Thesis - Creating services for wedding planner

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Creating

services for a

wedding

planner

Liselotte Laffrée

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Saxion University of Applied Sciences

Creating services for a wedding planner

Author Liselotte Laffrée

Student Number 2432224

Exam Thesis (C)

Client Mr. Heinen (100Tausendlux, Odernichtoderdoch)

Delivered August 16

University Saxion University of Applied Sciences

Academy Hospitality Business School

Course International Tourism Management

1st Examiner Anna Yuricheva

2nd Examiner Visnja Schampers

Research Teacher Rienk van Merle

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Preface

This thesis has been drawn up in line with my Tourism Studies at the Hospitality School of Saxion University of Applied Sciences. This report will give an insight of the thesis project in cooperation with the startup company of Mr. Heinen. I faced a challenging task with the execution of this project that also combined many aspects of my studies. First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Heinen for his trust in my abilities and his support as to this project. Mr. Heinen gave me a lot of freedom and supported me with all information I needed. I would also like to thank my thesis supervisor, Anna Yuricheva, for the support and motivation during this report and for her feedback. The meetings and the conversations were very helpful and she pushed me in the right direction and gave me tips for my research.

Steinfurt, 20.08.16

Changes:

- Desk research: trends and developments - Research: results

- Advice: Alternative Solutions, Choice of solutions - Concept design

T

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Executive Summary

Several companies, 100Tausendlux, Odernichtoderdoch, and Lichtpoesie, have started up recently in Münster, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in northwestern Germany. Their owner, Niklas Heinen, intends to set up a wedding planning organization, and thereby create a unique service. The management has therefore formulated the following question:

What kind of service should be created to motivate bridal couples to hire a wedding planner for their wedding?

To answer this question, the author has re-formulated this as a research question as follows:

Which service by a wedding planner organization would motivate bridal couples to hire a wedding planner for their wedding?

To gain an insight into the topic and concept, an inventory was made of the current trends and developments in the wedding industry. The results are presented in the conclusion of the research part of this thesis. Not only do they focus on the trends and developments, but also on the services offered in North Rhine-Westphalia and by the competitors in the region of Münster.

The project is based on the motivation of newlywed couples who had hired a wedding planner for their weddings. This gives an insight into what a wedding planner service had to be like and the services that were preferred by the bridal couples.

The recommended process for organizing a wedding focuses on a concept design process. Thereby, this kind of process focuses on the research, design, and evaluation of a new service for companies. After evaluating two different developments, the researcher decided to elaborate on the wedding workshop service for bridal couples.

After having decided on the kind of service, the researcher explains the wedding workshop process. The advice given includes presenting the financial implication and the costs and revenue of the service. The advice also explains the concept design process, including all of the steps regarding this thesis project. This research project could be interesting also for other wedding planner organizations within North Rhine-Westphalia.

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1 Table of content

1 INTRODUCTION 3

1.1 ABOUT THE CLIENT 3

1.2 THE MANAGEMENT ISSUE 4

1.3 THESIS PROJECT AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 4

1.4 GLOBAL WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS) 5

1.5 READING GUIDE 5

2 RESEARCH 6

2.1 SEARCH METHODS 6

2.2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.2.1 STRATEGY AND PROCESS OF A WEDDING PLANNER ORGANIZATION 6

2.3 DESK RESEARCH 8

2.3.1 TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS OF WEDDING PLANNER ORGANIZATIONS 8

2.4 CONCLUSION 13

3. FIELD RESEARCH 15

3.3.1 METHODOLOGY 15

3.3.2 STRATEGY OF FIELD RESEARCH 16

3.3.3 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION 17

3.3.4 OPERATIONALIZATION 18

3.3.5 MEASURING INSTRUMENT 18

3.3.6 SELECTION OF RESEARCH UNITS 18

3.4 CONCLUSION 20 3.5 RESULTS 18 3.6 DISCUSSION 24 4 ADVICE 26 4.1 ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS 26 4.1.1 EVALUATION OF SOLUTIONS 27 4.1.2 CHOICE OF SOLUTION 28 4.2 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 28 4.2.1 PDCA CYCLE 28 4.3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS 30

5 CONCEPT DESIGN PROCESS 33

6 AFTERWORD 34

6.1 REFLECTION ON DAY-TO-DAY PRACTICE 34

6.2 REFLECTION ON VALUE OF THE THESIS 35

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2

Appendices

1. AAOCC

2. Operationalization

3. Interview guide

4. Open Coding

5. Axial coding

List of tables and figures

Figure 1.1. Client company description ... 3

Figure 1.2. Global Work Breakdown Structure ... 5

Figure 2.1. A suggested categorization of special events ... 7

Figure 3.1. Design Process ... 15

Figure 3.2. Research process ... 17

Table 2.1. Wedding motives ... 8

Table 2.3.1. Wedding planner services in the Netherlands ... 11

Table 2.3.2. Wedding planner services in Germany, NRW ... 12

Table 3.4.1. Structuring ... 19

Table 4.1. Evaluation of Alternatives ... 25

Table 4.2.1. Overview of things the do and checking phase ... 29

Table 4.2.2. Overview of tasks of the act phase ... 27

Table 4.3.1. Overview of staff costs for bridal couples’ workshop ... 31

Table 4.3.2. Monthly costs of a workshop of max. 10 persons held twice a month ... 29

Table 5.1. Concept design process for the wedding workshop ... 33

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3 1 Introduction

1.1 About the Client

The company structure by Niklas Heinen is divided into three different companies. The figure below (Figure 1.1) describes the setup of these companies.

Figure 1.1. Client company description

100KLX (also called 100tausendlux)

100tausendlux GmbH is a young, dynamic, and creative content agency which focuses on advertising, social media, image and brand building marketing, and campaigns. The agency specializes in producing social media content. It is a fast-growing company, which also owns the sub companies, Lichtpoesie UG and Odernichtoderdoch GmbH.

Lichtpoesie

Lichtpoesie is owned by one of the most acclaimed photographers in the German federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) and in Germany. The company focuses on wedding and portrait photography and offers different workshop within this segment. Moreover, Lichtpoesie also owns their own model agency, which is called Lichtpoesiegesichter.

