Archive for January, 2010

Making space for PR

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

 

We know we talk PR a lot here at UKAWP but every planner who’s been in business a while and used PR well,  knows that it works. Today we hear from the highly practical and ever-insightful Paula Gardner  of http://www.doyourownpr.com, who shares more of her tips with us;  Paula is one of our expert guest speakers at WPE’10 next month and we look forward to her tailored talk on enhancing our PR strategies as wedding planners.   Over to you Paula:

The first step to running a PR campaign is to actually make time for it. Let’s face it, many of us have lots of good intentions PR-wise, and maybe even some fantastic ideas, but somehow they don’t all quite come to fruition. One of the frustrating things about PR is that journalists rarely call you up asking for stories. The momentum is all self-generated, and you have to keep on top of it to stop PR falling to the bottom of your to-do list.

 So, I am going to with share you a little exercise I do every few months and find to be really valuable.

Ditch Delegate or Do!  

When you’re doing your own PR one of the most important things you need to master is time-management so that you have the time and space to devote to it.

 And, as the old saying goes, if you carry on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll carry on getting what you’ve always got (or something like that!).

 So, here are a number of steps that will help you free up some time that you can put to building your own buzz.

Step One

 Make a list of everything that you do on a regular basis for your business. This should include everything that you literally do and how much time you spend on it. This could be checking your emails every five minutes, writing your newsletter for a couple of hours twice a month, posting to syndication sites, carrying out your actual business, or cleaning the office and making sales calls.

  Step Two

 Make a list of everything else that you do in your work time that isn’t work orientated. For me that includes emails to friends, playing Spider Solitaire when I need to turn off for five minutes (and those five minutes inevitably end up as twenty!).

 And now the fun bit…

Ditch

 What tasks or activities can or should you say goodbye to? Take a look at what results you’ve been getting - if you regularly write for a site that brings you in a grand total of five newsletter sign-ups each six months then can your time be put to better use? Can you turn your Outlook or email provider off and only check twice a day? Can you sack any clients - you know the pain in the proverbial ones that bring you in hardly any money but take three times more time and energy than all the others ones? Is there a pet project that you’ve been trying to get going but know, in your heart of hearts, just doesn’t justify the time you’d need to spend on it (boy, do I have plenty of those!)

  Delegate

 Is there anything on your list that you can delegate? Perhaps you can get your assistant to write your PR tips (good experience for them too), get a VA to send articles to syndication sites, or an intern to upload your regular press releases to all the free press sites out there (at least half a day’s work)?

  Do!

 

 Here come the plans…think of all the PR activities you could be doing (or doing more of). Here are just a sample…

     * Writing Press Releases

    * Writing Tip sheets

    * A regular newsletter - or writing your current one twice as often

    * Posting on forums and blogs with links back to your website

    * Blogging

    * Twitter

    * Writing articles and posting them on syndication sites

    * Networking online

    * Networking offline

    * Arranging meetings with journalists

    * Approaching features editors with ideas for articles you can write

    * Posting press releases to newswire services

 

If you’re already doing some of these, look at the results you are getting. Do they justify spending more time and ramping up the activity? Or perhaps you’d like to add something new to the mix.

 What one thing from this list could you do that you know (gut instinct!) would raise your visibility? Or alternatively, what appeals and piques your interest? What do think you’d enjoy (because enjoyment is such a large part of getting it done regularly).

 You should now have some spare time in your diary as a result of the projects or actions you’ve got rid of or passed on. Fill that time with your new PR activity and make sure it is in your appointment book, just like any other.

 Finally, make a date with yourself to do this exercise in another three months. and add another PR activity to your mix.

 

 Get your own starter PR resource pack plus a free trial of our media request service at:

  http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0018aaLHdu4GfSgHuhbQI8XADfgnJ0W-pKZ

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UKAWP to help brides marrying abroad

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

We have launched a new form of membership aimed at wedding planning companies who plan weddings outside the UK.

 Many couples choose to marry abroad and often struggle to find planners who understand local law and know the best venues and suppliers in their market.

 An increasing number of brides look to the UKAWP to find professional planners in their area as all our planners are vetted and have suitable training and experience. However, when they wish to marry abroad we have, to date, only been able to give general advice rather than specific recommendations, except in the few cases where our UK members work outside the UK.

From 19th January 2010 foreign planners will be able to apply for membership and will undergo the same, rigorous vetting procedure as those in the UK. Our new Destination Member category is already of interest to a number of non UK planners who have travelled to England to undertake our training courses. We also know that planners in key destination markets are interested in a link with our organisation.

