One part of running a wedding related business is something that I (usually) find fun, and that my husband hates – the industry events. I dragged him to another one last night, and he actually enjoyed it.
This was the magazine launch/rebranding of Mpls St Paul Wedding Magazine. We’ve been to a few such events in the past.. a bit of networking, some mediocre food, then looooong and boring presentations and sales pitches. Yawn. I’m a big believer in networking, and with our move to the cities next month, it’s something we really need to do more of. So, I arm twisted him into going.
Wow!!! What a great event! I was really impressed by the staff of the magazine – they were really nice, down to earth, and passionate about what they do. The editor, Heidi? Awesome. What a sweetie, and you can tell she really enjoys what she does. I love meeting truly genuine people, it’s refreshing!
There’s a problem that a lot of categories of vendors in the wedding industry face – a lot of wedding mags give some really weird/bad advice to fill pages, and the vendors (that pay a *fortune* to advertise in those mags!) are left explaining why it doesn’t work that way. A few favorites of mine:
- “Dummy cakes will save you money!” (along with insinuations that they are cheap/free to purchase.. the supplies and labor cost the same, even if the final result is not edible!)
- “Buying Square shaped cakes will save you money, because they serve more” (ignoring the fact that 99% of cake bakers charge by the serving, so yes.. the square shapes serve more people than round ones.. but you pay for the extra servings too. I also know of many cake people who charge a bit extra for squares, because they find it a hassle to do corners – we don’t)
- Many, many DIY-to-save-money schemes that usually end up costing the same/more than having a pro do it, and costing waaay more in terms of sanity, etc.
The thing that’s always annoyed me is that for all of that sort of advice, I’ve yet to see a mag suggest that you make your own gown, borrow it, buy used, etc. In fact, a lot of them actually bar ads from gown rental businesses, etc. The gown ads that take up so much of the mag space? They make a *fortune* off those ads, guess it’s not in their best interest to bite the hands that feed them.
Whatever, I digress.
Anyway, I’ve long found that sort of stuff to be a pain. It’s not that they’re trying to help the
bride, OR the vendors.. just help themselves, leaving everyone else hanging, ya know? Honest advice really doesn’t cost them anything, and DOES help the bride, even if it’s not necessarily what they want to hear. (For instance: “If you want a custom dummy cake, it will cost you a lot.. but you CAN rent pre made ones for much less, if you aren’t set on custom”.)
The interesting thing is.. Heidi seems to *get it*. She seems genuinely interested in helping her readers, but also acknowledging that the vendors have a huge part in it. She seems way more interested in bringing people together for GREAT events..more like a really great, honest wedding planner, than some nameless, faceless corporate magazine entity, you know? (I don’t mean to take away from her editorness in any way!). She was also a WAY better speaker than we’re used to at these things, and didn’t bore the crap out of anyone there. SCORE!
Anyway, that’s probably enough ranting / Raving for one blog entry. LOL
Actually, no it’s not. There is more raving to be had!
The event was hosted at r. Norman’s in the Ultralounge. Really chic, neat venue. I’d never known it existed! I could totally see hanging out there with some good friends and a couple martinis. Beautiful spot!
Also, I have to rave about the food. I think this was a huge part of why my hubby didn’t complain much about this one. They really took care of us, and I have to give kudos to whoever catered it (if you’re out there, lemme know who you are so I can acknowledge it!) I was partial to the amazing sushi trays there, but there was also a lot of other yumminess present. Yum. That’s all I have to say about that. I like to think that the way to our hearts is through our minds (in terms of the information presented!), but then they whip out good sushi and it’s proven just how simple I am! I always thought it was the men who have the stomach -> heart direct pathway!
I just realized how long this entry is getting. haha! I’m looking forward to seeing the next issues of the newly rebranded magazine – sounds like they have some GREAT ideas in store!
