Have you ever found yourself in the awkward dance of tipping and gifting at weddings, not knowing the etiquette or expectations? Well, you're not alone. We've brought in wedding industry experts Megan Noll and John C to shed some light on this complex etiquette. They're sharing their personal experiences, the standards in the industry, and even revealing the results of an Instagram poll on what wedding vendors typically receive.
Navigating the landscape of gratitude in the wedding industry can be tricky. Megan and Jon discuss how social media presence and personal relationships can influence gift giving. They also touch on the somewhat uncomfortable but necessary subject of inflation and its impact on the tipping range. They emphasize the importance of being explicit about tipping instructions. But it's not just about money. They share heartwarming stories of clients expressing their appreciation in unique and thoughtful ways. From the Brooklyn client who sent a deluxe package of bagels and cream cheese to the necklace that was so 'Megan', these gifts convey appreciation in a memorable way.
Let's not forget about the unsung heroes of the wedding industry – the vendors. Megan and John underline the value of client testimonials and feedback. They discuss the creation of an effective feedback form and how to share reviews across platforms to maximise their impact. Even after the wedding bells have stopped ringing, they stress the importance of recognising the hard work of vendors. So sit back and listen in, whether you're a vendor or a client, there's something valuable to learn for everyone.
Follow Megan and John on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/johncweddings/ https://www.instagram.com/megannollphotography/
Find them online:
https://www.johncweddings.com/
https://megannollphotography.com/
Places to go - People to see:
Kelly's Site: http://www.kellymcwilliams.com
Kelly's Blog: https://www.kellymcwilliams.com/blog
Instagram: @kellyamcwilliams
About Kelly:
Kelly knows how incredible a well planned wedding can be. Every moment counts and every decision plays a part. Wedding planning should be fun and as easy to do as possible. Besides planning weddings, Kelly travels the globe as an industry speaker. Kelly is a Martha Stewart Top Wedding Planner & this podcast won Brides magazine and WeddingWire's best podcast.
Need a little help planning your wedding?
The Getting Ready Room List (ON SALE NOW)
Wedding Song Ideas: Spotify Playlist Included! (ON SALE NOW)
Download the Wedding Spending Plan
Have you ever found yourself in the awkward dance of tipping and gifting at weddings, not knowing the etiquette or expectations? Well, you're not alone. We've brought in wedding industry experts Megan Noll and John C to shed some light on this complex etiquette. They're sharing their personal experiences, the standards in the industry, and even revealing the results of an Instagram poll on what wedding vendors typically receive.
Navigating the landscape of gratitude in the wedding industry can be tricky. Megan and Jon discuss how social media presence and personal relationships can influence gift giving. They also touch on the somewhat uncomfortable but necessary subject of inflation and its impact on the tipping range. They emphasize the importance of being explicit about tipping instructions. But it's not just about money. They share heartwarming stories of clients expressing their appreciation in unique and thoughtful ways. From the Brooklyn client who sent a deluxe package of bagels and cream cheese to the necklace that was so 'Megan', these gifts convey appreciation in a memorable way.
Let's not forget about the unsung heroes of the wedding industry – the vendors. Megan and John underline the value of client testimonials and feedback. They discuss the creation of an effective feedback form and how to share reviews across platforms to maximise their impact. Even after the wedding bells have stopped ringing, they stress the importance of recognising the hard work of vendors. So sit back and listen in, whether you're a vendor or a client, there's something valuable to learn for everyone.
Follow Megan and John on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/johncweddings/ https://www.instagram.com/megannollphotography/
Find them online:
https://www.johncweddings.com/
https://megannollphotography.com/
Places to go - People to see:
Kelly's Site: http://www.kellymcwilliams.com
Kelly's Blog: https://www.kellymcwilliams.com/blog
Instagram: @kellyamcwilliams
About Kelly:
Kelly knows how incredible a well planned wedding can be. Every moment counts and every decision plays a part. Wedding planning should be fun and as easy to do as possible. Besides planning weddings, Kelly travels the globe as an industry speaker. Kelly is a Martha Stewart Top Wedding Planner & this podcast won Brides magazine and WeddingWire's best podcast.
Need a little help planning your wedding?
