That’s me, Steven Young, on the far right, walking into position
YOUR PLANNER SHOULD BE AT YOUR WEDDING
Take a look at that headline? Isn’t that freaking common sense? Shouldn’t the person, woman, dude, or whatever they want to be identified by these days, say “Attack Helicopter” shouldn’t they show up to your wedding to make sure everything runs perfect? Guess what, it’s not a given. In fact, most of the time, they don’t! I’ve been hired directly from couples as a photographer, sometimes videographer, and I show up to their wedding, and their planner is usually a no show. The planner – who was so friendly over the phone, booked all the vendors, so helpful, is not so helpful on their wedding day, but they didn’t show because they weren’t paid for day-of coordination. In other words, no follow-through.
Well, that’s b.s.
What’s the result of having their planner absent from their wedding? Chaos. Flat out mayhem. No one knows where to stand, who to talk too, and no vendor wants to make executive decisions. The wedding runs late. It’s horrible.
A wedding company has the responsibility to make sure their “deliverables” arrive and perform on-time, even if they didn’t book day-of-coordination services.
Most of the time, my company books packages with me that include photography, so I literally am a moving part within the wedding, so I have something to do the day of a wedding. But sometimes, a couple may just book, for example, my wedding singer. Well, I will still show up to make sure my wedding singer appears on-time, knows where to go, and where to stand. I’ll also make sure my client is correctly identified, so my singer doesn’t show up to the wrong gig. And I’ll stay there to make sure everything runs smoothly from our side. That’s common sense customer service you get from me – that strangely, isn’t very common.
Showing up to work? It’s not that hard.
So the moral of this rant is to make sure whomever you book with, and whomever you are talking to over the phone, is on-site, ready to stand behind the products and services they were hired to deliver. That’s what it comes down to.
And if you hired “them” to work for you, they also better be working. A lot of photographers and videographers only show their faces to their weddings but don’t work. For example, say you hire a CRAPPY PHOTO DUDE because you love his work. Well, CRAPPY PHOTO DUDE hires out a college kid to shoot your wedding, but CRAPPY PHOTO DUDE will show up on your wedding day to congratulate you, but he won’t work. He’ll show up just to fulfill his contract that says “he’ll show up.” There’s a lot of CRAPPY PHOTO DUDES in the wedding industry and they all deserve a slap.
Just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I show up to work. So if you hire me, I’m arriving at your wedding with my wit and too-tight pants.
Steve Young
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