In the 1968 Summer Olympics, Dick Fosbury won the gold medal and set an Olympic record (7′ 4″) in the high jump using the Fosbury Flop. At the time, the prevailing methods were the scissor kick or straddle kick. The Fosbury Flop is back first and the jumper flings her legs over the bar together. Today, the Fosbury Flop is the most widely accepted technique for the high jump and was used by Javier Sotomayor when he set the world record in 1993 (8’0.46″).
Fosbury was able to perfect his technique because the landing area went from sawdust to foam mats (otherwise he would have broken his neck). Once he knew he wouldn’t paralyze himself, he did not look back. He was 21 when he won the gold medal and had been working on his technique from the time he was 16.
The lesson? There is a better way to do what you are doing now. In most cases, the words “cheaper” and “better” don’t usually go together. Cheaper usually means someone loses, you or your client and better means more expensive. However, if you change your model, what your creative business provides can be less expensive for your clients AND a better value for both of you. Whether you begin charging fees vs. markups, outsourcing everything that is not at the core of your art, or developing a longer revenue stream, there are ways to do it differently. No matter what you choose to do, expect resistance. Everybody laughed at Dick Fosbury right up until he kicked their ass. So imagine what it was like for him as he was perfecting his technique and losing to the old guard. But a better way is a better way and WILL prevail if you have the fortitude to keep going through the Dip.
This all brings me to the hot topic (and controversy) I created when I said that I wanted to rid the world of “Day Of” planning. I stand by what I said. The idea that a planner can ply her craft in a few days belittles the art. Not to say that the service isn’t valuable to both the planner and the client, but it is not planning, it’s helping. My definition of “day of” is that a planner doesn’t meet the client or provide any service for them until a few weeks before the wedding. If you are doing more work than that, but are calling it “day of”, you are planning. Although it isn’t on her site or blog (which I love — it doesn’t belong there), Traci Romano from Traci Romano Events has a Lady in Waiting service that is brilliant. Hers is a better way — a way that honors the artist that she is (i.e., the service is NOT planning), provides value to both her and her client, and doesn’t diminish the brand she has worked so hard to build. Just imagine if Traci decided to extend the service to her brides after the wedding — maybe for her grooms to provide as a first anniversary gift? Who knows where that could go. It might look the same as “day of”, but it’s not.
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Sean, thank you for standing behind what you said about “Day Of” or non-affectionately what we planners call, DOC.
And THANK YOU for saying it. You should know, as I’m sure you saw on Twitter, that your comment sparked a fabulous offline chat with planners around the country. More than talking about getting rid of this service, we discussed how we can hone it and be better at what we do.
We call our “DOC’s” – Wedding Day Management service. We do have several meetings before hand, but in general, it truly is a “they plan, we implement”.
We could get into semantics regarding planning vs helping. Truly with any event services we are helping our clients and steering them (planning) in a direction that is best for their needs.
For a “DOC”, we have the same approach. While they may have acquired the vendors (what any client could do on any level of service), when we meet with them 6 weeks before the event, we go through all of that information and guide, direct and assist them. Production schedules and time lines are recreated. Is it planning or helping? Again, I feel it is both in many ways.
What we DO NOT do, is perform a “Day Of” by showing up at the church that morning, with no prior consult meetings and simply hold their hands, run their errands or be their shadow for the day or until the cake is cut.
If THAT service is what you are referring to, then yes. I agree with you 100%.
Here is what we offer and why……
We offer a personal assistant on the day of a brides wedding or as many days prior as she and her family may need. It is offered by the hour. The idea was born out of my own needs. I can’t tell you how many times I have said or [screamed] ” I need a personal assistant”.
If left up to me on the day of an event I would loose my clipboard , phone and keys at least 3x each. My staff determines in advance who is in charge of babysitting me and my things at events. Imagine how many items a bride can loose, forget etc.. and how luxurious it is to know you have someone tending to your needs on the day of your wedding.
We are very careful to title this person a ” personal assistant” and are very clear with our clients that this person is not responsible for managing their event or its flow.
Other than this, we only offer comprehensive production and design. We have tried partial planning in the past and found that it is a huge conflict of interest with our brand and what we deliver. It frustrated me personally to no end, and I know some of our clients felt the same way. They wanted what they saw in magazines and what they knew of our company- and we could not deliver that under the contractual parameters we agreed too.
Thanks for the mention Sean!!! I hope this helps others.
Hi Sean – I completely agree with this statement of yours: “The idea that a planner can ply her craft in a few days belittles the art.”
If you are a planner doing this, please listen to Sean and STOP. Immediately.
I have so much more to say on the subject of deleting Day of services. I won’t be deleting this service. But I don’t provide Day of services in the literary form. I call it Day of Coordination as a sales technique and like any other client, I pre-qualify them to ensure they meet not only the financial commission + brand. I’ve already hashed this out in the planner forum: i-wed.org, so I will leave it at that.
Thank you for bringing this topic up. We had a very good wedchat about the subject I hoped helped out other planners and we continue to have this discussion.
I know I mentioned on Twitter that I was stopping this service after consulting with Sean, and I’m glad to see that it’s causing such great dialogue around the industry.
Tonight was my last ever Day of package and for me, it’s a tremendous relief. Despite my best preparations once the client hired me, there were some giant disasters I walked into and was frankly embarrassed to be associated with.
Thanks for challenging us all, Sean.
This piece is timely.
Recently, I completed a “Day-Of”. I stepped into a situation with vendors I had not worked with before and clients who had unrealistic expectations of a day-of planner.
The lack of influence in designing and planning the event lead to a lot of apprehension on my part and “assisting” family members not showing up when they said they were or doing the tasks they were assigned. The result, disappointment and frustration on both sides.
On the flip side, the weekend before, I also had a “Day-Of” client who accepted additional designing and planning assistance prior to the wedding and recognized that she needed more than just “Day-Of” help. Everything was executed perfectly and the client and I were both very proud of the wedding.
I think “Day-Of” can work, but clearly, much more management of expectation is necessary than with designing and planning from start to finish.
Thank you so much for this post! I am so done explaining to people that “day of” does not exist and why I don’t offer it as service.
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