As the wedding + event industry begins to reopen following the easing of COVID restrictions in many places, it’s presenting vendors with a lot of challenges in their businesses.

Just in the past week I’ve spoken with:

• Florists dealing with an extreme shortage of floral product, leading to some insane cost hikes.

• Rental providers scrambling to source backordered inventory + find staff to fulfill orders after having to let team members go in 2020 and 2021.

• Planners overwhelmed managing their 2022 celebrations, coupled with a bombardment of inquiries for 2023 which all require urgent attention as availability for 2023 wedding venues and vendors is already so limited!

One perspective is that these are “champagne problems”. “How fortunate you are to be in a position of having too much work.” This perspective leads many people to keep quiet about the challenges and keep their heads down to just get the job done, whatever it takes. #begrateful

But there’s a HUGE difference between complaining and communicating.

You can be grateful to be “back in business” and ALSO communicate some key information to your audience that is educational and beneficial to everyone. 

Think about it this way….

• If you had seen and heard florists talking about the shortage of flowers and the subsequent price hikes, you wouldn’t be shocked when they told you particular flowers might not be available. You’d probably also be anticipating a slightly higher quote than you’d ideally like.

• If you saw your wedding planner talking about the steps they were taking to re-plan 5 weddings in as many weeks which they’d usually have 12+ months to plan, you’d understand why your email might not receive an immediate response.

• If you heard rental companies discussing the products they were trying to source to replace back-ordered inventory that might not arrive, you’d be more understanding if you had to make changes to your original decor plans.

Don’t let the challenges you’re currently facing come as a shock to your audience and clients.

(We can all react abrasively when taken by surprise…)

Yes, it is your responsibility to deal with the consequences of these challenges, but you can make it a whole lot easier on yourself by sharing the REAL story. Actually #beauthentic

When we communicate with clarity and confidence from a position of authority, we build TRUST. When we build trust, we establish relationships with respect.

And that makes it easier on everyone.