Planning your dream wedding is one of the most important moment of your life. The process may take from a month to a year depending on how deliberate you want your wedding day to be like. However, as any good project manager may tell you, the perfect planning to execution depending on how you magically balance between the (S)chedule date, the (C)ost and (S)cope which will ultimately affect the quality of this very important event of your life.
One of the pitfall of the first-timer planner (assuming you are planning this yourself and not hiring a professional wedding planner) is to over-run the cost of the wedding. In Singapore context, a newly engaged couple tends to look for glamorous brand name bridal boutique with promises of “designer” wedding gowns and what not, not knowing that it may actually blow up a big budget of your wedding plan when you found out later that a lot of items are not included in the package.
Not to get me wrong, if you have huge pocket and budget, by all means go for it. However, if you were to drill in to what you can get from the value of the engagement, more often than not, you may find that there is not much of differentiation between the few accept that you are paying for the operation cost of the boutique firm you are hiring, which may be the only reason why you are paying a premium.
Therefore, before you sign the dotted line with the bridal boutique firm, remember to ask yourself what are the ultimate values you want to get from the bridal photography boutique? To help you negotiate a good package, below are some pointers for you to consider:
What is the breakdown of the core component of the proposed bridal package? eg. How many wedding gowns/ dresses you are entitled? Is make-up services included? How many hours photo-shoot is included for wedding package? For pre-wedding, how many outdoor shoots you are getting? How many edited photos you are entitled? Is photo-taking day transport/ meals included? Do you require the photo frame or photo album? What is included and what not.
Of the core components you listed, prioritize and decide what is the most important thing you get from the end of the day? Is it the experience dealing with the big brands? Is it the glamour you felt in the process? Is it the locations (be in Singapore or else where) you are taking your wedding shoots? Or is it the quality and quantity of the photographs you get?
Now, match the prioritized list back with your planned budget, and ask yourself, should I pay this amount for what you want to get from the end? Do I need to increase/ decrease my budget based on what deem as importance to me? What if I found that I like more photos later and should I buy more?
While a memororal wedding is what we all wish to get at the end of the day, you may be more prudent to ensure that you are not overspending the cost of one event at the expense of others. As an example, if you are over-paying the wedding photography package, then you may have lesser money to spend on actual day photography or videography unless you have decided to increase your overall budget. But again, why do you want to do that when you are at the moment of your life milestone where you should try and save for the raining day since you are setting up a new family? Just some thoughts to think about ya.....
