Vendors who give the industry a bad name

The wedding business is Nairobi is big business. It keeps growing and everyday there is room for new business to open and flourish. I have an interest in this industry since 2005 and slowly I've seen brides who stand out as unique in their wedding in their demands to quality service and telling a story different from others. Before many vendors and brides and grooms relied heavily on bridal magazines and exhibitions to source for vendors that anyone getting into the business had to invest heavily on these two forms of advertising to get word out there of their existence.


How things have abruptly changed with time. Social media has made it easy to access new vendors at the market and practically everyone is spoiled for choice. In the past there were bad business practices that took a really long time to come to the public attention. This is different today, thanks to social media. There are Facebook pages like buyer beware that brings to your attention bad business practices, who to avoid working with and people who have been conned can easily speak on this platform and other Facebook pages that cater for the wedding industry needs.


Someone had suggested in one of this pages of the need to avoid cheap vendors hence the problem of working with rogue vendors will not arise. I beg to differ with this. The way different vendors charge always means a lot of factors have gone into their final costs, which can differ from one to the other and once one is comfortable with their profit margin, well the variance in price and quality of work received comes in. Due diligence is required in vetting who the vendors are that work for you. You get what you pay for in terms of quality and service at most times but no one pays to be conned of their hard earned cash.


There are many marketers who can promise you alot of what their company can offer but if this isnt stated clearly in a contract, it becomes your word against theirs. This isnt any different with those marketing in the wedding industry. There are local organization, event mangament bodies that have been formed. This vet the vendors who are their members and getting a vendor from them always means finding a reputable one. Working with referral from friends and family who have had experience with such vendors has helped a future bride and groom avoid a rogue vendor.


I love it when new vendors in the industry are given a chance to prove their worth. You maybe impressed by what new talent brings to the industry. But more so do your homework right. Not everyone can afford the same type of wedding but you can find a good vendor for whatever budget you have.

Wedding guest entertainment

Been meaning to get back to writing. I prefer talking to it but once in a while, I remember to update this blog. Today happens to be one of those days. Exactly, a month ago, I attended a wedding as a guest. Every time I do that I get to see what pleases or annoys guests from their point of view. This can be from delayed food service, cold food, not enough sitting, location of the restrooms, inadequate parking. The list never seems to end. I do like the ones who give compliments where it is due as I feel that they appreciate good service.

Back to the wedding that I attended. It was for a family friend and everything went well as scheduled. There was a band and mcee hired that gave me ideas for this article. What would one consider good entertainment for guest. A lot of the times in local settings, the photoshoot happens after the ceremony as guests are having lunch at the reception. It is at this times that a lot of the wedding entertainment is enjoyed. How does one decided what is good entertainment for guests? Most weddings around play similar songs that many dance to. What can easily be enjoyed across varied age groups.  It can be something quite popular or at least it has to be to get guests out of their seats and on the dancing floor. Even though the bride and groom eventually join the dance, its usually for a shot time when you factor in the time their photoshoot takes and the traffic to join the reception depending on the day of the week.

The wedding I attended, the mcee had us dancing at particular times kneeling. While I enjoyed the music and the dance and his style of commanding the crowd, my knees weren't as forgiving once I got home that day.

Wedding flowers: fresh, dried, artificial.

Sometimes, I forget how time flies very fast. Its already February and March is just slightly more than two weeks away. I started this article on wedding flowers in December and still had two more articles to do. On average in most local weddings, fresh flowers are preferred. Though I must say, I admire brides who dare to be different in wedding flowers.
 I have always loved fresh flowers and if it was up to me only work with them. In the past, I have worked either with fresh, dried or artificial alone. With so much changing tastes in wedding clients needs, I'm more than open to experiment. Today, I'll look at those 3 categories and working them on our arrangements.

                               Fresh flowers.

This are my speciality. I love fresh flowers and would work with them any day. With flower food for them, either bought or whatever your home combination for yours are you keep them fresh longer before starting work with them. I admit, they are alot of work but they fun to work with. I love the smell of fresh flowers to a wedding reception or venue. Even though they are delicate to transport, how they transform an event can never be understated. Roses, carnations and calla lilies are readily available at low prices in Nairobi. That makes it easy to have a variety of arrangements of fresh flowers at affordable costs.

                                  Dried Flowers.

Another area worth considering is this. There are brides who chose to keep some of their floral arrangement after the wedding and this is a great way to do it. This can be her bouquet, and even some centre pieces. Once in awhile, you might find a bride who chooses to work with dry flowers for all their arrangements. It can be pricey but transporting them is much easier than fresh flowers which are usually a bit fragile and can break easy. None the less, dried flowers make for good arrangements too and can be cheaper on the bride if the vendor is willing to hire them for the wedding.

                                    Artificial Flowers.

There is plenty of this in the market. Whether you work with silk, feather, or any other artificial flowers available. The thing I like about them is they come readily available in almost all colors imaginable which is usually a limitation on fresh flowers. When I work with flower ball or pomanders, the artificial ones are lighter than fresh flowers. Even when it comes to flower wall, the artificial one is usually lighter than the fresh flower one. Though both are labour intensive, I still prefer the fresh flower one myself.

 Incorporating all of them into one wedding is fun though not everyone feels that way. Either way, there is no shortage of flowers to use locally.