People say that planning a wedding is one of the most stressful things you can do. It is also one of the most expensive. In a recent survey The Independent states that the average cost of a wedding has risen in 2017 to £33,884. That is an incredible amount of money to spend on one day.
It’s generally accepted by brides and grooms that planning a wedding will be very expensive however these days there is less financial support. Parents are no longer the sole financial contributors for the big day as 51 percent of couples pay for it with little help from family members, while 32 percent fund it entirely by themselves.
With all these statistics and figures in mind it’s fairly obviously what the biggest problem is for brides and grooms when planning their wedding. All those guests who are invited and don’t turn up to the wedding.
Hitched Magazine noted that on average almost 30% of wedding guests say they are coming but end up not turning up on day. Now that sounds bad but it gets worse. The same article states that the cost per guest for your typical wedding is between £350 and £500.
Let’s assume that you have invited 100 people to your wedding. 30% drop off is 30 guests. Let’s assume that each person is worth £400. That means that you are spending £12,000 on your wedding for no reason at all. This money is literally being thrown away. Be honest do you like the idea of throwing away £12,000 for no reason when you are already spending a small fortune anyway?
So if we accept that the biggest problem you are going to face while planning your wedding is people not turning up the question is how do you fix this problem? How do you ensure that everyone is going to attend your big day. Here are some ideas.
1.) Go with a venue that is accessible.
A lot of wedding venues are out in the middle of nowhere. It means the only option to get there is to drive. This also means that people with either have to stay over or not drink as they will be driving back home. Staying over can cost a lot of money especially if you have kids that are invited as well.
A lot of the time guests will back out because they don’t want to drive miles to get to the venue or pay to stay over when they don’t want to. Make the venue accessible. I understand you will have guests coming from all over but try to make it a central location near to where the majority of your guests are travelling from.
2.) Make the wedding unmissable.
Most people get invited to a lot of weddings and other events. It’s impossible to say yes to every invitation. However you will probably say yes to something that sounds amazing. Rather than just planning a generic wedding; make it amazing. Give it a Theme for example. I performed recently at a Star Wars wedding where everyone was dressed as Star Wars characters. The grooms friends and family were all Star Wars fans and this all but guaranteed a full house. He was literally turning people away.
It doesn’t have to be a theme. It can be booking entertainment that everyone wants to see. It could be something else. The point is make your wedding the hottest ticket in town. Make it the event that everyone wants to go to and they would be gutted if they missed out.
3.) Make it accessible for parents.
Most parents will not go to events if there is nothing for the kids to do. I am a parent and I’ve turned down lots of invitations to events because the cost of a babysitter would be really expensive and not worth it. The way around this is to make your wedding is child friendly so parents can relax knowing their kids are in safe hands.
One option would be to book a kids entertainer who can come along for a few hours and keep the kids entertained with magic and games and balloons. One option would be to book a childminder or a crèche so that parents know that their kids are being looked after. It doesn’t really matter. The point is to make your wedding appealing to parents so they want to come along instead of turning down the invitation.
4.) Remind Guests that they are meant to be attending your wedding.
Typically brides and grooms send our wedding invitation a year before the actual wedding. There is a lot that can happen in a year. Also some people aren’t very organised. Thy will say yes to coming to a wedding, forget the date and then book something else in. It means that they end up cancelling last minute or just not turning up. This is a very common scenario.
The way to deal with this is to keep in touch with the people that have said they are coming. It can be a simple text that you send to everyone telling them that your wedding is coming up soon. These could be sent at 6 month, 3 month and 1 month intervals. It could be an email update every time you book something else for your wedding. So for example if you book Slightly Unusual for your wedding (cheap plug I know!) you could send an email telling everyone there are going to be award winning magicians appearing live. This keeps people updated and gets them excited so they actually turn up. You could even call people a couple of weeks before and just confirm their attendance.
5.) Use Social Media.
This is similar to the previous suggestion. These days everyone is connected on social media and you can use this to promote your wedding. You can set up a wedding group on Facebook where all your guests can talk with each other. You can set up a hashtag on Instagram and Twitter that people use when talking about your wedding. You can even set up a Pinterest Board for your wedding and encourage guests to post wedding ideas.
Create a buzz about your wedding and how awesome it is going to be so that everyone is excited about attending. Make it the event of the calendar year.
So there you have it; the biggest problem you will face when planning your wedding and how to avoid it. If you want to make sure Wedding has the WOW Factor one thing you can do is book Slightly Unusual!
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