Odernichtoderdoch

The online magazine, www.odernichtoderdoch.de, is one of the most visited lifestyle blogs in Germany. Aside from the lifestyle blog, the online shop of Odernichtoderdoch offers around 80 products and was created as a modern social e-commerce company. The creative design of this lifestyle blog is done by its owner, Joana Gröblinghoff. Within her blog, she describes her steps leading to the independence of the company. In February 2015, she created her own first desk pad design for her workplace, which had led to the production of stationery supplies. The blog and the online shop create a unique blend of community, content, and online shop. Joana and her team design unique stationery supplies, creative gifts, and amusing postcards. This team also concentrates on blog entries, Instagram, and Snapchat, all of which contributes to the adventures of their daily routine. The involvement of the customers’ feedback is very important for the company and offers the design team an opportunity to create new ideas for their products. Therefore, social commerce is an essential element for the success story of Odernichtoderdoch GmbH, and this also influences the annual turnover in a positive way.

100tausendlux

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4 1.2 The Management Issue

The wedding industry in North Rhine Westphalia (also called NRW) is growing, and more couples marry nowadays. According to IT.NRW (n.d.), around 82,322 couples had married in 2014, which is an increase of 2,427 over 2013. As there are many wedding planners in NRW, it is important to set oneself apart from the competitors. The company owner would like to set up a wedding planner business, but has no experience within the wedding planner industry other than wedding photography. It is important for the client to create a unique service for the target group in order to be different from other wedding planners in North Rhine Westphalia. The company would like to gain an insight into the wedding planner service for creating a special product for their customers, as well as gain an insight into the motivation of the bridal couples and why they would hire a wedding planner. A wedding planner offers differentiated services, which can only organize a part of the wedding, the whole wedding, or help out on the wedding day itself. This also means a differentiating the budget, as it is important to gain an insight into the costs of a wedding planner for a bridal couple. The cost of a wedding planner starts at € 5,000 and has no upper limit. Matters like the wedding budget could influence the bridal couple’s motivation to hire a wedding planner. Therefore, it is important for the startup company to analyze these kinds of matters before devising a suitable service to start a wedding planner organization.

1.3 Thesis Project and Research Objectives

As there are a large number of wedding planner organizations in North Rhine-Westphalia, the wedding planner should offer a different, unique service. As of right now, all organizations have the same offering, which all focus on creating an event.

The advice objective is: This objective is to contribute toward creating a new service for bridal couples, offered by wedding planner organizations, by devising a concept design process for wedding planner organizations. This will influence and increase the motivation of bridal couples to hire a wedding planner by creating new, special services, such as workshops.

The research objective is to contribute toward developing a new service for a wedding planner organizations within the wedding industry. This will increase the motivation of the bridal couples to hire a wedding planner by focusing on the motivations of newlywed couples for hiring a wedding planner. The main research question is: Which service of a wedding planner organization would motivate bridal couples to hire a wedding planner for their wedding?

Research has already shown insight into the situation of weddings and wedding planners in NRW. Therefore, literature and field research will be conducted to answer the above-mentioned research question.

The literature research that will be used to investigate the process of a wedding planner organization will focus on trends and developments. Therefore, the following questions are expected to be answered:

• What is a concept design, and what are the steps of a concept design process? • _{What are the process and steps of a wedding planner?}

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• What are the trends and developments of wedding planner organizations?

• What kind of services do wedding planner organizations offer near North Rhine-Westphalia? The field research will focus on improving the service, the needs of the clients, and the value creation. The field research is expected to answer the following questions:

• To what extent is the motivation to marry related to the motivation to hire a wedding planner? • What is a bridal couple’s motivation to hire a wedding planner in NRW?

1.4 Global Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Given time the frame, the Global Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is useful for planning this research. Figure 1.2 below shows a Work Breakdown Structure based on this project, including the sub-projects. This planning process will be discussed later in Chapter 5, the Project Planning.

Figure 1.2. Global Work Breakdown Structure (own source)

1.5 Reading Guide

First, the theoretical framework will describe the search methods used for the literature research, including the different steps, such as the search engine, search terms, and the evaluation of the search results. In the same chapter, a literature review will be given, detailing the core concepts of this research and the relationships among these core concepts. The next chapter concerns the field research, describing its aim, chosen strategy, and methods of data collection. Thereafter, the operationalization of core concepts will be explained by discussing a sampling plan, a description of data methods, as well as the data analysis. In addition, an advisory chapter within this thesis proposal will describe and discuss the aim as well as an overview of elements to be included in the advisory report. The last chapter will relate to project planning, presenting an overview of the thesis project, including a detailed work breakdown structure as well as an overview of activities related to time planning.

Theoretical

Framework

Search Select Record Analyze Discuss Refer

Field

Research

Research Question Research strategy Collect data Analyze Data Conclusion

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6 2 Research

2.1 Search Methods

The main search method for this research are the search engines: Google Scholar, Google books, and the online library of the Saxion University of Applied Sciences. These search engines are used to find out qualified articles, books, and other publications. Several factors can have an influence on the search method:

• Putting the search term in quotation marks, “...” àThe results will show the combination entered

• _{Putting the search term between a quotation mark and an asterisk, “…”*} àThe results will show the words that start with the term entered • _{Putting AND between the search terms}

àAND narrows the search by combining the terms • Putting OR between the search terms

àThe results will show one OR both terms

To search for the specific material to research, these search terms have been considered: • Concept design

• _{Concept design process} • Process of wedding planning • Event management models

The AAOCC criteria (shown in Table 1 in Appendix I) will help to increase the validity and reliability of the literature review.

2.2 Literature Review

2.2.1 Strategy and process of a wedding planner organization

First, it is important to gain an understanding of a strategy in general. The Free Dictionary by Farlex (n.d.) describes strategy as “a plan of action resulting from strategy or intended to accomplish a specific goal.” Moreover, the Business Dictionary (n.d.) has two definitions:

- “A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution of a problem.”

- “The art and science of planning and marshalling resources for their most efficient and effective use. The term is derived from the Greek word of generalship or leading an army. “

According to De Witt & Com (2006, quote: Saayman, 2002), “strategy gives direction to an organization which considers the changes in the environment it operates”. Barmwell (1997) explained strategic planning as “a formal and deliberate process of explicit analysis and decision-making based on working logically and sequentially through a number of steps to develop and then implement a plan”. Translated

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to the event industry, “strategy is a crucial aspect of event planning and management” and focuses on “ideas, insights, experiences, goals, expertise, memories, perceptions and expectations [...]” (Wale, Robinson, Dickson, 2014).

