College credit in Wedding Planning

NYCMercedes · August 2014

My friend's daughter is taking Wedding Planning for elective credit from a large university. It's in the bachelors degree program in the Hotel/Hospitality Management department. She says it's her hardest course. I was quite stunned. What do you think?

Maggie0829 · August 2014

I am not really all that surprised since she is in the Hotel/Hospitality Management program. Weddings are big business for hotels so knowing how to handle one and help organize such an event is pretty standard, I would think.

Now as far as it being her hardest course? Well I guess that depends on the student, the teacher and what all is involved. I was a business major in college and some of my most time consuming and "hardest" classes were those damn "we want you to be a well rounded individual" elective courses (all my art history classes come to mind). Mainly because I had zero background knowledge when I went into the course while with my buisness classes a lot of what was taught was kind of common sense.

loveislouder · August 2014

I would LOVE to take a wedding planning course but I wouldn't want to be a wedding planner just because I know how stressful a wedding can be on a bride, especially when something doesn't go exactly to plan. Plus, I'm a crier when people yell at me so that's no good.

JaxInBlue · August 2014

Not a surprise given the major. It would be interesting to see the syllabus - is the course about vendor relations? client management? cultural aspects and differences that impact weddings and wedding planning? A little of everything?

I think whether or not it is a legitimately hard course would depend on the course content, delivery and the student. My hardest college courses were required for my major but taught in an outside discipline - the topic of the course was based in my major, but the discipline underlying the research and writing we did and read about was one I wasn't trained in and didn't know much about.

emmaaa · August 2014

I was a Recreation and Parks major (which is a cross over of Hospitality and Tourism) and I took tons of event planning classes. I also had one that was specifically for wedding planning. To me, it wasn't hard. However, the event planning courses in general came easy to me. I think it depends on the student and how they think but also on the requirements of the university. I will say I went to an accredited university which requires very high standards.

thisismynickname2 · August 2014

Interesting! I just heard that my friend's neighbor is working on a certification for wedding planning. I was stunned. I understand that education in hospitality is probably incredibly useful, but why there is a certification is beyond me. I'm not being sarcastic--- why, really? Anybody know? I don't know if it's a national nice-to-have or a state requirement, but being in Illinois I wouldn't put it past being a state requirement.

AprilH81 · August 2014

I don't know about wedding certifications, but there is a certification (usually optional) for meeting planners. I'm in the proccess of getting my continuing education classes so I can qualify to sit for the exam.

lyndausvi · August 2014

Not surprised at all. Brides as group and hard to deal with. As a group they are known to be very demanding while trying to plan their "childhood" dream wedding. The brides who pick a venue at or above their budgets are the worse (sorry, not trying to be mean, just based on personal experience)

I worked in an event planning department at a resort one year. Brides SUCK. They would call you ALL.THE.TIME over the stupidest stuff wasting your time. All they needed to do is type up a bunch of questions and either email them or call. No they would call/email a few times a day and few times a WEEK with questions for a wedding 6-9 months out. So annoying. I once had 800 emails from 1 bride. A pretty simple, 50 person, low revenue event. GRRR.

I dealt with meeting planners who are putting up 300+ guests for 5 days (air, taxi, and room), have multiple dine-a-rounds, banquets (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and activities (often with snacks and stuff) that I spoke to LESS than some brides with 50 guests and ONE function.

Not surprised one bit.

Sorry for rant. Anyway, I sure they need a certificate on how to deal brides.

simcal18 · August 2014

lyndausvi said:

Not surprised at all. Brides as group and hard to deal with. As a group they are known to be very demanding while trying to plan their "childhood" dream wedding. The brides who pick a venue at or above their budgets are the worse (sorry, not trying to be mean, just based on personal experience)

I worked in an event planning department at a resort one year. Brides SUCK. They would call you ALL.THE.TIME over the stupidest stuff wasting your time. All they needed to do is type up a bunch of questions and either email them or call. No they would call/email a few times a day and few times a WEEK with questions for a wedding 6-9 months out. So annoying. I once had 800 emails from 1 bride. A pretty simple, 50 person, low revenue event. GRRR.

