Truly Engaging Wedding Blog

Risk-Taking Before the Big Day…

December 20, 2007 | Categories

I wonder if there is some primal, innate need to do something crazy right before getting married? Are the moments preceding marriage supposed to be the final frontier of adventure and risk?

Is this behavior limited only to grooms or are there brides out there wanting to take extraordinary risks before the wedding day too?

Brian, our graphic artist went rock climbing the weekend before his wedding and ended up getting dropped while on belay falling 20 feet onto sharp rocks landing on the instep of his foot. As if that wasn’t injurious enough, he also ended up requiring a few stitches to his head as well. We watched Brian limp around the office on crutches, in hopes his wounds would heal before the wedding. Thankfully, Brian was able to walk down the aisle with his beautiful bride~ and the stitches didn’t even show.

The early morning before my cousin got married, her soon to be husband decided to clear his head and take a dip in Lake Michigan in Chicago. Unfortunately, he chose an area that was not designated for swimming and I’m sure he was actively regretting his decision when he could not get out of the water while the waves crashed his body against the concrete barrier and rebar. Energy waning, his cries for help went unnoticed for a time, until finally heard by an early morning passerby~ who then alerted two British joggers to help pull him from the cold water. Battered and bruised, he survived his early morning dip and made it to his wedding, much to the relief of my cousin. I’m told, the real pain in the ankles came when having to “walk” around San Francisco on their honeymoon.

Do you agree with these risk takers? Are you planning any precarious behavior right before your wedding day?

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Our Artist in Residence

December 20, 2007 | Categories

Where there is a pool of people, there is a pool of talent. This is probably true where you work and is certainly the case at MagnetStreet where there are musicians, writers, photographers, entrepreneurs, crafters, poets, artists, and more. These talents are mostly explored during their spare time, while wearing completely different hats at MagnetStreet. I’m continually amazed when I learn of someone’s giftedness. The adage~ you can’t judge a book by its cover rings true.

One of our in-house talents is graphic artist, Laura Kivisto. Aside from working in graphics, Laura is also an accomplished painter. Laura brings her talents and years of experience to her designs for MagnetStreet Weddings and more specifically, the Artist Series where her original artwork is found within the save the date designs, wedding invitation collections, notepad favors and thank you cards.

Artist Series:

Style code: INV-11663

Laura’s bio~

Laura was born and raised in Villa Park, Illinois, a small suburb of Chicago. As a child, you could either find her privately practicing her moonwalk, or drawing an endless list of characters. She began painting in oils at age 8. Using slow-drying oils was like painting with butter, but less tasty. Fueled by the need for a quicker drying medium; Laura turned to acrylics. She loves the flexibility of the medium and often manipulates the thickness of the paint to mimic the look of watercolor or oils. Strongly influenced by other female painters like, Artemesia Gentilischi, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’keefe, and Camilla Engman, she developed a passion for realism and story-telling art. Laura studied fine art and design at Illinois State University but left in 1998 to pursue a professional career in both. Soon after, she began showing her art in local galleries, commissioned portraits, and landed a graphics internship at a marketing company.

In the summer of 2001, Laura started working for MagnetStreet as a graphic designer. Designing for the wedding market has allowed her to work in her fun and sometimes dark sense of humor into illustrations. She learned that brides want unique, modern artwork that captures their individual personality.

Laura is now adding her original paintings to the wedding collections that offer brides exclusive design options not found anywhere else.

Click here to view the Artist Series for MagnetStreet Weddings.

Some of Laura’s favorite illustrations:

Check out her original paintings at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkivisto/ and peruse her website http://www.laurakivisto.com/

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Vendors Who Exceed Your Expectations

December 19, 2007 | Categories

Deb is one of our customer care reps. (sales & marketing office in MN) who received this beautiful, large bouquet of flowers. Roses, stargazer lilies, zinnias, delphiniums, mums, carnations, etc… spilling over from a glass vase, wrapped with a purple organza ribbon. Gorgeous! We gathered around her, taking in the colors and scents, speculating on the reasons for receiving these beautiful flowers. No, it was not her birthday, anniversary or an apology gift. These flowers were sent from one of our customers. Cool huh?

This customer appreciated the service she received and decided to take the time and expense to thank Deb with flowers. But, it doesn’t stop there.

