Here comes wedding season

As we enter the new year and are recovering from what I hope was a successful holiday period, we take time to set up for 2025, tidy up the store, and check and reorder inventory. Please understand that I love my job. I really do. There’s one thing, though, that has irritated me since I switched from my engineering career to owning a retail business. There is always the next holiday, special event, or occasion we need to prepare for.

But wait! Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, and it comes with marriage proposals, wedding planning, and weddings. Make no mistake, this is another period that can prove very profitable!

It goes without saying that these very special and personal items are completely driven by the couple-to-be or the person placing the order. Other than very basic options such as graphic choice or font, I leave the choices up to the customer. There are a lot of things we can offer for the newly engaged and their upcoming nuptials. Don’t forget to offer gifts that friends of the happy couple might purchase as wedding party gifts. Engagement presents are also popular, and don’t forget anniversaries either!

Wedding products

What should you offer? I think we can break down our offerings into a couple of categories: decorative and practical. Although they are often intended to be practical gifts, crystal or glass decanters, glassware, cutting boards, butcher blocks, pewter plates or bowls, etc., often end up as decorative gifts. I can’t tell you how often I’ve prepared an engraved cutting board, butcher block, or custom piece and provided the appropriate care instructions, only to be told, “This is much nicer than I thought. It’s going to be hung up in the kitchen and not used.”

Decorative wall plaques and shields, mirrors, pewter or glass cups, bowls, plates, crystal or glassware, and wedding favors work very well. In the United Kingdom, engraved coat hangers have become popular. The choices of what to do are virtually limitless. You can offer text only, graphic only, or a combination of the two. What wood choices and size do they want? If you have a good photo engraving package, that can present another option. Do you offer color fill or not? If you’re fortunate enough to have access to any specific types of graphics, make sure you offer that to make your product even more personal.

• Wall plaques & shields: I personally don’t believe “award-style” plaques and shields (wooden plaques with a painted metal plate) are suitable for this purpose. There are several suppliers who offer plaques and shields in a variety of solid wood, and I think that solid wood provides such a rich look. Wood also offers the option of selective color fill.
• Mirrors offer a choice that most people won’t think of. If you haven’t tried engraving a mirror before, I would respectfully suggest you give it a go! There are a couple of options for mounting a mirror and, depending on the size of your furniture, several shapes and sizes to consider. One thing I like to do is to fit the mirror into a frame. Most frames are designed with the thought that it’s a certificate or photograph that will be installed. Such a frame will not readily accept a mirror secured by a conventional backing because the mirror is simply too thick. To avoid splitting the frame, you must widen the slot where the hinged clips will fit. There isn’t a lot of material to work with, so great care must be taken when widening the slot. If you are going to err, err so that the bulk of the material is taken from the inside of the slot. Then, if the frame fails, the hinge clips will still be secured, but if the frame fails on the outside of the slot, there is virtually nothing for the clip to fit against. A razor, knife, or very narrow grinding fixture or cutting tool on one of the readily available small rotary tools works very well.
• Pewter or stainless steel: Cups, bowls, plates, and flasks are great choices, but remember that your only option may be to use a marking compound. Some manufacturers provide special optics, or hybrid machines, that will engrave in much the same way as a rotary engraver, but I have no personal experience with these options.
• Crystal & glass: Decanters and the wide range of barware available are extensive and lend themselves to being great gifts for the wedding party or for the couple. Perhaps the most popular gift we prepare for weddings is personalized champagne flutes, and again, there is the option for graphics and/or text. In some cases, my wife, Mary Jo, has embellished the flutes with special ribbons.

Customizing a special item

The elephant in the room, of course, is what to do when a customer comes in with a piece of Granny’s crystal or some other custom piece they might have made just for the occasion. No matter the project, I always advocate discussing all the potential problems that might arise. But I believe something being done for a wedding is even more important.

The first point to emphasize with your customers is that their pieces may not be replaceable if something goes wrong. Crystal ordered just for the event can be reordered, but an heirloom or handmade item could be “one and done.” Problems can include crystal shattering, glass cracking, and the myriad of things that can go wrong with working with a type of wood you may not be familiar with.

You may want to prepare something for the customer to sign, advising the customer that they’ve been made aware of potential issues and that they understand you won’t be responsible for the loss of custom pieces. You don’t want to be on the hook for a $1,000 piece of crystal or something else that’s irreplaceable.

This might cause a customer to think again or even try another engraver, but you need to weigh the potential of damaging or destroying their item against your reputation. A satisfied customer may not say anything about your work, but a dissatisfied customer is likely to tell everyone they know. It’s best not to take the chance.

Marketing

Marketing your services is paramount for this specific market. It is very important to share your marketing materials with wedding venues, restaurants, hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and wedding planners. I have been fortunate enough to have an agreement with a couple of B&Bs where I engrave custom champagne flutes for their newly married guests.

Prominent displays in your shop are essential. In our case, our engraving work is a service we offer through our wider retail store, and we get a lot of business from walk-ins who come in looking for something else entirely.

Weddings are one of the most meaningful niche markets we work with on a regular basis. The number of thanks and appreciation we receive from recently married couples, couples celebrating anniversaries, and families is gratifying and helps us as we jump from one holiday or special occasion to the next.