To focus on the strategy and process of a wedding planner organization, it is important to gain an insight into wedding planners. According to dictionary.com (n.d.), “a wedding planner can make all arrangements for a busy bride and groom.” The Cambridge Dictionary Online (n.d.) explained that a wedding planner is “a person or a company whose job is to organize weddings for other people.” The strategic planning process of a wedding planner organization is defined by different packages (Daniel & Loveless, 2014, p.6). According to Daniel and Loveless (2014, p.6), the main three different packages are: “comprehensive, partial and day-of-packages.” The packages are descried as follows:

- Comprehensive package: the consultant’s involvement begins early in the planning process and extends up to and often beyond the wedding day.

- Partial package: clients generally already have a sense of their theme and are comfortable handling some of the details on their own, but are often stuck along the way in terms of pinpointing and selecting the appropriate service providers for their vision and budget.

- “Day-of” package: This is increasingly common and is designed for clients who have completed the planning process on their own, yet desire assistance and coordination during rehearsal, ceremony, and reception.

According to Witt and Com (2006, p. 62), “wedding tourism is growing globally and can be categorized as a special event”. Shone and Parry (2004) have created a figure which shows the categorization of the special events:

Figure 2.1. A suggested categorization of special events (Shone & Parry, 2004)

According to De Witt and Com (2006, quote: Silver, 2004), “the wedding experience must be planned by anticipating the client’s needs, wants and expectations, and then arrange all the components of a wedding and add layers of detail to each component in order to provide a memorable wedding”. Wolf and Wolf (2005) analyzed that there are seven components to a wedding, which should be considered: ceremony, reception, wedding attire, guests, accommodation, transport, and entertainment. Lilicrap,

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Cousins & Smith (2002) reported that the wedding planner plays an important role in the customer’s satisfaction and creating a memorable experience.

2.3 Desk Research

This chapter focuses on the trends and developments in the wedding industry. Not only are these relevant for this thesis, but also the offer of wedding planner organization near the borders of North Rhine-Westphalia. There are also wedding planner organizations that organize weddings for bridal couples which can give an overview of the services of the other wedding planners. The sources were found on the Internet due to that the wedding planner industry is a unique and new service.

The desk research will help to answer the following questions:

• _{What are the general trends and developments of wedding planner organizations in North} Rhine-Westphalia?

• _{What kind of services do wedding planner organizations offer near North Rhine-Westphalia?}

2.3.1 Trends and developments of wedding planner organizations

According to Nave-Herz (1994) and Bohlmann (2015), a wedding can be seen as a rite of passage into a new life situation. Nave-Herz (2004) reported that a wedding symbolizes that new rights and statutory duties exist.

Schneider and Rüdiger (2007) devised a table describing the motives for marrying. They divided these motives into benefit orientation, value orientation, and spontaneous-emotional. As shown in Table 2.3.1 below, the total percentage of a benefit orientation wedding is 33.2%. Around 31.4% have the motive of a wedding as value orientated, and 35,4% are marrying due to spontaneous-emotional motive. This shows why the couples are marrying, and what is important for these bridal couples.

Table 2.3.1: Motives for marriage

Category of wedding motive Motive Percentage

Benefit orientation Rational calculus 8.5%

Children-orientated 10.5%

Avoidance of physical separation 14.2%

Value orientation Traditional ritual 16%

Biographical implicitness 15.4%

Spontaneous-emotional “rite de conformation” 13.5%

Spontaneous decision 7.7%

Because of love 14.2%

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Increasingly, brides think it necessary to have a big, white wedding (Engstrom, 2008). According to Howard (2006), the wedding industry has grown into a commercial industry, which can easily make many forget the real meaning behind the vows they are taking.

According to Bahlmann (2015), bridal couples want to represent a unique event and want to pay attention to quality and exclusivity. These aspects lead to representative character. Remberg (1995) explored that wedding games are an upcoming trend, which increase the field of entertainment. The development of media also influences the wedding industry, due to TV shows like “Traumhochzeit” and other reality shows of VIPs (Reichertz, 2009). Röser (1994) reported that a theme wedding is a new adventure and has developed into a unique creation. The German wedding industry in general is described as a rising growth market. According to Bahlmann (2015), a high media presence of the wedding industry can be established due to the increase of internet usage, and the wedding industry acquires new product ideas and trends yearly, for instance, giveaways for the wedding guests during the wedding.

Ruonala (2013) distinguishes between smaller and broader trends within the wedding industry. Smaller trends are “wedding colors, themes, floral arrangements, and beauty styles” (Ruonala, 2013), whereas the broader trends focus on the “budget” and the “venue location”. According to Engstrom (2008), the budget decides how big and extravagant the wedding will be. “Many families save for years and spend considerable sums on wedding clothing and receptions, even though the event itself is short lived” (Currie, 1993). Dosh (2008) explained that brides are spending more time in the wedding planner process to avoid any extra spending. As already mentioned, the other broader trend are the venue locations. According to Ruonala (2013), “couples can choose to be traditional or creative with their venues as they wish”. According to Daniels and Loveless (2007), couples choose their venue based on the wedding theme. Another trend are destination weddings, often in an exotic or popular tourism destination (Daniels & Loveless, 2007). These venues should be settled early to be flexible with the dates. Daniels and Loveless (2007) established the top ten wedding destination of 2012, which were hotels, country clubs, banquet halls, historic buildings, garden sites, restaurants, resorts, plantation sites, personal residence, and museums.

According to the research of Ruonala (2013), other trends are the “glamorous” trend, a “do-it-yourself” trend and a “natural” trend. Ruonala explained these trends as follows:

- Glamorous trend: bold colors, photo booths, signature cocktails, live bands

- Do-it-yourself (DIY) & natural trend: vintage details, wildflower arrangements, circular ceremonies, outdoor weddings, neutral colors

Nikolaeva’s (2015) research focuses on the technology used within the wedding industry: the “most modern couples are digital natives and use online and mobile services on a daily basis”. One of the newest technologies within the wedding industry is the WedTech tool, which is explained by Nikolaeva (2015) as follows:

- Build a wedding website

- Send digital wedding invitations - Organize the guest list and table plan - Find a unique wedding venue

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Another trend is a fairy-tale wedding and includes a castle (Julien, 2016). “Inspired, perhaps, by the fantasy castles in shows like “Game of Thrones” couples have been planning their weddings in real ones.” A lot of castles like the Highclare Castle and the Alnwick Castles are favorite places for weddings. According to the magazine “Freundin” (n.d.) there are different possibilities to marry:

• _{Marrying in an Ice Chapel in Finland}

• _{Marrying in a glass elevator above the Sealife Centers in Berlin} • _{Marrying in a stadium for example in a soccer stadium} • Marrying in a circus tent

• _{Marrying in a lighthouse}

Another journal of the “Freundin” (n.d.) explains that it is also possible to marry in an airplane. Some airline companies offer to marry and to celebrate their wedding above the clouds. Another alternative is to marry in a hot air balloon or in a helicopter.

