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Most wedding vendors provide a selection of packages and pre-made services/products – such as photography packages, pre-designed stationary and particular sizes of cake. But if you want to stand out from your competitors in the crowded wedding market – as well as appeal to a wider clientele of couples – then you should consider offering custom services.

Custom services mean you create unique designs for one couple only. Obviously, all photography work is by nature a custom service, but many stationers, dress designers and other wedding professionals could benefit from offering custom services alongside their “out-of-the-box” packages. Here are a few tips on offering custom design services as a wedding vendor:

Show examples

If you’re claiming to do custom work, then the client will want to see examples of exactly what you can do. If you’re just starting to offer custom work, it pays to create 1-5 examples (depending on time and expense) to photograph for your website/portfolio. You might do these for friends or, for a bit of extra press, send them in to local wedding magazines or bloggers.

Sign on the Dotted Line

With any kind of custom work – and, in fact, most types of wedding services – you need to create a contract that sets out the specifics of the project, the timeframe, the expectations and the payment schedule.

Why is this so important?

It protects both you and the client is expectations don’t match the finished product. For example, say you’re a stationary designer and you are just starting to offer custom designs alongside your standard range of invitations. All is going well with your new custom design client – she’s approved the draft o the design.

You create a final proof and send it to her, but suddenly she’s completely changed her mind – she wants something very different, and because she sees this as part of the proofing process, she doesn’t expect to pay any extra!

Without a contract specifying when and how revisions can be made, and if revisions of a certain scale incur an additional fee, you’re pretty much stuck doing this work to please the client. Make sure you have a contract that specifies in plain language exactly what the client can expect.

Be Prepared to Answer a Lot of Questions

Build extra time into your custom design pricing to allow for the extra work involved. This doesn’t just include the time it takes to create a design or package, but the time to deal with edits/responses from your client and to answer questions. Remember that for most couples, this is the first and only wedding they’ll have – they don’t know how things work. Don’t make them feel stupid for not knowing what to expect – just walk them through the process … probably several times.

Target Higher-End Couples

Custom work often appeals to couples on the higher-end of the budget scale, simply because they have enough money to spend on custom services and they’re often meticulous about obtaining a certain look. Market your custom services to this higher-paying clientele though targeted mailouts, bridal shows and ad campaigns.

Let Your Audience Know

If you’re keen to take on custom work, then tell your fans about your new services! Create a page on your website dedicated to custom work, and make sure a note about custom work is part of all your advertising efforts. Advertise your new custom services on your Facebook page and other social media sites.

Review Your Services

When undertaking custom work, carefully track your time and expenses and make sure you’re making a profit on your services. Many vendors have discovered that taking on custom work below a certain price point is not worth their time – make sure you’re measuring your success and reassess whether custom work is for you or not.

Vendors, do you offer custom services – e.g. for stationary, dresses or jewellery? What have been your experiences? What was the best custom job you ever did?