COVID-19 has been a real eye opener for the world and has provided consumers insight into the world of small businesses, a category under which most wedding vendors fall. Small businesses around the globe have been hit particularly hard with the pandemic as cities around the world shut down with only essential services operating. While no one knows when things will return to normal, and most people are predicting this is the end of the ‘lavish wedding eras, we know the resilience of Tamils and South Asians in general. We have no doubt the South Asian wedding industry will come back with a vengeance and we thought we’d compile some suggestions for you on how you can support local businesses (and save some money while you’re at it).
Shop Local!
We can’t stress this one enough and you would think this is obvious, but when it comes to weddings, people want the best of the best or get caught up in what they see on social media and often times forget they have access to right in their backyards.
Pay for your services.
Your wedding is not a collaboration!
This is a trend that started popping up long before the pandemic was on anyone’s radar but we’re here to tell you why this is distasteful. First of all, let’s set one thing straight: A collaboration is when a group of people come together and contribute their expertise for the benefit of a shared objective. A wedding is not mutually beneficial for you and your vendors. Every vendor, whether it is a photographer, makeup artist, or clothing vendor spends time outside of your actual wedding day preparing for your big day. Photographers invest in equipment, lighting, etc, makeup artists invest in products they use on you, and clothing vendors spend money on materials and labour and often times shipping. When you turn your wedding into a “collaboration” your vendors are providing their services and goods for free and are now incurring additional costs. The saree you were provided by a vendor will now have to be cleaned/sanitized and can not be sold at market price (if at all). Your photographer will have to go home and edit all of your pics (which is something they would do anyway, but these are added pro bono working hours towards YOUR wedding). This is true for every vendor you ask to “collaborate” on your wedding so please ask yourselves what your vendor seeks to gain? Is it for social media exposure? Newsflash Priya, Instagram likes don’t pay the bills.
Images for this article courtesy of Photon Image By Daran.