The Importance of Saying Thank You!

Photograpy by Dakeney Fox Photography

One of the biggest lessons both myself and Jess have learnt over the past couple of years, is the value in two simple words – Thank You! I think some people are naturally thankful and they say it to everyone about anything – I would happily put myself in this category, half the time someone only has to say hello to me and I thank them. However for some, the act of being thankful comes a little less naturally however they do say practice makes perfect.

I often hear wedding suppliers noting how undervalued they feel when a couple doesn’t say thank you and to be honest I am not surprised as I often hear couples completely undervaluing the work suppliers do for them. Let me tell you a little story….

A few years ago I was sat with a bride to be who told me that her mother in law had offered to pay for her wedding cake. The bride didn’t really want a cake but was afraid of hurting her mother in laws feelings, so she let her go ahead and even choose the cake as she wasn’t too bothered about it. She then went on to tell me that when she had seen the cake her mother in law had chosen for her she was horrified and couldn’t possibly have it on show at the wedding. I asked her what she was going to do and this was her response… “I have asked one of the ushers to meet the cake lady in the morning and accidently drop it so that we can’t have it out at the reception.”

I was mortified! My first thought was grow and pair and tell your mother in law you don’t want a cake but my biggest thought went out to the poor ‘cake lady’, who will have spent hours putting all her love into creating this piece of art for it to be carelessly tossed out of the window – so to speak!

This bride’s opinion was that she was getting paid for it, so what was the problem? Many of you will relate to me when I say, yes the money part is very important as it helps pay the bills, but for most of us, it is a love of our job and creativity that we are often in these jobs in the first place and for someone to completely dismiss it can be very hurtful to us creative types.

I am sure that many of you have heard the phrases “No news is good news” or “bad news travels faster than good news” and when it comes to supplier recommendation this can often be the case. Unfortunately many of us will only hear about bad suppliers as these are the memories that stick at the forefront of everyones mind. Now I don’t know about you but I would like to turn those phrases on their head, I don’t want good suppliers to be ‘no news’ and I don’t want to hear about bad suppliers I want to hear about the good! It is with this in mind that I have written a few ways that you can really make sure you show your suppliers how thankful you are, not forgetting to actually say thank you would be a start.

♥ Write a Testimonial. You will often find that suppliers have websites where they showcase all the lovely comments they have received from other clients about their fabulous work. So write a few lines about how wonderful your supplier was and submit, you can never have too many amazing things written about you.

♥ Nominate or vote for them in awards. There is no better way to thank your supplier by nominating them for an award, so that they receive the recognition they deserve.

♥ Recommendations Can’t Come High Enough! Tell your friends about them, give out their cards, word of mouth really is the best way to get a business more recognised.

♥ Tell Everybody! Magazines and blogs like ourselves are always on the lookout for real weddings to feature. It is amazing how many people look at these for supplier recommendation so if you would like to spread the news of all your fabulous suppliers why not submit your wedding now.

♥ Do it the old fashioned way. Send a thank you card or letter with a box of choccies or some lovely flowers, honestly this is the sure fire way to make anyone feel on top of the world!

So today I would like to dedicate this post to all the amazing wedding suppliers out there, we want to hear all about them and more importantly we want you to thank them. It is amazing just how two little words can really makes someones feel more valued. So go ahead say ‘THANK YOU’ today!

Much Bespoke Love

Emily ♥