The Getting Ready Room List (ON SALE NOW)
Wedding Song Ideas: Spotify Playlist Included! (ON SALE NOW)
Download the Wedding Spending Plan
Hello and welcome to this Versus that making wedding decisions with Kelly McWilliams. This podcast is for you if you're making a wedding decision and want to know what to consider before saying I do to all the things that will make your wedding experience a great one. I'm your host, kelly McWilliams, and I'm so glad to be a part of your wedding planning journey. In each episode, you can count on me and my expert wedding co-hosts to give you everything it takes to make the best decisions for the wedding that you're dreaming of. This was not intended to be a requirement, like we're not putting down rules during this episode. This was actually. You're going to hear us laughing and having a good time during this episode, but it took a lot of courage for each of us to be really transparent and to say exactly what happens in our businesses, because it's an awkward subject. It really is. Please take some of this with a grain of salt. But also, we get asked so often and it's just so awkward in the moment to answer honestly. So we're using this episode to put it all out there on behalf of everyone in the wedding industry. So let me tell you about these two brave souls. Along for the ride with me.
Speaker 1:First we have Megan Nol, who's a dear friend of mine. We've traveled together and learned together and enjoy each other's company, and she's just a spectacular photographer. She's an international photographer and an educator for creative entrepreneurs, focusing on destination weddings all over the world. Megan has been featured in so many publications. We're talking brides, carrots and cake, ruffled soundly, pretty destination, I do, and countless others. She's clients from Paris to Hawaii, australia to California, everywhere in between. I mean the girls all over the place. She's committed she's one of the most committed people I've ever met to bringing her clients a great day with enthusiasm and vision, bringing their vision to life on their wedding day. And that's one of the things I love about her most. She's just so fun and she makes wedding days fun for people. She's a joy to be around. So I love that about her.
Speaker 1:And then we have John C. I call him John C, but it's John Campbell and he's a wedding planner, incredible designer. I'll never forget when I first met him and he was newer Definitely new to me, but newer here in Florida, locally. He's a couple of hours north of me, but I knew immediately that this guy was going to change the game. He, his talent is immense, and I knew that he just had all of this want and desire and passion to be really good at his craft, and boy does it show. So, if you have the opportunity, he's a great guy. But he began his career in hospitality over 10 years ago. He got his start in the industry by managing venues and catering, and then he moved into the event planning world in 2017. John's diverse hands-on experience in the industry has allowed him unique insights when working with couples and other event professionals, and his talent for event design has earned him numerous features in national publications, just like Megan. You can find him on outlets like HGTV, which is my favorite network, martha Stewart weddings, the New York Times, stanley Pretty, and he deserves to be on of those because he's really that talented. Just a great in a great person. These are great people and that's specifically why I chose them, because I knew they would be honest, I knew they would be brave, and so I appreciated it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let me go ahead and get them online and we'll talk about tipping and gifting and testimonials to you. You know I'm kind of shocked, you guys, that it took me this long to do this episode about tipping, because every single one of my clients. Clients bring it up At some point. They're like what do we do? We tip everybody. What do we do? And the answer is yes. In social environments, pretty much everyone gets tipped. But there's always questions about this and I think across the board even like if you go to like wedding wire or Stanley Pretty or any of the carrots and cake there's different answers on everything. Wouldn't you agree? Like it's yes.
Speaker 3:And one thing that I had noted that I wanted to talk about was how a lot of the advice is don't tip them if they're a business owner, and I just think I feel like I should be tipped more because I'm your one man, snow man, like I'm doing it all, like what do you mean? Don't tip me. Like you know what I mean. So that was one thing that I was like. I think that should probably be brought up at some point. Yeah, yeah, that's a big question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. Okay. So, john, you're a planner, designer, right, you do the whole thing, and Megan, you're a photographer, which I've already told everybody. So what I want to kind of lay out is what seems to be the standard that clients think going in is supposed to happen, and my fingers are doing the quotes on the supposed to, and what I usually hear back, or what I have for ages heard back, was oh, will we do like the DJ, it's included with the service, with the caterers or you know, so we don't have to worry about them. The band, obviously, and then everyone else are kind of hair makeup. They get, you know, they get the 20% for sure, and it just I think they very often think back to what it is out like in the outside world, not weddings. So my hope is that we can let everyone know what our experience is, not even just between the three of us, but, like you know other wedding planners and designers and you know Megan, other photographers and videographers and what, and so maybe they've shared with you.
