Not so desperately seeking...

Dear Potential Vendors of all sizes, locations, and types:

In order to earn our business and our referrals, my (ours) requirement from any vendor is promptness. Promptness for correspondences, appointments, and turnaround time for final product.

Correspondence: I have worked with customers/clients my entire life. Regardless of my schedule or workload, I ALWAYS respond to the client within 2 business hours. I feel that it is one of the most essential factors that keeps the clients happy and keeps them returning to the business. Even if I respond to the client indicating that I will need more time to look into the item, at least I give them the assurance that I have acknowledged their request.

Appointments: Nothing is more disrespectful than to think that one person’s time is more valuable than the next person’s. “If you are early you are on time. If you are on time you are late. If you are late- don’t bother coming”. I wish everyone lived by this rule. My parents, however, takes this to the extreme. One time we agreed to meet at a restaurant at 5:30 for dinner. My parents called me at 4:45 and says “We’re here, where are you at?”. REALLY? Despite the stereotypes of Asians are usually late you can always count on my parents to be there and ready to go at least 30 minutes early. David and I are usually at least 15 minutes early. Nothing bothers us more than someone that is late. Wait, cross that out. Nothing bothers us more than someone running late and informing us after the fact that they are already late to let us know they are running late.

Turnaround:

Us: How long will this take?
Them: About 2 weeks.
Us: Great, thanks.

3 weeks later….(insert chirping crickets)

Us: Hi, is my item ready?
Them: Sorry, not yet. Maybe another 2 weeks?

**sigh** If you give me a time table of when an item will be completed, please stick to that time table. Ideally (and this is what I always do), if something generally takes 2 weeks add some cushion time, like an extra week. No one can predict problems that may come up such as weather, delivery, technology errors, family emergencies…but with the cushion time everyone should end up satisfied. If you cushioned your table to 4 weeks and I get my product back in 2, extra double fudge brownie points for you. If you tell me 2 weeks and it takes 6 weeks to get the item back, 1) you better had called me to let me know there will be a delay so I can make arrangements; 2) you better have a pretty good excuse; 3) if 1 & 2 was not done, you better hope I am happy when I come and pick up my product. #3 is not a threat, just more of an FYI ;)

Sincerely,

Not necessarily Wedding Vendor seekers but all general vendor seekers

Customer Service FAILED

Met with another videographer this weekend. We saw some stuff online and thought maybe the final product on the disc may be better. It was one of the worse meetings we have experienced during the wedding planning process. Our wedding planner wasn’t able to attend the meeting but followed-up with us soon after. I had my FH respond to her because it may have seem to be exaggerated by me or that I had Bridezilla syndrome. Here is a copy of the response. I “XXXXX” names/Company and such out to avoid slander/libel accusations.

Audrey,

Have you spoken with XXXXX yet about the meeting? We are about 99% sure we won't be using XXXXX for video.You can stop reading now or continue for an in-depth breakdown of the meeting.

I am wondering if his body language would have been the same if you had been present. He was almost ten minutes late, and when he arrived, he seemed to be a bit standoffish. He began our discussion by saying you weren't sure about the date of our wedding, which I had a hard time believing. And, he said that you didn't provide him with any information other than our name, a $1500 budget and two possible dates, of which you couldn't verify the actual wedding date. One of the next things out of his mouth was that he would go over our day with us, but we couldn't get much for a $1500 budget. He made no attempt to say what he could do, and let us decide if we saw the additional value in that service.

He said that he had done Vietnamese weddings before and was clueless as to what the table toasting was. Additionally, in regards to the table toasting, he said that we would be very lucky people if we could get someone to video the entire thing. I have an additional problem with that. Why on earth would it matter WHAT he was videoing so long as it was all in the expected time of our reception?

Again, he suggested that with a $1500 budget, we wouldn't be getting much. I was just short of needing to coerce him into giving me an actual quote.

Then, he literally wanted to argue with Betty about whether she wanted a Lion dance or a Dragon dance as if he knew so much more about her culture than her. And, to be honest so what if he did (which he didn't). Arguing with the bride to be didn't seem like any way to draw in business. After, finally conceding it didn't matter whether it was dragon or lion dance, he said he could film it for an additional charge. I'm still wondering what is additional about it. I'd like to add that he never conceded that she MAY be correct - only that the correctness wasn't of importance for our discussion.

Betty and I know lots of smokers, and we are fine with smokers. We aren't fans of the actual cigarette smoke, though. He smelled like he smoked an entire pack of cigarettes in a closet right before walking through the front door. That could have been what he was doing with his extra 10 minutes while we were waiting.

