Lots of love from, Jessica and Beverly xx
How Covid-19 has affected us, some answered questions about the industry and how we are staying positive …
Covid-19 has truly swept us all of our feet and took us by utter surprise. Nobody saw this coming and nobody could possibly imagine the tragedies it would cause or what a serious pandemic it would turn into.
During this period (last 8 weeks) we have gone through all of the emotions and we continue to do so. We have bad days where we have influx’s of brides having to reschedule and months of work just GONE. And whilst we are heartbroken for them, we worry for ourselves and then feel bad for doing this as it seems selfish but this is our livelihood too! And then we have good days, when we forget about the bad and are super productive doing amazing online content, working on those outstanding jobs like updating websites, accounts etc and we feel great! And guess what, we then feel guilty for that too!
Whilst we always remind ourselves that there are people out there so much worse off than us and we are lucky to be in an OK financial position, have outdoor space, have kids to keep us busy (some days this does not feel lucky haha) this does not take away from the fact that our business is our baby that we have worked SO HARD to build and to see this happening is sad! And as much as it turns your world upside down, It does ours too. BUT then we give ourselves a quiet word and turn the positive thoughts on and remind ourselves that:
THIS IS ONLY TEMPORARY! WE WILL COME OUT OF THIS STRONGER! WEDDINGS WILL HAPPEN AT SOME POINT AND WE WILL HAVE AN EVEN BETTER BUSINESS NEXT YEAR!
We wanted to share with you some popular questions and answers, tips and try to portray some of the inside struggles we have. We feel these are very common problems across the industry and sometimes its good to share these with you as you have been incredibly supportive so far and this is why that is truly priceless;
1. Please do not make any panic decisions - We are all making our decisions based on science and facts given by our government. Please do not make any rash decisions and take the time to think everything through. Communicate with us!
2. We are not rolling in money haha! - I think sometimes people believe that because we are in the wedding industry, we overcharge or ‘add on’ extras for our services as we think we can get away with it! This couldn’t be further from the truth! The majority of people within this industry are small, independent and self employed people who are simply trying to make a living. We put our blood, sweat and tears into our businesses to get our business through the year. To be honest, its not uncommon that we can sometimes undervalue ourselves!
3. Paying your bill now in full or even in part! - We have been so lucky that our brides have been happy to all offer some sort of payment now. Most couples who are getting married in the next month or so already have their wedding budget saved and waiting to be spent. By paying some of your bill to us now, you are helping us to survive. It really helps us with our cashflow over the next few months to ensure that we are still able to be here for your new date!
4. Yes we will still be here next year! - Our businesses are our babies so there is no way we are letting them slip away! We have worked too hard on them to give up on them. You may see us diversifying into other avenues to try to generate some income along with way however were not going anywhere!
5. Money? – We really believe we are being super flexible to help brides with their postponements. We have not put any additional costs onto your bills for rearranging. We have made booking deposits transferable and haven’t taken further deposits for new dates even at our expense. However if your supplier does at some point need to impost a slight price increase please understand why. Here is an example: Some of you may have booked with us 2 years ago at old prices for a 2020 wedding in March ( Out of season) You then have to reschedule your wedding because of Coronavirus and the new date you choose is the middle of July 2021. So now, not only are we doing work at prices from 3 years ago , you want to take one of our peak dates where we cannot take a new booking. We are now loosing out twice. Imagine for your cake maker – her costs for products will have gone up in 3 years so she might have to pass these on to you so you come to some sort of compromise. It cannot be completely up to us to take the continual losses.
6. Finding a new supplier – If you have had to go on the hunt for a new supplier as your original supplier cannot now do your rescheduled date please be understanding. Whilst we fully appreciate you may have lost a deposit from someone else, we are unable to offer you a discount because of this. We have all been hit hard and it is probably going to take us all a couple of years to recover from this. We are all going to be working doubly hard in 2021 to fit you all in for a lot less money as it is. Please value our worth J
7. Wedding Season – Now your wedding may have had to move to a different season, and it may not off been your original preference but all of us wedding suppliers are experts (if we do say so ourselves haha) and we can help you to create a new look and feel to suit your new date. We can take your hair and makeup from spring/ summer to Autumn/Winter and it will look better than ever!
8. How it impacts us personally – I saw this point being made somewhere else and it really stuck with me! It is something that I hadn’t even thought off initially and something I am sure that brides might not think off but it is so true and quite sad. As we all run our small businesses, we sometimes put our personal lives on hold. I know personally we have turned down offers to places, missed out on family holidays, friends birthdays and even had to schedule our own birthdays around brides as we need the work but we also run these businesses to fit around our future plans. Some of us may have had plans to really save this year to buy our first house or work super hard this year to take some time out next year to have a baby! We don’t have the luxuries of maternity leave pay, pensions etc so we work really hard to make these plans and just like that – They are ruined too! So when you speak to your supplier and you cannot understand why they might be disheartened as you are still paying them so they should be fine – It might be affecting them in ways that aren’t just financial. They might now be putting plans to start a family on hold etc.
9. FINALLY – ALLOW YOUSELF TO CRY! Like us J It is such a sad time however this is just a pause and your big day will be so worth the wait!!!! We will do everything we can to make your new date just as special! In some cases you now have another year to save for those things you couldn’t quite afford this year and another year to enjoy the build up! Why not sneak in another hen do when we are allowed to go out into the world again :)
Thank you so much xxx