Speaker 1:I also took a poll on Instagram and I'm going to share the information on Instagram about you know what wedding vendors receive on a regular basis, and I will tell you, I was shocked by the variances that were there, but there was definitely some clarity in, there were some consistencies. So I think this is a nice opportunity to explain what is maybe acceptable, what's needed or, you know, really like, this is part of the payment. And then also I'd like to talk about. You know, sometimes clients just want to gift us instead of tipping or doing both, and then I feel like we should talk about testimonials and what's in the word for testimonials, reviews, reviews, reviews as well, because I feel like it's all kind of the same thing, not the same thing. There are all that is feedback in the end.
Speaker 1:Yes, right, right, no-transcript. You suck, you know so. Okay, so who wants to go first on just talking about what their usual, what they usually feel like they are receiving? Let's talk about tipping first or no, just in general. Let's do that. Megan, why don't you tell us what you typically receive from the greater majority of clients? Do you receive tips? Do you receive gifts? Do you receive reviews and testimonials, or is it all over the place?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would say that for me, it's all over the place.
Speaker 3:Sincerely, I think that you can tell the couples that have really paid attention to my Instagram, that know me as a person, they know the jokes that I make on my social media site, because those are the people that will send me a gift card to my favorite spa, or those are the people that will have gifts for my kids or something like that.
Speaker 3:To me, that's really personal, but I think that if you're not that person, it's so much easier to just tip right. You can think that that's something that I can go buy exactly what I want. In fact, a lot of the times I save my tips to buy something that I really wanted to splurge on for myself, so that's a fun thing to do. I would say that the majority of my clients do tip and then, like I said, the people that I can tell I'll be close with for a long time, those are the ones that I feel like end up gifting because they know me and they put thought into it and they have been really intentional throughout the process with not just me, just the entire guest experience and all of that. Those are those people that kind of stick out in my mind.
Speaker 1:Jake John, is that the same for you that the ones that you're really close to or they feel like they're very close to you also give you?
Speaker 2:gifts. You know it's funny, Kelly. I think I can probably say I've gotten one or two gifts Really All of my time, and everyone else has been tips.
Speaker 1:Okay, see, there's such a huge difference.
Speaker 2:Thank you notes a lot along with the tip, but yeah, not really many gifts. I've gotten one that really stands out. It was my initials on like a little lapel pin that was really sweet, but that came along with a tip as well. Yeah, some of them are the bride, so I'm serious.
Speaker 3:Are you, like, pretty active on social media Like, or do you put yourself out there on social media? No?
Speaker 1:he doesn't. I don't post a lot of criminals on social media.
Speaker 2:Okay, not great with social media at all, but I don't post a lot of personal stuff on my social media now.
Speaker 1:That might be, I think, a lot of the reason as well. Megan, you and I are both like pretty, like share almost everything To mom, almost everything.
Speaker 3:It seems like it.
Speaker 1:Like we're just very ourselves. We are very ourselves and share a lot about our families, like the dogs, and they do know that we go out to eat and you know, and things like that. So I think you're right, megan, when you say that that they feel like they know us, the clients that I find that do give me 100%. I feel like we're going to be friends forever, like I was a part of their family, like it was more than a transactional kind of thing, and I have to say there are times where I feel like I want to give them at the end.
Speaker 1:You know like they because I feel like they've let me into, like I mean, I feel like this is an every wedding, like they've chosen me to be a part of their family for, you know, a part of, you know, a really important part of their life. So there's definitely clients I just feel very in tune with and I feel like they I'm going to be in their lives forever, like even if it's I mean I don't ever see them again, like we're going to keep in touch, you know, be on social media at least. So so, john, do most of your clients tip.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay.
Speaker 1:All right, are either of you comfortable with saying how much you typically get tipped Like? And I would like for you, if you're comfortable enough to say it, because I am, and I feel like that's what everyone wants to hear is what would you like to be tipped if I was to tip you? Because really, every time someone asked, they're like no, but really how much, no, but really how much, and it's hard for us to like, in that moment, be like oh well, I know what number I want, but is that right?