2.3.2. Services within the border country of North Rhine-Westphalia

One country that borders North Rhine-Westphalia is the Netherlands. The Netherlands have different wedding planner organizations that create a unique service for their bridal couples. These include four well-known wedding planner organizations, which are Bloom Wedding, Het Bruidsmeisje, Fabuloes Weddings, and Wedding Planner Ilse. Table 1 (Wedding planner services in the Netherlands) below shows the different services which they offer to their clients. The Dutch wedding planners all offer the wedding planner A-Z, which means that they organize the whole wedding for the bridal couple. Two wedding planners, Bloom Wedding and het Bruidsmeisje, offer a service called styling and decorating the wedding. This kind of service focuses on the decorations of the venues that also includes the decoration of the furniture, accessories, and the lightning of the venue. Bloom Wedding offers destination weddings as a separate service. Destination weddings already implies that it focuses on weddings in a specific destination. The wedding planner of Bloom Wedding organizes the wedding for the bridal couple in that destination and handles the contact with the service providers and the location partners. The next service, which is only offered by Bloom Wedding, is a workshop for wedding planners. Within this workshop, the wedding planner presents her or his process to other persons wishing to become a wedding planner. Het Bruidsmeisje, Fabuloes Weddings, and Wedding Planner Ilse offer the service master of ceremonies and look after the wedding on the wedding day itself. Het Buidsmeisje and Fabuloes Wedding also offer just to give advice to the bridal couple during their planning phase. The next table describes the offers of wedding planner organizations within North Rhine-Westphalia and mainly of wedding planners near Münster. These wedding planners are potential competitors for the client’s company. All four, Agentur Traumhochzeit, White Heaven Weddings, Annika Wietzorke, and Lovebirds, also offer the service of wedding planner A-Z with the same description as for the Dutch Wedding planners. The next service that is offered by all four wedding planners is the partial package. The partial package has already been described within the strategy and process of a wedding planner in this chapter. The partial package focuses on just those parts that the bridal couple needs the wedding planner for, like searching for the right location or the right service providers. Agentur Traumhochzeiten also offers destination weddings for bridal couples who want to marry at a specific destination. This wedding planner has another unique service, which is organizing the wedding proposal. This means that they help the groom in making a unique wedding proposal for his bride. The wedding planner Annika

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Wietzorke also offers wedding workshops for bridal couples, where they can learn how to organize their wedding.

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Table 2.3.1. Wedding planner services in the Netherlands Wedding planner organizations:

Bloom Wedding Het Bruidsmeisje Fabuloes Weddings Wedding planner Ilse

Service: 1. Wedding planner A-Z:

- Organization and planning of the whole wedding - Hostess: contact person for

guests, service companies and bridal couples

- Budget control - Master of ceremonies - Styling of the wedding day - Taking care of wedding

equipment

2. Styling and decoration of the wedding:

- Professional styling of the wedding

- Unique concept

- Decoration of the venue - Decoration of furniture, flowers, lightning, and accessories

- Wedding logo 3. Destination weddings 4. Workshop and coaching for

wedding planners

1. Wedding planner A-Z:

equipment

2. Styling and decoration of the wedding:

- Professional styling of the wedding

- Unique concept

- Decoration of the venue - Decoration of furniture, flowers, lightning, and accessories

- Wedding logo

3. Master of ceremonies: controls the whole wedding day itself 4. Wedding advice: Answers all of the bridal couples’ questions and gives information and advice

equipment

2. Master of ceremonies: controls the whole wedding day itself 3. Wedding advice: Answers all of the bridal couples’ questions and gives information and advice

equipment

2. Master of ceremonies: controls the whole wedding day itself

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Table 1.3.2. Wedding planner services in Germany, NRW

Wedding planner organizations:

Agentur Traumhochzeit White Heaven Weddings Annika Wietzorke Lovebirds

Service: 1. Wedding planner A-Z:

- Budget control - Master of ceremonies - Styling of the wedding day - Take care of wedding

equipment

2. Partial package: the wedding planner only organizes some parts of the wedding 3. Destination weddings 4. Wedding proposal

equipment

2. Partial package: the wedding planner only organizes some parts of the wedding

equipment

2. Partial package: the wedding planner organizes only some parts of the wedding 3. Workshop: Wedding planner

offers a workshop for bridal couples to learn how to organize their own wedding

equipment

2. Partial package: the wedding planner only organizes some parts of the wedding

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14 2.4 Conclusion

In the literature reviewed, the process of organizing a wedding planner and its trends and developments has been explained. The process is explained as a personal event and may offer a wide range of services. The literature reviewed suggests that it is very much important to thoroughly analyze the services and products offered in the wedding planner industry. This whole service offered by a wedding planner focuses on the wishes and needs of the customers. The service that the couple chooses will be created for the concept of the wedding itself and should represent the bridal couple itself. Therefore, more wedding planner organizations are focusing on the motivations of the bridal couples, which should be the reason to hire a wedding planner.

Nevertheless, not only the motivation to hire a wedding planner plays an important role, but also the motivation for marriage. This means that the motivation of marrying can be related to why the bridal couple would hire a wedding planner. Weddings are getting more complex, and they are social mega events for couples. The change in society and the influence of media lead to many inquiries of professionals within the wedding industry. With expertise and connections to service companies, a wedding planner can support couples with a concept, planning, organization, advice, and more. The wedding planner will solve problems, and this will decrease the uncertainty in the couple.

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15 3. Field Research

This chapter focus on the field research of the project and demonstrates the methodology and strategy of the field research, as well as the data collection methods and the plan to undertake the data analysis. The results of the research are presented and the research questions are answered in the conclusions. The reliability and the validity of the research is also discussed.

3.3.1 Methodology

Concept design

According to Graham (2007), “concepts are solutions to unsolved problems or new solutions to

p

roblems that are solved in a poor manner. A new concept could be a product, a service, or a combination of products and services.” Bradley (2010) reported, “Developing a design concept is something of an individual process.” The author Farris (n.d.) explained that “in the design process, many conceptual designs are generated in search of the design that best meets the customer’s needs.”

