Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Lying About the Wedding Date. Yes, They Are Doing It

I discovered an interesting new piece of advice being circulated on some wedding forum websites. Brides are lying to their vendors about the wedding date to help insure "prompt" service.

This is being done mostly to bridal shops so that dresses will be received in plenty of time prior to the wedding, with no last minute surprises. Kind of like building in a cushion of time for the shipment and alterations.

But conversations on these forums reveal it is not just bridal shops being told a false date. Some brides confessed to telling the florist an earlier date "to make sure I got the flowers in plenty of time". I wondered at the time of reading her comments if this bride realized that fresh flowers won't last the four weeks she cushioned in with the florist?

I did go in and tried to do the honorable thing and reminded these brides that many vendors will only book one wedding or book a limited number of weddings on a particular date. A bride that lies to the florist and says her wedding is the third of the month only to go back later and say "Oh, sorry! It's really the 24th of the month!" may find the florist is fully booked on the 24th and can no longer do her wedding, leaving this bride with no florist at the last minute.

I also reminded these brides to check their vendor contracts. Many contracts have monetary penalties for changing a date, if the date can be adjusted at all. Some contracts consider a date change the same as a cancellation-rebook, with monetary fees attached.

I can understand wanting to be sure the dresses arrive in time. I really can. But the solution is not for a bride to lie to the dress shop (or the florist, or the invitation designer). The solution is for a bride to make sure she is dealing with a reputable company that has a great track record with their clients.

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