Dealing with the Millennial Bride

This past Sunday, Samantha Bridal Show on KTN TV had a segment where a Bride in her 50s was getting married for the 1st time. This doesn't surprise me as I knew 2 other brides who did so in 2010. Even though the number of those getting married at that age might still be there for a while, there is a different age set, capturing the highest percentage locally that is on the wedding scene today than any other. This is what is considered millennial.

Who exactly is a milennial? I have found varying age groups of whose being included in it. 2 years ago, when it was discussed in weddingmarket chat using the hash tag on twitter, they were seen as age group born between 1979-2000. That makes them between the ages of 14 and 35 years. They are famously referred to as Generation Y. Another person online defined the age group as being born between the years 1982 and 2000. Irrespective of which age set amongst the two best suits your definition of Generation Y, they both were in agreement of the characteristics that are generally representative of this group.

In a local market where a majority of brides are below 35 years, understanding them and their needs is very important.By our local government's definition, 35 years is the cut mark of what is considered youths for the sake of benefiting from youth fund and other privileges reserved for this age set. The millennials have changed a lot of how weddings are done and what they expect from vendors. One thing that many who speak about this group refer to them as as the internet generation. Going through twitter's hash tag Kenyans On Twitter (#KOT), confirmed that a majority of them (millennials) get the news they need from social media. Advertisements that are in the social media reach them faster than on printed pages. Being present in the social media is important for a wedding vendor. Through keeping regularly updated accounts makes it easy to reach them. A Facebook business page with pictures containing sample of the work done gives the millennial bride the feel of what a particular vendor does and the kind of clients you handle. Not also forgetting what pinterest and other options available can do to reach a wide range of millennial brides. Using a variety makes it possible to reach as many brides as possible.  The social media has also made it easier for the millennial bride to do comparison online shopping before settling on a vendor.

The thing about the internet is that it can easily build or destroy a reputation. A quality that ties with this is the fact that millennials are considered to express themselves online a lot, are more open-minded and receptive to new ideas. If you don't get them what they want, expect them to call you out on twitter. The internet makes it easy to find a replacement for a vendor online very fast. The fact that they don't rely on non-traditional ways of doing weddings. A dissatisfied bride might easily cost a vendor one or two future brides through negative online remarks and sometimes images, if not handled well and promptly.  An online presence means also that communication is expected at the same rate as face to face response in order to satisfy the millennial bride. Almost an impossible scenario also in real life but always trying to give a faster and personalized response keeps this kind of client around.

Millennials are also considered to be individuals who prefer flexible work schedules, more 'me time' on the job and nearly nonstop feedback and career advice from managers. With this quality it is understandable why they prefer their unique individuality to stand out on their weddings. This manifests itself in different ways:
One is through the many Do-It-Yourselves (DIY) brides that we see. I recently watched a Bridal reality TV show locally where she actually opted to go to the online shopping website OLX, to buy a brand new red carpet so that she could be the 1st one to use it. After her wedding, she immediately sold it along with a few customized items for her wedding that she had bought online. Its impossible to work with the millennial bride if a wedding vendor is against them being heavily involved and almost in a way micro-managing their big day. When it comes to the millennial brides, the motto should be to work for them and with them.

The other thing about millennial brides is that its important for them, that the wedding stand out from the rest by being as original as possible. A wedding to them is an experience that allows them to show their personal style making the experience meaningful to them and their guests. They want their families and friends to remember something about their big day as the opinion of both matters a lot to them. Millennial weddings are here for quite some years to come and so is the need to meet the unique demands that these couples bring to the table.

Dressing the bridesmaids 2

This month, I've been all about the bridesmaids. The type of the fabric for the dress matters a lot as we had seen. The maids need to look really good for the wedding. So you select the material and moving to the next step: the design of the dress. Why go on that direction?

A majority of Kenyan weddings, the bridesmaids dresses are custom made by local tailors, which is a great thing as its tailor made to fit individual bridesmaids. The number of weddings that buy from a shop locally or online for ready made dresses is still a small fraction compared to the custom made dresses. Sometimes after purchase, a little or no adjustment on the dresses might be required or not to make the dresses fit well.





Never the less, whether you buy or make dresses, the issue that comes to mind is who selects the length and design of the bridesmaids dresses? There are a number of instances that the bride might prefer to be strict on a uniform length and color and leave the designs to the maids. On the other hand the bride may want  everyone to wear the same dress in terms of length, color and design. Or as the emerging and constantly growing trend of a variety of colors that can either be 2 or more won by the bridesmaids.





Its the bride's day and her wishes rule the day. Even though its clear in her mind what she wants, it would be a great idea to sit down the maids for a chat about this. Locally, it is customarily expected that most bridesmaids will pay for their own wedding day outfit. By considering their opinion as much as the bride's rules the day, dignifies them in the role that they play on her big day. This conversation with the maids is beyond just the length, design and color of the dresses.