Speaker 3:You know.
Speaker 1:So let's just make it easy on everyone listening and even if it's not like, I would love to have exactly $552. If it's, you said, said I think a percentage, this percentage would be great and that would make me feel really happy that you feel like I did a good job. You know, what do you guys think about that? Are you comfortable If?
Speaker 2:not, absolutely no, yeah sure.
Speaker 1:Okay, make it and you can go first. Oh, okay, sorry.
Speaker 3:So I would say that for me I don't I wouldn't say I get tipped at every single wedding and I definitely don't get tipped at every single wedding I. It's really interesting to me because there are times where I will just knock it out of the park and think like, oh man, I think that they really like.
Speaker 3:I could see them what really wanted to show appreciation in that way. And then it's crickets. I think a lot of the people the planners that I work with at this point are have a standard tipping range where they tell people, you know, between like $100 and $300. To me, that is. I can find that very confusing for clients. I see that like when somebody just hands me an envelope with cash. For me, I love it when they break down Okay, this goes to this, this will go to your second shooter. This will go to your assistant. This will go here.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, Because for me I'm like there is a lot of wording around oh, the business owners don't get tipped. Which I kind of shared with you earlier was, I feel like the business owner, like I'm a one man, show for the most part on the day of yes, I have a team, I have somebody who's going to carry my bag, say, somebody who's going to be, you know, photographing the whole thing, but not necessarily. I don't know how they expect that to be tipped. Do they expect me to take 50% and then divide the other 25% to my team, or so that can be really confusing.
Speaker 3:I think in an ideal world I just we both, we all know how inflation has affected things Me picking up lunch for my team, and a lot of times I'll offer to pick up the videographers lunch, or you know, just the people you know pick up coffee for people, whatever. That is $100 or $200, really quick on a wedding day. So for me, I would love ideally to at least have those kind of extra expenditures that I'm sending out on the wedding day covering, so I think, closer to a percentage of what they've paid. You makes sense. Now I'm not saying you have to, you know, throw 20% at me.
Speaker 1:No, everyone knows that.
Speaker 3:I should have done it at the same 20%. You know what?
Speaker 1:I should have put a disclaimer out in the beginning of this, like these are not rules, that were, we're just letting you know what currently happens and what your vendors would love to see happen. So disclaimer you do. This is like don't go to Google and change Wikipedia to say this is what it's supposed to be. But we, you know, we get asked, so we're letting you know this is, we're letting, we're putting it out there. So you said something that I I really I've never done and I will now. When I send that sheet out, I will say lead photographer and photography assistants and put percentage out for the lead photographer and like a dollar amount.
Speaker 1:So, if I was going to do that for your assistance, how much should I put a dollar?
Speaker 3:amount there. I mean you could I like? I said I really think the percentage just because how much I'm doing for the wedding really depends on what you've contracted me to do. If I'm showing up for 10 hours and going home, that's a lot different than if I'm doing 12 hours. A rehearsal dinner, a brunch, an engagement session, all of those things. Do you know what I mean? So to say a blanket statement of $1 to $300 for all of that, I don't think that fully encompasses the scope of work and how many hours I'm putting into it. As far as what would be accurate for a tip.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the thing is, you know your clients don't know that you're picking up lunch for everyone.
Speaker 3:No, they don't know that, they don't know that. So that's not the early signs of the day. That's just me trying to be cool.
Speaker 1:No, no, it's like that's not an inner contract and I will pick up lunch for the photographer. That's part of my wedding day schedule. When I stop with Publix on the way, I feel a cooler for lunch for anyone who needs it. Like we do beach and tent weddings all the time there's nowhere to go and like it's hot, rainy, recovering dirt and sand and all the things you know John, you know John. So like I roll up with a cooler every wedding and you're right, I spent a couple hundred bucks with the Lemonade's and the Sweet Cheese and 14.
Speaker 1:Pub Subs and you know, but because you want to take care of the crew, you know, and we're only gonna do good work if we're not starving or dehydrated or whatever else.