The concept design process includes different steps: strategy, concept, design, and execute (Cooper, 2012). These steps are visualized in the figure below (Design Process). When exploring all steps of the process, it is important to understand these steps. According to Merriam-Webster (n.d.), strategy is “the skill of making or carrying out plans to achieve goals”. The steps within the strategy are research, observe, visualize, and analyze (Cooper, 2012). Concept is described as “an idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct” (Dictionary.com, n.d.). The concept part focuses on the scope, business process, explore the product/service, and designing it (Cooper, 2012). The next step of the concept design process is design. According to Oxford Dictionary, (n.d.) design is “the art or action of conceiving of and producing a plan or drawing of something before it is made”. The steps of design are to realize if the product or service is suitable for the company, communicate, monitor, and visualize the design (Cooper, 2012). The last step of the process model is Execute. Execute is described as “put (a plan, order, or course of action) into effect” (Oxford Dictionary, n.d.). Execute is focusing on the evaluating the product or service, implementing it, and testing it (Cooper, 2012).

Figure 3.1. Design Process (Cooper, 2012)

Strategy •Research •Observe •Visualize •Analyze Concept •Scope •Business processes •Explore •Design handover Design •Realize •Communicate •Monitor •Visual design Execute •Critique •Evaluate •Implement •Test

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3.3.2 Strategy of field research

The research strategy is elaborated with the help of the information, which is gathered to answer the research question. As mentioned before, the wedding industry is growing, and more couples are marrying, or planning to marry, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. The field research strategy chosen for this project is of a qualitative nature.

Qualitative research strategy within this project is explained as revealing “the way and how situation” (Botherton, 2008, p. 12). It means that “the researcher carries out the research in the ‘field’ – in ‘reality’ – and is mainly interested in the meaning that a person attaches to a situation or experience” (Verhoeven & Reed, 2011, p. 30). It focuses on the motivation of bridal couples, why they want to get married and why they would hire a wedding planner for their wedding. The qualitative research was used to gain an insight into the different motives of newlyweds that had hired a wedding planner. This research not only focuses on the motivation why the bridal couples had hired a wedding planner, but also why they got married. It is only to gain an insight into whether there is any connection between these two motivations. As already mentioned within the theoretical framework, there are different aspects of the motivation of bridal couples. These aspects will also be included in the research to find out why the bridal couples want to get married, and if this is also related to the motivation of hiring a wedding planner. Brotherton (2008) explains six types of empirical research design: experimental, survey, comparative, case study, observational, and action research. He also mentions that observational and case study designs are the most appropriate for qualitative research (p.129). In observation research, “small groups or individuals are observed in their normal surroundings” (Verhoeven & Reed, 2011, p.136). According to Verhoeven and Reed (2011), case studies use a range of data collection, like open interviews, observation, document studies, and focus groups (p. 151).

This research distinguishes between single and multiple cases, also called holistic and embedded, respectively. Holistic focuses on one unit of analysis, whereas embedded focus on multiple units of analysis. A single case study design concerns an ideal, extreme, and unique concept, while the multiple case study focuses on a more than one case situation. The case study chosen for this research is the single case study, in order to increase the stability of the research results. The units of research are newlyweds in the NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia) region. This research strategy was the most suitable to explore the motivations of the bridal couples. To arrive at the research strategy, a model has been created for reviewing the research process.

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The research process involves different steps. The management problem and the research objective have been described in the Introduction of this thesis. The desk research and the literature research focused on the target group needs, the trends and developments, as well as on the services of a wedding planner. After this, the qualitative research is applied, and the interviews are conducted. An analysis of the interviews will lead to formulating a strategy or process for this thesis project.

3.3.3 Methods of data collection

Brotherton (2008, p.161) explains that interviewing, observation, and projective techniques are more appropriate for collecting qualitative data. “The aim is to gather information about a particular subject” (Verhoeven & Reed, 2011, p. 141). Within this project, it is important to obtain information on the newlyweds which hired a wedding planner, and why they did so. Analyzing qualitative research is more complex than for quantitative research.

According to Verhoeven and Reed (2011, p. 151), case studies belong to qualitative research and deal with open interviews, document studies, and focus groups. The research will involve semi-structured interviews, which means that the respondents feel a freedom, and the interviewer is flexible with the discussion (p.143). According to Botherton (2008), using qualitative research has an advantage, which is the degree of flexibility during the data collection.

While deciding the number of interviews necessary to obtain the information and data for providing suitable advice for the client, it was important to consider that the respondents interviewed were already married and had hired a wedding planner for their wedding. In total, the researcher evaluated five interviews, each lasting about 5 to 10 minutes. The reachability of the couples decided the number of interviews. The wives were searched out in forums, which proved the difficulty of selecting suitable couples for the thesis project.

Figure 3.3. 1 Research process (own source) Figure 3.2. Research process (own source)

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3.3.4 Operationalization

In order to answer the research question, “To what extent was the service of a wedding planner organization important to the newlyweds?”, a code tree was designed of the core concept regarding the motivation of the newlyweds to hire a wedding planner. This code tree helped the researcher to create a suitable interview guide for the newlyweds. The use of these aspects and indicators led to the creation of an interview guide indicating the information in this code tree. This was based on the motivation for marriage and the motivation to hire a wedding planner. These motivations were developed during the literature research that was of concern to the client. This code tree can be found in the Appendices.

3.3.5 Measuring instrument

The operationalization of the core concept of this research produced an interview guide, which was used as a measuring instrument and can be found in the Appendices. As already mentioned within the methods of data collection, the interviews were conducted in a semi-structured manner in order to ensure an open dialog between the couple and the researcher. This allows the researcher flexibility, and each interview is unique and different from one another. This measuring instrument helped the researcher to gain valuable data from sampling a subject.

3.3.6 Selection of research units

The design chosen for this research was a single case study. The research units of analysis were newlyweds. Since it is impossible to collect data from the entire population, that is all newlyweds of NRW, a sample is chosen that enabled the researcher to “generalize from results back to the larger population” (Brotherton, 2008, p. 164).

According to Botherton (2008, p.171), qualitative data sampling is “non-probability based sampling”. This sampling consists of three types, quota sampling, purposive sampling, and convenience sampling. The purposive sampling that was used within this research is described as the “research would then be into specific issues, critical or typical cases or unique cases (Verhoeven & Reed, 2011, p. 183). The following criteria show on which basis the sampling subject has been chosen:

- The newlyweds have to be married at least six months

- The newlyweds had hired a wedding planner or at least contacted a wedding planner

As already mentioned in the method of data collection, the newlyweds were targeted by using the client’s company’s connection by contacting customers of the wedding photography companies which worked together with wedding planner. By interviewing the newlyweds, the researcher was able to gain an insight of the motivation of the unit for marrying and for hiring a wedding planner for their wedding. A list of actual respondents in this research can be found in the Appendices.

