Running a wedding business in Kenya

I have been in this industry  in Nairobi  since April  2008. Last year, in the month of August,  I took a break from it. I had a difficult  time trying  to figure out whether I want to stop or continue.  This, like  most projects am interested in are creative industry oriented.

Image not my own

A lot changes every day and trends come and go. You're as good as the last job  you've done. Simply because you've had great successes in the past,  it's good to remember  that failure and disasters are always one event away.

One thing I've enjoyed a lot over the years is working with friends and family doing  their events. It's not an easy route to take as years of friendships can be destroyed  by just one event. It's a career that has brought me so much joy and stress in equal measure.

I must admit that for awhile  (some years to be  precise) I grew in this business purely through referrals but the changing  environment of marketing,  working through social media and expos has made my preferred marketing tool obsolete with time.

Wedding planner, just like any other wedding vendor realizes that the market is constantly changing and demands you update trends and whatever it takes to keep up with it. The trick then becomes how to do this and keep costs low while not compromising on quality work and still turn out profitable.

There was a duration that I loved out of the box kind of brides with creative  ideas, but time  and experience taught me that a majority of them want 100% needs met on less than 40% of your pay's worth.

Now am back after a year  of throwing  in the  towel. I've talked about the uncertainty of doing this business before and given up so many times over. It's not an easy time to do a business in the country basically with many people loosing jobs everyday.  More people seems to cut down on wedding  spending and new businesses in the wedding industry are established every other month with enthusiastic  entrepreneurs who hope to do better than those who've been in the market longer.

Every day, the question remains, how does a business sustain itself and make profits  with everything seemingly  working  against  it?

Jumpsuits wear at weddings

Image from Google

Last week, I was writing on jumpsuits for brides and bridesmaids. Now, I'm interested in guest wear. There are weddings that are very strict on what to wear. Usually, the invitation might indicate this and it prepares you in choosing what to wear.

Whatever it is, the goal is to look good for the occasion. There was a time there was a general rule on what would be worn to weddings and what you had to keep away from. Now, the options are endless.

Can guests wear jumpsuits? I feel they can if they want to. Unless the wedding couple says something contrary in their invitation. If bridesmaids can, then why not? With jumpsuits, a good fitting one irrespective of the size is important. Accessories it right and you're good to go.

Pic: Google

Wedding Committee, personal savings or wedding loans

Image from Google search

How did you finance your wedding? How will you finance your upcoming wedding? That's a topic I'd like to tackle today. Many people have great ideas but how do you embark on financing the various aspects of your wedding.....

Image from Google search

If you decide to go the wedding committee way, there are a few things to consider that can help save on cash or basically the expenses involved in organizing a large committee. First: many people are busy today and have a schedule that might not be suitable to them attending meetings in town weekly. How about you use technology to your advantage? You could form a whatsapp group, add everyone that might be of help to you in raising the money, open a paybill account in safaricom and have people send money to it.

Second, I'm of the opinion it's your work to source for vendors, interview and select your choices. In the past, the committee would help you with that, now that life is busy for more people it's best you do your own work and update people online on the progress. Third, please be sensitive. Its your wedding and expenses are all yours. Its expensive raising cash with budgets that keep going up. If the committee raises for you 40% of the cash, find a way as the wedding couple along with your parents or close family to fill up the 60% or alternatively, adjust the budget to meet the amount raised.

The most ideal way to raise money for a wedding would be personal savings. Two people dating and planning to get married should slowly start keeping savings aside for the big day and honeymoon. Many places and wedding vendors allow that you can pay a deposit way in advance, build monthly payments and by the time the wedding month is approaching the amount left to pay is a fraction that is not overwhelming to clear. This way, it's less pressure on family and guests when they chip in last minute. Few people go this route however. It can either be due to lack of stable income, no saving culture exists for both couples or even reasons best known to the couple.