Speaker 3:So I think it's just that team mentality yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think that's. I'm so glad that you brought that up and that's being shared, because that's not a part of the thing that people know. I think I have probably like Instagram story that like in the morning before a wedding where I'm there and I'm like getting rung up at the checkout but they don't know that's what that's for. Like the setup crew John knows about this, megan, you're not there for that part but like when they're bringing all those lugging in chairs and trees and pots and dragging them all over the place. It is so much work and these people do not make money. So anything that I can do and I can't tell you how many times I myself have tipped out of my pocket for all of those people- Same.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you see how hard they work, you know. So, yeah, okay, john, what about for you? And I will share mine as well.
Speaker 2:I would say I probably get tipped like 80% of the time, and it ranges from in the hundreds to in the thousands. I'm sure that you know you can relate with that? Yes yes, there's quite a bit of variation there. There's actually it was, I can't remember another planner put me onto a specific one of those online lists and of course we all know none of them are complete, none of them are completely right.
Speaker 2:But there was one that I had seen a while back that said something along the lines of, you know, tipping planners 10 to 20%, something like that, and so that's sort of the number that I've always suggested to clients when they really ask. You know, I try and pull back little bit.
Speaker 1:When they nail you down, they're like listen, you're not getting away until you tell me this number.
Speaker 2:And I'm sure again you can relate it's so much easier to tell your clients what to tip everyone else.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:To much harder to tell them what to tip you. So I've just sort of always kind of linked them to that particular list, which is a pretty decent one. I think inside weddings put it out, and that's kind of what I've been using for the last few years.
Speaker 1:That's good.
Speaker 3:You brought up a point, though, too, that I thought was interesting. I've heard a lot of planners say that they put out this list but they feel weird putting themselves on it. Do you guys put yourselves on your tip sheet?
Speaker 1:I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't.
Speaker 1:Because, it feels so awkward. You're so right, Megan. Yeah, it just feels really awkward to do that and I think that's what makes it hard is because, like John, sometimes there will be nothing, Like nah to think. You know, we almost always get the text message the next day, and maybe we should touch on the text message the next day because there's two.
Speaker 2:You already know what I'm gonna say, right. You already know what you're gonna say.
Speaker 1:It's so funny that you guys like you were holding back to laugh for about half a second and you're like I'm letting it out Because there's two kinds of text messages that we get. I'm just gonna put this all out there. This is gonna be the most controversial episode ever. No, there's the text message that was that was the most amazing day of my life. Thank you so much for everything. It was beyond my wildest expectations, kelly.
Speaker 1:You and Nicholas hit it out of the park. Okay, that's version one. Version two is exactly the same, followed by by the way, do you know where the bouquet went? What happened to that box that had this and this? Oh, and there was an envelope missing from here. And when do we get our pictures? So immediately, yeah, verbatim, and so immediately you went from starting this going oh, they were so happy to like, oh, we're gonna get blamed for something you know, and it's like almost like it just makes it all not as good. So maybe I mean it's just I don't think there's a way to get around that really, but if it could maybe be followed up with a thank you note, that was like not followed up by a question about things.
Speaker 3:One of my favorite things is I've gotten thank you cards before that say. Words cannot explain how thankful we are. There's no way to show you how thankful we are, and it's a totally empty card and I'm like, oh, it's only there for monitoring.
Speaker 1:If words can express dollars will. Oh, my goodness gracious. Okay. So I will say that, yes, the tips that I have received and I'm 22 years in, so I've seen this go from one side to the other it is three camps. It is absolutely nothing, always like a text or something I feel like I pretty much always get within like a day or two, but then tipping it'll either be nothing ever, or there'll be a gift and and a tip, which is the clients I feel like, they feel like I'm very close to me. And then for actual tips, I will say, when someone does give one, it's usually between either like 500 to 1000 range or the three to $5000 range.
Speaker 1:Now here's what I will say. Is that, well, you know, here's what I do with my tips and this is what I love about receiving tips versus gifts. I take all my tips and I save them and that pays for our vacations every year. So that goes like somewhere else that gets pushed aside and so, like that, you know, I this is my opportunity to say that you've made a vacation happen for me and my family. You know like we work. This is like the extra thing we get to do because you were so generous to us, you know, and so sometimes, like you know, our family vacations are great because we get a lot of gratitude and then sometimes you just have a couple of weekends away, you know, like that kind of thing, but they really are used for wonderful things.
