I actually have a practical tip because this comes up a lot when folks are depending on where you keep your reviews in the states. It's a lot of people are doing it on the knot, on Weddingwire, on Google. But then when they sign up for a new platform, the question always becomes, well, I have 50 reviews, 100 reviews on this site. How do I get them to move over here? And it's just a practical thing to do is to actually email.
You can email those couples copy and paste their existing review into the email for them and say, hey, I've moved it over to this platform. Here's the review that you left me on this site. Can you copy and paste it into this one? And so that's a really helpful, easy way just to start populating a new platform. I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing expert, speaker and blogger, and you're listening to the wedding pros who are ready to grow podcast.
I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies and real life examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level. If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you love, then you're in the right place.
Let's get going with today's episode today's episode is a special one as it's a recording from our live podcast event on the 3 October I was fortunate enough to host an incredible event in the heart of Mayfair in London at the Biltmore Hotel. It was a live podcast recording. I had two incredible guest panelists over from the United States and the amazing Alison from guys for brides hosted the panel that evening.
If you weren't able to be there in person, the great news for you is the whole session was recorded and is going out live on the podcast today. Bear in mind, the audio quality may not be the same as usual as we were recording in a live venue with a live audience, but what we have to say is well worth listening to. Enjoy the episode. Right? So to introduce our panel this evening, we have Renee Dallo, founder of moxie Bright events and host of Talk with Renee Dallow.
She's a dynamic entrepreneur with 13 years of industry experience. A certified co active life and business coach, she empowers event professionals to build confidence, attract high value clients and grow their businesses. Renee is a sought after international keynote speaker and will release her first book, the Coordination Cure, in 2024. Leah Weinberg, co founder of Oederberg Law LLP, is an attorney and a recovering wedding planner. She's also the author of the Wedding Rollercoaster.
After nearly a decade in the wedding industry as the owner of colourpop Events, a New York based wedding planning company, Leah is returning to her roots as an attorney to assist her former colleagues in the events industry. Along with other entrepreneurs and business owners, Becca Pountney is often referred to as the UK's leading wedding industry marketing expertise. After a successful career in television and radio, Becca took her first steps into the wedding world as a videographer.
Since 2016, Becca's been helping wedding businesses transform their sales and marketing with her podcast consultancy training and soon her debut book. When not working, you'll usually find Becca on the side of the football pitch, watching her children play, or planning her next holiday to Disney World. And I'm Alison Hargreaves.
I'm the founder and director of various online wedding platforms and directories, including guides for brides beyond weddings, weddings for less, Pride Guide, and the big day agency. We also run the UK Wedding conference where Becca is a regular speaker and I attend wedding conferences around the world to learn and then educate. So tonight's event is my idea of heaven. We've got a great question to get us started. What trends are each of you seeing in your particular area of expertise?
Should we start with Renee? Well, I'm based in Los Angeles, California. Something that I noticed last, last season, and which continues into this season is a lot of my clients are asking for design, wedding design, event design that's based in like, 1970s America. So it's a lot of like, shag carpeting and orange and brown. It sounds dreadful, but really, but they really, they want it. And we did a wedding last year that had that 1970s theme.
Interestingly enough, yesterday we were at Liberty in the Loewe area, and they were talking to the sales girl and she said, oh, this entire new collection is inspired by the 1970s. And I thought, oh my gosh, it's coming in multiple places. The 1970s? Yeah, it's coming. Wow. Fantastic. Becca, what about in marketing? What do you think?
Okay, so I'm sure all of you have heard me say these things a million times, but I'm going to keep on saying it because I think in marketing, sometimes we just need to keep it simple. We sometimes overcomplicate things. But really, what today's couple are looking at is they want price transparency. They want to know what you're charging, what they're getting for their money. That doesn't mean they want budget. That means they want price transparency. Okay, so there is a difference.
They just want to understand what they're spending their money on. They also want to hear from you quickly. We need to understand what's going on in the world of big tech. When you look at companies like Uber, when you look at companies like Amazon, Uber Eats, they give you everything you could ever want, and they give it to you now. And that's the way that our customers and our brides and grooms are operating. So we really need to pay attention to that.
The other marketing thing that I know everyone's going to give a big groan when I say it, but we have to talk about it. There is a growth in TikTok. I know we don't love it, but it is happening. And the stats show us that people are planning their weddings on TikTok. Short form video is important. It doesn't mean you need to dance, but you do need to engage in TikTok. You do need to look at what's going on and use it as a search engine.
