As couples plan their weddings, they sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that wedding vendors are in the business of making dreams come true, and that dreams are always ridiculously expensive. Both are untrue. Wedding vendors are in the business of making a profit and what they sell can generally be had at a lower price. You can negotiate with wedding vendors.
While there are probably an infinite number of approaches that can work in negotiating with vendors, there are two that often seem most effective. The first is a friendly but firm approach. Before you meet with the vendor, decide how much you’ll be willing to pay for his or her services. Wedding vendors tend to be personable people, so be someone that they want to work with, but don’t let them drive you any higher than the price you set originally.
The second approach is more of a “good cop, bad cop” one. It will obviously only be effective if there is more than one person at the initial meeting. Decide in advance who is going to be “ecstatic” about the deal and who is going to be “skeptical.” Just when the vendor thinks he or she has locked up a sale, have the skeptical player call the other into a separate room to discuss it. When you come back, suggest a more reasonable price. Hopefully, the vendor won’t be willing to risk losing the sale he has already chalked up in his mind.
One important thing to remember in negotiating with wedding vendors is that a lower price is not the only benefit you might be able to sneak into the deal. The reception hall might be willing to give you an extra hour for free. The caterers might be willing to throw in something extra as your guests arrive. The florist might be willing to substitute a few lilies where you had carnations. If there’s something that’s important to you, make sure the vendor knows it. Once the initial transaction has been made, some vendors can be very generous if you just ask.
Many people will say that money is no issue when planning a wedding. If that’s true for them, more power to them, but it doesn’t have to be true for you. Don’t ever feel bad or stingy for trying to get the most out of every dollar you spend on your special day.
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Signature Wedding Aisle Runners
We were so excited to work with Mocha Mom's, Inc. in support of their Pink Carpet Premier of Disney's Princess and the Frog. We provided five, (yes 5!) custom pink aisle runners for major metropolitan areas through out the United States.
The event drew lots of press for Mocha Moms and we are so appreciative to have been a part of their Pink Carpet Premier. We hope to some some photo's to share with you. In the mean time, check out coverage of Disney's Princess and the Frog Premier from CBS News in Atlanta, Ga. You can get a quick glimpse of the "Pink Carpet" that we provided!
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The Signature Wedding Aisle Runners Team
We absolutely love Ali and Blake’s raspberry wedding theme and had to share it with you. Ali was kinds enough to provide several photo’s so enjoy. We hope to add one of these photo’s to our current Knot.com ads.
Here’s what Ali had to say:
I loved my aisle runner. It made our wedding just that much more special and personalized. Thank you!
Ali, Thanks for the opportunity to work with you and for these super chic photo’s. Congrats once again.
Thanks for blogging with us,
The Signature Wedding Aisle Runners Team
Take a look as Rachel’s fabulous candy buffet. Rachel was the winner of a table runner from one of our monthly giveaways. Rachel’s July wedding was loads of fun judging from the buffet alone. Here’s what she had to say.
Working with Signature Wedding Aisle Runners was a delight. I collaborated with their team to customize the perfect table runner for my wedding and received the beautiful piece in plenty of time for my event. The staff was so friendly throughout the whole process -- not a quality you find that often in the wedding world!"
Rachel, Thanks for your kind words and this amazing table runner photo. Congrats once again.
Thanks for blogging with us,
The Signature Wedding Aisle Runners Team
Hi Bloggers!
It's been a long time since we've posted. Our sincerest apology, but we've been swamped.
Here's a comment from one of our recent clients, Dalesa & Mike. They had a beautiful wedding in the Philadelphia area. We saw the pictures, and it was an amazing vow renewal. Here's what Dalesa had to say: Thank you so much for adding such a beautiful touch to our special day!!! I was not going to get an aisle runner initially, but after seeing your wonderful product and experiencing the friendliness and professionalism from your staff, I knew we couldn't do without it!!! Everyone raved about the uniqueness and quality! I'll be recommending you to all of my friends!
Here’s a quick entry to share a few finished runners with you. These were complete in June, but we didn't post any pictures until now. Enjoy!
Hi bloggers! We wanted to take the time to share Dina and Joseph’s aisle runner with you. Dina was looking for a very specific font style for her white aisle runner. When we received her order, and provided her online proof, the font she selected just wasn’t what she was looking for. Luckily, we have a ton of fonts so that was not a problem. We made at least 8 additional monogram for her to see and she fell in love with this one. We’re glad she did, because it turned out great.
Take a look at this super cute grey aisle runner. Rebecca opted for a charcoal aisle runner with silver monogram and the names and wedding date in white. That was all accented with a white ribbon border. This aisle runner was a joy to see come together, the it looks awesome. We can’t wait to get pictures for Rebecca and Richard’s special day.
