I am going to primarily cover the current A.B.I.A. $85,000 competition, but will speak in general about wedding competitions, giveaways and how to increase your chances of winning a major or minor prize and possibly being offered a special deal either way.
The A.B.I.A. competition requires the usual logging on and registering of your details by exchanging quite a lot of information regarding your wedding. The second part of the process is to go through the pictures of the various wedding professionals that have opted in and paid for their involvement and you make a comment about their picture.
This is where many make a fundamental mistake by regurgitating the same comments on a number of pictures, a comment that relates to the competition and not the actual picture or worse still doing an obvious cut and paste from comment to comment. Judges and the wedding professionals are looking for originality, creativity, authenticity and enthusiasm. Take some time and write with the end-game of winning in mind. A cut and paste is not going to be winning $10,000.
There is always a cost involved in entry to any competition; be it monetary or a simple exchange of information, such as an e-mail address. It should therefore come as no surprise that when the A.B.I.A. and participating wedding professionals are offering a prize pool of $85,000 you will be contacted by those wedding pros to spruik their business and make you offers. This Should be in the form of an Opt-In confirmation, with the option of un-subscribing. If you do unsubscribe, during the competition time-frame, then it should likewise come as no surprise that your chances of winning will be negatively effected, if not reduced to zero.
The Canny, sophisticated entrant will court the various wedding professionals and try and take advantage of any deals, specials or additional offers that are a part of the competition. After all you will, generally speaking, need many of the services that are on offer and these are amongst the very best of the wedding industry. These wedding pros are the ones that are actively investing in their business; and are actively inviting you to at least look at their service with a view to booking them and so potentially having either the cost paid for by the A.B.I.A., potentially winning a consolation prize, or at least having award winning wedding professionals serve you to the best of their abilities and all for the sake of a few moments of creative, intelligent and thoughtful writing that could mean hundreds, if not thousands of dollars cut from your wedding budget.
So… Sign up. Make comments on as many services as you need. If contacted, hit the subscribe and reply (you can always unsubscribe later). Reach out to the wedding pros, like their social media pages etc. and be active. If you are on their mind when it comes to deciding who gets offered the additional prizes you dramatically increase the chances of winning.
Wedding Expos: And in particular the larger ones, are another area where wedding professionals tend to offer special deals, prizes and giveaways. And yes, it is again beneficial to sign up for these offers and be in the running for as many freebies, discounts and special offers as you can. Do not be surprised when you are somewhat, potentially bombarded with such deals following an expo. There are no Free lunches. Your e-mail address should be given judicially, knowing that this will occur. The thoughtful wedding professional will always offer an opt-out option and keep exchanges to a modest level.
Wedding professionals that take part in major expos, and competitions such as the A.B.I.A; pay many hundreds of dollars to be there, they do so as an investment in their business and to save you valuable time by gathering in one place so you can find what you want and need is a timely manner. These are the true professionals, support them and you will get the very best suppliers for your big day and beyond. Part-timers and amateurs do not generally attend these events, nor invest in themselves or you. If you want quality look to an award winning professional of long standing.
If you have any questions about any aspect of the above, then please feel free to contact me at http://www.yourcelebrant.com.au
Your Celebrant - Ron Gallagher 