Even if you just download the app and start looking at what other people are doing, that would be a good place to start. But we can't ignore it forever. Sometimes we had these conversations about three or four years ago. It was the same conversation about Instagram where everyone said, I can't go on Instagram. It's for the kids. Now we're all on Instagram, and TikTok is probably going the same way. Thank you, becca. I knew I could count on you to give us the advice we didn't want to give.
Thank you. So, leah, are the trends illegal? Yes. They're not happy trends. So I don't. I'm not going to spend too much time. I will say you all in the UK have a step up over those of us in the United States, because in the United States, we are a very litigious society and people like to sue each other at the drop of a hat. So it is my understanding that you all are not like that here. So that's wonderful.
But I would say in terms of trends, where we're seeing vent suppliers get tripped up a little bit is with the communication with their clients. So whether it is lack of responsiveness, lack of sort of urgency in responses, not being clear, not setting expectations with them from the beginning, it's those sort of. The relationship in the planning process is kind of where people are getting tripped up and clients aren't necessarily happy with things.
So just make sure that you are being responsible. It sounds really simple. Be responsive to your clients, do what you have been paid, do the services you've been paid to do, meet the deadlines you promised to make and just be good at your job. So how do you balance the expectations for your couples without compromising the quality of the event? Yeah, so when I was a wedding planner for ten years and budget was all like, having those budget conversations and expectations was really challenging.
And even just having been out of the wedding and actively planning for only two years, I feel like the market has changed significantly because so much is about what you're seeing on TikTok and in the States, what you're seeing on Pinterest and what Vogue is publishing and things like that. And so people have these really grand expectations of what they want to have for their wedding and they have no knowledge of what things cost and the cost of everything is rising.
And so it's so important just at the start to make sure your clients have a realistic expectation of budget. Especially for planners, knowing what your clients are hoping to spend and if you know that's not realistic and then still taking the job and then having to have that really tough conversation after is really challenging.
So, you know, I get that it might be difficult to have those conversations with prospective clients, but it's absolutely necessary to just really manage expectations from the beginning. Becca, I think this one might be for you. What are your top must do's when composing and sending out newsletters or marketing emails, especially for beginners? Okay, so email marketing is always a controversial one. People don't like doing it, but we know that it works.
So the first thing I want to do is ban the word newsletter. I really don't like the word newsletter because no one cares about the news you have to share. Now that doesn't mean internally we don't talk about newsletter, but when I go on a website and it says sign up here for our newsletter, I sigh because I think no one's going to do that. No one wants to sign up to hear about your news. So we do need to do email marketing, but we need to reframe it.
So if you want someone to sign up to hear from you regularly, you need to give them something useful. You need to give them something helpful, you need to get them to go through a quiz, or you need to give them some really great advice on a video. Or you need to give them a lead magnet which is a PDF with tips. You can't just say please join our newsletter. That just doesn't work. The other thing is, if you are going to keep people up to date, you need to do it regularly.
So don't say join my lead magnet. And then you don't email anyone for six months or a year, then suddenly pop back into their inbox. It's odd. So it's better to just keep in touch with people regularly and don't be afraid of people unsubscribing. Sometimes people really, they say, if I email too much, people will unsubscribe. Most of you are nowhere near emailing too much because you're hardly emailing at all. So none of you are probably even emailing once a week.
Anyone in here emailing once a week? Not many of you? Okay. Every day? No. Okay. So none of you are emailing too much. So don't be afraid of doing it too much. And when people unsubscribe, that's fine, let them go. I always say when people unsubscribe, think about how much money you're going to save because these software companies start charging you more the more email addresses you've got. So if they don't want to hear from you anymore, they're probably not your client anymore.
So send newsletters regularly. Make sure you're not calling it newsletter to your clients. And also have an intriguing subject line. Have something that's interesting when you're sending out your email. Don't just say February update from my business because again, nobody cares. So make it interesting. And the final thing, and I say this quite a lot to my members in my membership. Even if they delete every email you send them, they remember your name when it drops into their inbox.
So even just sending the email that they don't read reminds them that your business exists. That's why you should do email. Fantastic. Great advice. Thank you. So customer reviews. We know how important they are for new and established businesses, but any tips on the best way of getting them and then the best way of making sure they're in front of your prospective clients. So, renee, do you want to take that one?
So I think many of us are asking for the review at the wrong time, and that's why we're not getting them. So one of the things I like to do is like an entire off boarding of the wedding clients. So I know we talk a lot about onboarding, but then typically at the end of the event at the wedding, we're like, bye, see you never again. Talk to you never. And that's not helpful because then we pop up in their inbox a couple of weeks later like, hey, will you please leave me a review?
