According to The Knot, I'm 13 months away from my “dream day.” (Butterflies and sparkles and rainbows!) So I should start picking my colors to set the tone for my big day! (Is “drunk” a color?) I should also meet with a wedding planner. (Eh… I've watched The Wedding Planner.) Announce my engagement. (Ermegherd Ferrcberrk!) Envision my wedding style. (How about “Married”?) And start getting in shape. (HAH!)
Lordy. You go to David's Bridal once and suddenly your email inbox is turned into a spammy, weddingy, playground.
This e-mail irked me much more than any other of the countless spam emails I've gotten over the past year. I think it's because it assumes that I, as a bride, inherently want a color scheme, want to do everything the “right” way, and want to be a completely different person on my wedding day. Like I'm some magical nymph that will be swathed in white clouds and borne on a cloud to whisper vows in my true love's ear.
Guess what just came to my spam inbox!? When really I just want to wear pink shoes and eat tacos and drink gin all night (my average Tuesday).
I know that The Knot thinks it's being helpful, and I'm sure it's helped a lot of people — heck, I know it's helped a lot of people. But I'm all set. Really. So, thanks, Knot… you're cute. That's cute, but I've got this. You just sit in a corner and contemplate chair covers while I look up random animal facts to include in our wedding program.
Offbeat Wed Vendor
This page features vendors from our curated Offbeat Wed Vendor Directory. They're awesome and we love them. If you're a vendor let's get you in here!
OMG thank you! I feel like david’s bridal should post some kind of warning when they make you sign their crazy forms to try on a couple of dresses! “Please note:Whatever e-mail/phone number you give us will be assaulted no less than bi-weekly with sales pitches and giveaways for useless items”. [sigh]If I had a nickel for every call to offer me crystal goblets I’ve gotten, I could hire a giraffe to carry me down the aisle..
I’ve also gotten calls every single day for a week from a strange number at all times of day. Finally answered and it was men’s warehouse. -_-
I had to call the main David’s Bridal customer service (not the store you visited, they play dumb) and ask in a VERY serious voice to be taken off ALL call lists to get this to stop. They argued with me a bit, but I assured them my wedding would be fine without their help. Otherwise, yeah, it was like three calls a day. Arg. Also, be super careful with all the things you “win” from all the David’s Bridal minions, most of them are spam/scams. Though I did win a Mary Kay makeover, which was salespitchy but fun, and came with free makeup.
I’ve been married for a few weeks and their spam hasn’t stopped! I didn’t even buy a dress for them. It was a zoo when we were there and they didn’t have anything remotely interesting. Asking to unsub from their site doesn’t work. Guess I’ll need to call them and complain! I did get a free set of pearl earrings from one of the spam mailers, so not a complete loss…
After the first wedding I was in I got smart, cause you know…..it’s not just the bride they stalk at David’s Bridal…..it’s the entire wedding party. It was particularly annoying and exhausting getting their spam as I was single and not remotely thinking about romance and crap at the time.
I set up a dummy email account and I used it for all that stuff going forward and gave them the number to a house phone I no longer have. I called THEM to check in with my dress once it was ordered to make sure everything was on schedule. I figured it was worth it to remember to be proactive and check in rather than give them my info to bombard me with solicitations.
Yes! I was a bridesmaid in my aunt’s wedding when I was fourteen and somehow the David’s Bridal spam got it mixed up, because I was completely bombarded with bride-targeted emails, phone calls, etc for months and months. Actually, to be more accurate, my mom was bombarded with it. She called DB repeatedly asking them to remove me from all the lists, and finally started answering phone calls with “She’s fourteen, you [creep]!” until it slowed down.
OMG I just want to say, please don’t give out your previous home or cell phone numbers to known spammers! I get calls for the lady who presumably had this number in the past from:
-What sounds like family members or friends, a few of which didn’t understand the whole “I am not her and this is my phone number”. (them: “Ok, um, are you like, her landlord?” THAT IS NOT HOW PHONE NUMBERS WORK! I do not live where she lived!)
-Collections agencies (they refuse to believe I’m not and nor have I ever been “Deidra”, and only *pretend* to take me off their call lists but call back constantly)
-Telemarketers + robocallers, half of which hang up on me without even connecting me to a human or without acknowledging my requests to be removed from calling lists, and another 25% of which demand (robot, not even humans) that I call THEM back at blablabla phonenumber because it’s “an important business message”
-TV/Internet companies (wanting to get paid for her SEVEN ACCOUNTS, yes really!)
