Yesterday I wrote a blog post about hiring a wedding planner in Marbella and bought up a very controversial subject covering the whole business of brown envelopes and commissions, referral fees, whatever you would like to describe them as.
I have been trail blazing this subject here in Marbella.
I am not the most popular person here at the moment with some people, but today I received so many messages and emails about this sensitive subject I thought I would do a follow up post with some of the feedback I have had. It has to be honest been very interesting and I was not expecting this sort of response.
One of our 2010 brides sent me this interesting email today which stood out and sums up the sorts of messages I have received today, it is edited of course to avoid naming and shaming. We decorated this wedding but did not plan it and have since become good friends, as I do with many of my brides.
Hi Laura
I read your blog post last night on Wedding Planners in Marbella and was super impressed by your honesty, it took guts to write that blog and well done to you for unveiling what is truly a hideous reality with wedding planners. I was nodding my head in agreement with every word you wrote. This is exactly why I fell out with one planner and the other left me with a bad taste in my mouth......the merry go round of wedding industry commissions and brown envelopes is so incredibly unfair on the person who is keeping everyone in business and that person is the bride, so that is what I call integrity, well done to you.
I do understand the other viewpoints to this subject that have been argued with me and so I will raise them as it is only fair to do so.
If you are new to this business and an established wedding planner is promoting you, then perhaps you need to pay them or reward them with a referral fee, it is another form of advertising and marketing, no different to paying for an advert in a magazine or perhaps paying for an online sponsorship on a blog, internet site, etc.
Perhaps a planner wants to keep their fee down in order to get business, so when the client contacts them initially they seem affordable, but they are making their money through the supplier bookings.
All the above I think are acceptable if the planner is transparent and tells the client this is how they run their business and makes their money, it is then left up to the client if they are happy to proceed with their services.
What I do disagree with is when it is all hidden, when the planner is selecting suppliers for their client based purely on how much money they will make and not because it is the right supplier for that wedding. When they do not disclose to the client that they are taking commissions, I cannot possibly see how this would be conducive to a good client relationship and is not in the clients best interests at all as many good suppliers are completely sidelined in favour of who pays the most.
Do all these planners really think their clients are that stupid?
Do the clients really think they are getting a fabulous wedding planner for 500 euros?
Perhaps it is the two parties combined that prefer to move on with their eyes shut, I am never sure!
There is the other side, as a supplier when you start to realise your business is being controlled by a planner, they start to tell you what they want for their clients and you are also paying them for the privilege? You find yourself eventually just running a bolt on company for them and making their weddings look amazing!
I suppose 4 years down the line, I am lucky, I run a unique business that has been very successful and now do not need to rely on referrals, I am able to stick my neck out and say enough is enough.
I am grateful to all the planners that choose to still continue to recommend us but it does work both ways, we make their weddings go from Ok and average, to looking amazing and this is what sells their company, without the fab flowers, decorations and details and the fantastic photography they would have nothing to show their clients, perhaps they need to start paying us instead!!!!
Tomorrow I promise I will be back with pretty inspirations, I guess after a fairly interesting year I have had to get this off my chest.
My final note with this whole commission thing is that in the very busy month of June when we had over 20 weddings and I was literally working an 18 hour day and sleeping and dreaming weddings and on a hugely excited creative roll, I had one planner who had probably 2 weddings in June, chasing me for 15 euros constantly every day, I was gobsmacked and found it really quite draining and sad, I think it was this that made me throw the towel in and start to think about things, can you blame me!!!
I will continue to wave my magic wand here and spread lots of glitter and fun over our weddings in Marbella.