And it has that sort of, I don't want to say desperate, but I'll say a little desperate vibe where it's like, you need the review. What we do in my business is we wait about 30 days, and we send them a, it's been a month. Happy monthiversary. It's not a real thing, but I made it up. And I remind them, you know, of the beautiful day, but there's been some distance, right? There's been some space. They've heard from their family and friends how lovely the day was.
Sometimes they've even gotten their photos or videos back, so they're reliving the day. And then you kind of pop in and say, we'd really love your feedback. What I do now is I schedule a Zoom call with them, and I just say, like, let's basically gossip about your wedding. I mean, and most everyone wants to do that because they want to hear all the stuff that I know went down that they never saw. And they also want to ask about, like, oh, their drunk friend from college.
Like, every, you know, they want the stories. And at the end of that call, I remind them again, it would be a great thing to do to leave your suppliers a review. I kind of remind them that, like, reviews are a catalyst for growth for us. So, like, we would really love that support. And I phrase it sort of that way. They feel like they're helping as opposed to this thing that I need them to do. Yes, it takes a little bit longer, but I think we're getting more valuable feedback that way.
Plus, if there's anything that they didn't really love, they're gonna say it to my face instead of putting it in an email. For everyone who's cringing at the thought of meeting with your clients after the fact to ask for this information. What I actually say to them, like, I never say, tell me how we did. Right? Cause, like, no, what I say was, is there anything we could have done to prepare you better for your wedding day? Because it's just phrased in a way that they go, oh, I don't think so.
No, we felt really well prepared. I'm like, you sure were. Yes, you were right. But it's phrased sort of in a way, then if they have an answer, then at least I'm learning something, right? Yeah. And that's positive mindset you're setting straight away. Exactly. And if anyone's really worried about, like, oh, what will this client say? We had sort of a rocky road.
You don't have to invite every single client to do the gossip call, the feedback call, but the ones that, you know, are you're going to get something good out of it and have feel good at the end. I think it's really helpful to do it. Makes them feel bonded to you in a way. Yeah. Becca, anything to add to that? No, I don't think I do. I think I love the idea of having a bit more of an off boarding rather than just thinking about onboarding. Because you're right.
We kind of see that as the hard deadline. Do you tell your couples you're going to do that before the fact as well? Yeah, I tell them during the, I mean, I tell them during onboarding. Right. I also use like a CRM called Ioplanner. Do you guys use iopanner here? So I tell them, like, in their contract it says you have access to I o planner until 30 days after your wedding. And that's what I use as the catalyst to invite them to the call and sort of wrap up.
I say, oh, your aisle planner is going to be archived. So I kind of just bake it in that, like, oh, and the other thing too is don't your clients have sometimes say to you at the wedding, oh, my God, am I never going to talk to you again? And they seem like sort of bummed. And I remind them, oh, no, we have one more call. Yeah, you know, we'll be fine. We'll be fine. It's not goodbye yet. What was it I said? That's brilliant. Yeah. They feel really like we're friends.
I mean, I'm not friends with them, let's be clear. But they feel that we are. I actually have a practical tip because this comes up a lot when folks are depending on where you keep your reviews in the States. It's a lot of people are doing it on the knot, on Weddingwire, on Google. But then when they sign up for a new platform, the question always becomes, well, I have 50 reviews, 100 reviews on this site. How do I get them to move over here?
And it's just a practical thing to do is to actually email. You can email those couples, copy and paste their existing review into the email for them and say, hey, I've moved it over to this platform. Here's the review that you left me on this site. Can you copy and paste it into this one? And so that's a really helpful, easy way just to start populating a new platform as well. Oh, another way to get a review is this time of year is actually very good for this.
Like, as the year winds down, you can always email any of your couples from the season who haven't left a review and just say, hey, the year is ending. I'm up for this award. I need this many reviews to qualify. I only need one review more. Is it true? Who cares? It is now. It is now. Because if they think they're the one review that's gonna get you over the ed, like, they'll be, oh, my God, I'd love to help. And then it again comes back to being helpful as opposed to, like, a need.
And what if there's been a slightly negative experience? Because I know I've had advice from other speakers that have said, actually think about how much you would pay to get that review removed later. Do you invest that much in sending them flowers, champagne, taking them out for dinner? Or do you just let dogs lie?
I mean, if I think it's going, if I'm on the fence, if I think, like, well, 50 50, this might be positive or negative, I'm still gonna do the call, but I probably wouldn't push to get the review. But I also will say this. Like, I've been in business for 13 years, and we have one negative review. My business didn't close. I didn't go bankrupt. I'm not living in my car. Like, everything's fine, right?
