Weddings at Costco - Seriously?

With the change in the economy over the past couple of years, many people are venturing out into the job market to make an additional income or perhaps looking for a full time job to replace the one they lost.  Some are even looking to start a new career in a completely different market and unfamiliar territory.  The same holds true for businesses.  Many business have noticed consumers cutting back on their spending.  With the decrease in consumer spending, businesses are looking for new ways to get the customer back into the store and spend more money.  Here is a good example of a business going into a new selling market because they want to get their customers to spend more money - - Weddings at Costco -   http://shop.costco.com/Feature/Costco-Weddings.aspx







Would you trust your dream wedding to a warehouse store?  As a professional wedding consultant, I have an opinion about Costco's new venture and here are some reasons why you might want to think twice before you book Costco to handle your big day.

1) Costco's area of interest is warehouse / bulk shopping not weddings.  Is the new trend to sell bulk weddings on Aisle 7?
 * Solution:   Leave your wedding to the professionals.  Weddings come in all sizes and prices.  Wedding professionals can give you suggestions to keep your wedding under budget and still be perfectly unforgettable.  Remember - you get what you pay for.

2) Costco offers Wedding Flowers!   Costco doesn't have in-house floral designers that creates the wedding flowers in the back room of the warehouse. Instead, they deal with vendors that are not even local to your area.  Wedding flowers are shipped to your house or location and are not delivered by a local florists.  Centerpiece

flowers don't come with vases, (that cost extra) but instead you will need to put everything together.  Do you really have time on your wedding day to arrange your wedding centerpieces? What happens if the flowers arrive wilted or damaged? Can you get these flowers replaced in time for the wedding?  Probably not.  Costco states on their website that the flowers will arrive in 100% perfect condition.  I find that a little hard to believe, especially since flowers are so fragile to begin with and placing them in overnight shipping containers is adding to the risk that they will incur damages. 

* Solution: Save yourself the headache.  Work directly with a local florists.  Local florists can offered advice on flowers that are in season and options to keep you on budget with your wedding flowers. 

3) Wedding Cakes by Costco!- Costco now offers brides the option to order tiered cakes for their wedding.  Are you getting nervous yet? I am.  Unless you are a professional cake designer, I would highly discourage you from buying tiered cakes at Costco for your wedding.  Cakes can only be picked up at the local Costco store or shipped to your location.  Cakes are not personally delivered.  Are you ready to set up your wedding cake on your wedding day? Are you absolutely 100% positive that the cake wont' fall over or get damaged in the shipping process?  Instead of getting your hair and make up done the morning of your wedding, you are going to be very busy arranging flowers and setting up the wedding cake.  You thought you were stressed planning the wedding, your "stressed out" day has just begun.  Your perfectly unforgettable wedding has now become a perfect nightmare.

* Solution:  Work with a local bakery or cake designer.  Once again, like all local vendors, they can offer you options to help with your cake budget.  The local baker will also personally deliver and set up the cake to perfection.  No worries about the tiers falling or the cake getting damages in the shipping process.  FYI---The wedding cake photo in this blog is a Costco  wedding cake. It sells for $65 and feeds 16 people.  That is over $4/slice per guest.  You will pay more for your wedding cakes at Costco then working directly with local baker.

The moral of this story - let the local wedding professionals help with your wedding details.  Otherwise, if you decide to have Costco plan your wedding, you might as well stop by the medicine aisle and buy bulk aspirin because you are going to need it! 

Local wedding vendors are highly skilled in their profession and can save you time, money and headaches. You are already spending the time and money to plan your wedding, why not just add a few more minutes to research wedding vendors in your area.  No matter if your wedding is 200+ guests or only 35 guests, let the professionals assist you with making your dream wedding perfectly unforgettable.