We soon find out that this same customer also sent our customer care rep. Michelle and designer, Debbie, (corporate office in IL) a stunning floral array as well. Michelle and Debbie, were able to accommodate all of the customer’s special requests and quickly! Needless to say, this customer was very grateful to Deb, Michelle and Debbie for their coordinated and timely efforts.

Can you believe the size of this sunflower?

We truly do have wonderful customers! Your energy and excitement is ever-apparent and it is fun to be able to bring to you great designs and excellent service! In this case, our wonderful customer chose to show us her appreciation of our services in a tangible way. We love and appreciate to hear from our customers and we usually do so through testimonials. We will never have enough of those~ so keep them coming and continue to let us know how we’re doing! Email brides@MagnetStreet.com

I’ll just go ahead and brag for a moment on the teamwork of our customer care staff! They are great, really! Every day they bring courteousness and professionalism to our customers. Deb (as awesome as she is) could not have processed the order without the help of Michelle (as awesome as she is) who if it weren’t for Debbie, the designer (yes, she’s awesome too) nothing would have happened at all. It is about the coordination of efforts between great staff who communicate and advocate for the customer that is the real means to getting the job done.

They are all fantastic and deserve loads and loads of praise! They do this every day and I for one, am glad this wonderful customer took the time to let them know! On behalf of those involved, we THANK YOU Sue, Chad and Meghan for the beautiful flowers and making the world even a little brighter at MagnetStreet. And, thank you Deb, Michelle and Debbie for a job well done as well as the rest of our customer service and design staff that bring these exact qualities to work every day!

The next time one of your vendors goes above and beyond- let them know. It is a huge encouragement.

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Excellent Customer Service

December 14, 2007 | Categories

I was curious. I asked our customer care staff on the sales and marketing side, just what it is that motivates them in their customer service role. I also asked them if they thought people deserved excellent service and why. With slight variation, the staff here feels that: 1. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. 2. If a customer chooses our store, it is our honor and responsibility to represent the store with professionalism and courtesy. 3. The staff feels proud of the product that MSW provides which in turn, makes it easy to give good service.

We’re an online company so we don’t usually face our customers but we do talk with them Monday-Friday via phone, email, voicemail and live chat. If the body is the sum of its parts, then our customer care team is a major organ.

All metaphors aside, I used to chat with brides all day long about requesting samples, placing orders and discussing changes to existing designs. Many of us are married, recently married or are going to be married. We get the questions, we expect the questions, we welcome the questions.

Brides are a lot of fun and when they’re happy, so are we (lol). High energy, upbeat people are always fun to talk with. This is typically how a bride comes to us- energetic, thrilled to be engaged and loving our designs. Most of the time, they are even happier at the end of this two week relationship~ still engaged, pleased with the service and loving their wedding product. We receive lots of feedback.

Of course, we only desire peaks but the occasional valley is where we learn how to be a better company with improved products and enhanced services.

Having worked in customer service, I understand the importance of feedback~ both positive and negative…

We are pickle lovers at my house~ especially big, juicy, crunchy dill spears. Well, recently we were less than satisfied when we opened a jar filled with mushy ones (plus we had a couple of other issues…) So, trying to be responsible consumers, we emailed the company who responded QUICKLY and to EVERY concern we had. They apologized for the cushy cukes and sent us a coupon for another jar. I was very impressed with this company~ their timely response AND the fact that they took all of our concerns seriously, addressing them clearly and concisely. I will continue to buy their pickles…

Excellent customer service should never go out of style. No matter how popular the company, the restaurant, the name~ you deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully.

Are you getting excellent customer service?

Are you comfortable with your vendors?
Do you feel you can voice your opinions and ideas?
Read their testimonials. Is there a pattern to their services that fits your needs?
How available are they to contact or talk to? Is it convenient for you or for them?
Are your vendors responsive when you contact them?
Do they offer free samples?
Are your needs and concerns being addressed?
How do they handle mistakes?

As competitive as the marketplace is, we vendors should be honored when someone chooses to use our services. It’s that simple.

Please keep your comments and testimonials coming in, (email

brides@magnetstreet.com) we want to hear from you.

What do you expect when you go into a store~ be it online or in person? What is the most important aspect to receiving customer service? Looking forward to hearing from you!!!

Heidi

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