Sometimes I think people who don't feel like they're heard by us need to act out in a way, and that's the way they do. So, yeah. What do you think about that? Negative reviews? Don't be afraid of them. I always say that. Don't be afraid of the negative review. I was saying, actually just on Monday, I really enjoy reading negative reviews when I go somewhere. So if I'm going to a hotel, I'll go straight to the one star reviews.
Just because I find it funny to see what people write, because normally you can tell immediately they're crazy people. And so if a crazy person leaves your crazy review, everyone can see that, and it actually just makes you more human. Just make sure you reply to it either. Just very look at what the big businesses do when they reply to negative reviews. So they'll say, I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. Please send us a private email to this and we'll deal with it.
Like, don't lash back at them in the comments. Don't tell them they're crazy. Just remember in your head there. Fantastic. Leah. Although this might be more of a question for the venues and planners here, can you give some tips on getting on recommended supplier lists? Yes. I mean, I think all vendors can. So obviously, the venues are the ones who. The venues have those lists of the people that they have preferred suppliers come in to work at their spaces.
Planners obviously also keep the lists of people that they prefer to work with. And it's so much about how you take care of people on the day of the events, not just the people getting married. Everybody is your client, so you should focus on taking care of all of them. And so as a helpful supplier, you can then go back and say, I really enjoyed working with you. I would love to work with you again.
I think the biggest thing people miss when it comes to getting on a preferred supplier list is they don't ask for it. They think it's just going to come to them. And that's not always the case, and it honestly has nothing to do with you. Sometimes they just don't think about it. Similar to Renee's point about a great time to ask for reviews is towards the end of the year, because the awards are coming out.
Now is also a great time to start reaching out to venues that you'd like to get on their list. And you can simply say, hey, we're getting to near the end of the year. You're probably, if you're updating your preferred list for next year, I would love to be considered to be on that list. You would be maybe shocked, maybe not shocked, how few people are actually doing that.
And if you actually have a good relationship with them, the high success rate of just simply asking, asking to be put on it is very powerful because I don't think a lot of people actually ask for what they want. And yes, there has to be the self awareness there, because you have to be good at what you do and you have to be deserving to get on the list. But if you feel good about it, ask for it. Like, there's ways to do it without feeling desperate or super salesy again.
This time of year is perfect because it really is. It's like, hey, in case you're updating your list for 2025, I would love to be considered, and it can really be as simple as that. And once you're on that list, any tips on being a really valuable member of the supplier team so that you stay on the list? Yes. I mean, it's about how you're showing up on the day of the event. It's really about making their job easier.
I mean, all the venues that I worked at, as a planner who enjoyed working with me, it was because they knew when I was there, I was organized, I was on top of everything. I made sure all the other suppliers, all the team members, everybody was on top of everything. So you want to just be a good team member for them. Also about how you're promoting them on social media and sharing their posts. I mean, there's just, it's not just how you show up on the wedding day.
I feel like today with social media and the Internet, there's so many other ways to be showing up. Gift giving is one of my love languages. So, like, I love, yeah, I love giving gifts and came up with, like, fun things to send to venues and would send them candy at Christmas and things like that. So there's just a lot of different ways to work, to network and really just boost those relationships. Rene, have you got anything to add?
Yeah, the only thing I'd add is, I think when you're reaching out to a supplier, that you want to be on their list, and not necessarily a venue, but like a planner. A lot of people, a lot of people email planners, and they don't give a lot of information about themselves. They'll be like, I'm a dj, and I'm like, okay, who do you serve? What do you, like, know who you are and know what you sell, because that helps me sell you. Right?
So if they're coming in, like, if I'm a photographer, I do, you know, lifestyle, I'm like, that doesn't mean anything anymore. Like, what style do you shoot in? Who is your ideal client? What is the budget like? Give me this so I can tell you if there's room on my preferred list for you. And so I think that's the piece that sometimes missing the specificity of it.
And the only thing I will add to what Leah said is, if you want to get in good with a venue, really think about what they need when they are busiest. And I say this because one of the venues I work at in LA, they always have a really intense December. And so this was like, I think, 2021. They told me that they were booked with holiday parties every night from December 1 until the 23rd. So I sent a mobile car wash to their venue. There were only five of them that worked there.
And in LA, I mean, we live in our cars, right? So I was like, how much could it possibly be? I'm just gonna send it. And they were like, this was better than any cupcake cookie, like, because I helped their life and I will probably forever be on that preferred. Brilliant. Good idea. And it's thinking outside the box like that, isn't it? So making it easy for them to find you and identify you as the right match, but then making their lives easier in whatever way you can.
