How To Incorporate Your Clients’ Profession In Clever Ways

Let me give you a peak behind the curtain showing how I come up with story ideas.

Normally, I just put “Wedding” into Google News, and skim articles until I find one that speaks to me.

Today, however, I thought to myself, “what if I throw in ‘wedding’ plus a random word or place?”

Hence, this evening’s search was “Wyoming wedding” and it yielded an article in Brides entitled How to Host a (Tasteful) Cocktail-Centric Wedding.

What does this have to do with Wyoming? Well, nothing. It’s just that the article zeroes in on a couple (Dave and Jenna Kaplan) that did indeed host a cocktail-themed wedding, and the writer used as a sort of standard bearer. The groom is from Wyoming.

That writer, Danielle Deavens, picked a good couple to use an example. The groom owns five bars from coast to coast and the bride also works in the spirit industry.

Spirits in general and cocktails in particular play a huge part of their professional lives, and that’s important to remember because otherwise, statements like “Since the moment we started planning, we knew we wanted to have cocktails involved” (Jenna) and “For me and for both of us, cocktails are the basis by which I feel like I impact people’s lives” (Dave) sound incredibly sad.

Indeed, the several times the writer seemed to subtly message, more or less, “Ah ha ha this isn’t a celebration of alcoholism, it’s tasteful and make sure when you do it it’s tasteful too and not a drunkfest!”

So FOR THEM (and perhaps only for them) I think the cocktail wedding was a great idea.

As a wedding pro, can you use your client’s profession to pitch creative ideas?

Yes! You can! Here’s how!:

Don’t Do This For Every Couple

For one, if part of the couple works at Burger King (or Taco Bell!), it’s just going to look like you’re being insulting if you suggest a beef-and-crowns themed wedding.

For two, for a lot of people, their jobs are thankless drudgery or stressful, a means to end rather than a celebration in and of itself. Not everyone owns five bars from coast to coast.

So be prudent when broaching this idea with your clients. Know when to not do this.

Think Outside The Box

You’re a wedding professional, so you’re thinking cap is probably more well-worn than mine. Bride is a pro golfer? Why don’t you emulate the menu of last year’s Masters, which each year is picked by the previous year’s champion?

Groom is an ichthyologist? Maybe there’s an area aquarium that can serve as the venue.

Bride is a mortician? As the florist, make the flowers entirely black!

Okay, maybe don’t do that last one.

Repurpose!

Chances are, any “themed” wedding you have a hand in will have been done by someone, somewhere before.

So research those weddings. Google “Library-themed wedding” or whatever, see what other people have done, and tweak those ideas to make them your own.

Got all that? Great! Now go out and create the best Assistant County Comptroller-themed wedding the world has ever seen!

What successfully themed weddings have you seen?