I dealt with meeting planners who are putting up 300+ guests for 5 days (air, taxi, and room), have multiple dine-a-rounds, banquets (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and activities (often with snacks and stuff) that I spoke to LESS than some brides with 50 guests and ONE function.

Not surprised one bit.
Sorry for rant. Anyway, I sure they need a certificate on how to deal brides.

In fairness to those brides, nobody is going to care about whether cheez-its or Ms. Field's cookies are the afternoon snack of choice at some work conference that's the same as every other work conference that they go to four times a year. But brides (and often grooms) are likely going to care very much about the food that is served at their (hopefully one and only) wedding. Additionally, the people in charge of putting up 300 person work conferences likely put these types of events on fairly frequently and know what to expect and which vendors they can trust because they've worked with them in the past. Again, not so with brides. Not saying that bridezilla behavior should be excused or that you weren't entirely justified in wanting to tell some brides to have a glass of wine and chill out. Just trying to explain the differing attitudes. As a side note, these same issues are why a chicken dinner entree or simple centerpiece that will go for $40 for a business meeting often costs $80+ for a wedding--the stakes and therefore necessary attention to detail are much higher.

ETA--Additionally, that wedding that was "low revenue" to you likely represented months and months of savings to that bride and groom and/or her parents. That 300+ person conference was likely a drop in the bucket of that company's annual revenue. In the hospitality industry, client perspective is everything.

manateehugger · August 2014

bostonbride2015 said:

lyndausvi said:

Not surprised at all. Brides as group and hard to deal with. As a group they are known to be very demanding while trying to plan their "childhood" dream wedding. The brides who pick a venue at or above their budgets are the worse (sorry, not trying to be mean, just based on personal experience)

I worked in an event planning department at a resort one year. Brides SUCK. They would call you ALL.THE.TIME over the stupidest stuff wasting your time. All they needed to do is type up a bunch of questions and either email them or call. No they would call/email a few times a day and few times a WEEK with questions for a wedding 6-9 months out. So annoying. I once had 800 emails from 1 bride. A pretty simple, 50 person, low revenue event. GRRR.

I dealt with meeting planners who are putting up 300+ guests for 5 days (air, taxi, and room), have multiple dine-a-rounds, banquets (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and activities (often with snacks and stuff) that I spoke to LESS than some brides with 50 guests and ONE function.

Not surprised one bit.
Sorry for rant. Anyway, I sure they need a certificate on how to deal brides.

In fairness to those brides, nobody is going to care about whether cheez-its or Ms. Field's cookies are the afternoon snack of choice at some work conference that's the same as every other work conference that they go to four times a year. But brides (and often grooms) are likely going to care very much about the food that is served at their (hopefully one and only) wedding. Additionally, the people in charge of putting up 300 person work conferences likely put these types of events on fairly frequently and know what to expect and which vendors they can trust because they've worked with them in the past. Again, not so with brides. Not saying that bridezilla behavior should be excused or that you weren't entirely justified in wanting to tell some brides to have a glass of wine and chill out. Just trying to explain the differing attitudes. As a side note, these same issues are why a chicken dinner entree or simple centerpiece that will go for $40 for a business meeting often costs $80+ for a wedding--the stakes and therefore necessary attention to detail are much higher.

ETA--Additionally, that wedding that was "low revenue" to you likely represented months and months of savings to that bride and groom and/or her parents. That 300+ person conference was likely a drop in the bucket of that company's annual revenue. In the hospitality industry, client perspective is everything.

I think she's speaking from a business standpoint. It doesn't make sense to waste tons of time and effort on a small revenue producing client instead of a large, huge revenue client. That's how the business world works. I think her point is that some small event clients would harass her over the tiniest things, where as other clients with tons of money riding on the success of the event bothered her less. Brides get wrapped up in the small things that no one will end up caring about too (usually including the bride herself). I can see how it's frustrated to discuss repeatedly whether a bride wants ivory or white table linens when you do event coordinating and scheduling as a career.