And then to your point, I mean, I think it's worth mentioning the sort of cold emailing of planners. I can say this because nobody knows who this person is, but there is a notorious dj in New York City who cold emails all the planners with no context. It's. Sometimes it's just like, here's our holiday card. And it's a picture of this person and the team and I've never actually met this person and we talk about this, like, person's really bad approach to all of that.
So if I, I feel like we could do a whole other session on, like reaching out to people who you don't have an existing relationship with, but just be mindful of that in terms of the context, but also just making sure that most of the time you're trying to connect with somebody that you've connected with either on Instagram already or something like that, as opposed to just like, hey, I want to be on your list.
You have no, you don't know me from the next person down the street, but I want to be on your list and get. I also love when they. My company is called Moxie Bright Events, but my first name is Renee and I love when I get emails that say, hi, moxie. And I'm like, immediate, immediate trash. Just immediately in the trash. So we have touched on email marketing, the power of customer reviews, the value of being on preferred suppliers list. So rapid fire, starting with Becca.
What else should people here be doing to bring in more leads? Networking, relationship building. Exactly. You're in the right room, but the people who are listening and were not here, you're missing out on a huge opportunity because we are people people. And you will build a relationship a lot quicker by being in the room with people. I met Renee and Leah virtually via my podcast. But once we met in the room in Vegas, that relationship supercharges because you now know that person.
You've hugged that person, you've seen that person, you've met them face to face. So get yourself in the right rooms. Meet people face to face. Don't hide away all of the time. It's easy to hide away in our businesses. But put yourself in the room with the people you want to meet. So if you say you want to meet more venues or you want to meet more planners, make sure you're putting yourself in those rooms and those rooms exist.
Whether it's going to open days at that venue, whether it's going to conferences like the guys for brides conference, whether it's coming to something like this, and once you're here, actually making the most of going and talking to people and thinking about who you want to speak to this evening and how you're going to build that relationship, it's nice to just come for a nice night out. But actually there's people in this room where you could help each other grow your businesses.
So over Prosecco, be strategic and talk to them. That's a good tip. And presumably the three of you met through, I'm guessing, networking at wedding MBA. Would it have been? I don't really remember. I mean, I feel like I've always known you. Now it's the power of meeting me face to face. I think we met on the Internet. Yeah. And then I came on your show and then, same for you, I was on the podcast. Yeah. So the podcast was one of the best things I ever did for networking in terms of that.
And then when I went out to Vegas to wedding MBA, I basically made it my mission to go and actually face to face meet all of the people that had been on my podcast. And someone said to me, how did you go to so many talks at wedding MBA? And I was like, I'll tell you my secret. I highlighted all of the talks of the people that I'd been on my podcast, or I wanted to be on my podcast. And like, I literally ran from room to room and took photos.
I didn't even sit through the whole of most of the talks because I wanted to show that I cared. And I was there and I saw them and I took the photos and I put it on Instagram. So, you know, you've got to be in the room to make those relationships. And what about UK venues attracting american clientele? Do they need to go over to America to bring them over? Is there, is there a tip on how to make that connection?
Yeah. So I want to get some feedback from you too, as well on this, but I think people say to me, I want to attract american clients. And so my first question will be, whether you're a venue or a supplier, how are you doing? Like, how are you putting yourself in front of those clients? Because they're not just going to randomly find you. So you need to think about doing your market research.
Are there particular planners in America that specialize in bringing people to get married here in the UK? Are there certain search terms that they may be searching for? And actually, if you can get yourself out to America or at least talk to people from the states on the phone and ask the questions. So my question to you guys is, do you hear about people getting married over in Europe? And what do you think?
If you were planning to get married here in London, what kind of things would you be searching for? I think most Americans want what's easy. And I think if there was like a simple guide to getting married in London or an easy like, because it's also having to pitch that to their families at home. Right. Like let's all go over to Europe is, might be like a stressful thing for people. That's a good point.
I think realizing, I don't know what the trend is here in the UK, but in the US for sure, the, I think it's a higher percentage of couples who are getting married where the parents are paying for it. So having something like the ethic gets the parents buy in a lot more easily to say like, oh, we're going to do this here. This is why this might make more sense, but this is also how the resources are great, the network is large, we can make it easier here.
I think one thing too that can be helpful because I'm starting to see this pop up more, at least in New York. But travel agents, so travel agents who are specializing in wedding, like, there's a lot of gray area in terms of travel agents and planners these days that. Yeah, that's for the platform. Yes. But I think, yeah. Networking with travel agents based in the US and getting them, especially if you're venues getting, or planners like having, letting them know your name is really helpful.
