Maximizing Your Wedding Shower: Tips for Managing Orders and Deliveries

[cincychef]

I got a call from a new consultant doing her first bridal shower in a few weeks. The bride is from another state so all the free product and gifts will be shipped to her, but she wants to encourage all the guests to buy for themselves too.

The way I have handled this in the past is to have everyone place their orders. Then I divide all the orders into two big orders and have the bride's gifts go in as one big order in her name and ship it to the brides state along with the free product (the bride's the host) Then I put all the other orders in as one name and have them direct shipped to one address (either me or the host of the shower) and someone delivers them. Usually everyone paying shipping covers the direct shipping cost. This may not be the "proper" way to do this, but the times this has happened to me it has been thrown at me last minute (like after I take the orders :yuck

My new consultant isn't really comfortable doing it this way, do you have any other ideas???
Thanks!

 

[Sheila]

I would recommend doing a guest order with everything they want + shipping, charging them & then moving the brides order off each guest order over to one big bride order. That way, each guest has their item in their own name for warranty purposes, the bride has all her items in her name for warranty purposes and the guests are charged what they would have paid had you put their "gift" for the bride on their own order. If you have extra money left over (from extra direct shipping rates), let the bride pick more stuff!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I think, if I understand what she is saying, that I do it similar to Sheila.

At the shower, I key everything in as normal. I have a special order form that I use for Bridal Showers (I'll attach it) so that the guests can separate out what they want for themselves from what they are purchasing for the bride.

The bride is always listed as a co-host, with whoever is actually throwing the shower listed as the host. The groom is also set up as a guest - using the address where the bride and grooms order will be shipped.

Everyone gets a total with the $4.50 shipping. They only get the guest special though if their personal order is $60 or more.(not counting what they are ordering for the bride). Some people only order for the bride, and they are also charged the $4.50 shipping.

After all the orders are keyed in, and all the payment methods also, then I pull back out all of products ordered for the bride, and put them under the groom's name, with direct shipping.

Then, the bride's order is all of the free & half-off product that was earned. Her order is also direct shipped.

Finally - everyone else's order is shipped to the host - who can disperse those orders out to everyone.

It usually evens out in the end - because although there are direct shipping charges for the bride and groom's orders, there were also people who were charged shipping for their order, but ONLY ordered for the bridal couple. If there is a bit of a negative balance, then usually the host will just make up the difference.

I do several Bridal showers a year, and this has been the best way for me to work with it, when the bride is in a different location.


**Sorry - it won't let me upload the file...I'm not sure why???

 

[Sheila]

I wouldn't do the groom, I'd make the bride a guest - that way ALL the items that they get are all in the same name for warranty purposes. They don't have to worry about who had what on their orders. It's also easier if the guests are far away & doing Direct shipping to make the bride the host. That way you can "ship to host" her gift items and then she gets free shipping on the host benefits. It could save a FORTUNE in direct shipping rates.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I've never yet had a shower where the guests are all far away and the bride is local. If there is a difference in location, it's usually relatives and friends local, and the bride is the one at a distance. Making the bride the co-host has always worked out the best - she gets her host benefits, but there is still a local address for mailing the guests products. I've only once had there be a deficit in the shipping, and the brides MIL, who was acting as host, paid the difference. It was only about $6 or so. I do about 8-10 Bridal showers a year - so this is all just from my experience....

Of course, if guests are long distance and ordering for the bride, then they would expect to pay direct shipping for their order - BUT I've found that when guests are ordering online, they almost always are just ordering for the bride anyway...so the shipping doesn't really become an issue.

 

[Sheila]

I'm still not used the the "ship to host" option being an option! LOL The military prohibits that. And, being in Japan - it's pretty darn rare to see someone with family in the same country!

 

[cincychef]

Thanks for the ideas ladies! I do it almost the same as Becky I just flip flop the direct ship so the guests order was one order direct ship. The reason it worked best for this particular shower, is because the order for the bride was almost $600!! So that would have been over $60 in direct shipping, but the orders for the guests were only 3 items. So it made the most sense to direct ship the guests order. I will pass on both ideas to this girl. She might be most comfortable with charging direct shipping to everyone, I don't like to do that, but it at least gives her another option. Becky can you email me the form? [email protected]

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Thanks for the ideas ladies! I do it almost the same as Becky I just flip flop the direct ship so the guests order was one order direct ship. The reason it worked best for this particular shower, is because the order for the bride was almost $600!! So that would have been over $60 in direct shipping, but the orders for the guests were only 3 items. So it made the most sense to direct ship the guests order. I will pass on both ideas to this girl. She might be most comfortable with charging direct shipping to everyone, I don't like to do that, but it at least gives her another option.

Becky can you email me the form? [email protected]

You have mail!