To be Filed under the "Seriously?" Category: Wedding Venues and the Great Switch Up

From time to time, I dust off my wedding hat and wear it around town- normally to assist a friend with her Big Day. Yesterday was no exception as my friend and I ventured to her reception venue for a walk through and general chat since we were 45 days out from the event.

We had received word that the in house coordinator had left, so naturally, my guard was up, and thank goodness for that. After meeting with a lovely, if not unseasoned, substitute with three (yes, three) weddings under her belt, I wanted to run for the hills. And I'm not even the bride.

Neil Sedaka put it best- breaking up is hard to do, and it's inevitable in the wedding industry. People move, find better jobs, leave the industry- in other words, the circle of (wedding) life. Staff changes, when not handled well, can lead to a major bruises to the overall brand.

So what to do when you find your company in a similar situation? A few rules for the road:

1) Have a strategy, and quick. Assuming the staff member still has two weeks with you, sit down with him and her as well as anyone else who will be involved in the transition. Discuss and implement a communication strategy. Save it for the next time this inevitably happens, to save yourself a little time.

2) Tell everyone. Be honest and make sure every bride hears it directly from you. The worst thing you can do is let the bride discover it on their own. Even worse- on a message board. If possible, have the person leaving call each and every bride over one day. Get them all before word gets out and suddenly you're fielding angry phone calls.

While this is not always feasible, it's certainly the best way to go when you can. I changed venues three times over the years and made it a point to call every single bride and tell them personally. It was never an easy conversation, but they certainly respected me for it.

3) Assign one (not three) staff member to each event for the transition. When we spoke with the coordinator yesterday, we asked who would be our main contact moving forward and we were told to continue to write the general email address, where any one of three people would respond. Naturally, I stepped in at this moment and insisted just one person be our contact .The fact is- staff changes are as stressful on the bride as they are for you. It's always best to give them one, new point of contact so they can feel like they are in good hands.

4) Give the new person time to adjust. Yesterday, we asked who would be on site for the actual event in mid-September. We were then told they'd have someone hired at the end of August. Surely, I said, they wouldn't be the main contact after being on the job for two weeks? My question was met with a hasty answer and some back peddling. Case in point- the newbie has to do their fair amount of time shadowing before throw into the game. Be sure to stress this with your brides.

5) Brag on the newbie. When you have found "the one," be sure to brag on her/him. A happy announcement on your Blog, blast email to the brides- anything to build their credibility, and fast.

Staff changes can be a stress to all and it's easy to get lost in the transition and forget that you potentially have your reputation at stake. With a few handy tricks, you'll come out on the other side with a sea of happy brides.

And if you forget everything else, just remember this- saying you've done three weddings won't even impress the ring bearer.

Until next time,
Meghan


Meghan Ely is the owner of OFD Consulting, a niche marketing and public relations group servicing the wedding industry. She is also the Managing Director of the Richmond Bridal Association, Contributing Writer to Virginia Bride Magazine and has a regular column in the Richmond Times Dispatch, Wedology 101: the Reality of Being a Bride.