brazilian getaway

I feel a rant coming on…

In the last 2 weeks, 2 of my friends with weddings in less than 2 months experienced bad service from their bands. Don’t flake on a bride this close to her big day!

Exhibit A: The lead band member and main business contact left the country. Yup, he just relocated…to Brazil. He cashed their deposit check and bounced with no update to who-knows-how-many customers. Fortunately, the couple contacted him and he promptly replied with a new lead who he said will be in touch. The original consultation was with this Brazilian-seeking band mate though. He took notes on what songs should be played and what songs they needed to learn. This conversation may have to happen again with band lead #2. How frustrating.

Exhibit B: The string quartet lady is MIA. My other friend had her consultation back in June with this band lead. She took notes and filled out the required forms. She also cashed the deposit check. The bride followed up with her a few weeks later as discussed and nothing. Did she flee to Brazil too? The bride persistently emailed and left messages for what turned into weeks. Serious panic set in so she called in the big guns…the Mother of the bride began calling. They have even threatened to report their business. The wedding is just weeks away. Do they find a new band?

I have no solution to suggest to brides in this situation. I’m just ranting. But if you are in the wedding biz, I’d assume you know how frantic brides (and some grooms) get in the weeks closing in on their wedding. Customer service prior to the event is just as important as the tunes you will play at the event. If you are not a good business person, you may want to have someone manage that end for you.

Future brides and grooms, beware!

-The perennial bridesmaid

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Drum Kit by TimWilson on Etsy

made up

What is appropriate to pay for bridal make up on your wedding day? I have heard from as low as $50 to over $200! Has this gotten out of hand? Sure seems it.

Exhibit A. My friend, a bride, had a make up trial done recently. She hated it but that’s besides the point here. The ‘artist’ wanted to charge her $175 for bridal make up and all of her bridesmaids would be $75 each. That is the highest amount that I have ever heard for this service considering we are not talking about a celeb make up artist but your average cosmetics-counter-turned-independent make up artist.

In addition to the $175, this woman wanted a travel fee of about $40 AND, get this, a fee for applying false eye lashes. Another $15! ($10 if you bring your own. Ha!) If eyelashes aren’t included in $175, what is? That’s well over $200 for make up for one day. Just extreme!

And why is there a need to charge the bride $100 more than the bridesmaids anyway? Wouldn’t good business sense say to give the bride a discount for bringing all 6-8 of her bridesmaids business to her? After all, hotels usually give the bride and groom a free or discounted room for bringing them a ton of business. Shouldn’t this work the same?

I never really understood why the bride is charged more than everyone else. I suppose it is just the industry. As soon as the word “wedding” or “bridal” is attached to something, it automatically doubles. I made an appointment for a bride friend once for her make up but failed to mention that it was her wedding day. Once they found out, the price sky rocketed. For what? I still haven’t figured it out. No one can ever explain what exactly “the bridal package” includes that makes the price rise so much.

The bridal make up package seems to be made up.

-The perennial bridesmaid