Speaker 1:And, megan, like you said, I understand like there's that mindset that business owners don't get tipped. The weddings in general are just, I feel, like such a different thing. There's really a business owner that you're not working with for that length of time on something so important in your life, and I think that's what's different about us versus someone you go get your haircut every five weeks you know, and who is filling their chair eight times a day, you know.
Speaker 1:So I think it's a little bit of the difference there.
Speaker 3:And to your point too, I mean most vendors, especially at the level that you all are operating at. It's like we aren't churning burn, we are working with 10 to 15 clients and that we have to make our entire income on 10 clients per year. And that's just such a different calculus, because I know the family drama. I know when the grandma is self-conscious about X, y and Z. I know you know, like you know, all these very intimate personal things about these people, and so it's like I've spent a year or sometimes more of my life learning these things about them and caring about them and trying to treat them the way that I would hope somebody would treat me on my wedding day. You know what I mean. So it's just it's not like you said, it's not something where you get 10 people in your office per day. These are you're focused on 10 people for an entire year, which is like such a personal thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fully agree with that, fully agree with that. You guys have anything else on, like the tipping versus gifting, like, okay, let's put it out there, you would you rather have a cash tip versus a gift.
Speaker 3:That's tough, because if they're just guessing, I would rather have them. But if they also feel that intentionally with me, then I trust that they would gift something that they know that I would. I think it's really intimate to buy somebody a gift. And so when they nail it. I'm like that was awful.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think that also, if you're going to, if budget is a factor, I think it's a lot easier to find a gift that costs less dollars. That is, has the impact meaningfully. Yes, If you're going to give me a $50 and a card. That's really, really generous. I'm never going to, you know, to feel any sort of way about that, but if somebody gave me a $50 gift that was super intentional, that is going to have a lot bigger impact, I think. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And one client. It was, I think, two summers ago that they were from. I believe it was Brooklyn. I hope they. I believe it was Brooklyn and there's this really amazing bagel shop up there and they sent me the most thoughtful. I mean, I was just like I was blown away and I never thought to send this to someone. But there was a package, one of those beautiful packages. It had a coffee mug on it and it had bagels and it had cream cheese and it had coffee and I was like this is so. And here's the thing, it wasn't even that. It was so me, because you know I'm a tea drinker. But let me tell you why I drank that coffee.
Speaker 1:It was them, like it was, so them you know, and I was like their wedding was so Brooklyn and I, like I appreciated it so much because they were trying to give me a little bit more of them and I loved and adore that.
Speaker 1:And then that same year I had another client who got me the most beautiful necklace and they knew my style that well that when I opened this I was like this is so me, like I, and I cherish that necklace, I love it so much. I even got a bracelet that matches it from the same jeweler. You guys, you can't see it because you guys aren't watching it, but I'm showing oh beautiful, oh pretty, yeah, pretty so, um, yeah, okay. So before we went on a time, I feel like we should talk about testimonials because they're I think that they're separate from tipping and gifting, but they are at the end, when we're done with our job, and so that's what all the stuff, all of this happens really. So how do you guys prefer to get testimonials or reviews or feedback to any, to either of you do like feedback questionnaires?
Speaker 3:I have toyed with the idea. I just I'm always worried that it's going to prime clients to try to think of things negatively. I feel like when I'm writing a review I think about it holistically of you know, do I, do I? What would I improve on? What would I? You know? And so I feel like I don't want to start priming them to think about something negative that probably wasn't that they could feel if they weren't outwardly like. You know what I mean. I don't know. Do you guys resonate with any of you?
Speaker 2:Definitely I actually so instead of doing a survey or a questionnaire, I do an off-boarding call. Oh, not all clients say yes, but a lot of them do, and so it's kind of like a time for us to a little bit dish about like the behind the scenes, because my clients always want to know, they want to know those stuff About all the fires.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of fun to like give them like that glimpse into their day. But also I and I'll give them a heads up in advance that I like to ask you know what about wedding day and my process? Did you enjoy? What didn't you love or could be better? And you know a lot of them don't have anything Some of them do, but it has but actually in some cases been really nice feedback and things that have been super helpful that I have implemented in the future so that other clients could, you know, benefit from that experience.