Regardless of her business sense, I'm sure Lynda worked hard to please all of her clients despite their budgets. I think you're reading in a bit to what she is saying.

And wedding costs are often higher simply because they know brides will pay the increase.

simcal18 · August 2014

manateehugger said:

bostonbride2015 said:

lyndausvi said:

Not surprised at all. Brides as group and hard to deal with. As a group they are known to be very demanding while trying to plan their "childhood" dream wedding. The brides who pick a venue at or above their budgets are the worse (sorry, not trying to be mean, just based on personal experience)

I worked in an event planning department at a resort one year. Brides SUCK. They would call you ALL.THE.TIME over the stupidest stuff wasting your time. All they needed to do is type up a bunch of questions and either email them or call. No they would call/email a few times a day and few times a WEEK with questions for a wedding 6-9 months out. So annoying. I once had 800 emails from 1 bride. A pretty simple, 50 person, low revenue event. GRRR.

I dealt with meeting planners who are putting up 300+ guests for 5 days (air, taxi, and room), have multiple dine-a-rounds, banquets (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and activities (often with snacks and stuff) that I spoke to LESS than some brides with 50 guests and ONE function.

Not surprised one bit.
Sorry for rant. Anyway, I sure they need a certificate on how to deal brides.

In fairness to those brides, nobody is going to care about whether cheez-its or Ms. Field's cookies are the afternoon snack of choice at some work conference that's the same as every other work conference that they go to four times a year. But brides (and often grooms) are likely going to care very much about the food that is served at their (hopefully one and only) wedding. Additionally, the people in charge of putting up 300 person work conferences likely put these types of events on fairly frequently and know what to expect and which vendors they can trust because they've worked with them in the past. Again, not so with brides. Not saying that bridezilla behavior should be excused or that you weren't entirely justified in wanting to tell some brides to have a glass of wine and chill out. Just trying to explain the differing attitudes. As a side note, these same issues are why a chicken dinner entree or simple centerpiece that will go for $40 for a business meeting often costs $80+ for a wedding--the stakes and therefore necessary attention to detail are much higher.

ETA--Additionally, that wedding that was "low revenue" to you likely represented months and months of savings to that bride and groom and/or her parents. That 300+ person conference was likely a drop in the bucket of that company's annual revenue. In the hospitality industry, client perspective is everything.

I think she's speaking from a business standpoint. It doesn't make sense to waste tons of time and effort on a small revenue producing client instead of a large, huge revenue client. That's how the business world works. I think her point is that some small event clients would harass her over the tiniest things, where as other clients with tons of money riding on the success of the event bothered her less. Brides get wrapped up in the small things that no one will end up caring about too (usually including the bride herself). I can see how it's frustrated to discuss repeatedly whether a bride wants ivory or white table linens when you do event coordinating and scheduling as a career.

Regardless of her business sense, I'm sure Lynda worked hard to please all of her clients despite their budgets. I think you're reading in a bit to what she is saying.

And wedding costs are often higher simply because they know brides will pay the increase.

Fair point. I didn't mean my post as a critique of Lynda at all--I was just trying to explain why that bride with the "low revenue" event might be more stressed and squeaky than the business client with the high-revenue event. And yes, sometimes brides get charged more simply because business know they will pay. But I think more often it's for exactly the reasons you cite--the bride is likely going to want to have more detailed conversations about things like white vs. ivory table linens than a corporate event manager will.

scrunchythief · August 2014

lynda...800 emails? Holy cannoli. I think I made around 15 phone calls and sent one email total to all of my vendors. What could you possibly need to know in that much detail from just the venue? I think that amount of pestering alone merits a college course.

manateehugger · August 2014

bostonbride2015 said:

manateehugger said:

bostonbride2015 said:

lyndausvi said:

Not surprised at all. Brides as group and hard to deal with. As a group they are known to be very demanding while trying to plan their "childhood" dream wedding. The brides who pick a venue at or above their budgets are the worse (sorry, not trying to be mean, just based on personal experience)

I worked in an event planning department at a resort one year. Brides SUCK. They would call you ALL.THE.TIME over the stupidest stuff wasting your time. All they needed to do is type up a bunch of questions and either email them or call. No they would call/email a few times a day and few times a WEEK with questions for a wedding 6-9 months out. So annoying. I once had 800 emails from 1 bride. A pretty simple, 50 person, low revenue event. GRRR.

