Bridal Times caught up with Consultant to the Bridal Industry, Jane Watson to get her take on charging brides for appointments!
How do you decide whether to charge a bride for an appointment?
By Jane Watson, Consultant to the Bridal Industry
A difficult question!
Brides will often make many appointments before buying their bridal gowns. Ideally we would like them all to purchase their dress on the very first appointment, but this is not normally the case and can take up to as many as 3 or 4 visits before making a decision.
Then you have the brides looking for a dress two or three years before their wedding with no wedding date booked. The problem is these brides can take up a lot of your valuable time possibly causing unnecessary wear to your sample gowns also you could be booking appointments for brides who actually have a wedding date.
So, do you charge for an appointment?
I would say yes, perhaps £25.00 for first appointment that could be refunded once they attend. Or, charge for appointments each time until the dress is ordered, no refunds until they actually purchase a dress and refund all the appointment money paid from the invoice.
I would suggest you don’t refund it from the deposit as it is best to have at least 50% deposit (60% if possible) leaving a balance of a 40% or 50% outstanding making sure you cover the cost of the dress, then deduct the booking fees from the balance when it is due to be paid on collection of the dress. If the bride purchases her bridal gown in another bridal boutique there is no refund.
Any bride not attending her appointment, the deposits would be forfeited.
Perhaps the whole bridal industry should work together and make it an industry standard that bridal boutiques charge for appointments as would a physio, chiropractor and dentist. If you don’t attend you still have to pay.
We need to encourage the trade bridal magazines to put it out there that it is OK to charge for your valuable time if you are not receiving sales from appointments.
Brides being in their late 20’s early 30’s are well informed these days and often know within reason what they are looking for regarding style, size, fabrics but still use the occasion to have fun visiting ALL the bridal shops they can find to make it an event with friends and family.
If you offer an excellent service have the best designer labels in your store then the brides have no excuse to shop around.
Bridal shops need to start talking to each other and get on the same page. Yes, paid appointments are definitely the way ahead for the 21st century.
As a helpful tip, I would suggest to add the information to your bridal shop’s website:
“As we make it our aim to give our bridal clients the best possible service and offer only the best bridal gowns by top designers, our consultants offer a service second to none. Therefore due to many wasted appointments by brides not attending or visiting many times we find it necessary to make a booking charge.”
Please note:
“Once you have selected your bridal gown and provided you have attended all appointments booked, you will receive a full refund of any appointment charges paid.”
Let us know what your thoughts are regarding making a charge for appointments:
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Jane Watson
Bridal Industry Consultant to the Trade
Email: janewatson@bridalbusiness.co.uk
Web: www.bridalbusiness.co.uk
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