Speaker 1:I like that.
Speaker 2:And it's usually teeny little things, but you know you don't always get the client. I mean, as a professional, we don't exactly know what our clients are thinking in the moment. It's cool to get that feedback afterwards. I do want to say I was thinking it earlier when, kelly, when you asked what we prefer tipping versus gifting. If I had to choose between the three, I would say a really thoughtful, lengthy keyword, testimonial or review is my preference. Above all else.
Speaker 2:I see that as a long-term investment in my business that my clients, can you know, give me to show gratitude. Of course you know all of the above is super thoughtful and sweet and nice to have, but you know, I think reviews are the unsung heroes of our businesses in so many ways and I don't know if clients really recognize that, especially after the fact, when life happens and we get busy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. So we I am different from most in that I'm not about online reviews, but we do send out feedback forms and just say hey, would you mind entering five questions? I think it's got five questions I don't even know if it's that many, but it's their prompts so that we can find out what we did right and what we can improve on. And I will tell you, megan, it is rare that we get anything that's just negative. It's almost like they find the good in things, and where there's things that they would have loved to have, they make it still sound nice. Do you know what I mean? Like we've gotten one, no, we've gotten two where it was day of coordination and things did not go the way they hoped because it rained and we didn't plan the wedding, so we weren't responsible for ordering a tent. Both of the instances.
Speaker 3:You mean you can't control the weather?
Speaker 1:I know I'm really disappointed in Kelly. I mean, even after 20 some odd years I haven't figured that part out.
Speaker 3:Can you imagine how much money I would make?
Speaker 1:But now there's Andrew. Leave it from what's it, which is what somebody?
Speaker 3:called Epa iconic reports.
Speaker 1:So now we have him to blame. No, I think his service is amazing. If you can get it, because boy he calls it, he's so accurate. I should do an episode with him, because I can't control the weather and he can't either, but he can certainly tell us what's actually gonna happen, other than us just pulling it up on the radar. Megan, you look like you're gonna say something.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in regards to asking for reviews, things like that, I think it's really important to, like John said, be really thoughtful about what you're actually saying. Just being like Megan, it was great, that's so nice, but if you can point to specific pain points that were caused or not, they're gonna cause.
Speaker 1:When.
Speaker 3:I hope it's the opposite. No, but I think that if you can point to specific things that were pain points for you that we helped to navigate around, please do that. Google helps with actual SEO, so it actually helps your website to perform better in a lot of cases. So that is important, but even more so than that, it's easy to get caught up in oh, the knot, the wedding wire, whether it's on Google or whatever. Honestly, shouting this out on social media, making sure you tag your creative partners when you're posting your wedding photos, those kinds of things matter so much more because the social proof and you saying, look, I hired this photographer, I hired this planner, I hired this video team and they were incredible. I would hire them again and again and again and shouting that to your network means so much more to me than some cheesy thing on the knot or wherever. That matters so much more if you're talking about where a review is most impactful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you do it that way, that's somewhere you're already at. Do you know what I mean? You're already looking on Instagram and I will say I'm so glad that you said this, megan, because there have been so many weddings where wedding guests shout this out even and let me tell you, my heart skips a beat when I see things like that oh my gosh, they really appreciated that we had band-aids and tampons and aspirin in the bathroom. That makes me so happy. Or so-and-so saved the day. Or we're so glad that the DJ didn't let the uncle Larry, who had too much to drink, keep the microphone. He was so good because he did that. You know those. You're right, those notes go so far and we can screenshot those and use them over and over again.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, and another thing I want to change-. Sorry one more thing I'll just add is that if you are confused about okay, where do I post a review, it's so easy to just copy and paste it across platforms. So if you have taken the time to go write something really thoughtful, it really is another two more minutes to say, okay, now I'm gonna post it here and here, and then all of the bases are covered. So that's something else. I'd like to point out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And as things are delivered to you, you know it's great, like even if you sent, like, a thank you note in, like right after the wedding, or sent a text message, like when you get your photography or when you get your video, or when you get your preserved flowers, like when those things come in. Oh my gosh, can I just tell you and I know you were so, megan Please let these people know that you love what you see like, acknowledge it. I wish you guys could see Megan's face right now. I'm sorry, I don't even have my phone to take a picture of this.
