(no subject)
Tis the wedding season, so here is an archived piece that still greatly amuses me. #7 is still my favorite.
The Rantings of a Wedding Consultant
(Well...not really)
Written Summer 2004, by yours truely.
I guess I should say first that I am no longer a wedding/bridal consultant. I don't want to say that I wasn't good at it, but it just wasn't my thing. In a way, it was a bit barbaric. The very fact that your ability to pay rent and keep your job functioned on the mere fact of a girl buying a dress, her dream dress, her wedding dress took a bit of fun out of the whole thing. I will say that many of my brides I really loved working with and it was a real pleasure to be part of their wedding. Jenny, Erica, Heather, Erin, Ashley, and countless others. You are the brides I will remember and cherish. Then, there are others, many of those who inspired the following.
**********************
You dream about it since you were 5. The dress, the flowers, being an angelic vision floating down the isle to that special guy beaming at you from the alter. The kiss, a promise of a heavenly life together.
However, there is a seedier side to your wedding, up to now the most important moment in your life. As a wedding consultant for a bridal attire company *cough* David's Bridal *cough*, I came across hundreds of brides and I shall now take some of my experiences and let you in on some tips that you and your consultant will appreciate.
1) Don't shop on the weekends. Tempting as it may be, don't shop weekends when you are first starting out. You will be excited, and the mass of humanity can be very intimidating. Weekends can also limit the amount of time you have with your bridal consultant and the number of dresses you can try on. However, sometimes this cannot be avoided, so call ahead not to get the first appointment of the day (along with half the city) but ask when the store is less busy (such as later in the afternoon). After building a relationship with the bridal consultant, weekends are sometimes best since you know they will be there and stores normally treat comebacks with a little more, I hate to say, importance. If a consultant knows that you are coming, they can work around it and have some say about how many brides they can take at a time and when.
2) Call Ahead. If you know you're coming, call ahead. Appointments usually get priority over walk in customers. Less stress for you, less stress for the store. If also helps so that your consultant is there to serve you and you won't be working with someone new all the time.
3) Be Patient. Weekends and evenings can be a crazy time, esp is the store is stort staffed. Just be patient. Do not throw a fit, this will not get you better service. In case you are working with a consultant and she is assigned another bride, please be patient. Consultants don't like balancing brides, if it was our choice we would work with brides one at a time.
4) Bring pictures and a camera. Flip through magazines and rip out pages of dresses you like. This will give your consultant a great visual tool of your style and what she has in the store that would suit your taste. Take a camera to take pictures of the dresses (if the store will let you. David's Bridal will, other stores may not) that you try on. Most girls try on 5-7 dresses per store, by the end of the day they all become 'a white dress with beads'. Choosing a dress is overwhelming, so having pictures to look at later is fantastic.
5) Build a relationship with your consultant. Your consultant is there to help you. In building a positive relationship with your consultant, you have an immediate go to person to touch base on your dress, accessories, and just to talk to. Be honest, if you find a dress elsewhere, call her and let her know so that she won't make unneeded phone calls about comeback visits for a dress you already purchased.
6) Don't let everyone see your dress before the ceremony. When first starting out, don't take your whole family. Granted it is an important event that you want to share with those you hold dear, but when you are first starting out, you need to find the dress you love and want to wear, not trying on dresses that you will never wear but are trying on just because you great aunt Elma wants to see it on. Take a couple people who are honest and know your taste, then perhaps bring in more for the final decision (if needed).
7) Wear underwear. Your boy may like to see your naked booty, but your bridal consultant does not. Do the briefs, bikinis even, but no thongs. We won't even get into the commando brides. We help you get into dresses, and we really don't need to see it. You can wear whatever you want the day off, but please cover your butt in the store.
8) Bathe. I think this is self explanatory. Do yourselves and us a favor, be presentable. Would you roll out of bed and not bathe the day of your wedding? Of course not, then why do it the day you might be picking out your WEDDING DRESS?
9) Don't bring small children with you. Little kids are cute, however a bridal store is no playground. Nothing is more annoying then children who are misbehaving and screaming around the store disturbing everyone. If you must bring children, such as to pick out flower girl dresses and so forth, take someone with you who is solely responsible for the children. Not giving advice or getting dresses, but minding the children.
10) Don't shop till you are actually engaged. It's not cute, it's a little scary and a little sad really. It may be a nice past time for you, but in a way you are 'wasting' a consultant's time. Most places work on commission, and granted it would be great if you came back when you are actually engaged to buy, but it does not help us to pay the bills.
