January Guest blog - the aptly named Lizzie Marriage

I have been associated with the wedding business here in Marbella Spain for 8 years now.

Things were a little different when I started, for a start we did not have the internet, so there was a much more personal approach which these days is hard to attain at times and makes the companies who do succeed to do this special.

When I started, most brides wanted a church wedding, which unless you are Catholic, in Spain has always been a problem. I feel this has been made more difficult in recent years and therefore many couples,  as they are mostly now of mixed religion or none at all, choose to have a civil ceremony where they live and come here for a blessing service afterwards. I really feel that Spain should allow non residents to have legal civil ceremonies here, in this day and age it seems to me to be very archaic not to. We do understand that this is all about to change which will be wonderful for the wedding business in Spain.

I feel the ceremony itself is the most important part of the marriage plans. The couple are promising to love each other, support and care for one another for the rest of their lives, so this part of their day should be very personal and special. As a minister, I like to meet with the couple long before their wedding, so we have time to discuss their needs and be able to write a ceremony together that has meaning and purpose for them and their families. It is I feel very important to include as many people from the two families as possible as the couple will need their support as they go through their lives and the promises all the family make this day will carry forward with love.

I have worked and know as friends Alex and Heather Sadler for many years and value their professionalism very much. They have brought Fiesta Sol so far along the road in this business by sheer hard work, personal service and commitment to perfection that they should be very proud of the success their company now has as the top wedding planners in this area. Everything they do is done with such care and commitment to each couple they work with that the friendships that are formed with couples last a long time after the wedding day is over.

Which really is what this is all about.

Caring and making people happy forever.

My father - the guru! David Sadtler´s Management Blog

There is one simple building block for a successful competitive strategy: finding out what customers want and doing it better than anyone else.  There is no substitute for this. No business can succeed without happy customers, a rule which requires that the successful competitor actually find out what customers do want.  This is why we are constantly bombarded by satisfaction surveys when we buy anything online. The supplier wants to know whether you were happy, what you were looking for, the cause of any unhappiness, and whether or not you will recommend their products to your friends.

In consumer products, the successful competitor must think this way and do three things. First, he must create awareness of his product or nothing further will happen. Potential customers must know that you exist. This is why you often see advertising for websites on television, not campaigns for the products themselves. People have to know that you are out there.

Second, he must motivate the prospect to try it, or the prospect will not become a customer. The company seeking your business will try to capture you and find out about you. They will then appeal to you to try what they have to offer, building on what they have found out about you. Supermarkets assemble massive databases gathered from transactions at the till using loyalty cards. From this they know what to try to sell you via coupons and even in-store promotional materials.

And finally, he must motivate retrial: the product must be good enough that the customer wants to buy it again. This is the acid test. If the customer tries your product and doesn't like it and does not come back for more, you have largely failed. It's that simple.

In the case of services like Fiesta Sol’s business of wedding arranging and food catering, the requirements for success reflect these guidelines.  In catering, they have managed to create awareness principally through good website design, but also selected advertising campaigns in targeted publications. Before the web, awareness was created solely through advertising, an often prohibitively expensive way to find your first customers. Now a good website can at least get you started. The website also plays a role in generating trial. The message on the website must be sufficiently enticing to generate clicks and enquiries, whether it is a catered dinner for 100 people or a wedding in a Marbella villa.

Retrial is the life blood in food catering. Customers must see the performance as exceptionally good and worth doing again. The corollary of retrial in the wedding planning business is a good reference (and hopefully not a return for a second marriage, at least not too soon!). Brides pleased with the wedding experience and the service provided by the wedding arranger will tell their friends and provide endorsements and testimonials. The FiestaSol website is replete with such compliments.

One final piece of advice. The great American poet and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say." Don’t speak ill of your competitors. Your customer prospects will simply assume that you are struggling to catch up with a superior rival.

The bottom line is this. A great product, attuned to the needs and requirements of the customer, is the backbone of any business, large or small. Do everything you can to provide it.

Glamour at Villa Padierna

I was delighted to receive Becky Sharpe´s (www.beckysharpe.co.uk) gorgeous images of Paula and Alans stylish and emotional wedding at the Villa Padierna. And I won´t forget the groom and all his ushers jumping on stage in their pink suits and performing Westlife for a long time....

Stunning beaches of Cadiz

While we love living in the Costa del Sol, we take any opportunity we can to escape down to the amazing Atlantic beaches of Cadiz. Unfortunately the wind means that it is not the best place for weddings, but for chilled beach holidays, kite boarding, dune buggying and generally unwinding, this is the best part of Andalucia by far. Check out the beautiful kiddies, looks like a Boden catalogue!

Photo Booth!

We are loving this new service from www.jeremystandley.com. Book a photo booth for your wedding, and this amazing piece of equipment can be set up in 5 minutes and allow all your guests to pop in whenever they like during the event, providing you with fantastic and top quality alternative wedding photos

Work on FiestaSol HQ commences!

We are so excited about work getting underway on Fiestasol HQ. The walls are going up, kitchen is being designed and put together by Alex and I have ordered our brand new iMac computers. My friend Laura at Reviva has been brainstorming with me for the design of the offices, and my plan is to have a very white slick showroom space for meetings and tastings. I think she is just as inspired as we are!
http://theweddingdecorator.blogspot.com/2011/03/designing-new-wedding-office-spaces-for.html


We will be totally unique down here. Couples will come in, have a chance to look through our event photo books, wedding magazines and design books to get them really inspired, and then meet with all of their suppliers and sample their menu and wedding cakes, all under one roof. We will have a wedding table set up with our linens, glasware and crockery, not to mention silk flower arrangements and dummy cakes. No more running around from meeting to meeting, at Fiestasol you will be completely taken care of.
 

Wine tasting La Rioja

We are just back from a wonderful week in the North of Spain. The Pais Vasco is a gastronomic treat and we packed in wine tasting in la Rioja, pintxos in the stunning town of San Sebastian and a long-dreamed-of visit to the Guggenheim in Bilboa. Alex and I were hoping for a visit to the renowned 3 Michelin star Arzak restaurant in San Sebastian, but unfortunately with too hyperactive young boys, I don´t think we would have been too welcome. Maybe in a few years´ time...