This entry was posted
on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Commentary, Vendors, Venues.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Mpls Mag Party
One part of running a wedding related business is something that I (usually) find fun, and that my husband hates – the industry events. I dragged him to another one last night, and he actually enjoyed it.
This was the magazine launch/rebranding of Mpls St Paul Wedding Magazine. We’ve been to a few such events in the past.. a bit of networking, some mediocre food, then looooong and boring presentations and sales pitches. Yawn. I’m a big believer in networking, and with our move to the cities next month, it’s something we really need to do more of. So, I arm twisted him into going.
Wow!!! What a great event! I was really impressed by the staff of the magazine – they were really nice, down to earth, and passionate about what they do. The editor, Heidi? Awesome. What a sweetie, and you can tell she really enjoys what she does. I love meeting truly genuine people, it’s refreshing!
There’s a problem that a lot of categories of vendors in the wedding industry face – a lot of wedding mags give some really weird/bad advice to fill pages, and the vendors (that pay a *fortune* to advertise in those mags!) are left explaining why it doesn’t work that way. A few favorites of mine:
- “Dummy cakes will save you money!” (along with insinuations that they are cheap/free to purchase.. the supplies and labor cost the same, even if the final result is not edible!)
- “Buying Square shaped cakes will save you money, because they serve more” (ignoring the fact that 99% of cake bakers charge by the serving, so yes.. the square shapes serve more people than round ones.. but you pay for the extra servings too. I also know of many cake people who charge a bit extra for squares, because they find it a hassle to do corners – we don’t)
- Many, many DIY-to-save-money schemes that usually end up costing the same/more than having a pro do it, and costing waaay more in terms of sanity, etc.
The thing that’s always annoyed me is that for all of that sort of advice, I’ve yet to see a mag suggest that you make your own gown, borrow it, buy used, etc. In fact, a lot of them actually bar ads from gown rental businesses, etc. The gown ads that take up so much of the mag space? They make a *fortune* off those ads, guess it’s not in their best interest to bite the hands that feed them.
Whatever, I digress.
Anyway, I’ve long found that sort of stuff to be a pain. It’s not that they’re trying to help the
bride, OR the vendors.. just help themselves, leaving everyone else hanging, ya know? Honest advice really doesn’t cost them anything, and DOES help the bride, even if it’s not necessarily what they want to hear. (For instance: “If you want a custom dummy cake, it will cost you a lot.. but you CAN rent pre made ones for much less, if you aren’t set on custom”.)
The interesting thing is.. Heidi seems to *get it*. She seems genuinely interested in helping her readers, but also acknowledging that the vendors have a huge part in it. She seems way more interested in bringing people together for GREAT events..more like a really great, honest wedding planner, than some nameless, faceless corporate magazine entity, you know? (I don’t mean to take away from her editorness in any way!). She was also a WAY better speaker than we’re used to at these things, and didn’t bore the crap out of anyone there. SCORE!
Anyway, that’s probably enough ranting / Raving for one blog entry. LOL
Actually, no it’s not. There is more raving to be had!
The event was hosted at r. Norman’s in the Ultralounge. Really chic, neat venue. I’d never known it existed! I could totally see hanging out there with some good friends and a couple martinis. Beautiful spot!
Also, I have to rave about the food. I think this was a huge part of why my hubby didn’t complain much about this one. They really took care of us, and I have to give kudos to whoever catered it (if you’re out there, lemme know who you are so I can acknowledge it!) I was partial to the amazing sushi trays there, but there was also a lot of other yumminess present. Yum. That’s all I have to say about that. I like to think that the way to our hearts is through our minds (in terms of the information presented!), but then they whip out good sushi and it’s proven just how simple I am! I always thought it was the men who have the stomach -> heart direct pathway!
I just realized how long this entry is getting. haha! I’m looking forward to seeing the next issues of the newly rebranded magazine – sounds like they have some GREAT ideas in store!
This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Commentary, Vendors, Venues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.