This past weekend was my son's Bar Mitzvah. All the planning and getting ready and still it was over before we knew it.
This past weekend was an eyeopner for me. I really learned alot not only from planning but also from execution and finally from being a host. I am not going to mention any vendors by name, some of the instances were poor planning on my part others were the vendors fault.
We searched high and low for a venue.(At this point I need to let you know that we recently relocated to this area. Had it been S Fl I would not have had a majority of these issues.) We visited 30-40 hotels, country clubs, and catering facilities. A majority of them were booked for our date as we waited to long to do this.
The venue we chose was a very nice looking hotel not far from our home. The director of Catering had actually heard of a bar mitzvah and even had specific packages and pricing set up for it. Unlike other venues who butchered wedding packages to accomplish this. Most of them had a room rental fee, with a F&B minimum and they were not willing to budge. She worked with us and we got the pricing we wanted.
After we signed our contract and moved on, phone calls and emails took days to get returned.
We interviewed 5 or 6 DJs. We started our search at pricepoint,I know mistake #1, but changed gears and went for quality of work. I met someDJs who had no idea what a bar mitzvah even was and others who reflected their pricing.
The DJ we did hire was a very nice woman with a great personality(sounds like a blind date setup), and she was experienced with bar mitzvahs. She also was in our budget. I must say she went beyond expectations considering we didn't get her a candle lighting song list until the night before. Had she followed up with us via telephone instead of just email it might have gotten us to get the list to her sooner.
The photogrpaher was another story all together. Being one myself I was very critical of who I hired. Not knowing anyone here made it even more difficult. I interviewed several and the prices they wanted for the quality of the work they were showing me did not match up. About a monthy before the bar mitzvah, my mentor facebooked me and said he would do it for me. All I had to do was fly him down and feed him. I was so happy that he was doing this for me. He even taught me a few things I did not know. You are never too old to learn something new in your trade. We ended up with fabuolous pictures. I really can't thank him enough.
Party decoraters charge what they do because it is a hard profession. We did our own and it was more than an experience, never again next time we pay somebody.
Our cake was included in the hotel package. We met at the bakery and discussed our options. They tried to upsell from the package cake and I do not blame them one bit for that, I would have done the same. This vendor also was not quick to return phone calls.
We chose to rent a suit for my son rather thanpurchase one he would grow out of in 6 months. We went to a national chain and got everything including excellent customer service at a great price.
Between the set up, dressing, women prettying themselves we ran late for photographs. When this happens to me as the photographer I get pretty upset. I mean, how could they do this? Doesn't the client realize that the pictures need to be done without being rushed? There is a timeline and a schedule to keep. Why don't they understand this?
After my experience as a host and being the client, I know look at everything from a client's perspective.
First and foremost they may be my only client for the day but I am by no means their only vendor. The client has so much on their mionds that I might be important but I am only a cog in the wheel.
No matter how often I have told clients the reason they hire professionals is so they do not have to worry about the little things, the more they worry about the little things.
I now know with this experience under my belt I can change my behaviours and continue to see it from the Client's Perspective!!
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Good thoughts, Mr. Z. I always encourage my clients to personalize their music and it seems that by the time they get to me they're pretty much expecting me to tell them what to do. Music is such a personal choice that I couldn't possibly choose music for them without their input. If I can get them to take the time to thoughtfully consider what they like, what mood they want for their wedding and communicate that to me, we can come up with the perfect combination of music. I ask them to include some extra choices in case the ceremony runs late so that they still have control over their music. We do have to learn to work with what we have and sometimes things run late. Thank you for the reminder to communicate by phone. Email is so easy but it's also easy to ignore. I should use it more often.
ReplyDeleteThink about how many people try to sell their own homes and don't hire a broker because they want to save money on the commission. Same scenario.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, thank you. Also all the more reason for (brides, specifically) to hire a coordinator or planner. This anecdote shows why it's worth the investment.
ReplyDeleteExtremely interesting blog and oh, so true. By the way, do you have your son's Bar Mitzvah albums yet? Aren't your pictures so important, considering those memories are all that is left of such an important event that just flew by? My daughter's Bat Mitzvah was 14 months ago, and MY PHOTOGRAPHER STILL HAS FAILED TO GET ME MY ALBUMS OR RETURN THE PROOFS HE TOOK FOR MY ALBUMS. HOW UNPROFESSIONAL. Maybe you should read your blog again and you will know how I feel. And a word of advice: if you ever plan another event, don't let "friends" be your vendors!
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