THE PLANNING PROCESS

My company, which consists basically of just me and my camera equipment, and a few independent contractors, coordinates over 200 plus weddings a year. It's actually quite a feat considering our size, and for any company in particular. More so, what's rather amazing is that all of my couples are overly satisfied with my quality of my service: promptness to respond to emails, phone calls, you name it; and they are also satisfied with the quality of my photographs. Now one would have to ask, “Steve, how in the world can you help out so many couples, with just one person?”

The answer is simple. I keep everything simple, from beginning to end. And this includes the planning process. Keeping it simple doesn't mean keeping your wedding unromantic. It doesn't mean you can't get what you want. All it means is approaching every wedding, logically, and formulating the simplest most painless plan to get you to Hawaii , and married.

So what is my master plan….for the planning process?

STEP ONE : “GETTING TO KNOW ME…VIRUTALLY”
Finding a wedding planner is like dating…. Wait a minute, there's money involved for my services…hmm…dating….whoa, that would mean wedding planning is like prostitution! Okay, my bad, wrong comparison. Finding a wedding planner is like a high priced investment. You should basically do your homework before putting your money down.

So the first step here is to browse my website thoroughly. Find out more about me, my quality, consistency, and my past weddings. My website, as you may notice, is a bit different than other companies. I'm really not too formal and really let my true personality shine through my website. Yes, my sense of humor is that sarcastic in person. I can be loony at times. But I'm also a very serious Joe when it comes to doing business.

If I past your personality test, perfect. Move on to step two!!!

STEP TWO: “GET IN CONTACT WITH ME!!”
The best way to contact me is either by phone or email. If you do call, know that I do have a toll free number (1-800-557-1310). If you call, I would say that 80% of the time, you'll get me on the phone. If I don't answer, you're probably calling a little too early. Hawaii is six hours behind the east coast. Also, I may not answer the phone if I'm in a wedding or exercising…or of course, watching football. Leave a message, and I promise, I'll get back to you as soon as I'm free. Emailing me also works!!! Since I work from home, I'm usually at my desk throughout all hours of the day. So if I get your email, you're more than likely to get a response back within the hour. If not, I promise to get back to you no later than one day.

Once we get in contact with each other, I'll need to know you to answer two basic questions for me.

Question #1 will let me check my availability. Question#2 will help me determine what type of package you may be looking for. Of course, while you have me on the phone, I can answer any question that you may have for your wedding….or about Hawaii in general.

Now, after this….it's onto step three!!!

STEP THREE: “THE ONLINE ESTIMATE!!”
I basically have three very simple packages and I have an article fully dedicated to how I created them. But they are very simple, consisting of only the basics necessities to perform a wedding. It's either minister/photo services or minister/photo/video services. Everything thing other than the packages is gravy, or in this case…a la carte. Once I get your answer to Question#2 “If you need video coverage” I can basically take one of my packages, tack on a lot of extras that you may or may not need, and email you an estimate.

Then, from there, you'll basically do what my old high school teachers did. Cross out everything I got wrong, and then email or call me back with the corrections. Every “extra” is a separate charge, separate line-item. So you really can see what you're paying for, unlike my competitors who choose to clump everything into one package one price.

I also have to throw out the big fine print here. I'M NOT TRYING TO UPSELL YOU ON ANY EXTRAS SERVICES. I just find it easier to work backwards, than to work forward.

So once you're done with the revisions, get back to me, and we're ready to move on to step four!!

STEP FOUR: “THE BOOKING!!!”
Now once we've agreed on what you do and don't need in your package, then we can move onto the booking. Basically, I will send you out an online invoice, one very similar to the online estimate; and you can pay that online via an email payment link, or you can send a check to me.

Then….you're all set!

STEP FIVE: “DON'T BE SHY TO ASK QUESTIONS”
Yes, this is exactly what it says. No question is a stupid question. You can never bug me too much, so call, email me…as much as you want. Isn't that what you paid for? Technically, I think you have the legal right to bug me. Have confidence that I will always be in touch with you folks and not be one of those other companies that will take your money and run. But if you can…If you know that there is NFL football on TV, please don't call…hehe.

STEP SIX: “RELAX!!”
Breathe in…breathe out.

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