The Rantings of a Wedding Consultant
(Well...not really)
Written Summer 2004, by yours truely.
I guess I should say first that I am no longer a wedding/bridal consultant. I don't want to say that I wasn't good at it, but it just wasn't my thing. In a way, it was a bit barbaric. The very fact that your ability to pay rent and keep your job functioned on the mere fact of a girl buying a dress, her dream dress, her wedding dress took a bit of fun out of the whole thing. I will say that many of my brides I really loved working with and it was a real pleasure to be part of their wedding. Jenny, Erica, Heather, Erin, Ashley, and countless others. You are the brides I will remember and cherish. Then, there are others, many of those who inspired the following.
**********************
You dream about it since you were 5. The dress, the flowers, being an angelic vision floating down the isle to that special guy beaming at you from the alter. The kiss, a promise of a heavenly life together.
However, there is a seedier side to your wedding, up to now the most important moment in your life. As a wedding consultant for a bridal attire company *cough* David's Bridal *cough*, I came across hundreds of brides and I shall now take some of my experiences and let you in on some tips that you and your consultant will appreciate.
1) Don't shop on the weekends. Tempting as it may be, don't shop weekends when you are first starting out. You will be excited, and the mass of humanity can be very intimidating. Weekends can also limit the amount of time you have with your bridal consultant and the number of dresses you can try on. However, sometimes this cannot be avoided, so call ahead not to get the first appointment of the day (along with half the city) but ask when the store is less busy (such as later in the afternoon). After building a relationship with the bridal consultant, weekends are sometimes best since you know they will be there and stores normally treat comebacks with a little more, I hate to say, importance. If a consultant knows that you are coming, they can work around it and have some say about how many brides they can take at a time and when.
2) Call Ahead. If you know you're coming, call ahead. Appointments usually get priority over walk in customers. Less stress for you, less stress for the store. If also helps so that your consultant is there to serve you and you won't be working with someone new all the time.
3) Be Patient. Weekends and evenings can be a crazy time, esp is the store is stort staffed. Just be patient. Do not throw a fit, this will not get you better service. In case you are working with a consultant and she is assigned another bride, please be patient. Consultants don't like balancing brides, if it was our choice we would work with brides one at a time.
4) Bring pictures and a camera. Flip through magazines and rip out pages of dresses you like. This will give your consultant a great visual tool of your style and what she has in the store that would suit your taste. Take a camera to take pictures of the dresses (if the store will let you. David's Bridal will, other stores may not) that you try on. Most girls try on 5-7 dresses per store, by the end of the day they all become 'a white dress with beads'. Choosing a dress is overwhelming, so having pictures to look at later is fantastic.
5) Build a relationship with your consultant. Your consultant is there to help you. In building a positive relationship with your consultant, you have an immediate go to person to touch base on your dress, accessories, and just to talk to. Be honest, if you find a dress elsewhere, call her and let her know so that she won't make unneeded phone calls about comeback visits for a dress you already purchased.
6) Don't let everyone see your dress before the ceremony. When first starting out, don't take your whole family. Granted it is an important event that you want to share with those you hold dear, but when you are first starting out, you need to find the dress you love and want to wear, not trying on dresses that you will never wear but are trying on just because you great aunt Elma wants to see it on. Take a couple people who are honest and know your taste, then perhaps bring in more for the final decision (if needed).
7) Wear underwear. Your boy may like to see your naked booty, but your bridal consultant does not. Do the briefs, bikinis even, but no thongs. We won't even get into the commando brides. We help you get into dresses, and we really don't need to see it. You can wear whatever you want the day off, but please cover your butt in the store.
8) Bathe. I think this is self explanatory. Do yourselves and us a favor, be presentable. Would you roll out of bed and not bathe the day of your wedding? Of course not, then why do it the day you might be picking out your WEDDING DRESS?
9) Don't bring small children with you. Little kids are cute, however a bridal store is no playground. Nothing is more annoying then children who are misbehaving and screaming around the store disturbing everyone. If you must bring children, such as to pick out flower girl dresses and so forth, take someone with you who is solely responsible for the children. Not giving advice or getting dresses, but minding the children.
10) Don't shop till you are actually engaged. It's not cute, it's a little scary and a little sad really. It may be a nice past time for you, but in a way you are 'wasting' a consultant's time. Most places work on commission, and granted it would be great if you came back when you are actually engaged to buy, but it does not help us to pay the bills.