beautiful rings, they also are good teachers about their products…with this lovely infographic that teaches about diamonds, their 4 C’s, and engagement rings.
We love all the great information they have shared!
Guys, this one’s for you!
- Is she The One for you? For always and forever?
- Do you spend your time away from her wishing you were together?
- Is every day with her better than the one before?
Then, it might be time to begin the planning to put a ring on it!
Engagement season runs mainly from Thanksgiving through Valentine’s. With all the holiday gatherings and family close by, it’s a convenient time to propose. If you are going to have a ring for her and still have enough cash to get through the rest of your gift-giving, you need to start planning, now.
You’ll be pleased to learn that “two months’ salary” is no longer the norm in the engagement ring industry.
next week: Budgeting for the Bling.
“…Shawn..put together a surprise wedding for his fiancee Colleen….She thinks she’s heading to a retirement party and has no idea that 200 of her family and friends are waiting for her to get married today! This video shows…her reaction to the surprise….This took place in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on Saturday, August 13th, 2011. Filmed by: Gavin Michael Booth & Marie Jeannette. Edited by: Gavin Michael Booth. http://www.youtube.com/mimeticonline“
While most brides would be upset that they didn’t pick things out for themselves, this bride was clearly frustrated with wedding planning…and they were already planning to elope. This is the perfect case for a surprise wedding that will be just As THE BRIDE Wishes!
Devices at Weddings
This week’s Wedding Wednesday is about devices: phones, cameras, and camcorders.
The Way It Was
Originally, etiquette combined with the cost of devices kept guests from showing up at a wedding ceremony with a camera, camcorder, or any other device. Then, cameras got cheaper and guests began to bring cameras to capture their point of view at the reception. Next, our world went social and all over the Internet. Guests began to bring cameras and phones to the ceremonies. Some officiants and church-supplied wedding coordinators got testy over this….and for good reason in most cases.
The Way It Is (And Our Experience)
Every “Joe” at the wedding has a phone/camera/camcorder and is facebooking/Tweeting/YouTubing the event…often live. As long as “Joe” stays in his seat and doesn’t lean into the aisle for a better angle, this is not a problem.
One church had an un-posted rule banning guest cameras from their sanctuary, but since it was not posted, it effectively only applied to the members of that church. While it’s likely that family and friends from that church were a large portion of the guest list, the couple also had friends from their social life and professional lives that weren’t members of that church…and weren’t familiar with this rule. The result was an upset church coordinator. She didn’t understand why the guests didn’t all follow the rule.
One church had a rule: no flash during the ceremony. However, this was also an unwritten rule. Upon meeting, the officiant gave the professional photographer this rule. As photographers at that event, we dutifully followed the rules, but the whole intent by the minister was lost when virtually every guest pulled out their “red-eye ready” cameras and strobbed the whole ceremony with flashes.
We know of one bride who received a camera as a wedding gift. After some pleading, she was allowed to open the gift half way through the reception. She was shooting the reception instead of enjoying it. The images of the bride during the second half of her own reception are limited and obstructed.
One wedding included a special-needs friend of the groom who, during formal photography, painstakingly replicated every one of the posed images with his disposable camera. He kept telling us that he was a professional videographer. Not wanting to offend anyone, we gave him all the room and time he needed to get his shots. Ultimately, the groom’s family pulled him away from the after-wedding portraits.
By far the most disruptive case we’ve seen images from was when a friend of the bride continually stepped in front of the contracted professional photographers and videographers during key unrepeatable shots: bride coming down the aisle with her father, first dance, toasts, cake cutting, etc.
The Way It Should Be (In Our Opinion)
Less Is More. We always want the guests excited about and involved in the wedding. They gave up their time and went to a great expense to be there. They are excited and happy for the couple. They want to spread the good news to friends unable to attend.
At the same time, they need to respect several things:
- the decorum necessary for a ceremony such as a wedding
- the expectations of the venue, especially religious venues like churches
- the expectations of, for example, the bride’s grandmother (a standard way to measure any “should I…?” behavior)
- the professionals hired to execute and record the event and the space they need to do their job in accordance with the contract they have with the couple
The As You Wish Way
We do, and always have, welcomed guests to take their own images at weddings. We simply require (and it’s in our contract) that they not interfere with our obligation to the bride and groom, their wedding party, and their families.
We are honored to be the first vendor featured on the new site debuting in Austin: Buys for Brides.
While deal sites are nothing new to Austin, this one has a unique twist. As you might guess from the name, it’s all wedding related!
So, if you know someone who is engaged, have them check out our listing where they can get a great deal: a $275 engagement package for only $80! The deal is only online for four days, so hurry!
Thank you, Buys for Brides, for making this deal just As You Wish.
Toasting Tips
This week’s Wedding Wednesday tip is about toasting!
Toasting is not easy. Even if you aren’t the Best Man or Maid of Honor, you could be expected to toast the bride and groom. These days, toasting ceremonies take on a life of their own. You don’t want to be the only guest at the party without something tactful-yet-witty to say. So, plan ahead!
Dos
- Mention of the love you see that the couple has for one another. For example, “I can tell by the way you look at one another…”
- Mention the beautiful ceremony and/or day. For example, “This beautiful ceremony [day] symbolizes the happiness I wish for you…”
- Keep it short and sweet. For example, you might recite an appropriate cultural wedding toast. Or, you might simply say, “I wish you lifelong happiness and prosperity. Congratulations.”
- Consider having one drink to calm your nerves.
Don’ts
- Reference low points or rough spots in the couple’s history, “you’ve had your ups and downs”. Instead, say, “You have proven you can handle things, if you have each other.”
- Reference any ex-partners, ever. period. Even if that person is you. Instead, mention the friendship you share with the couple.
- Make claims expecting the marriage to produce children, even if you know the couple has immediate plans for kids. Instead, try, “I wish for you that all your hopes and dreams come true.”
- Rhyme.
- Tell jokes or embarrassing stories. They are rarely effective and might embarrass the bride and groom.
- Mention sex, drugs, illegal activities, or drunken evenings.
- Mimic TV commercials, movies, or sitcoms.
- Have more than a drink–or maybe two–before giving your toast. Even a slight buzz can slur your speech and keep you from sounding articulate.
When in doubt, leave it out!
Remember, the videographer will record every word and the guests’ and couple’s reactions. Make your toast one that they will be proud to show at their 25th and 50th Anniversary parties.
If you are managing an event with assigned seating (like a wedding) or with check-ins (like a fundraiser) then this article, How to Check In Guests at Events with Your iPad, on eventmanagerblog.com by Julius Solaris.
“The single biggest use of the iPad for an event professional is to actually check in guests. No more print-outs of awful Excel spreadsheets.
…here is what I found:
1. myBanquet
2. Guest List
3. MyGuestlist
…Honorable Mention: Guest List Manager“
Now, go read the rest of Julius’ post. 
Photographers, Austin, TX
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