We watched his videos online and both thought they lacked lighting. At the conclusion of our meeting he asked if we could think of anything to make his video/products better. Betty noted that she would like the option for continuous play of the documentary from beginning to end without being forced to watch three highlight videos. And, I noted that I thought they lacked light. He dismissed our input by saying he's been doing video for X number of years, and he's never had a single complaint; so, they must be fine. Why ask if you aren't taking it to heart. He said it must be my monitor (I watched on three different machines before the meeting.); however, the final product DVD he brought also lacked light. He said it was probably the device (His portable DVD player). So, I asked if I could take the DVD to my home to watch it on my Tv. He gave it to me free of charge, but added that it looked great on his 52" plasma; basically, to me, saying that if it doesn't look good at my home, it is probably because of inferior equipment.

ALL in ALL he wanted $4500 to shoot the wedding, and later said it may only be $3500 because he refused to shoot at Hotel Derek in HD.

To be honest, we haven't seen the DVD on our TV yet because we pretty much decided to not go with XXXX ONE second after walking out the door.

Sincerely,
David (and Betty)

P.S.: I did not exaggerate. You can discuss it with him if you like, but that's his it went down. If you do discuss further with him, I'd be very interested to see/hear any rebuttals he made to my claims.

coupon clipper

Narrowing down videographers and photographers. Why are they so expensive??? I get it, you generally get what you pay for (my mom says "you get for what you pay"), but some of these photographers make me think that they are trying to make money off of a hobby they have yet to master. Some of the videos we’ve seen looks like something you see in a theater while some looks a VHS recording of a VHS recording.

Wedding photos and videos, to me, are one of the more important expenses for a wedding. They capture all the moments that you are too busy to see. They also capture the moments that can only happen once. With that said, I still do not want to spend more than our set budget, no matter how great the photos and videos are.

My cousin’s wedding was this past weekend. We were still contemplating on doing the Vietnamese ceremony but after my cousin’s wedding, it seems as though my family has decided that we are doing the traditional ceremony in addition to the western civil ceremony that evening. Now we have to talk to his family and fill them in on what is done and what to expect. Hopefully giving them 12 months notice and education will make the 30 minute traditional ceremony run smoothly. Also, because of the additional ceremony, we will need extra hours for photos and videos…so that will play a part on which company(ies) we chose.

fatty fatty 2x4

I am 5’3 and weigh 145. Yes, I am big for my size but my family (not just mom and dad but the entire family) acts like I am Shamu or something. I work out at least 3 times a week now, consume about 1300 calories a day, very low sodium intake, drink only water, and no junk food…but still in idle mode for the longest time. Told my mom I had hypothyroidism that slows down the metabolism and blah blah blah….she blames my weight on it. Told my mom about my allergy problems…again, blames the weight….

Found out the other day my mom told my sister who weighs 120lbs at 5’3, that she is getting fat and needs to lose weight.

Glad I ordered my wedding dress larger than what it should be.

Ouchie!

Okay, this past week I endured 3 days of boot camp (MWF) at 5:15 a.m., did a Zumba class on Saturday (I made Elaine looked good!), and a 13.5 mile bike ride in 100 degree weather today. My body aches, my left knee is acting up, and overall, I feel great! This week I will be adding cycling classes into the mix.

I have come to realized that I may never be the size 6 that I dreamed of, but if I can get my body fat percentage down to 20% and still be a size 8 then I will be thrilled. I love food too much but there should be a balance. I have always had great cholesterol levels and my blood pressure is outstanding but that is not what my family sees when they first see me. It doesn't matter how long since it's been since I've seen my family- the first thing they always say relates to my appearance. Aunts, uncles, cousins, extended family...And the family actually gets upset over it. How do I apologize for not being the size 2 like the rest of my family?

What did I get myself into?

So...I signed up for 1 month of boot camp and 5 zumba classes. Hopefully I don't kill myself. I went from running 2-3 times a week and cycling class the first quarter of this year and now I am barely getting off my ever expanding bum. After finals I decided to take a week off as a relaxation break. The week after I ran for 3 miles. 2 weeks later (this past weekend actually), I did a 12 mile bike ride. It's still not enough. I want active Betty back...especially now that there are 13.5 months left and counting.

BTW, we got a wedding planner. It was David's idea. I was semi-against it since it was additional cost that we did not need to incur.

In search of...

Finals- done!

Starting next week (or the week after or June 1st) I will hit the ground running with wedding stuff. Hopefully, it will work out better than my "diet". The last time I did anything active was about 2 weeks ago when I ran and did some tabata squats. Those tabata squats will kill you. It looked easy peasy online but once I started, I was huffing and puffing by my 4th set.

On another note, David suggested that we hire a wedding planner. To me, it is a great idea BUT it is also an added expense that we do not have funds for. Reluctant, I searched Wedding Wire and contacted 2 different planning companies. The 3rd company was a preferred vendor of our venue. Off the bat, I informed all 3 companies that I was Vietnamese-American and the David was white and we wanted some eastern flare in our western event. It's Houston, so we are bound to find someone that is familiar with the Vietnamese culture or event (fingers crossed).