How to Create a Memorable Wedding - Term Paper Example

WEDDING WEDDING A wedding can best be defined in its simplest terms as a social event where the ceremony of marriage is conducted or takes place. This involves the exchange of vows between two individuals. This process of exchanging vows usually involves the bride, groom, the person presiding over the ceremony and finally the witnesses who in this case are the guests. Most times the bride and the groom usually strive to see their day becomes a success and memorable over time. This social event has gradually evolved from being a simple affair that involved the newlyweds, family, and friends to a complex multisectoral affair that involves various players in the economy. With the recent adoption of pomp and color in wedding events, a lot of attention has been diverted to the events surrounding this once in a life time ceremony of two love birds (Azevedo, 2009). In the society today, almost every couple with plans to marry are engrossed or occupied with the idea of making their wedding the most colorful event on the planet. Therefore, with the increasing race to make weddings colorful and memorable, we have seen a scenario where individuals are competing or comparing their events with others. This competition has prompted the emergence of various players in the entertainment circle provoking further competitions among these companies. We have seen several industries in the entertainment and hospitality sector such as fashion industry, accessories, tourism, catering, music, wedding shows amongst others thrive because of weddings (Evans, 2002). The increased competition to display the best events and also to deliver high class services between hosts and related companies has prompted an intensive marketing of products both locally and even globally through the World Wide Web. Consequently, this has led to immense growth of the tourism and entertainment sector which has translated to enormous sales and income generation. Behind the colorful moments marked by these expensive events are the challenges that come as a result of the increased competition to display the colorful event. This can be on the part of the host or related sectors or companies charged with the mandate of planning and coordination of events to realize a colorful and a cost effective event. On the host part, the challenges are bound to occur in cases of poor planning, being over ambitious, and oversight issues. On the part of the contracted firms challenges result from failure to honor terms of the contract hence failing the event. If this is not checked and especially with the growing market we are likely to see a scenario where rogue firms crop up in the name of delivering services which they are not in a position to (Leeds, 2005). Fraud is also likely to be witnessed. Wedding hosts also need to be informed for them to make workable decisions that will see their wedding ceremonies become a success and leave their guests satisfied. It is against this backdrop that the paper seeks to explore why certain wedding events fail and others turn out successful. Success of wedding events is an issue important to the wedding host and related event companies charged with organizing, planning, and coordination of events. This is because the success of any wedding event brings satisfaction to the wedding hosts and also is a marketing tool for companies involved in delivering services to the wedding ceremonies. For the success of any wedding event that involves color and pomp, proper planning of events need to be prioritized in order to achieve the expected outcome. This will definitely involve adequate funding. Every person will always want to get value for their money, and it is against this backdrop that people go to the extent of outsourcing services of firms or companies dealing with planning of events so as to get efficient services. The main problem that transpires in this essay therefore is how do we realize a successful wedding? This problem should be of public concern because a lot of people are continuously outsourcing the services of events planning firms while at the same time looking for value for their money (Kruger & Saayman, 2012). Alongside this, is the entry of many firms into this industry whose credentials are raising eyebrows as to whether they are in a position to deliver services efficiently? This issue is also of public interest, because with informed knowledge on the performance of this sector, wedding hosts are likely to avoid any incidences of falling victims of fraud to rogue companies claiming to offer hospitality services. Given adequate information they will also be in apposition to make sound decisions concerning planning of their wedding ceremonies hence achieving satisfaction. Given adequate research in this sector , proper and adequate recommendations are likely to be arrived at that will guide practice and help organizers and wedding owners exercise caution in their endeavor to deliver the best to their customers and guests. Research is also bound to expose the gaps in the market and expose the faults that lead to failure of events. In an effort to find out or explore the success of wedding events the following methodology will be applied. First, the research will assume a mix of qualitative and quantitative approach to collect data. In the qualitative approach it will seek to explore the welfare of individuals while in the quantitative approach it will seek to explore the figures in this sector. It will employ a cross sectional analytical survey design to collect data (Lau & Hui, 2010). This will be used because data for research will be collected on relevant variables at one time from different subjects within a short time frame. The dependent variable in this case will be the success of a wedding event while the independent variables will be represented by events influencing the wedding. This may include such like catering services, decorations, entertainment, video graphing, venues, planning, invitations, and the likes. The study site will be in weddings. Most of the data will be collected in the venues where the weddings are taking place as it tends to include those in the hospitality industry. The target population of the study will include those couples who have recently wedded, those who are yet to wed, staff from various agencies that participate in planning and coordination of weddings and individuals who have at some point attended weddings or have been guests in weddings. The main instruments of data collection will be structured questionnaires, web based interviews via Skype or video conferencing, video recording, review of secondary materials from the library, internet and wedding websites. Data collection techniques will involve the use of structured questionnaires which will be used to collect the views of wedding hosts, guests, and staff from the various wedding agencies. Interviews will also be conducted in order to get first-hand experience from respondents who have experience in the sector or have attended weddings. Video conferencing or use of web based interviews will be used on respondents who making physical contact are either limited or impossible. Interviews, questionnaires and web base interviews will help generate