Friday, August 21, 2009

Relief for you Feet! (And a Great Favor Too)


I must admit, for the most part, the days of personalized match books and candy almonds are behind us. The candy bar has come and gone and a multitude of other chochkie options have followed. The point, we all want guests to remember our wedding and be able to take something tangible away with them. Personalized M&Ms, custom tea bags, anything of the food nature is sure not to go to waste. For many of my outdoor weddings, and even some of my indoor ones where the forecast for the evening was going to be dance till you drop, flip flops have been provided for ease of partying.


So, I just found, and thanks is due to my fabulous bride Lauren, a sandal option that takes the cake! Sandals4Events is a personalized sandal company featuring full grain leather sandals. Move over Old Navy flip flops, these soles have more than a fancy color to boast. All of their sandals come in a great shoe box and drawstring satin bag. They make great bridesmaids gifts, bachelorette party thanks your and wedding favors. You can have them personalized with names, dates, etc. and you can be sure your guests will remember you with every wearing.


I recently asked owner Julia Bornstein how the business was born and here's what she said.

It actually all started when I was making a Bat Mitzvah party for my daughter. I was going through websites looking for something fun and different for a party favor..I
was getting very frustrated with the task.
After talking to my husband about different ideas, he said "let me take care of it, I have an idea"
Well, my husband has been in the shoe business for many years, and so he brought home a sample of beautiful patent leather thong sandals, personalized with my daughters name and date of her affair. Along with the sandals was a matching satin drawstring shoe bag also personalized.
I loved it! and my daughter could not believe she had sandals with her name engraved.
The night of the party we handed out a pair of personalized fuchsia patent leather flip flops with a matching satin shoe bag to each female guest and a pair of personalized brown leather flip flops with a black satin shoe bag to each male guest and they were flipping with admiration. Even the dancers from the entertainment company could not stop gushing about how great they were.
Weeks later friends and family would call me to say what a great idea the sandals were and every time they slip on their sandals they think of my daughter.
I couldn't have asked for a better reaction! So, I started investigating to see if anyone else out there was possibly offering the same product. After much searching,
I found that nobody offered the same quality or ability to personalize leather fashion flip flops for parties. And the rest history..
The first thing I did after setting up my website, was to research wedding planning websites and send out a mass mailing along with an e-mail mass mailing to introduce myself and my company to as many wedding planners and party planners, I could find.
I can tell you that I do not have as much contact with brides as a wedding planner would have...but I can tell you that 2 days after launching my website, It was a Friday and I was leaving for a weekend trip out of state. I called into my business line from the airport just after arriving at my destination.
I had a message from a wedding planner in Nappa Valley asking me if I could overnight to Nappa 200 pairs of sandals for a wedding!! I wanted to cry..!! There was no way I could get this done so quickly and from so far away!


Well Julia, we love your product and can't wait to use it again!

Sara