Troy Childers, a minister who cares about his couples.
Full disclosure: I’m a capitalist, I’m a conservative, I voted for Trump, and I see nothing wrong with being greedy. Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re saying, “Steven, greed is bad. What in the world are you talking about!”
And I have to admit, you’re right. Greed is bad. But like almost everything in life, it’s a double-edged sword. Greed, on one hand, is great because it pushes us to do better. You want that bigger house, an ideal mate, a better job, that all has elements of greed to it. But just how much is too much? That is the true question.
Do CEO’s get paid too much? Do class-action lawyers take too much of the pie? Well, that’s another discussion.
What I’m talking about today are fricken greedy wedding vendors.
Yes. You heard me. And this type of greed is not the type you want your momma to know about. This is full on, robbery.
The other day, I got an inquiry from a minister who wanted to do weddings for my company. His rate was unbelievable. It was the same rate at which my wedding singers work for one hour, the same rate at which I charge my couples for one hour of photography – $250. Minister’s only work for fifteen minutes, so his charges worked out to $200 to $250 for fifteen minutes without travel fees. I asked him how he could justify charging the couples so much? He said, “Because it would take him two hours of drive time.” Seriously? So this minister wanted to get paid to drive to the wedding service, work fifteen minutes, and drive back to the bank? And he wanted to get paid for driving to the ceremony? Greedy son of a ______ . And he’s a minister?
Elias Parker, another great minister who is not greedy
I charge $175 for ministry services, of which my minister’s keep the majority of the meat. And I’ll be blunt here. Out of all my vendors, they make the most money if we would pro-rate their fees. But my minister’s are far from greedy, even though they are probably the best on the island. Their motivation remains to marry people and to do a great job. They could jack up their prices on me, which would force me to charge more, but they know they are compensated very well for their time as it is. And they want to be fair to the couple.
The greed doesn’t just stop there. You have wedding photographers, who upsell couples. Bakers who charge more for wedding cakes, just because it’s a wedding cake. You even have reputable hotels who give free rooms, free tastings, in order to get couples to sign up for the open bar at their reception. You know that that means right? Another $5000 to $10000 for the hotel if that couple agrees.
Now don’t get me wrong. These businesses have all the right to charge whatever they want. The last thing I want is the federal government to come in to start regulating profit. All I’m saying is that; you, as a buyer, need to be careful, like how I am. Make sure you pay for quality. Quality will cost you more. Pay for excellent service. Make sure the are no hidden strings attached to the contracts that you sign. If you feel like you’re getting played, you probably are. If they can’t truly justify why they are charging so much, then they are probably charging too much.
Last word here.
You can count on me that I won’t do you wrong. I’m pretty much a compulsive do-gooder. Ya know, the whistleblower that nobody likes. The Blacksheep in the wedding industry who really gives the middle finger to other companies (that’s why I don’t belong to any wedding association).
So as they say in Modern Warfare (the video game), “Stay Frosty…” which means stay alert.
Steve Young
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