Setting Standards for the Irish Wedding Industry
There have been recent chatterings among the wedding supplier community in Ireland discussing the notion of a possible self-regulating federation for the Irish wedding industry. This blog post will attempt to explain why I believe this would be a massive challenge for any organisation to take on.
I’m not one to rubbish the genuine efforts of people who want to see this happen, but to win my support and respect, such an organisation would need to be fully transparent and strictly non-profit making.
There are a couple of main issues that initially strike me when I think about regulation of the Irish wedding industry:
- How would a proposed federation handle the complicated regulatory requirements that exist for the numerous different segments of our wedding industry? The wedding car industry immediately springs to mind. There are many different regulatory requirements across the entire spectrum of the Irish wedding industry, it would be a very challenging job to become expert in all of them, and also to keep updated as they change over time.
- How would a proposed federation operate a fair entry requirements policy? Would it be a case that anybody could buy their way in to the federation and proudly slap the official logo on their marketing material? Let’s be honest here. Standards of quality and professionalism vary greatly within all segments of the Irish wedding industry. How would such a federation be able to distinguish between a supplier who offers a good service from a supplier who offers an arguably poorer service? Established standards could be set, but with so many niches in our market, how could such a federation become expert in them all?
There are other points to consider, but I believe these to be the major points initially up for discussion. I would actually refer to them as major barriers to establishing such a federation.
Over to you! What do you think?
Would the wedding industry in Ireland benefit from a self-regulating body? Or would it be a complete waste of time, money and energy? I’d love to hear your opinions on this.
Personal blog of Keith Malone. I write about the business and marketing side of weddings in Ireland.
Love to see some order being introduced into the business!
So, in that case have you coughed up any money to any federation yet Pat?!
No Keith, I have not and won’t be joining this commercial, ‘for profit’, venture.
The wedding cars business is very complex, I would have no faith it the WFI in weeding out cowboys and weekend warriors.
All this kind of federation will do is restrict an already closed industry. I take exception to the term weekend warrior. I am such a soldier. I am quiet talented though and will shortly be a full time professional photographer. This federation though will police people out of the industry who are good talented photographers. Photography is not something you can put regulations. There will always be cowboys. It’s up to the customer to show some sense when choosing. Instead of a regulatory board what should be in place is an advisory board for consumers.
This board will not promote growth in an already ageing and generic industry. Wedding photography in Ireland has become tired and dull and needs the starting out weekend warriors to drag it kicking and screaming into the modern day. Regulate us out and you risk damaging the industry. I spoke to a couple only last week who had actually imported their photographer.
I agree with all you have said Keith. A really difficult ‘ask’! Any area of the wedding industry with relatively low barriers to entry are plagued with weekend warriors. To regulate would be impossible. Perhaps an umbrella group that could oversee the various already established organizations.
This would require other spheres of the industry establishing their own overseeing bodies. I know even within the videography industry there has been issues getting an association established.
I suppose a ‘crawl before you walk’ ethos should be adopted.
Cormac