LARRY JAMES: GUEST BLOGGER

THE BIG "HOWEVER..." ABOUT COSTCO WEDDINGS

Well, it had to happen. When you hear “Costco,” you’re more likely to think of jumbo platters of frozen cocktail wieners, forty rolls of toilet paper, six cornish hens, coffee, dog biscuits, and packages of eight tubes of toothpaste.

As the American purveyor of bulk paper towels, discount tires and hamburger meat, huge carts, tasty food samples galore, Costco is opening a bridal boutique in its warehouses. You’ll find the Waterford crystal next to the tires and mayonnaise. Costco is now in the wedding business.

Care for a “warehouse wedding,” anyone? Perhaps we should call it “Costcouture.”

The cover story in the March 2011 issue of “The Costco Connection” reads, “From Shopping Aisle to Wedding Aisle.”

Now. . . the BIG “However. . .”

Sounds like a great idea and admittedly (I am a Costco member) there are some great bargins there. . .

HOWEVER. . . let me give you some things to think about before you decide to go all-out at Costco for your wedding.

The article focused on current Costco members who have had great experiences using the various services that are available. These couples were primarily those who were “do-it-yourselfers.” Yes, they did save some coins, however they were all burdened with the responsibility of planning every phase of their wedding – that was on top of all the other things that they had to be concerned with that are expected if they are not “do-it-yourselfers.”

The most basic answer to the question “Why DIY? (Do-it-yourself)” would be to save money. AND. . . if all you want to do is save money and accept total responsibility for doing everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) to make your wedding great. . . perhaps it’s a good idea. However, I recommend that you hire a Wedding Consultant to do all the work for you to make your wedding virtually stress-free!

Costco’s courtship of their wedding clients is short-lived! With CostCo who will follow-up when the wedding cake arrives lopsided? What do you do when you’ve picked the flowers up the night before the wedding and discover the boutineers are missing from the floral order the next morning?

Of course, there are some trade-offs to buying your invitations at Costco. When you go to a printing shop or stationery store, a professional walks you through every step of the invitation process, helping you select paper, ink color, wording and font style. “Getting your invitations from Costco, though, is a solo – and more time-consuming – effort,” says Robyn Bruns, owner of Red Letter Event Planning in Chicago.

To me, CostCo seems to lack the romance and atmosphere one might have dreamed of as they plan for their wedding; it also lack the “personal touch” you get with a professional wedding consultant.

Although the bridal dresses sold at Costco are designer gowns, Maro Ghoukassian, owner of Caprice Bridal Boutique in Glendale, said it would be like if someone “bought Ferragamo shoes and then saw that Payless was selling them.”

If you go with Costco for your wedding, you deserve what you get. Because you do get what you pay for. They sell coffins on-line so why not wedding dresses? Costco is now hawking designer wedding dresses. But don’t worry – you don’t have to buy them in bulk. Clearly a warehouse retailer can do it waaay better than professional planners or wedding consultants can or any bride with any taste who is going to DIY.

NOT!

Do-it-yourselfers. . . Caveat emptor! Caveat emptor is Latin for “Let the buyer beware!”

As I said before, I am a Costco member and I shop there a lot. There are a lot of great bargins there. So. . . the best one? A great wedding gift idea would be to give the Bride and Groom a gift membership to their local Costco store – not for the planning of their wedding but for all the other stuff they will need after they get married. Then – after the wedding – they can buy all the tubes of toothpaste and cartons of toilet paper they want!

Copyright © 2011 – Larry James. This idea is adapted from Larry’s “romantic” Wedding Ceremony. Larry James is an award winning, non-denominational wedding officiant and performs the most “Romantic” wedding ceremony you will find anywhere! Every wedding ceremony is customized to your complete satisfaction. Call to check availability: 480-998-9411 or 800-725-9223. Pre-maritial relationship coaching is available and not required. You will find more than 460 pages of Wedding ideas, tips (90 tips and growing), ceremonies, and more at: http://www.celebrateintimateweddings.com. Something NEW about weddings is posted every 4th day on this Wedding BLOG. Check Larry’s availability.