Over the past few weeks we have completed several black runners. We wanted to share another amazing runner. This particular runner is for Kelly and Dale. The mother of the bride came to us looking for a chic, modern black aisle runner. She wanted a fuchsia ribbon border on the black runner. To top it off she requested a think fuchsia line between the couples names and the wedding date. We went back and forth with several versions of the online proof until it was perfect. The result is an amazing runner fit for a rock star.
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Signature Wedding Aisle Runners
This is one of our runners that we didn’t post to our blog. Danielle was looking for a pretty snowflake for her January 2009 wedding. She didn’t have a graphic of her own, so we created several for her and this is the one that she selected. It was painted in light blue with silver outlining. Then their names and date were painted in silver. The runner was beautiful and was very fitting for a January wedding.
Kiersten and Roderick had an amazing design on their wedding invitation and wanted to keep that theme for their aisle runner. When we got the design we couldn't wait to get started. Their wedding colors were pear green and eggplant – a yummy combination! To ensure the closest color match we always recommend that our clients mail us a fabric swatch (our mailing address is on each online proof). Kiersten sent us a swatch and we got to work. This aisle runner was a 45 inches wide and it took a couple of days for us to finish it.
Check out this super cute aisle runner for a Quinceanera. We got this order with less than one week to get it to our client and it turned out great. Angela Mizanti of Angela Mizanti Events wanted a white runner, 75 ft long with silver and pink paint and a pretty graphic with swirls. Here’s here final selection. Outside of weddings, we’ve done runners for birthdays, baby showers, christenings and corporate events. This was our first runner for a Quinceanera and it turned out great!Stay tuned for more.
Last year while Lana was planning her special day, she came to us with her logo already to go. She wanted to make sure we could hand paint it on to a 45 inch wider runner just as it was designed. It was no problem for us. We hooked it up and here are the results. Time sure does fly, seems like her runner was just completed and now they’re celebrating their first anniversary.
We are so excited about adding a new product to our selection. This decorative pillow is a great way to use your aisle runner and a makes a wonderful keepsake. The pillow shown here was made from a 45 inch ivory wide aisle runner. This new item comes as a zippered pillow case or a zippered pillow. It’s a great way to show off your aisle runner monogram. We will be posting several more pictures of our Decorative Keepsake Pillows soon. The new pictures will include the Decorative Keepsake Pillows made from our 36 inch wide runners.
Melinda contacted us and was looking for a very special aisle runner design in mind. We went back and forth with a few ideas and came up with this final design. Melinda saw it and loved it…and so do we! The white detailing on the black aisle runner really is a nice pop. The ribbon border adds that extra something to make it even more fabulous.
Hi bloggers!
Here’s a quick entry to share Rebecca and Jimmy’s custom wedding logo. Rebecca knew exactly what she wanted on her aisle when she came to us. She emailed us her logo that was already designed and we got to work. To ensure the closest color match, we even mailed about 7 different shades of pinks and browns. What a great design!
Thanks for blogging with us!
Signature Wedding Aisle Runners
We get lots of requests for quotes. Here are a few for your viewing enjoyment.
We get a ton of questions from our clients asking for ways to customize their wedding aisle runner, so we figured we’d blog about it.
A popular recommendation would be to have your name and wedding date, along with the first letter of your last names hand painted on the wedding aisle runner. If you’d like to jazz up the monogram even further, you can opt to have embellishments added to your monogram or other details such as roses of calla lilies.
Here are a few wedding aisle runner custom ideas that people have used in their wedding themes.
Monogram
The most frequent aisle runner requests we receive are for monograms. Monograms including single initial , double initials and triple initials. The popular monogram designs include one initial, two first names and the wedding date. That design entails the essential details of the event, so maybe that’s why it’s the most popular.
Phrase
Including a phrase can really add another dimension to your wedding décor. It can be a quote taken from a movie, bible verse or something else that exemplifies your relationship. We actually had a request to paint a phrase the entire length of the wedding aisle runner. That phrase was “True Happiness Is Marrying Your Best Friend”. The aisle runner turned out to be amazing and it’s one of my all time favorites. We were nervous but we measure, calculated, and measured and got it right. Both my husband and I have engineering degrees, so that helped a lot!
Custom Designs
More and more request have been coming in for custom designs from our client’s wedding invitations. We’ve complete dozens of aisle runners using designs right from invitations. They always turn our brilliantly and shows that attention to detail that our brides and grooms include in their wedding décor. Above are some pictures of each designs mentioned above. If you are looking for a custom design, don’t hesitate to ask. It’s always our pleasure to make your vision a reality in the form of an aisle runner.