3.4 Results

This subchapter discusses the research results of the field research conducted. A descriptive analysis will outline the outcome of the qualitative research in connection with the theoretical framework of this thesis. The axial coding of the core concepts can be found in Appendix III. The research question, “which service of a wedding planner organization would motivate bridal couples to hire a wedding planner for

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their wedding?” will be answered, and the relationship between the core concepts will be analyzed before examining the validity and reliability of this research.

Motivation of marrying

The desk research showed that there are mainly three different motivation for bridal couples to marry, which are: benefit orientation, value orientation, and spontaneous-emotional. Benefit orientation was categorized into rational calculus, children-orientated, and avoidance of physical separation, whereas the value orientation focuses on traditional ritual and biographical implicitness. The last one is spontaneous-emotional, which is divided in “rite de conformation”, spontaneous decision, or out of love. The desk research showed that most of the couples married because of the traditional ritual, which means that it is their tradition to get married. Whereas, the respondents of the interview explained that they married only out of love. One respondent mentioned that she married out of love and traditional ritual, due to that she studies religion, which is an important aspect for her.

Motivation for hiring a wedding planner

The main reason for hiring a wedding planner was due to the connections that a wedding planner has. All bridal couples generally explained that the connection of the wedding planner to the service providers plays an important role. The wedding planner commands a broad network with service partners that fit into the concept of a wedding. Another reason is that the wedding planner has the expertise, experience of organizing weddings, and knows how to control that kind of event. Two of the respondents also mentioned that if the wedding planner organizes everything, the bridal couple has less stress. One of the respondent, a self-employed person, did not have the time to organize her own wedding. Therefore, a wedding planner was the best solution. The wedding planner is responsible for everything before, during, and after the wedding. One respondent explained that the wedding planner solves problems and controls everything in the background.

Service of a wedding planner

There are three different kinds of services within the desk research, which are: comprehensive package, partial package, and a ‘day-of’ package (Daniel & Loveless, 2014, p.6). During the data collection, the newlyweds explained that there are six different kinds of services that are of the interests. Some of these services have been used, and others were just mentioned as an option that they might prefer. These services are: the wedding planner contacts the service provider, the wedding planner is hired as master of ceremonies, the wedding planner organizes a destination wedding, the wedding planner organizes everything of the wedding, the wedding planner gives a workshop for the bridal couples, and the wedding planner gives advice on how to organize the wedding for themselves. As already mentioned with the motivation of hiring a wedding planner, the bridal couples have mainly used the services that the wedding planner has had contact with, or those of a service provider. Daniel and Loveless would categorize this kind of service as a partial package, due to that a partial package focuses on selecting the appropriate service provider on a basis of that wished for by the bridal couple. The other service mentioned by one respondent was the master of ceremonies. The respondent hired a wedding planner to have someone who is behind the scene and is able to control the wedding from the background. The literature review explained the service as ‘day-of’ package, which means that the wedding planner assists and coordinates on the wedding day itself. The next service mentioned within the qualitative research is destination

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wedding. Desk research has shown that this kind of service is also offered in the Netherlands. A destination wedding could be described as the representation of a unique event at which the bridal couple places value on quality and exclusivity (Bahlmann, 2015), as already mentioned in the trends and development in the desk research. One respondent married at the beach in the Netherlands, which was organized by a German wedding planner. The respondent mentioned that the exclusivity is very important to her due to that she has her own marketing company, in which her focus is on quality and exclusivity, which she wanted to demonstrate at her wedding. The next service mentioned in the qualitative research is organizing everything of the wedding. In the literature research, this is explained as comprehensive package, which organizes the before, during, and after of the wedding. Two respondents had hired a wedding planner with this kind of service. This means that the wedding planner controls everything, and consult the bridal couples with the products and services suitable for the wedding. The next service is a workshop for bridal couples. Three of five newlyweds thought that this kind of service would have been the suitable service for them. This kind of service had not been offered during their time, but would it have been offered, the three brides would have taken part in such a workshop. One of the respondents stated that she would take part if she would have enough time to organize her own wedding, but she is too busy, and therefore this would not be appropriate for her. The other respondents did not see any sense in this kind of service due to that she also gets her information and the service from her wedding planner without a workshop and was impressed by that. The last service is receiving advice for organizing the wedding by themselves. Two of the five respondents think that this kind of service could also motivate bridal couples to rely on a wedding planner. This service would just help the bridal couple if they have some questions and need some advice on how to create their own wedding.

3.5 Conclusion

Within this chapter, the desk research and qualitative research will serve to answer the central research question. Desk research relates to the general trends and developments of wedding planner organization in North Westphalia and the services offered by wedding planner organizations near North Rhine-Westphalia. The qualitative research is used to gain an insight into the motivation for marriage of bridal couples and the motivation to hire a wedding planner.

It also reveals if there is a connection between motivation to marry and the motivation to hire a wedding planner. The appendices show the outcome of the qualitative research.

The sub-questions of the desk research are:

• What are the trends and developments of wedding planner organizations?

• _{What kind of services do the wedding planner organizations offer near North Rhine-Westphalia?} The desk research first focuses on the trends and the developments. Within the trends and developments, it has shown that bridal couples within the North Rhine-Westphalia marry mainly due to spontaneous-emotional motives, which means that most bridal couples get married out of love. Another trend is that the bridal couple want to have a unique, exclusive, and quality wedding to celebrate as a representative wedding. Within Germany, TV shows about weddings also have an influence in the

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wedding industry. Wedding TV shows are appearing increasingly and motivate the couples to get married. As already mentioned in the desk research, the German wedding industry is an emerging market. The Internet increasingly shows things to inspire more people to organize a unique event for their wedding. Another trend is the use of technologies like the WedTech, which shows how the wedding planner process can be involved with computers or smartphones. Another trend is the wedding venue itself. The weddings take place in different venues and can be very extravagant like a wedding in an ice chapel in Finland. This shows that the wedding expectations of the bridal couples are getting more extravagant and that they want to create an unforgettable and incredible day. These trends all show that the expectations are changing within the wedding industry. More and more people are using the technologies like smartphone apps for their wedding and expect more creative venues for them and their guests. It should not only be an incredible day for the bridal couple but also for their guests.