Finally, it's easy to get loans from kenya today. Its not only banks that can issue loans. There are many organizations that do this through mobile apps. Just make sure you both have an impressive credit history to be able to get from as many sources as possible. This can help those who might not have friends, that can even help you reach half your budget and the cash you have raised is minimal still needing more money to finance your big day.

After all is said and done, how much debt and strain would one want to go through  just to finance a wedding? That's a question that only the couple can respond to well and choose to live by the outcome of their choice.

The modern bridesmaids: 2019

I've been away from blogging for the past 7 months. I'm not sure am back as there has been many changes I'm working through in the wedding industry. I had promised to talk about them but I haven't done so due to many reasons. For now, am back.

The last blog I did I spoke on the modern bridesmaids. I would like to continue on this topic as a starting point. I love seeing different designs of jumpsuits. I must admit, I personally don't own any. Seeing however with time the lovely fit on plus size individuals, I might soon make one for myself.

Would you be comfortable as a bridesmaids, to wear a jumpsuit? Isn't it just the brides decision or does she need to run the idea with her bridesmaids first?

I'm from the school of thought that anything that's not traditionally done or worn at weddings, would best be discussed with those involved to get their take on it. If they're comfortable, you're game. If not, then you have a decision to make as the bride: do you keep the person as a bridesmaids despite the uncomfortable situation they'll be in?, replace them with someone else as a bridesmaids or even let go of the idea all together if many are not for it? It's all part of the wedding planning. Sometimes the best plans implemented might just have been a second or a third choice.

The thing about jumpsuits, since the wrong design might look awful on one bridesmaids and not the other, I personally feel that allowing each bridesmaids to settle on a design that best accentuate their figure. From size zero to plus size, you'll always find something that looks great on different wearers. Once the color is settled on, the designs being different would be nice for someone who would wear it on another event or occasion.

Whether the bride and her bridesmaids wear a jumpsuit or the bridesmaids do that on their own while the bride wears a traditional wedding dress, they all can still look great on them. My next question then would be...how about a wedding guest who chooses to wear a jumpsuit. Appropriate? Hopefully, I'll go through that soon.

Side note: none of the images used are mine.

The modern bridesmaids

I was going through google trying to figure out what it means to be a bridesmaids  in images. I remember  watching a real wedding  on reality tv last year where two bridesmaids  didnt get along and it was stressful  to the bride. She had her planning  challenges  to deal with for her big day and the fact that two people  in her line  up just didn't like each other. One was her childhood  friend and the other was the one who introduced her to the groom. In the end she chose her mother for her best maid and the two just learned to get along  before her big day.

It might be the bride's day but having girls she can get along with is really important  for her own  peace of mind. I  am in a local facebook group where one  of the bridesmaids  felt the bride was indecisive on designs, color and cut of their dresses. She felt she had enough  of this and decided  in social media to declare  she'll  wear her choice for the day and not the bride's.  The response  she got from the comments section  was clear enough that many  believe its the brides decision  that should rule the day.

That made me realise that its important  to be good friends with the bride to be on her line up. You always  want the best for a friend and probably  you can encourage  her ideas and corporate  with them. The  planning  process is fun for the bride when she has the support  of her bridesmaids.  Imagine wanting to do spar treatment with her maids and even relaxing by the pool, might be all she needs to do with her girls to continue  enjoying  the planning  process.

More brides want something  different  for their big day. Whether she decides she wants her maids to have personalized  robes  that identify  her from the maids or even t-shirts, caps, bridesmaids  to wear tailored  ankara dresses, the  traditional  bridesmaids  dresses  or even suits to  her line up. These looks mean alot to a bride. When communicated well in advance, she can have happy girls at her line up. In the past when you were selected  to be a bridesmaids,  all you needed to do was get your measurement for dress taken pay up for the dress, shoes and make up and then wait for the big day and be done with  the event.  The  modern  bridesmaids, alot falls in  your plate. Next time we'll  continue  from there.

ps: the pics were all from google. I dont own any of them.

