Planning a Friend's wedding.......

September is proving to be a hot month in Nairobi so far a perfect weather for weddings here.Since I'm all about weddings so I'm more interested in what it takes to plan a friend's wedding. Its said that friends can help you launch your career and most people who start small rely on friends to get the word out there about their work and most of the time they are not so tough on how many clients you have handled like complete strangers are.

Planning a friend's wedding the Nairobi way. Let's explore a typical scenario....You have a friend whose wedding is coming up. By you I refer to vendors_florist,tent and decor supplier, DJ and music, photographer, video person, private venue hire, and they call you and not only say are interested in your services but most times would like to involve you in the committee that helps them raise money for their wedding so the question is: How do you join the committee and still make money for your business?





As a friend to the bride and groom if you have an established business and wouldn't hurt your business there are several ways to go about this you could:-

• Offer your services as a gift to the bride and groom and not charge them. That can get you out of the committee but still support the couple on their big day.
• Instead of contributing cash to the bride and groom you could give your services at really reduced prices which you wouldn't normally do so for other clients or would normally reject clients on such budgets.
• Another alternative would be to offer cash towards their wedding and your services at friendly rates but you have got to be at a comfortable place business wise to go this direction especially if you settle for a substancial amount to offer the couple for their wedding.

For a start up business not established I consider option 2 as a way to get your business out there. Even if its a friend's wedding its important to work out a contract because you are still running business  at the end of the day.It protects the couple also at the end of the day. Remember the planning started out as friend helping friend whether for free or paid at a reduced rate and at the end of the wedding, the still want to remain friends not foes.

Icing on the cake

There is one thing to be said about the wedding cake: there is got to be some form of icing to complete it. It never matters whether its glazes, butter, flat, foam, fondant,fudge, and royal icings. What's important is the cake is attractively finished to the preference of the couple.  In last week's blog we looked at wedding cakes and a bit about the icing which won't be part of this week's article but a reference to what I hoped to explore this week.

In my DON'T GET MARRIED WITHOUT IT article, I wrote on the fact that that the most important aspect to a wedding varies from a couple to the other  to which a variety of things can top the list with varied reasons as to why its considered to be so. If a cake is badly cooked, stale or for some reason not as tasty as expected by the couple or their guests, then no matter how attractively finished the cake is (good quality icing); it just won't  make much difference.

If the flowers are the icing on the cake, its important that they're beauty shows. In the arrangements selected by the couples. Budget weddings and extravagant weddings have one thing in common the wow factor can be achieved by the flowers and for this to happen, the minimalistic or Cinderella brides have to work with flowers well. The one thing about Kenya, our weather is favorable and a lot of flowers are available most year round at reasonable cost. These flowers include and are not limited to: carnations, calla lilies, mums, tiger lilies, rose flowers, and tulips. Despite the availability, flowers need to be ordered in advance to ensure the color, type and amount is available on time, during the wedding and also less disappointments as far as the wedding is concerned.

 Well besides use of flowers as beauty, the whole theme can be enhanced when flowers are well arranged,
most weddings in Kenya use flowers for bridal and maids bouquets, flower girls, bridal car, flower arch, ceremony aisle, reception tents and walkway stands to the cake the arrangements are most of the time similarly done as weddings use reception set ups for a majority, others have center pieces for restaurant set ups. The arrangement have to be attractive and meet the theme of bride and groom in order for theme to be "the icing on the cake."