The service offered by wedding planners near North Rhine-Westphalia shows that they have different kinds of services. Desk research indicates that the list of services offered by wedding planners in the Netherlands shows that they all offer mainly the same kind of services. However, the most important issue comparing the services offered by wedding planner organization within North Rhine-Westphalia. It shows that the Netherlands offer other kinds of services, such as styling and decoration of the wedding, master of ceremonies, and wedding advice; whereas the wedding planners of North Rhine-Westphalia mainly offer the wedding planning A-Z and the partial package. New services could thus improve this to attract more people to hire a wedding planner. The different services show that the Netherlands offer a service which is called advice for the wedding. This service is not offered within the North Rhine-Westphalia and could be interesting for the region. Another service which is offered by only one wedding planner in the region is the workshop. The workshop means that more couples are able to take part at the workshop and learn how to create and to plan their own extravagant and incredible wedding. This service could motivate the couples to hire and to book a wedding planner.

The sub-questions to be answered within the qualitative research are:

• _{To what extent is the motivation to marry related to the motivation to hire a wedding planner?} • What motivates a bridal couple in NRW to hire a wedding planner?

The motivation for marriage did not reveal any connection to the motivation to hire a wedding planner. Nevertheless, it was important for the researcher to gain an insight into this motivation to determine why the couples marry nowadays. Some weddings are very exclusive and traditional, so that the researcher thought that the motivation to marry could be connected to the motivation to hire a wedding planner. Some religions and traditions are known for a bridal couple and family celebrating a huge wedding. For these kinds of weddings, it could be that the bridal couple requires some help by a wedding planner, which could mean an increasing demand. Further, it showed that all respondents married because of love.

The next question focuses on the motivation of hiring a wedding planner for one’s own wedding. For this purpose, the researcher set up a structure which shows the connection between the motivation of hiring a wedding planner and the service of a wedding planner.

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Structure

Service Motivation of hiring a wedding planner

Connection to service providers Experience of organizing special events

Expertise Less stress Responsibility

for the wedding day itself Contact with service provider X X Master of ceremonies X X X Destination wedding X X X Organizing everything of wedding X X X X X Workshop for bridal couples X X X Advice for organizing X X X Table 2.4.1. Structuring (own source)

This table structures the relationship between the motivation to hire a wedding planner and the service and shows which kind of service aspects can have an influence on the motivation aspects. The service contact with service providers influences the motivation of bridal couple, and due to that the connection between the wedding planner and the service provider makes the arrangement more comfortable for them. The bridal couple becomes aware of the different opportunities from the wedding planner, and they can then choose these among different service providers. This proved to be one of the main aspects which the bridal couple is interested in. Moreover, the subsequent contact with service providers, connected with wedding planner’s motivation and experience to organize a special event, shows the bridal couples’ willingness to hire a wedding planner.

The next connection of the structuring is the master of ceremonies and the motivation that the wedding planner has the expertise. The wedding planner is experienced in planning, guiding, and controlling the wedding and the wedding day itself. This leads to the next connection, that the wedding planner takes over the whole coordination, so that the bridal couple will not have any stress on that day itself. Accordingly, the wedding planner is responsible for all activities during the wedding day, which is also an interesting kind of service for bridal couples and is applicable many of them.

The following connection are destination weddings, which are also more or less interesting for bridal couples. Destination weddings means that the wedding planner has a connection to the service providers at a specific destination and manages everything for the bridal couple there.

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The wedding planner also offers to organize the whole event, which means the complete wedding, before, during, and after. The wedding planner stays in contact with the service providers, has the expertise to organize everything, and is responsible for the complete wedding. The respondents found out about a new service, a workshop, and this kind of service would have been the most suitable service for the bridal couples. Another service that could be offered is the advice for organizing, which means that the wedding planner helps out where help is needed.

In all, it can be said that all kinds of services should be offered. The respondents think that all services could be interesting, and that it is important to have a booking option of different opportunities. The workshop and the advice were very interesting services for the bridal couples due to that these kind of services had not be offered during their wedding planning process. Some of the respondents explained that this kind of service would be sufficient for organizing their wedding, but some of the bridal couples also mentioned that they needed the whole package due to lack of the time to organize their wedding themselves.

After all, the qualitative research results showed that the bridal couple would hire a wedding planner to get a service like a workshop to learn how to plan their wedding themselves. They have made their experiences with a wedding planner and were comfortable with the offer at that period of time. Nevertheless, if the wedding planner would have offered a workshop about creating and organizing their own wedding they would have taken part at such a service. This would mean that it is cheaper for the bridal couple and they are able to create everything themselves. The service advice is also an interesting service and the bridal couple would also have chosen this kind of service either than a partial package. The research results show that the workshop and the advice services are the most suitable and innovative extra service which could be offered by the wedding planner and motivate the bridal couple to visit a wedding planner.

The main research question for this research is: Which service of a wedding planner organization would motivate bridal couples to hire a wedding planner for their wedding?

The results show that all kinds of services could motivate the bridal couples to hire a wedding planner. Fortunately, all services can be created to the wishes and needs of the bridal couples. Nevertheless, the most respondents decided that the most suitable and cheapest service is the wedding planner workshop. Though this would not save much time, due to that the bridal couple organizes the wedding, and a wedding planner is not present during the whole planning process. Also, any interesting advice could be offered by a wedding planner. By selecting one of the special services to the package of the literature for review, the wedding planner organization can offer a unique service for their clients, and thus distinguish themselves from their competitors. All researches showed that the bridal couple are choosing and expecting an extravagant wedding day. For this kind of wedding it is important to learn how to create an extravagant wedding and how to achieve their own expectations. Therefore, the help of a wedding planner is very important and a workshop and an advice for their own wedding can be applicable according to the results of the researches.

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As regards to the wedding planner process, the results of this research were drawn by analyzing, by means of literature, the core concepts, “motivation of hiring a wedding planner” and “wedding planner services”, which were broken down into aspects and sub-aspects. The operationalization designed a foundation for the measuring instruments used within the data collection process and was created as a semi-structured interview. The next step was the conduction and transcription of the interviews. After this step, the researcher performed an open coding process. The codes that have been produced during the open coding were divided into categories related to the operationalization of the core concepts. All these steps can be found in the Appendices.

