I'm thinking of opening a wedding studio. This would be a store front location that caters to brides getting married. There will be no charge for visiting the showroom it is to be used as a resource. With that said, I already own a linen rental company and have a full linen inventory (tablecloths, chair covers, napkins etc.) I also am a distributor for a wedding invitation company so I would be incorporating these services as well.Bride can come to the studio, do mockups with linens, search our invitation books, get planning advice from our wedding planner, browse our wedding library and browse local vendor marketing material.We will reach out to area vendors Dj's, Photographers, Florist, Transportation providers, Dress Shop owners etc. and sale advertising space in our studio. Vendors can setup displays, display business cards, flyers etc.These vendors will pay a yearly advertising fee (roughly $350 per year...about the price of a bridal show). Venues would be exempt from this. We will display their information for free in exchange for them displaying information about our wedding studio to brides who book them directly without going through us. In addition, vendor will also have the opportunity to teach a "wedding boot camp" class in their area of expertise for an additional fee. Classes will be limited to 25 couples and last about 2 hours (couples pay a flat fee to attend..maybe $20 per couple). Vendor will be limited to 5-7 vendors per category hand selected by us however we will be the only linen and invitation supplier. We plan on using bridal shows, online advertising, print adverting, telemarketing (calling on leads list from the bridal shows) and word of mouth to get brides in. We plan to lease store front space that has 1-2 extra rooms. We will use these rooms as meeting rooms were vendors can meet with clients who are interested in their services. Bride calls the vendor directly then vendor can then book our "vendor space" to meet with their clients if they don't have a office space of their own. This will be managed by an online calendar system and limited to a set number of meetings per year. Wow okay that was a lot. Am I missing anything. Does anyone see any issues or problems that may come up that I should consider? There is already a company on the county that does something similar however they cater to a company different clientele and are located about an hour from where our studio will be.
dave friant | Window Shopper |
1/27/2012 - 4:29 pm
Intriguing Idea, My suggestion to take a hard look the company that is already doing it. A couple things to figure out-
How long they have been doing it.
What does their marketing look like on and off line.
If there charging their vendors a annual fee.
I'd be concerned I was boxing out potential vendors by charging annual fee. It might be easier to add the fee later. If your model generates revenue for those that participate, they'll be more likely to fork the fee.
That's a great idea, I am actually surprised I haven't heard of such a thing. I know my wife would have loved to have something like that. It would kind of be like a do it yourself wedding planner. I just had another thought, what about a hosting a semi annual, or some other frequency, show or convention. Like a boat show but for weddings. You would already have all the business relationships, you could just charge them another fee to come to your show. It might take a lot of doing, just an idea.
I love the idea. Here are my additional thoughts..
Host a wedding cake taste-a-thon. You could invite 4-5 pastry stores to bring cakes for sampling. Send the top 12 media/bloggers in your community a sample of each cake in advance with the notice of the event. You will probaqbly get some advance media coverage and even some journalists showing up.
Whenever there is a famous wedding (royalty, celebrity, etc.), hold an event in their honor, where brides can come and pick out their own celebrity-inspired dresses, linnens, etc.
I would use Twitter and FaceBook to keep people informaed, and also mini posters in restaurants that cater to weddings.
Best of luck with your business.
billboy1001 | Window Shopper |
11/28/2011 - 2:09 am
I think its a great idea.
I used to work in hotel trade and when we held wedding fairs, it was always busy.
We made a lot of extra sales in food and beverage over and above what the wedding fair brought in from advertisers paying for stalls.
Those are awesome ideas. I just have a question with regard to the "wedding boot camp". What will be tackled there? It should be enticing enough to convince soon-to-be-married couples to shell out $40.
I am in the events industry. Several rental centers in my area offer the services you mention, but there is no charge to us to place our materials in the stores. They know that if a client books our services, we will then be renting tables, chairs, linens and more from them. It is a win-win situation. I question that you can charge vendors $350 a year to place a few brochures and business cards in your store. If you intend for them to each create a kiosk, that will take up a huge amount of space.
You may want to call merchants in your area and ask if they would be interested in your service and, if so, how much they would be willing to pay for it. Personally, I wouldn't pay for it. Most of my bookings come from my web site, not from the rental centers. Therefore, it wouldn't make cents (pun intended) to pay to place my brochures in local businesses.
kmurray | Community Moderator |
9/29/2011 - 5:53 pm
Those are some great, dynamic ideas for a wedding studio. With so much to consider, SBA.gov will be a great resource- especially for this crucial start-up time.
Use SBA.gov's suggestions for creating a marketing plan, which can help you promote your business and differentiate yourself from the competiton. Explore this overview of concepts and topics to make your marketing efforts effective as possible.
You can also find great ideas about running your business, including advice about day-to-day operations.
squamble | Window Shopper | 2/6/2012 - 7:26 am
investologic | Window Shopper | 1/30/2012 - 7:00 am
dave friant | Window Shopper | 1/27/2012 - 4:29 pm
subt33 | Window Shopper | 1/21/2012 - 3:09 am
amabaie | Creator | 1/19/2012 - 3:28 pm
Eric Tompson | Window Shopper | 1/7/2012 - 6:50 pm
billboy1001 | Window Shopper | 11/28/2011 - 2:09 am
entrepreneur | Window Shopper | 10/16/2011 - 8:26 pm
BizResearcher | Window Shopper | 10/11/2011 - 1:45 pm
kmurray | Community Moderator | 9/29/2011 - 5:53 pm
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