  Traditionally, If the wedding is pink, it would be assumed that the maids will wear the same color of dresses. This would be basically coordinate with the wedding day decor of both the reception and ceremony areas. With so much changes and weddings being customized to the tastes of the groom and bride, you need your bridesmaids to be on board with your final decision as far as they're concerned.

Not to be overlooked is the issue of money. The cost of bridesmaids dresses whether custom made or bought as ready to wear has to be discussed. There have been instances of a few dissatisfied maids complaining behind the bride's back on how expensive the designer she has chosen to make their dresses. Remember that they pay for their own hair, make-up, shoes and other accessories for your day as the brides. Usually, if there is a dinner party after the wedding; they're invited to it which in a lot of instances, they still have to pay for themselves. With all the money they end up spending......it might justify making their opinion count on the bridesmaids dresses.

Dressing the bridesmaids

The intervals I take to write blogs surprise me none the less, am glad to do so. One thing that am glad most brides no longer like for maids fabrics is the bridal satin. There was a time nearly almost all weddings in Nairobi was about bridesmaids wearing bridal satin. It was great when it lasted but many people can no longer stand it. The 1st thing many people say nowadays for maids dresses that they would do any fabric but bridal satin.

The goodnews is; not all satin is boring, there are great options to work with on satin for bridesmaids dresses such as valentino satin, charmeuse, duchess, slipper, stretch satin etc. What's important is for the design required to be identified. Then comes the decision on what type of fabric is preferred whether light, medium or heavy. 

Bridesmaids options aren't limited to satin fabrics. African prints are also good choices for bridesmaids dresses such as good quality materials from west african countries are ideal to use.

Another option that is old fashion with weddings locally are use of tafetta fabric, which is very rare to find on bridesmaids today. Does it end with that. Fortunately, NO. Alot of exiting options are available a few amongst them being: chiffon, linen, cotton and silk. Whatever the preffered option, you never go wrong with a good quality bridesmaids dresses' fabric.

Wedding Budget

How time flies so fast. Close to a year just caught up with me before I realized. Been a great number of months but i finally get back to blogging. Its never been my strongest point despite the fact that I enjoy doing it-ironic right?

picture from simplewedding.myblog.it/wedding-rings

My article this week has been inspired by real weddings. A while back but on different dates , The Samantha Bridal Show on local channel KTN featured 2 weddings that caught my attention. One was a tight budget wedding of Ksh. 7,000/= (less than USD 100); extremely low by an average kenyan wedding budget. The other was one that cost a whopping Ksh 10 million  (USD 114,350). Fast forward to last week, we have an ongoing wedding with ceremonies on several days and still a future ceremony for the same wedding coming soon. Its budget is rumored at Ksh 1 billion (USD 11.4 million). If it will meet this budget, then that will make it the most expensive wedding in Kenya history that will be known.

Which brings me to my reasons for today's blog. One is that any wedding whether on an extremely tight budget or with lots of cash to splash around needs to identify what budget they will work with. This makes it easy for the couple to choose on what items they want to spend more or less cash.

picture from weddingring.simpleweddingdecorations.com/diamonds

Second, I noticed with all the brides of the 3 weddings that I have just mentioned said that they were happy with their big day. Begging the question:- Who should determine how much a couple spends on their big day?   I read with a lot of amusement shocking reactions to two of the big budget weddings I have mentioned about on social media. Some thought that they were extravagant in their spending. Others; well its best to say their opinions are just their own.

Any wedding has a lot of factors that come into play whether its the venue, the use of helicopters, horse carriage, high profile guest, security, and the list is endless. Based on what one is looking for its bound to cost money whether a little or a lot. Fortunately, no two weddings are the same no matter how much we have an opinion to its cost......

Boots....Anyone?

I've never been a fan of bata kenya for many years. Its been a brand that I have seen get better with time. During my schooling years, it was almost a requirement to purchase shoes from Bata. Over the years, they have the most stylish shoes I see around. In my last blog, I mentioned the fact that garden weddings are here to stay and so are the rains on certain seasons. Bringing me to the question, How far would a bride go to be different? Stylish or comfort for your wedding? Would you wear boots during your wedding?



http://batakenya.com/webbata/faces/tiles/product.jsp?productID=1434121&catalogueID=70&categoryID=5180&parentCategoryID=5170



 

I went to batakenya.com and came across this boot, which I thought was lovely. They have them in a wide range of colors. Some grounds are terrible when wet. The bride can't move around easily without her foot getting stuck and the mud.