Validity

According to Verhoeven and Rees (2011, p.188), “validity determines the extent to which the research is free of systematic errors”. In other words, validity is described as measuring exactly what the researcher wants to measure. As mentioned before, the operationalization focuses on the motivation to hire a wedding planner and the services it provides.

The first aspect of validity is the construct validity. The construct validity turns out to be high, because the interviews are based on the theoretical framework of this project and include all aspects of the core concept. Nevertheless, it is always possible that it is difficult to set up suitable questions for the research, which fully cover all aspects of the operationalization. The research results cover nearly all aspects and provide an insight into the motivation of bridal couples.

Internal validity centers on drawing the correct conclusion from the research results (Verhoeven & Reed, 2011). Within the research, the researcher guides the interview, finds out about the motivation of the bridal couples, and gains insight into their opinion about the services of a wedding planner. The conclusion drawn in this thesis, based on what the bridal couples explain, is one which increases the internal validity. The outcome of the resulting interviews is a realistic and feasible implementation plan for the company. Unfortunately, the response rate for the interviews was low. Out of 10 bridal couples contacted, only half (5) were willing to answer the interview questions. The low response rate did not allow the researcher to choose the best sample and rather shows a convenient sampling.

According to Verhoeven and Rees (2011, p. 189), external validity is occupied with “the scope of the content, that is to say, the generalizability to other situations”; in other words, whether the research results can be generalized to other relevant groups or settings. This research can be generalized within the wedding industry due to that the research in general focuses on the motivation of the bridal couples to hire wedding planner. It is not specifically based on the clients’ company itself, because it is a research for a new kind of service. Nevertheless, the external validity of this research is questioned by the limited sample.

Reliability

For the reliability, it is important to note that “if you carry out the research under different circumstances, at some point in time, then it should lead to the same results” (Verhoeven & Reed, 2011). Within this research, all questions of the interview are based on the core concept of the thesis. The newlyweds were interviewed in German, thereby avoiding misunderstandings. The sample size was a minimum of five

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newlywed couples. The researcher provided a record of all activities and explained the process of the thesis by means of a global break down structure. In the theoretical research, the literature research reviewed formed the basis of the field research and assured a high level of transparency regarding the operationalization of the core concepts. Furthermore, all interviews, records, and transcripts, including the open and axial coding, are included within this thesis. In all, the researcher can say that other researchers would have come to a similar conclusion if they had researched this type of topic.

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This thesis will be rounded off with an advice for the client. This chapter contains a concept design to motivate bridal couples to hire a wedding planner, one which can be offered by the wedding planner of the client’s organization. The concept design process focuses on the outcomes of the literature research and the field research.

Within the advice, it is important to have an overall view of the research results included in this thesis project. The research outcome has demonstrated that there are different services that influence the motivation of bridal couples to hire a wedding planner. The results show that there are three main offers, which are the comprehensive package, responsible for the planning before, during and after the wedding; the partial package, which is responsible for only parts of planning the wedding; and the master of ceremonies, which means that the wedding planner is responsible for everything during the day of the wedding.

The question which should be answered within this chapter is: How does the newly created service of wedding planner increase the bookings of a wedding planner?

4.1 Alternative Solutions

The concept design process shows the steps that should be taken to develop a suitable process to design a new service. The first step has already been completed within the research part. The next step is the concept which focuses on the idea of a service suitable for the project. Based on the field research and the desk research the research results show that there are two options for services that might be suitable for the wedding planner:

1. Workshop for bridal couples

2. Offer to give advice to the bridal couples Workshop for bridal couples

The first option focuses on the options of a wedding planner to contact the service provider. The wedding planner is the link between the bridal couple and the service provider. By cooperating with a service provider, the wedding planner is able to recommend and reduce the costs of the service provider. During the workshop, the wedding planner is able to promote the service provider by a presentation, or the service providers may present themselves, much like a caterer offering snacks.

The desk research was focusing on the trends and developments of the wedding industry and showed that more bridal couples are planning extravagant weddings like marrying on an airplane above the clouds. For these kind of special weddings, the bridal couples need some support for creating a unique and special event. Therefore, the workshop could also be an option to learn how to create a unique and fantastic event. The workshop is also suitable to promote these kinds of extravagant weddings and to create new ideas for the couple.

The field research showed that bridal couples are searching for a service by which they can learn how to create their own wedding. The results show that the bridal couples need information on how they can connect with the right service provider and gain insight into what is important and should be considered for their wedding. The workshop should focus on every detail of a wedding, which means, what kind of

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location, which service provider is needed, and how to control the budget. After the workshop, the bridal couple should receive an information folder which includes all the details of locations, service providers, budget control, and a check list.

Respondents of the field research mentioned that, if this kind of service had been offered during their planning phase, they would have participated in a workshop. Also, if the couples realize during or after the workshop, considering all that has to be planned, that the planning process would be too much, they can still decide to hire a wedding planner. Nevertheless, the workshop will offer an insight for the bridal couples how to plan their own wedding and all that has to be considered.

Offer to give advice to the bridal couples

The desk research has shown the services of wedding planners abroad. One service offers to give advice for planning a wedding. The responses of the newlywed couples within the field research showed that they are also interested in getting some advice during the planning phase, to prevent getting stuck with small issues, like time management. Therefore, the bridal couple can make an appointment with the wedding planner to get advice for the wedding and to get as much help as needed. Within the advice appointment the bridal couple is able to ask everything what comes up during their planning stress. Based on the desk research the wedding planner will be paid per hour which gives the couple the opportunity to discuss all missing parts of their wedding with the wedding planner. They can also then decide to hire a wedding planner if they realize that external help is appropriate.

4.1.1 Evaluation of solutions

Before choosing which of the two alternative solutions is most suitable for the client, it is important to determine some criteria for evaluation. Three criteria that have been chosen are costs, time, and success. Costs refer to the financial implications on choosing a solution, time focuses on the time needed to plan and implement the alternative, and success applies to the results that the alternative selected would have brought. Since the client’s company is a startup company, the success and costs are the most important aspects. The success is important due to that there are already some wedding planners within the region of Münster and each wants to be ahead of the game. The costs aspect is important due to that this is a startup business acting within a limited budget.

Criteria Option A (Workshop) Option B (Advice)

Costs ++ +++

Time ++ ++

Success +++ +

Legend: +++ very good, ++ good, + okay

Table 3.1. Evaluation of Alternatives

The costs of option A would result mostly from the expenditure for the service. The costs of option B are very low because this kind of extra service has no expenditures other than the services already offered. Both options require extensive, time-consuming research. Option A is time-consuming prior to the