Speaker 3:You see, a lot of times that we get ghosted and it's because it's so easy to jump like I'm delivering a tangible product after the fact. You guys do all your hard work before and at the wedding day. A lot of my work is after the wedding because I'm sitting in front of my computer editing for hours and hours and hours. A lot of times it's so easy to wanna jump into that gallery and relive all the moments and send them to your friends and family. Please do all of that. But can you just like let me know that you got it and that you like them, because my anxiety riddled brain is when you run it over a hundred times, they haven't responded. They must hate them, they must hate me. What would run? Just hey, I got these and I love them so much. Even if you don't have time to write out a huge thoughtful thank you, please just let me know. That would be great. Thanks.
Speaker 1:Yeah and John, is it this way for you too? Like when you don't hear something within like 48 hours of the wedding? If you didn't get the text message, like I am like I must have really screwed up, like something is wrong. Like, if you hear nothing, I would even rather get the hey, where's the card box? Text. Then absolutely nothing, because then it's so bad that we go there. But we like doubt our work more often because it's high stakes. We get one chance, one chance to get everything right for you, and so if we don't hear that everything was at least okay, we are like think, like we think that things.
Speaker 3:Well, and we're creatives and we don't have coworkers the same way, you know everybody does, so it is something where you don't have that constant feedback going on. So you are. It feels like our the people that hire us end up feeling like our coworkers, so it's like we want to know how it went for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys, this is such a good episode. Do you have any last thoughts? Because we're over our limit. See, I told you, I told you we can just sit here and talk for ages about all things, but did you have any last thoughts?
Speaker 3:I think, I know, I think we're good John. What about you?
Speaker 2:Please don't ghost Megan.
Speaker 1:Don't go to anyone. I mean, I just feel like it's, it's such a simple thing to like, just send a quick text message and say we are happy is Two elephants in a safari land? I make it. I mean, I don't know, I don't know, but yeah, I mean just If you send a little no everyone's, it goes a long way.
Speaker 1:It's okay, so we've decided. It's totally cool and we appreciate when you ask any and all people About tipping them and they will be honest with you. For planners, it is a hard for you, you know. Now it's hard for us to be honest with you and to tell you the truth and that I'm just gonna send people the link to this episode from now on. But yeah, I think I think we all. My batteries are in low, so that means that we have to end the show. But this has been great guys. I feel like we really put everything out there. I'm gonna do another Instagram survey. I collected like Dozens and dozens of responses beforehand so I can kind of put that out there so people have some insight into what people were thinking before the show and after the show and all that jazz. But I really appreciate you being on and I loved this episode and Maybe we'll get back together. You guys were fun. We're good trio.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, oh tell everyone.
Speaker 1:This episode was supposed to be recorded on September 28th 2022, and on September 28th 2022, hurricane Ian came through, and so we had to like. I don't even know if we called it that morning or the night before I called it that morning. I think it was that morning, because we didn't know until that morning. That is coming directly at me, and, john, you're just two hours north.
Speaker 2:It was supposed to come to me.
Speaker 1:It was supposed to come to him. So I I don't I don't remember who which one of us texted first going are we doing this? And I think we all were just like you probably shouldn't, and then I think I probably didn't have power like an hour later. So thank you for waiting nearly a year to get this done, but I'm, I think it was very worthwhile. You guys thank you both so much. I really appreciate you being on the show.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad to be able to share my wedding Experiences and expertise with you, and that my co-hosts are so giving it theirs. We truly do want you to have the best time at your wedding, and our hope is that this podcast is helping you to make your engagement time while planning your wedding that much easier. May I ask a favor of you? If this is the case, would you just take a moment to leave a review of this podcast on your listening platform? It helps people just like you to find the Podcast and to also find out their answer so they can make decisions. I would also absolutely love for you to give this versus that podcast a shout out on your social media. You can find us at this versus that wedding podcast on Instagram, and if you would like me to help you with a specific question, a wedding decision please by all means ask. Send me a DM. I would love to hear from you and maybe, just maybe even have you as a wedding cast on a future episode. How fun you just do. Another great wedding.