We pride ourselves on all Directors and Members adhering to our Code of Ethics - something which brides cite as a reason for choosing one of us, therefore Destination Members will also have to abide by this Code.

UKAWP Code of Ethics

  • Respond to enquiries within 48 hours
  • Respect client confidentiality
  • Disclose all suppliers that you have a vested interest in
  • Always pass discounts and/ or commission onto the client
  • Ensure your Public Liability Insurance is up to date
  • Never give client details to any third party unless for the sole purpose of the wedding
  • Respect copyright of all planners, co-ordinators and related suppliers
  • Represent each client fairly and honestly

For more information on the UKAWP’s membership categories, please contact membership@ukawp.com.  

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You and Your Wedding magazine at WPE

Monday, January 18th, 2010

We’re really delighted that we’ll be joined by the lovely Vanessa Mason (née Gore) at WPE ‘10. Vanessa is Style Editor at key bridal title You and Your Wedding and is a creative genius whose job on a daily basis is to come up with and style the beautiful ‘Receptions’ sections that grace the pages of the magazine. She’s a trend setter with a great creative eye and we are very much looking forward to hearing from her on trends in design for 2010.

She will also cover how we planners can work best with editors such as herself to get maximum press exposure for our businesses. What she is looking for, what’s the best way of working etc etc. It’s sure to be unmissable.

For more information on this and other subject speakers go to WPE . We hope to see you at the seminar.

yayw-logo

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INTERNATIONAL PLANNERS

Friday, January 15th, 2010

 Today we continue our series on wedding planners across the globe. I was fortunate to meet with Kiri Munetoshi and Yutaka Maeda of Can-D-Tuft wedding planners late last year in London and it was fascinating to discuss weddings and wedding planning in Japan. Here is just a taste as they answer our questions. 

 

Kiri - owner of Can-D-Tuft

Kiri - owner of Can-D-Tuft

Yutaka - assistant and interpreter

Yutaka - assistant and interpreter

 

How does a typical wedding day run in your country?

There are 5 different styles of weddings in Japan. 1.Western style wedding, 2.a wedding ceremony held at a Shinto shrine, 3.civil wedding, 4.a Buddhist wedding, 5.a wedding ceremony held at a house. The most popular wedding is a Western style of wedding and it accounts for 70 percent of all weddings in Japan.   

 It was common to have a wedding ceremony held at a Shinto shrine 20 years ago, but presently, the majority of Japanese wedding ceremonies held are as a western style.

 

A typical timetable of the day.

To start the ceremony, a bride comes into the venue  2 hours before a wedding ceremony is held to get ready and do  make up and hair. A groom comes into a venue an hour later than the bride does. 

 We have a rehearsal of the wedding ceremony half an hour before starting the actual wedding. A wedding ceremony takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes, and then, we have group photographs taken after the wedding.

A break of half an hour is taken between a wedding ceremony and a reception, meanwhile guests are invited to a welcome drink, and during the break, a bride changes her wedding dress to a party dress and her hair style. Some grooms change their suit in the same way as the bride. 

 A wedding reception lasts for 2hours and a half. It is held always after one hour later than the wedding ceremony. This is the formal wedding ceremony and a reception, but usually, people have a private party afterwards for two hours at a different venue. A bride and a groom change their formal clothes to ordinary clothes for a private party.     

 

What type of location do most wedding ceremonies themselves take place?

There is a chapel at a Hotel, a wedding hall and a guest house. These chapels are used only for weddings, it may sound strange, but no religious activities are on the go.

 We also use a chapel for a civil wedding. In this case, the cross is kept out of sight or covered and the ceremony is conducted without a religious overtone. There are also fictitious shrines at hotels, wedding halls and guest houses. We used to have a wedding ceremony at a Shinto shrine, but there is no reception hall, and it can be inconvenient for guests, for that reason people have a wedding ceremony at a fictitious shrine at a hotel, a wedding hall and guest house at present. 

 A Buddhist wedding takes place at a temple but it happens on rare occasions.

 

What type of location do most wedding receptions take place?

We usually hold a wedding reception in a hotel or a wedding hall or guest house or restaurant.

＊ Guest house is like a manor house in Europe or some resort mansion which is built only for a wedding ceremony and a reception.

 

 How many guests are usual to such a wedding?

A national average is 76 people.

 

What customs/traditions are most common in your weddings?

