Order Up!

Yay me!  I've made it thru three months of posts!  I will grant you that they are only every other week, but, I'm still doing all the things.  And trying to learn how to do new things.  I mean, an almost 50 year old brain doesn't take in & retain information like a 20 year old brain does.  I have to read it, write it down, then read what I wrote, and hope for the best!  HA.

One of the new things I'm trying to learn is how to edit video.  I've shot some pretty cool (in my opinion, thank you) video of some of our processes around here.  I thought filming would be the hard part because I do NOT like to be in front of a camera.  But no.  The hard part is getting what I've shot to look like something that someone would want to see.  So that is to come, hopefully soon.

Today, I thought I'd talk about ordering.  I'm just talking about our shop specifically, but I know these tips transfer, because I try to use these them when I go into other businesses and they usually make my experience better.  And let's face it, when you take the time to go into a business, you're wanting the experience too, or you'd be shopping on Amazon.

The key to making ordering a good experience is to do some homework before you come see us.

So say you want to order shirts for your whole family so you can all match in your family pictures.  You have your family, your sister's family, some aunts & uncles, and grandma & grandpa. There are 3 main things that you need to have figured out before you come see us. 

1) Your In Hands Date - this is NOT the date that you've scheduled the pictures.  This is the date you are going to pick up (and pay if you haven't already), most likely at least 3 days before your picture date (5 would be better).  When you're looking at your in hands date on your calendar, please remember that your Order date is not three days before your In Hands date.  Hopefully your Order date is about two weeks before your In Hands date to make sure your experience (and ours) is the best that it can be.

2) Your Shirts - Sizes, color themes, & style.  Size includes all of the sizes from every family member (yes, even Aunty Jenny's kids who are too busy running from one thing to another to look at the tag on their shirts).  We can finalize colors in the shop when we look at what companies have to offer, but it's nice when you know you want some shade of a blue shirt, or you want long sleeves, or the girls are wearing red and the boys green, or each family has a different color shirt.  Please note that if you want a very specific color and you have a 6 month old, some toddlers, some youth & several adults, these shirt colors may not match exact because we will most likely have to use more than one shirt brand (Gildan, Bella, etc.) to get all of your sizes.  

3) Your Artwork - this is the big one folks!  This is always what takes the longest.  We don't just spit this stuff out. In a perfect world, we have a week at least.  1)We'll need to come up with artwork & color correct, 2)Then send to you for approval, 3)You check with your family and want this change, or we've spelled something wrong, 4)You send back the needed changes. 5)We make changes and send back to you for final approval.  6)You give final approval. Then we have to prepare for whatever mode of decoration we're doing for you.  It will help us and you if you'll take time to visit with family, hit up Google, look on Pinterest, whatever your go to is.  Find something to bring us so we have a place to start.  I feel led right now to remind you of Copyright Infringement (we'll dive deeper into this in a future post).  Just know that if your artwork mimics, or takes artwork directly from, any Licensed Professional or College sports team, any movie, or band, or anything that you can recognize pretty quickly as belonging to someone specific, that's Copyright Infringement.  Don't worry, I'll let you know if we're stepping over a line, or if we are toeing the line.  Because I love ya, but I'm not going to jail for anybody.  Well, maybe my hubbs, or my kiddos, but nobody else!  

In a prefect world, (wait, what is this perfect world??) only after all three of these things have been taken care of, can we give you an accurate price.  When we have to jump into a price without any part of this done, we're guessing.  Because, trust us, you'll find family members that you forgot about.  Aunty Jenny who couldn't get you sizes will all of a sudden want to add rainbow colors to the back of the shirt (that was blank when we gave the original price).  Or your picture date ended up being two weekends before you thought it was.  We've heard it all folks.  So, when we guess, guess what we do...we inflate your price.  We charge you more than we probably would have had to. All companies do this.  If you've ever heard of PITA fees, that's what those are.  Not really...

So, now you know.  Sometimes it's hard, or impossible, to get all the information needed in a timely manner.  Sometimes you just don't find out in time.  Sometimes you forget.  We totally understand.  That's why we try to give the best possible customer service that we can and we try to give you mercy & grace, because we need them EVERY day.  We love the experiences we have with you all.  You know that we are so thankful you come see us instead of Amazon (not that there is anything wrong with Amazon.  My hubbs says I have an unhealthy relationship with Amazon. He's probably right.). We hope this helps with your ordering experiences.  Happy ordering!