Yeah. And inviting them, if you've got a venue, inviting them over or saying to people, I mean, every time I have a guest on my podcast, sometimes in the podcast, sometimes after the podcast, if they're from the States, every single time without fail, I say, if you're coming to London, let me know, we'll go for a drink because I genuinely want to invite people to meet up with me and to see people and if they reach out, I will go for a drink with them or afternoon tea or whatever it is.
Or we said we're coming to London, let's do a thing. Exactly. But it's the same. So if you're a venue and you are starting to connect with people, just keep dropping into conversation. If you are coming to London, we'd love to put you up, we'd love to welcome you in, give you tea, whatever it is. The other thing I think is understanding the american market.
One of the things I really got from wedding MBA last year was talking to people and understanding the market because they look at the UK and think we're cheap. So getting married in the UK compared to getting married in the States, like, our prices are really low. And so they were saying that they're coming here because it's cheaper to get married. So just thinking about how you can use that in your marketing and how you can make that an attractive property.
Position to, and I think inviting them to come over and stay, particularly if you're really easily accessible. And that's where the UK really competes with Ireland, where you can't get anywhere on a train and actually saying, come over to London, actually, we can pick you up from the train station or, you know, it makes it an awful lot easier. So it's important to acknowledge that the wedding industry is, by its nature, fairly pretty and perfect.
How do we get beyond that and allow ourselves to show up imperfectly? Now? I don't know who to pick on here. Renee, should we? I mean, this is one of my, like, soapbox topics, I think, well, first we can stop naming our businesses one perfect day or perfect planning UK. I think that it's just, for whatever reason, it's really baked into our industry, this idea of, because it is a day, one day or a weekend, that it has to be perfect.
But I think we can do ourselves a big favor in our marketing and in our sales language to just stop using the word. I mean, if anything I tell my clients during the consult call, I mean, I will flat out say, something is going to go wrong on your wedding day, but you probably won't know it because you're going to hire me. Or I say, your day will be perfectly imperfect. And if they don't laugh at that, then I'm like, well, you're not for me, right? Like, if that's not, you're not my client.
And I just think, you know, I've been married eleven years next week. My day was not perfect. My sister in law sat on the memorial chair that we had set up for my husband's late parents. This woman sat on flowers. How? I came to the front, turned around and, like, evil eyed her. I was like, how did you, how did you manage to sit on this chair?
But it's a story that we tell and we all kind of, I mean, I'm still mad about it, obviously, but we, but we still laugh about it because it, it wasn't perfect. But, like, I'm still married. We're fine, we're very happy. But it's just, I think there is magic in what's imperfect. I would love to just all like, unhook from the perfectness a bit.
And to your point, well, you made me think of something from a legal perspective because you, again, surprised, not surprised at how many people in their contracts, especially planners, when they're describing their services, they talk about how they are going to keep your wedding time, like your wedding day running smoothly, keeping things running on time. I just have to say, we are not. No, we all, like you said, something's going to go wrong. Weddings are going to run behind.
And so just also being mindful of the exact language that you're using in both your marketing materials, also in your contracts, because technically, if you do that, you're giving them a reason to make a claim for like a breach of contract and not hold up your end of the bar. At least in America, where they're more legit. Yes, in America, because it's really obnoxious there. Scary thought. Oh, it's scary. Yeah, that's terrible.
I think we can lead by example as well, by showing up imperfectly ourselves and kind of making our couples aware of that, that we're human. You're human, I'm human. We're going to do the best we can, but it's not always going to be perfect. And I think we do have these curated, perfect Instagram feeds. But actually, sometimes we can just turn up, especially on our stories, even our reels, just a little bit imperfectly and just human.
Because when you humanize something, it's harder for people to complain about it when it's just this big business. You know, if you think of some of the big businesses, you just think of the big business. It's easy for us to sit in this room and say, oh, they're rubbish, this. But if you meet the founder of that business and you're sat over dinner, it's suddenly a lot harder because you have a relationship with them.
So when you show up as yourself imperfectly and build that relationship, I think that helps them feel like there's less pressure to. Far more comfortable for everyone involved. Yeah. Superb. And I'm sure many people in the room have contemplated writing a book. And the three of you are all very soon to be published. Published authors. I'd love to hear from each of you what made you to decide to write a book and then how you picked your book's specific topic.
