I got engaged two months ago to my long time girlfriend, Kelly. So now begins the fun and exciting process of planning our wedding (don’t read sarcasm into that, I am actually looking forward to it).

One of the reasons this process promises to be fun and exciting, as well as educating for me, is that I finally get to be on the receiving end of so much communication that I am normally sending. Already, Kelly and I have contacted and met with a number of locations that we are considering for our reception. Seeing how these facilities handle their initial contact, their follow up and their actual face to face appointments has been an eye-opener. And more importantly it tells me we are doing something right at Elite Entertainment. For example, when a contact calls we have a number of predesigned PDFs that we can email them to answer many of their questions and concerns. Also, with the help of Troy Ackerman’s DJ Event Planner, we have a plan in place for consistent follow up.

As I expected, one of Kelly’s first tasks after saying “Yes” to my proposal, was to locate “the perfect wedding dress.” She found a picture of it online, tracked down the designer and then found a dress shop close to us that carries this designer’s line. All this led us to Kleinfeld in New York City. Eager to try the dress on, Kelly contacted Kleinfeld and this is the part of story that made my jaw drop in awe. The first weekend appointment Kelly could get was 6 weeks away. Plus, it was explained to her, she needed to leave a credit card to book the appointment. There’d be no charge if she showed up but if she cancelled, her card would be billed for $50.

While I was impressed that Klienfeld must be in such demand, I would never want Elite to be that elitist. We’ll always do our best to accommodate an appointment as soon as possible. And while cancelled appointments may be a little annoying at times, I can’t ever see enforcing a fee to try to prevent them. The only time you have to give us a credit card is when you’re actually ready to book!