 



http://nirvanaphotostudio.com/blog/tag/rubber-boots

A change can be as good as a rest or just as well as disastrous. Should you choose to wear boots and the ceremony is indoors, the bride could have a lovely pair of shoes that goes well with her dream gown and if the reception is outdoors, a risk taking bride could wear the second gown and change to boots for the outdoor reception. At the end of the day, not every bride can pool off boots for the wedding!



http://stylishoutletsstore.com/goods-174-Christian-Louboutin-Zebra-Tall-Boots.html

Boots come in all sizes, shapes and designs. I don't necessarily refer to gumboots just because the one that I got from batakenya is one. Well selected boots can work a dress. Whatever the selection, it might just avoid you some of the mess that follow an outdoor reception on a rainy day...... 

 

 

 



Garden Weddings

The weather in Nairobi was awesome until last week. It's the unpredictable rainy season that has taken over. The extreme heat though not the best for ones health, has been ideal for garden wedding. Ask any bride or anyone attending a wedding or outdoor event in Nairobi and the majority would rather the sun anytime than a cold, drizzly, cloudy or worse yet heavy rains for outdoor events. Despite the weather or season garden weddings are not about to loose popularity in Nairobi anytime soon.

Which brings me to today's discussion: Garden Weddings. A lot has been said about them I would not like to copy and paste the information on today's blog. However I want to consider something that attracts me to them. Lush gardens. There are grounds that are well taken care of  that you just want to stare at them and not cover them with tents during your wedding.Then, there are those with dry grass that isn't attractive but still great for a rustic look.

As unpredictable as the weather is, there is need for plan B  when it comes to your garden wedding. The tricky bit is that October to December have always been a high wedding season in Nairobi, so it would be hard to have another venue or an indoor specifically available due to high bookings. So instead of looking for an alternative indoor venue how about working with your selected garden wedding?

Its a norm for many people in Nairobi to hire many tents for the ground which include: one for the bride, three for the wedding guests, one for the cake, gift and food tents. These are normally many tents and most of the time the arrangement is usually a standard one not allowing much room for creativity. The verdict? It's about time marquee tent made a come back this season. The main reason is that most of the garden wedding venues don't have an option for indoor events.

When working with a marquee tent, you can leave the walls open to allow as much natural lights as possible and only close it if it starts raining. The advantage of it is that the guests are protected from the rains. Another thing about a marquee tent is that it gives you option to set up the place as best as it suits your taste.  The space in the tent is usually big enough to allow a huge dance floor and one need not worry on how to get everything under the tent. So go on, have a stress free wedding day.

To say "I DO"

Some 7 months have passed since I wrote anything on this blog. It wasn't out of writer's block, lack of time or any excuse that one can think of. I just took a break to recollect my thoughts and ideas. I love working in the wedding and events industry and despite the challenges I have seen in it, I look forward to a lot of adjustments with time . I believe I have gotten better by learning from the best so far.

My article today is inspired by a song with a similar title by James Onohan. Quite a lovely song for walking down the aisle. With many acceptable ways of doing so in Kenya becoming acceptable and people no longer raising an eyebrow on how the couple chooses to do their vows. I will consider 3 that a majority of weddings fall into:

 Civil Ceremony

It might actually look cheap but the Civil ceremony is getting popular for various reasons. One being that some cannot afford a huge wedding and this allows them to cut costs on expenses associated with their big day. This to some saves them the hustle of dealing with the bridal team, booking a religious ceremony and meeting the legal requirements for using the venue. Not forgetting cutting the costs of decorating the venue. Later on they gather for a ceremony at a private venue for a few guests wich can be in a hotel, or restaurant, private home or any other preferred/ desired destination.

Aonther reason why some choose a civil ceremony is that they want to spend alot on their honeymoon. They may select a destination that they require; do a small ceremony for those closest to them or surprisingly none at all. Then spend the money on honeymoon. Those who choose to this are mostly lovers of travelling and want to have enough cash as possible to travel to one or more destinations at the same time.

Religious ceremony

A big majority of Kenyans get married in a religious Institution. This can be in a church, mosque, temple or any other available in the country. All of this religious institutions have varied rules and regulations that have to be met . A few are:

1. An extra deposit to be paid that is not refunded if the couple are late in starting their ceremony.
2. No petals to be used on the aisle.
3. The couple must leave the venue as clean as they found it.
4. Some only allowing their members to marry in the venue or requiring one to convert before being allowed to marry at the venue.

Whatever the restrictions available, its normally important to know all of them before the couple commit and pay for the venue, to avoid embarrasing situations where a vendor is stopped from bringing in what's already paid for as it's not accepted at the venue.

Garden ceremony

One way many end up saving on wedding costs is to have everything done in one place. One thing Nairobi is not short of is venues that can allow you to do both your ceremony and reception as one packaged venue. This saves on the time spend on travelling from one venue to the next. Most of these always have lovely gardens that the bridal team along with their team can enjoy photo shoots. It's always good to make sure the venue has enough packing for your cars and guests incase they usually allow more than one wedding on the same day and that the security is excellent for you.