Real Wedding: Saturday, 24th March 2018

I have been MIA from blogging and the wedding industry for quite awhile. I love the industry. Been here for 10 years already running this business. At the 11th year the question is way forward....I'll know about that this next 6 months. What drastic changes to make and how to move ahead. For now, I'm still here.

This is my favorite bride this year. Talk about the perfect DIY bride and you have her in mind. Frankly, until this year, I thought it wasn't the right way for a bride to go but she changed my perception.

   

Most of the planning took place via whatsapp as she wasn't in the country by then. She was organized and fun to work with. Right down to the smallest detail, she had everything she wanted. Bought most of the things she needed and brought them to the country. By the time we met, my work was way beyond easy. 

Then came the evening of the wedding day, I joined the bride and her guests for set up for the reception. Its good to have reliable friends like she did who just help the event be such a success. Always lovely to work with a pleasant group of individuals.

For her guest tables besides the unique table set up, the names of guests were on each seat. It was a lovely idea as it actually puts on the spot anyone who comes to crush the wedding. Cities names were on each table to direct guests to the table that they would be sitting on. This represented the couples traveled to cities. When all details are in order, everything has a smooth finish right?

Sometimes despite our best intentions, certain things don't go as you had planned or even where many people are involved there is bound to be disagreements. But all in all, this was my best bride this year so far, very organised, easy going, reliable and an awesome planner herself.

The photographer of the day was Willy Muturi, most of this pictures were captured by him and am glad for his permission to use them. More about him can be found on his site below:

https://willymuturi.co.ke/

https://www.facebook.com/willymuturiphotography/

Best Wedding Facebook page/group of the year

 

I'm still on the Kenya wedding awards coming up. I must admit articles on this topic have dragged longer than I  would have wanted. I would like to apologize for that. Back to my topic. Almost every wedding vendor in Nairobi today has a Facebook business page. I love the idea since I remember in 2008, I had to meet a client with photo albums for them to go through and take time thinking about whether they want to work with me or not. There was a problem in the past with pictures being stolen by dishonest clients who would rather have a cheaper vendor do the wedding for them. It was sad that they had to use your ideas for this.

Printing out photos to keep in your album that serves as your portfolio made  the cost of running the business extremely high. There was also a chance to loose or damage your portfolio as you moved around with it. If you had a premises, clients could come and still view your work. A few similar challenges still existed with this and there was no guarantee they'd work with you. There were websites but few people would be bothered to look through them at your work, let alone contact you. I might be sounding off as negative but believe me, despite all this challenges, there were inquires that actually converted to good business.

Then entered social media. More so Facebook business pages and even groups. They must have slowly gained popularity as its cheaper to reach masses than TV or even written media or wedding magazines can today. With the costs of buying internet bundles for the phone down and even internet access whether free access on public places or paid WIFI at home being affordable, it has become necessary to be online to find clients. Because of Online presence I must say, its the second source of clients for me after referrals.

images used from pexels.com

When I started having a Facebook page, I was in the school of thought that I needed numbers to grow my business and I felt bad when friends I invited to the page chose not to follow it. Now, I use it differently and am glad for the shift that I made. While numbers with real people who are potential clients or can help spread the word that you exist to their friends and others is a good idea: on its own, it doesn't mean more business for you. Having a Facebook page that people can turn to for ideas and also buy from you and actually engage you in communication, is a lot of work than I actually thought it would ever be.

How will the best Wedding Facebook page be determined? Will it be number of followers, how much is posted, popularity? I would love to know who takes this award. As for the group of the year, I already have one in mind. I'm biased on this. Wedding groups help you know other vendors too. They are a good source of business to business relationships. Its a win-win when it comes to that direction. On the flip side, a client looking for a vendor has to contend with alot of offers than they can handle. It takes time to find out the best fit for that individual. It on the other hand, saves time that you have to meet up with people who are not yet sure whether they want to work with you or not. My emphasis is on this issue as Ive had  my time wasted in the past. If it were up to me, it would be nice if the organizers split up the award of the Facebook page and group. They sometimes serve different needs.