The Wedding Season: 7 Things Yours Business Should Be Prepared For

Connections might be made in heaven, but weddings are celebrated on Earth! The union between two people (two families as well if India) is not only celebrated by the couple but by everyone around them and there is no one who takes wedding more seriously than Indians. Indian weddings a beautiful chaos of rituals, photographs, jewelry, clothes, shoes and of course the most important - food.

Organizing an Indian wedding is no less than winning a marathon, every event management company can tell you that. Not only event management companies but every business associated with wedding can find themselves in a myriad of orders, battling challenges and issues. So, what can one do when they find themselves scrambled with bookings? How can businesses survive this celebration fiasco and come out in one piece (with profits!)?

Well, the best way is to work our way around challenges we can already foresee. Challenges ranging from keeping the bride and groom calm to dealing with the catering who are three hours behind their schedule.

Here are some tips on handling such near catastrophes and saving the day:

Tip #1
Prepare for Last Minute Booking Panic
Imagine a day when you are working your way through an event you are supposed to organize in a month. Now, imagine the panic that courses through you when you receive a call – yes, you guessed it, a last-minute booking! These are the things that can throw you off easily, especially if you are not prepared for them. So, what is the best way to deal with them? Well, to anticipate them right from the start. Mentally prepare yourself and block some space in your schedule for last minute bookings. What is even more important is to train your employees to deal with the challenges that lie ahead. Being prepared to face the heat is clearly better than not being prepared.

Tip #2
Take Advance Payments
Sometimes lot of things can fall apart even if there is one hiccup and sometimes the reason for this hiccup is delay in payments. It is evident, time and time again that business doesn’t take untimely payments well, making advance payments important. If not the whole amount, then a part of the entire bill can be payed in advanced. Try to keep these transactions online, so the transfer can happen quickly. You can use a payment gateway which don’t levy a high maintenance charge and is safe and secure.

Tip #3
Ran Faster than Time
There are certain things we can’t anticipate; bad weather or bad traffic can not only be a kill joy but can also kill your business. Keeping mind that there might be multiple weddings happening on the same day and that there might be bad traffic or potentially bad weather. You can avoid these blunders by simply checking the weather for the day, knowing the routes well and communicating in advanced about any delays to the customer. At any point In time, you should be able to track your delivery sources and have a customer care number, just in case of any glitches.

Tip #4
Cash It
These days we barely keep cash on us, but this needs to change when you are working with multiple suppliers and vendors. Always keep a watch on not only your online transactions but also on the physical flow of cash. Hire an accountant who can do the financial heavy lifting for you. In deciding ‘how much’ cash to keep aside, try to use estimations from your prior experiences.

Tip#5
Be Prepared for Last Minutes Changes
Human beings are fickle creatures, you never know when they change their minds and considering the situation, the stakes are going to be high! This is the ambiguity you must prepare for, even up until the last minute! Be prepared for final re-dos, touch ups and an over all change in the order. Be sure to inform the clauses and charges attached to the re-work. Also, remember to add the changes to the final bill for the payment.

Tip #6
Don’t Shy Away from Haggling
If Indian are good are something it is haggling (if there was a completion, we would win it!). Give the customers enough space to ask for offers and requests, but feel free to draw the line if you feel that the decision might hamper the business. You are there to sell a service after all.

Tip #7
Deal with Last Minute Cancellations
There might be times, when you might have a customer who might want a last-minute cancellation. This can turn into a serious problem and have bad repercussions for your business, but not if you have already accounted for it! Do include a clause or a non-refundable policy in the contract provided to the customer. So, even in the case of a cancellation, monetarily your business does not suffer.

There is so much that can go south with weddings, which requires you to be on your tip toes and handle the situation with grace and elegance. But then there are also so many things which go right. The goal after all is to make the day beautiful for two people who love each other. So, buckle up well for another wedding season!