PSA to the wedding professional community during COVID-19

“How do I start this conversation with my clients getting married?”

“My business is hurting right now, what can I do to make up the loss?”

“How do I respond to refund requests and demands?”

“How do I respond to requests for a new date?”

“What do I do? I literally do not know how I am going to keep my lights on next month.”

If you find yourself asking these questions, read on my friend...

As creative people, we typically hate conflict, am I right? Thus striking up conversations with our clients that are potentially going to be difficult goes against our natural instincts. But times are crazy right now, and we need to remember that communication is key (always, even without being quarantined).  

Don’t put off speaking to your clients about this! Let them know you are here for them and will come up with a solution TOGETHER. You do not have to know the exact steps you are supposed to take (because frankly, no one knows what those are right now). Transparency is absolutely important in a time of uncertainty, especially when it comes to someone’s wedding day. 

It’s time to stay objective, optimistic, but also realistic. For weddings taking place in the next 2 months, postponement is the order. Cancelling is a cop out, vendors know that events can always be rescheduled. For weddings further out than two months, it’s time to start cooking up a backup plan in the event that lockdown is extended. We’ll write another article on that topic later. 

But by golly, never suggest cancelling your clients’ weddings! And for goodness sake, never make a PSA over social media that you’re doing so--I cannot believe how many vendors have communicated cancellation over social media in the last couple days. Treat your clients like you would your best friend and turn your fears into a conversation about options with your clients. This is not the time to turn couples’ already-stressful-planning-experiences into a complete catastrophe with your panic. 

Instead, turn this into an amazing opportunity to show even more of your value! Couples hire vendors to make their lives easier on their wedding days, and what more perfect time to prove that than now?! It’s time to get creative and show your value in new ways; guide your clients through this time, up your communication and run through this fire WITH them--not put any more roadblocks in their path. 

You may start receiving requests (sometimes angry demands--that’s your clients’ fear talking, not them) for refunds. Our suggestion is to turn that refund chatter into a postponement/credit discussion.  There are contracts in place for a reason, but this is not the time to wave that at your client. Maintain that relationship and vow to help navigate next steps with them; in choosing a new date, in verifying availability with other vendors, and help facilitating new relationships if necessary. 

The hope and expectation for customers right now is that they are asking for a date change.  As vendors, we all know date changes are no easy task and are generally not welcome. But as per the situation in our world right now, it is up to us an entire industry to step up and break the rules for the betterment of our customers and society.  Start suggesting weekday weddings in the future so couples may not have to put off their wedding another year. 

All in all, this is an amazing opportunity to look at the way you have done business for years, even decades and promote change in our industry.  Business may never again be conducted the same way, and if you make it to the starting line faster, you have a better chance at staying in the race. That starting line has been moved, people! Virtual ‘everything’ is UP. If you are a vendor and you feel the heat from COVID-19, it’s time to consider Event Hollow as your new home. 

Putting the power into the customer’s hands to build their wedding and hire their professionals in an online marketplace is not where the market is headed… it’s where it is today.  Ditch price lists, design packages. Ditch “inquire for pricing”, publish all prices. Ditch FOMO, hire clients who fit you and your aesthetic too. Ditch competing, embrace community over competition.