I dealt with meeting planners who are putting up 300+ guests for 5 days (air, taxi, and room), have multiple dine-a-rounds, banquets (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and activities (often with snacks and stuff) that I spoke to LESS than some brides with 50 guests and ONE function.

Not surprised one bit.
Sorry for rant. Anyway, I sure they need a certificate on how to deal brides.

In fairness to those brides, nobody is going to care about whether cheez-its or Ms. Field's cookies are the afternoon snack of choice at some work conference that's the same as every other work conference that they go to four times a year. But brides (and often grooms) are likely going to care very much about the food that is served at their (hopefully one and only) wedding. Additionally, the people in charge of putting up 300 person work conferences likely put these types of events on fairly frequently and know what to expect and which vendors they can trust because they've worked with them in the past. Again, not so with brides. Not saying that bridezilla behavior should be excused or that you weren't entirely justified in wanting to tell some brides to have a glass of wine and chill out. Just trying to explain the differing attitudes. As a side note, these same issues are why a chicken dinner entree or simple centerpiece that will go for $40 for a business meeting often costs $80+ for a wedding--the stakes and therefore necessary attention to detail are much higher.

ETA--Additionally, that wedding that was "low revenue" to you likely represented months and months of savings to that bride and groom and/or her parents. That 300+ person conference was likely a drop in the bucket of that company's annual revenue. In the hospitality industry, client perspective is everything.

I think she's speaking from a business standpoint. It doesn't make sense to waste tons of time and effort on a small revenue producing client instead of a large, huge revenue client. That's how the business world works. I think her point is that some small event clients would harass her over the tiniest things, where as other clients with tons of money riding on the success of the event bothered her less. Brides get wrapped up in the small things that no one will end up caring about too (usually including the bride herself). I can see how it's frustrated to discuss repeatedly whether a bride wants ivory or white table linens when you do event coordinating and scheduling as a career.

Regardless of her business sense, I'm sure Lynda worked hard to please all of her clients despite their budgets. I think you're reading in a bit to what she is saying.

And wedding costs are often higher simply because they know brides will pay the increase.

Fair point. I didn't mean my post as a critique of Lynda at all--I was just trying to explain why that bride with the "low revenue" event might be more stressed and squeaky than the business client with the high-revenue event. And yes, sometimes brides get charged more simply because business know they will pay. But I think more often it's for exactly the reasons you cite--the bride is likely going to want to have more detailed conversations about things like white vs. ivory table linens than a corporate event manager will.

Right, and all Lynda's saying is that the detailed conversations still don't really matter at a wedding vs. a corporate event EXCEPT to the freaking out bride.

lyndausvi · August 2014

I understand the reason. Doesn't change the fact it was twice or more work with a lot less of the revenue. Doesn't mean I didn't give them an awesome experience.

At least where I worked menu costs started out the same for all events. That doesn't mean the event with more people and guaranteed room revenue could not negotiate a better deal. It was a hotel. They make more from room rent then F&B. Higher room rents will offset any discounts they get on F&B.

Since the 2008 crash business event meeting planners very much so care about how much and where their money goes. Often even more so than the brides. They just know to communicate needs better, thus not taking up as much of your time.

@scrunchytheif - yep. This bride was cray-cray. She would blow up my email with little stupid emails that could have been all typed into one email. Then she changed her mind every week. I had 2 binders just of her emails. I had to spend a lot of time making sure I was using the correct info it changed so much. It was a long 9 months planning her wedding.

College credit in Wedding Planning

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