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Wedding fever set to hit – BUT is your business ready for the big day?
Wedding suppliers are being advised to be ready for potential pitfalls ahead of couples aiming to emulate the royal wedding’s lavish proceedings on April 29.
William and Kate are set to be surrounded by a team of professionals dealing with every last detail and suppliers should have no doubt invoices will be paid on time.
However, the reality for many businesses is very different.
Business experts at Lemon&Co Solicitors are warning that to avoid being left out of pocket, suppliers need to ensure their terms and conditions and internal procedures are in place to cover the situations that couples may find themselves in, having been gripped with wedding fever and the temptation to throw a party fit for a king. Over-ordering, being unable to pay having gone over budget or even being so stressed out with the pressure that they don’t even make it down the aisle are just some realities that need to be considered.
This is especially true for smaller businesses such as photographers and florists who could be hard hit by a number of non-payments or a last minute cancellation.
Marianne Johns from Lemon&Co said:
“Cancelled weddings and dissatisfied customers are just a few issues suppliers are faced with.
“In light of the royal wedding, un-paid bills by couples who have overspent in a bid to host extravagant weddings like Kate and William really need to be considered. It is vital for businesses to safeguard against such matters by ensuring contracts are up to scratch with cancellation policies, reasonable and individually negotiated non-refundable deposits and a clear schedule of payments clearing the account on or before the big day or upon delivery of the goods wherever possible. What is contained within your terms and conditions will depend entirely on the type of business and the supply being made.”
Marianne added: “In an ideal world, the happy couple should agree to a supplier’s legally drafted, tightly drawn terms and conditions of business which protect the supplier from all the eventualities that may occur with a wedding. However, in all cases, as you are dealing with consumers, care needs to be taken to ensure that the terms are reasonable and you avoid the pitfalls of them being considered otherwise. Deposits, cancellation or failure to collect clauses should always be properly considered, legally drafted and advice obtained upon the specific steps that need to be gone through to ensure that they are not considered unfair and penalties.
“Photographers, for example, may consider obtaining reasonable non-refundable deposits to cover cancellation or other reasonable situations which would leave a loss being with them, staged payments such as payment at the wedding itself and then a final payment upon delivery of the photographs.
“A florist may also require a reasonable non-refundable deposit upon cancellation/non-collection for example, staged payments and payment on delivery to the venue.
“The key thing is to ensure that the big day is a successful one for the couple – whether they are royals or not – and having a solid business foundation can also give peace of mind that they are dealing with a professional outfit and you are protected.”
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<p><strong><a href="http://www.lemon-co.co.uk/article_wedding-fever.php">Wedding fever set to hit – BUT is your business ready for the big day?</a></strong><br />
Wedding suppliers are being advised to be ready for potential pitfalls ahead of couples aiming to emulate the royal wedding’s lavish proceedings on April 29....</p>
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