And I think we've got some slides that are going to come up with various QR codes so that you can pre order. Oh, that's my face. That's your face. So, Renee, do you want to start? Sure. Why did I just. My husband's been yelling at me to write a book for, like, ten years because he keeps, like, write down everything that's happening to you. And I'm like, I don't know if anyone really wants all that. So my book is called the coordination cure, because about.
Oh, God. In 2018, or actually 2016, it's been a lot a while. I started talking about how day of coordination. Do you guys call it day of coordination here? On the day? Like, on the day management? Yeah. I don't think it's real. Like, we're selling that to our clients, but it does. It's not as helpful, as effective as other things we could be doing. And so back then, I got on my soapbox about, like, I don't think we should call it that. I sort of renamed it wedding management.
And I have a whole course that I've been teaching for years, but I also realized that the course can be a little inaccessible for people. Price point. And also time wise. And I also wanted to write down all of my, like, bad wedding stories in a book so that it's a combination of coordination and stories from the trenches, really. And, yeah, it's, like, the last ten years of my life in this book. Fantastic. Looking forward to it. Who's gonna come up next? You? No, I've not written a book.
But do you have that book? Maybe that's a hint. Maybe next. Yeah, I've thought about it so many times. There you go. But I wouldn't know where to start. So many topics that were there. Yeah. So I think an encyclopedia is there one day. Becca. Okay. So I am very excited, as most of you who follow me on instagram know, because I now do actually have my book in my hand.
It is the one and only copy of it, because it's just a proof, and I'm just carrying it round everywhere, and I actually tell the story about how I wrote the book. So the book is called done is better than perfect, because, as I said earlier, like, I want to lead with imperfection. So the book isn't perfect. I'm not perfect. None of us are perfect, but we need to just get it done. And that's kind of the mantra I've gone for with the book as well as I teach you in business. So I actually.
I did the keynote at the guides for Brides conference at the end of last year, and I walked off stage after my talk, and this lady came straight up to me, and I wish I remembered who she was. She came straight up to me and she said, becca, I love your talk. Where can I buy your book? And I looked at her like, sorry. And she went, where can I buy your book? And I just went, I don't have a book. And she went, you should have a book. And I was like, okay, well, I should have a book.
And in true Becca fashion, I was like, I gotta write a book. And so I did. It's not the perfect book, but I'm really proud of achieving it. It is coming out in November. My goal, I said publicly, was I would have it ready to go by the time I stood on stage in Las Vegas in November. We are well on time for that. So the Kickstarter for my book ends tomorrow. So if you haven't pre ordered a copy of it, please do it tonight. Because it turns out that writing a book is really expensive.
And I have not contemplated this. When that lady said, you should write a book, I should have said, can you give me the money to write the book? Yeah, please give me 5000 pounds to write. Becca and I, when we were talking about doing this, we started this conversation last year and we got on a zoom and we were like, what's it gonna be about? And she's like, well, I'm writing a book. And I was like, I'm writing a book. And Leah's like, I've already written a book. We're like, okay, fine.
But my goal is also to have the book in hand at wedding MBA. So we shall see. We will have it there. We've been in a little will. I don't know if mine. We've had it in a little competition to see like back and forth. You know, I talk about accountability, like finding other people to do your goals with. With you. Me and Renee have had that with our books. So I believe you will have it. You will have it by the time you get it. Thank you, friends. Thank you. Here's the real author.
The real author. Leah. Leah, what inspired me so my book is called the Wedding Roller coaster. It speaks directly to people getting married because it's meant to prepare them for the emotional side of planning a wedding. Because not many people are publicly talking about that piece. But it's also really helpful for suppliers because you get to understand what your clients are going through during this process. It also just has helpful tips on, like, how to be a good human in general.
And I tell the story in the book of how the book came to be. And long story short, I say it's not about the fried chicken, because the story with a client that inspired the entire book was a fight that a bride was having about serving fried with her dad, about serving fried chicken at the wedding. And it was a conversation that took place in 2017. And I had the conversation, and I was like, oh, I need to write a book about this. I need to write a book.
I wanted to understand, honestly, the psychology of people getting married and understand why they're doing what they're doing and why they're thinking and why people get really weird when it comes to weddings. And so I really went deep. Like, it's a combination of sort of, like, a little bit academic, but a lot of stories similar. All those horror stories, the really juicy ones are in there. And so I had the idea in 2017, took really small steps to get it started.
And then in Covid, when I had absolutely nothing to do in 2020, that was when I finally was able to finish writing it. She used to ask me to text her every day and be like, how. Many words did you write? How much of my accountability words did you write? But it made me feel like a mean person because I was like, how many? It was like, Covid, I was like, how many words did you write? Are you okay? You think that's bad?