Cake cutting, first bite, candle service, a bride’s (and groom’s) change of dress during a wedding reception, a bride reads a letter to her parents and gives a bunch of flowers as a thank you for bringing her up at the reception, gifts for guests at a wedding reception to take home and so on.     

 

What does a typical wedding cost?

3,000,000yen~4,000,000yen (3,000,000yen is just over £20,000)

 

How important are independent wedding planners in your country?

An independent wedding planner is absolutely not respected in Japan but has a degree of recognition.

 

Any anecdotes/comments/tips on planning a wedding in your country

A wedding in Japan is very westernized and it’s still a very popular style of wedding, but recently, Japanese styles of wedding also have become popular for the young generation and you may see a bride wearing a Kimono during a reception.     

Recently, every bride and groom tries to have “an original wedding” which is a very unique way such as having a wedding at a beach but still most of the weddings are held uniformly in Japan.

 There are many wedding magazines which give many hints to creating “an original wedding” to brides and grooms. I think we can as wedding planners in Japan discover business opportunities from this trend of customizing.    

 

 

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Member Focus: Jenny Barnes

Monday, January 11th, 2010

I’m delighted to introduce Jenny Barnes from Make Our Day Events  as our first member focus of 2010. Jenny’s business is based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Over to you Jenny!

jennyportrait

 Why did you become a wedding planner?

In 2003 the company that I worked for had just merged with a similar business.  At about the same time a close friend got married and I saw just how stressful she found all the preparations.  With several years experience as a project manager in large corporations I realised that I had exactly the right skills to take the stress out of making wedding arrangements and decided to set up Make Our Day Events rather than apply for my own job following the merger. 

What’s your USP?

I’m the USP!  I work closely with my clients to build up a relationship of trust and then use my knowledge and contacts in the weddings market to help them to the wedding that they want, within their budget.

Do you have a favourite venue?

There are some lovely venues within the Bucks/Berks/Oxon area but I don’t really have one particular favourite. I co-ordinated a wedding at Keble College in Oxford just before Christmas. That was beautiful, but you can only marry there if you have a connection with the college.

How would your clients describe you?

Calm and organised.  The recurring theme in the thank you letters and emails that I receive is “it was such a relief to know you were there”.  One of my brides says I kept her sane!

Have you ever had a challenging client and how did you deal with it?

I’ve never really had a challenging client, but I learned very early on to be on good terms with the bride’s mother so that she doesn’t feel left out of the arrangements!

How do you unwind?

A long hot bath and a glass of red wine.  As well as that, I enjoy knitting and origami. If you want a knitted wedding cake or a bouquet of paper flowers then I’m the person to ask!

 If you could plan a celebrity wedding, whose would it be?

I think it would have been fun to organise Elton John’s wedding.  A quiet, thoughtful ceremony followed by a party full of glitz and glamour.

Is the job as glamorous as you thought?

It isn’t a glamorous job and I didn’t expect it to be so.  I get a real buzz when the day arrives and everything falls nicely into place but I spend most of my time in the office making phone calls.  I think that handling the phone calls is one of the most important services that we provide!

 Which wedding planners work do you admire / respect and why?

I’m always envious of planners who can look at a venue and come up with orginal ideas for theming and decoration at the drop of a hat.  I always need to go away and think about it.  But once the idea is there, whether it’s mine or someone else’s, I’m very good at making it all come together.

What themes are you working on for 2010?

Gold and black and elegant with balloons and giant martini glasses.

Dark brown and deep red with sparkle and lots of greenery.

What is your biggest achievement since launching?

I organised a marquee wedding with 220 guests in August 2007.  The bride wanted an English country fair feel so we had very simple decorations and a lot of sideshows like Whack the Rat and Hoopla, and even some go-karts. 

The venue was near Witney in Oxfordshire and was in the middle of an area badly affected by that summer’s floods.  The bride was Welsh and the groom Italian so guests were booked into accommodation all round the area.  As well as making all the usual arrangements for a marquee wedding, I checked to see which of our hotels and guesthouses were flooded.   I then found alternative accommodation at the last minute for all the guests who were affected.  We ended up with more than 100 people staying at The Four Spires Hotel in Witney. The upside was that I was able to arrange a coach shuttle to and from the wedding, which helped enormously with parking arrangements!

What is your vice?

Chocolate!

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Pocket Positive XII

Monday, January 4th, 2010

“It is worth a thousand pounds a year to have the habit of looking on the bright side of things” Dr Samuel Johnson

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