primary data. Secondary data on the other hand will be obtained from secondary materials like books in the libraries, and reviewing information in the internet and especially this will be from wedding websites. Finally ethical considerations will also be applied in to avoid infringing on the rights of the respondents. To achieve this, the respondents will be given consent forms to sign and the information they give will be treated with highest level of confidentiality and only for research purposes. The findings revealed that most wedding hosts struggled to realize their dream wedding. Many went as far as selling other property to cater for the wedding budget. Therefore funding was a prerequisite to realizing a colorful wedding. Therefore insufficient funding was a factor linked to wedding failure. Wedding attendance was also another factor cited by the hosts. A large population meant more expenses or increased budget and this led to underfunding of other sectors of the wedding which would have in turn added color to the wedding, for example decorations or entertainment. The wedding hosts also blamed the planners or wedding agencies for failing their weddings in terms of delays and poor service delivery like cooking bad food or poor conduction of the wedding ceremony (Stuart, 2006). Conflict of interest was also another factor cited by the wedding hosts. There instances where the interest of the hosts clashed with those of the guests or planners hence undermine the success of the wedding. On the other hand the guest who attended the weddings also had their share of experience. Most guests interviewed complained of self-centered weddings where the ceremonies concentrated too much on the newlyweds instead of balancing. They wished for events where the presence and contribution was valued. Another issue raised by the guests was food and catering services. Another issue raised by the guests was catering services and food offered in these events. At the reception a lot of guests complained of the cake cutting session where guests were forced to eat intolerable amounts of sugary pieces of cakes. The use of too many spices in foods was also another issue raised. Some also complained of insufficient foods where some guests went without food. Interior décor of the wedding venue was also criticized. Many guests complained of insufficient seats forcing some to stand during the event. On the part of the wedding planners or agencies they also had their share of challenges. One of the challenges raised was too much expectation by the host with inadequate funding. This left them with no choice other than to deliver based on the funds surrendered to them. Another issue raised by the planners was unexpected invitees. This was a challenge because there are instances when hosts failed to tell them the expected guests or they under quoted the number hence leading to strains on resources come the fateful day. Another issue raised was crowd management. This was a challenge because there are instances where children ended up destroying decorations before the commencement of the event. Such incidences tarnished their reputation and hence denying them opportunities or invitations in other related events in future. These damages are in turn incurred by the agencies resulting into high cost of operations. Failure to turn up of individuals contracted by the wedding agencies was also another concern raised. There are instances where individuals contracted to entertain guests failed to show up despite having been paid. Another issue was fraud. There are other event related agencies that were involved in fraudulent dealings hence leading to poor service delivery. The strategic alternatives that were employed by the different players in this sector included management of invitees. Most wedding hosts have resorted to inviting fixed number of guests who they can cater for. Concerning funding of weddings, most hosts are engaging in fundraising events to help raise funds to cater for their wedding budgets. To ensure service delivery and build trust between the agencies and the hosts, half payment of the budget has been adopted by many people to improve service delivery by the agencies. On the other hand wedding agencies have also moved a notch higher in service delivery to guarantee customer satisfaction. Some of the strategies they have put in place to ensure customer satisfaction are pre wedding (Hillis, 2006). This is a rehearsal of the real event. This help in identifying gaps in the type of service to be offered. Another strategy that has been adopted by the wedding agencies is the outsourcing of specialized services. This is where the agency seeks the services of other related firms. For example the weeding planners can be having experience in only one field; outsourcing of services ensures adequate service delivery. In conclusion it is evident from the findings that creating a colorful and a memorable wedding involves a lot of factors. For couples to realize that pomp wedding a lot of challenges do present themselves, but it only takes a careful planning to realize that dream wedding. Some of the factors that frustrate the outcome of a wedding are inadequate funding, poor wedding population management and poor planning and organization by the wedding agencies. Some of the recommendations this paper advance include formulation of policies to regulate the operations of the wedding agencies that are cropping up every single day. Without proper checks or regulation of these agencies the public can end up falling victims of fraud to these agencies. Another recommendation is application of healthy lifestyle and food choices in wedding events to cater for the needs of the healthy and those fighting lifestyle diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (Gladwell, 2006). Now that weddings have promoted growth of tourism and hospitality industries, the government should provide incentives to firms and companies in this sector to promote creation of jobs in the economy. References Azevedo, A. (2009). Designing unique and memorable experiences: co-creation and the surprise factor. In III Congresso Internacional de Turismo de Leiria e Oeste (pp. 1-20). Evans, S. (2002). Something Old, Something New: Recent Poetrys Use of Narrative in Wedding References. Counterpoints Conference Committee. Gladwell, M. (2006). The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference. Little, Brown. Hillis, K. (2006). A Space for the Trace Memorable eBay and Narrative Effect. Space and Culture, 9(2), 140-156. Kruger, M., & Saayman, M. (2012). Creating a memorable spectator experience at the Two Oceans Marathon. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 17(1), 63-77. Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2005). Making marriage visible: Wedding anniversaries as the public component of private relationships. Text, 25(5), 595-631. Lau, C. K., & Hui, S. H. (2010). Selection attributes of wedding banquet venues: An exploratory study of Hong Kong prospective wedding couples. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29(2), 268-276. Stuart, F. I. (2006). Designing and executing memorable service experiences: Lights, camera, experiment, integrate, action!. Business Horizons, 49(2), 149-159. Read More