So I have a lovely lady who cleans my house, and she comes every week, and we always talk about business because I can't help myself. But tell her, you should put your price. And then I'm like, no, but not for me. And because I was putting about it on Instagram, and she follows my instagram. She would come every Tuesday, and she'd go, have you written any more words for your book this week?
And, you know, it was a real full circle, emotional moment, because Tuesday, she was in my house as the book arrived. I love it. And I ran in with it in the brown paper, and I was like, my book's here. And we stood together in my kitchen and unwrapped it and had this huge hug, and she was like, you did it. So, you know, having those people. Having those people around you that are going in any part of your business, have you done that?
Remind your friends, like, it's a good thing to encourage each other and be accountable. I love it. That probably takes me really, really nicely to. Final question, to ensure everyone goes away with some really, really good tips. And I know this is something you always include at the end of your podcast. So what's the one thing you wish I you knew sooner in business. Becca, do you want to start us off on this one.
Yeah. I always think about this because obviously, I ask every guest, and everyone always has a very different answer. I think one of the things I've learned over time is to always give more than you expect to receive in any business relationship, in anything. It's really easy for us to be selfish and think about ourselves and to think, what do I need for my business? What do I want? How can I grow my business?
But when we just have this kind of energy of just giving, you know, if someone out there asks you about a venue you've worked with or some feedback on their website or something they're struggling with, like, don't hold back that information and think, oh, this is for me and my business. Share it. Talk about it. You know, I love having people on my podcast. I love meeting up with people in London. I love going and talk at talking at events for guys, for brides.
I love to just give, because ultimately, it always comes back round in a circle, and you always help each other out. So if you take nothing away other than this, is just be the person that is willing to give, to share your knowledge, share your ideas, because I promise you, it will benefit your business down the line. So one of my favorite quotes that I think about all the time is clarity comes from action, not thought. And I've been thinking about this a lot.
So I have a business coach who challenged me to do 30 days of Instagram reels. So 30 days in a row, a video a day. And, you know, Instagram reels are, what, like, four years old now? I've been thinking about doing more video content for four years, and she finally forced me to do it. And I hate to break it to y'all, but it works. So I think about that.
I was thinking about that a lot because I had all this theory about what I'd like to do for social media, but until I started actually doing it and putting it into action is when I saw results. And so I think anything you're thinking about or stewing over or mulling over, put it into action, have a little, you know, dip a toe in, because you're gonna learn more that way than you will just by thinking about it forever. I like both of your answers. Love both of your answers.
My answer is, I wish I had learned sooner how unique all of us are and how we bring something very different to our clients and how we all work so differently. I will never forget at the moment. And this gets into just, like, stop comparing yourself with other people. Stop comparing the highlights you're seeing on Instagram and social media, because who knows what the real story is? But I was at.
I was at a rental showroom because I was waiting to meet my clients, and there was another planner there with her clients before me. So I'm just sitting over in the corner, just waiting, killing time. And I watched this other planner pull little, teeny, tiny bowls. I can't think of it. Ramekins. Ramekins. Asking her clients to choose what small bowl they wanted the olive oil for their dinner tables on.
And I just thought to myself, I would never ask my, I care about aesthetics completely, but I would never ask my clients that level of granular detail because it would have overwhelmed them. They would have had no idea what to do. And yet she was. That was how she interacted with her clients. That was something that she did. But it really clicked in that moment of we all connect with our clients in different ways, we all serve our clients in different ways.
And so focus on showing up authentically, showing up imperfectly and just really owning that, and you will find your magic and your secret sauce in no time. Fantastic. Alison, I'd love to hear yours. I'm going to put you on the spot now. But I've never asked you. You haven't been on my podcast. I'd love to know the answer for you. I would say being more comfortable with being your absolute authentic self from the start.
I think we all feel that impostor syndrome in whatever job we're doing, and I think it takes quite a while. I started in the wedding industry when I was quite young. I actually started in, I made wedding cakes. Never quite felt I fitted that niche. So I would meet people and apologize and sort of pretend I was doing something slightly different.
And it was only really when I got into running guides for brides that I actually felt comfortable being authentic and telling people that actually I'm really quite geeky. I like learning about stuff. I love data and people then accept you for your authentic self. So I'd say being authentic right from the start. Thank you to everyone that submitted questions for this evening.
I think we've all learnt something, a lot, I hope, and have all got something to add to our reading lists for later on this month. Next month. So can I say a huge thank you to our three panelists, Leah, Renee, and Becca.