You want me to pay WHHAT?

Recently I had the chance to attend a beautiful wedding.  Every detail was thought of; Every "T" was crossed; Every "I" dotted.  There must have been a minimum of 500 people there.  Not only did they have a fully stocked candy bar (complete with piles and piles of homemade cookies), they had at least 4 sheet cakes to provide cake to everyone.  Bottles of champagne were flowing freely, and the music never stopped.

After attending this glorious affair, I started to think about my own upcoming wedding.  And then to my budget. Then I thought, "Why are weddings so flipping expensive?" Everything I've looked at so far is marked up to an ungodly amount.  If you say "wedding" anywhere in a conversation with someone, that will automatically make the price triple. To me, this is flat out crazy.  I know companies want to make money, but tripling the prices of your regular services is just baffling to me.  Only, and ONLY if you are going above and beyond your regular services by THREE TIMES, does it make sense to the consumer.  We don't want to pay your unreasonable prices.  I want to pay what it's worth.

So while in my spiraling world of bills, reservations and trying to stay on budget, I saw a trailer for "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" by Morgan Spurlock.  What a fascinating idea!  Here's the summary (thanks IMDB.com): "A documentary about branding, advertising and product placement that is financed and made possible by brands, advertising and product placement."  As a marketer, this idea seemed genius.  In the world of film, movies cost a boatload.  So why not get enough sponsorship and product placement to cover the costs, allowing you to not cut off your right hand.  Then, put this idea into the arena of a wedding.  There are save the dates, wedding invitations, tuxes, wedding gowns, flower arrangements, cakes, food, and so much more.  What if you were able to talk to your service providers and use their services if you put their logo on things.  My first thought is flowers - if you have every arrangement have a card tied to it with the name of the company, that wouldn't take up much room and wouldn't be so much in peoples faces.  Next could be the cake - let the cake company do any design they want and even throw their logo on there somewhere - maybe the back side and the front side be your names.  Most people only see the cake for a few minutes in pictures, and then it's eaten and gone.  Another thing you could do would be to brand the invites.  Most cards come with logos on them anyway (Hallmark, 123greetings.com) so it wouldn't really be anything new.


I'm sure there are many more ideas - like convincing a local news station to stop by your main event and have the service providers names prominently displayed like Morgan Spurlock does with renting out his suit jacket space to advertisers.  And of course, this would take a very special bride and groom.  I would be okay with a few small things, but I'm not sure I'd rent out ad space on my dress.  


Maybe this is why the wedding companies can charge so much for their services.  Most people are willing to pay the money for their "perfect" one special day.  While it is a special day, and you should make it special and unique - if it comes at the cost of spending all of your money, taking out loans, or even selling some of your possessions to pay for it, I say, step back, take a moment and remember - the wedding is only one day, the marriage is for a lifetime.


But it's still an idea that I'd like to see someone try :)  I'll keep you posted on whether or not I was able to accomplish any myself.


Love and slices of cake,
Me

Innovation Constipation

Gross, right?

Well I needed something to get your attention.

What does "innovation constipation" even mean? It means that while there is innovation, great ideas, fresh thoughts, earth shattering, groundbreaking, fly-me-to-the-moon discussions, somewhere along the line, they get stuck.  Hence constipation.  It may be yourself, tossing a great idea on the back burner.  It may be your boss telling you that it's not in the budget.  It may even be a friend or co-worker saying your innovation isn't worth spending time on.

It's time to take that laxative.

Now, while ideas and innovation for ideas and innovations sake is not really where I'm going, my point is that even though your ideas get stopped, stepped on, thrown around, regurgitated, and spit out, it doesn't mean that it was a bad idea.  If your idea is solving a problem, simplifying a process, helping out the company or consumer, then you are on the right track.  For every 100 ideas, there is usually 1 that is that magic solution.  Keep offering your help, and I believe that some ideas will actually end up getting on a testing board.  If you think it's worthy of implementation, talk about it! Share it.  You might not be able to implement it, but I be there is someone out there who can!

As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.  It took it about 500 years from it's founding to become a powerful city.

And while your idea, innovation, solution shouldn't take 500 years to develop, keep refining it and molding it so one day it can be implemented and help out those you intended.  I have hope that while we continue to have ideas, that if you keep talking about them, revisiting them, and reworking them, that someday you can take it, and implement it.  So never stop innovating.  Your next idea might just change the world.

Summary:  Innovation is good. Take the proverbial laxative. Don't give up. Stay positive. Change the world.

Editors note:  I like to look at the world through rose colored glasses, so please, join me.  If you have an idea you feel should be implemented, go for it! I am all for the implementation, and believe we need more of it.  Keep the brain waves a-flowin'!

Why Does This Even BOTHER Me?

Ok. Recently at work, we've had people put up fun articles or sayings to read in the women's bathroom stall doors. Really inventive, as sometimes you just need something funny :) It makes me think of reading advertisements while I'm in a public bathroom. It keeps the trip to the bathroom fun and interesting. At least I don't have to stare at the floor or the ugly walls. Hum. I digress.

Reason for this whole post is not because of the articles in the bathroom (I really like those!), but most recently, while reading this month's little stall door article, I got "clentch-my-teeth" mad! Why? A really dumb and silly reason, such as not liking when articles tell me how to feel or how I'm reacting to their article. All I know is I was seeing the world in red after I left the room. Ok, so maybe not that mad, but I was slightly peeved.

Here is the article in question: http://www.laughitout.com/2010/01/you-know-you-are-living-2010-when.html

After reading this article I bet you were laughing yourself silly.

You are posting this article on Facebook right now!

You called your friend to tell her how much you are laughing at this story.

See. Isn't that annoying?! I'm not sure about you, but I REALLY hate when articles I'm reading are telling me what I'm doing! Please read on to see what was going on in my head.

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing. [No I'm not. In fact I think this list is kind of pointless.]

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message. [Yes, my blog to make fun of it. Or the trash can... it's a toss up.]

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list. [Actually, this one is right. I didn't notice, but really, who wants to count the number of lines on a list, let alone be called out on paper for doing it... I sure don't. Thanks for making me feel like crap list.]

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list. [That I did, because I thought the list would be lying to me, and then the number after this was, "HAHA we totally tricked you! There is a #9, you are so gullible!" I was preparing myself for the shame.]

~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~ [You know those '~' symbols represent something mathematically, even if it is "rough estimate, poorly approximated." Please respect their origins and don't use them to accent your text. That's what bolding and italics are for. See: this blog post.]

NOW U R LAUGHING AT YOURSELF! [This is the part that really got me. A) Don't tell me what I'm laughing at, especially if it's at myself! B) Can you please spell out the words "you" and "are." Your list just lost whatever credibility it had left by using "text speak" in a post. I'm all for abbreviations, but I really hate when people don't write full sentences when they are using a word editor. To me, Twitter and speed texting is one of the only places to use "u" for "you" and "r" for "are"]

Is it just me or does anyone else feel this way? Of course, it's just some random article on a bathroom wall, but every time I see it I want to take it down! This is the smallest thing in the world - and I shouldn't let it bother me, so instead, I wrote this post to allow the article to bother YOU! Hooray!

Lots of love and pieces of chocolate,

Me