-THE RCMP!!! I told the constable to PLEASE tell her to stop giving out my number, once they found her. I figure they at least have a chance.
So please please oh my god don’t give out a real legitimate phone number that another human being will have eventually and be tormented by callers for you. Give out a fax number or something. To a big company so it doesn’t wake someone up when they call at odd hours. Then nobody gets bothered.
(and if you hear from Deidra, ask her to stop giving out my phone number. I’ve had it for two years and still get brand new callers)
Oh man….now, next time some dude yells his phone number out the car window at me, I know what I’m going to do with it.
this happens to me too but i get more legal related calls like how the person who used to have my number got into an accident without insurance/fake insurance card and gave my phone number has his contact which in nj is as bad as a dui and i had police calling me it was nuts and this guy still gives my number out to women he meets at bars who do not speak english as their first launage
Just an FYI to anyone going to David’s Bridal in the future: you don’t have to fill out every box on their form completely. It’s NOT required, no matter what they imply. I gave them only my (and his) names, phone#, our mailing address, and the date of our wedding.
Also there is a check box on the intake form, to opt out of being contacted w/ offers and more spam. Double-check on the printout they give you that your clerk enters that opt-out correctly into their system; mine didn’t the first time, and I had to have her redo my info.
It worked. I received a single, friendly followup phone call after 1 month, and never got any junk mail or phone spam from David’s at all.
In fact, on almost ANYTHING, you don’t have to give people all your information. I rarely give out my phone number and only my spam email on most forms. People just don’t question stuff enough! We were told that in France, the official warning about downloading illegally is given to you by registered mail so you have to sign for it to prove you’ve been served it. We told FH’s brother “Don’t sign for it then. Do you ever get GOOD news by registered mail?” He was stumped.
Please, please… Let me know if you hire that giraffe. I promise to be your personal ninja for lifetime if I can hug it.
Most of my calls were some poor Mary Kay consultant trying to tell me I’d “Won” a free makeover from a drawing (i didn’t know I was entered in) through David’s Bridal. After the fourth message in a week, I had to call her back to tell to “stop, just stop.”
After that, I steered clear of giving out my info by not attending any bridal shows. Gak! I can only imagine my inbox after something like that! Though, to be fair, my sister did one last year before her wedding an actually did win all kinds of cool things… like both of their wedding rings!!
It’s gotten so bad that I have started answering unknown numbers on my cell with, “If this is David’s Bridal or Men’s Wearhouse, stop freakin’ calling us! Take us off your calling list now!” Even if I wanted to buy one of their cheaply made POS dresses, I wouldn’t simply out of disgust over the constant phone calls. Never give them your real number or email, even if you think you’re serious about using their company.
I will never buy anything from david’s bridal because I think spam is a bad business practice. I do however use their “dress your wedding” tool to make sure my ideas don’t look like crap, so I do get some of the spam. I just gave my cell phone number and after the first time mens wearhouse called I just added them to my nifty Mr. Number app and it hangs up on them every time they call… it’s great!
Now I want a giraffe… 🙁
I never knew I wanted a giraffe to bear me down the aisle until today.
Adding to the conversation even though this thread is old, since the article showed up on my Facebook feed:
I attended some local bridal fairs and I kept getting spammy phone calls about how I’d won something. I finally answered the call after recognizing the number and told them they had the wrong phone number (they DID call me by the wrong last name!). That was a few weeks ago, and after getting calls every other day, I haven’t heard from them since. Worth a try if you’re getting spammy calls.
YES YES YES THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS X 1,000,000,000,000,000.99
Wait, they can legally do that? My mother was always cringeworthy blunt when companies asked for her telephone number or email address. Her answer? “No.” I would be shrinking in my heels at the shocked look on the clerk’s face. She was always really nice about it, said with a smile as she paid for her merchandise, but…wow. They simply say “Telephone number?” as if it’s mandatory. I really don’t believe they ever expect to hear a no.
I am cowardly and thus would provide fake information or avoid the store. 🙁
I used their online appointment scheduler thing and provided an e-mail (my spam account) for that. I think phone number was required to schedule the appointment that way as well.
I can’t wait to finally get married just to delete all these websites and crap that fills up my inbox also! It seems that David’s Bridal is the culprit for most of it, but dang, had I known that at the time, I wouldn’t have signed up either. It’s ridiculous how much is generated, from one business. I’m glad I’m not the only one who is annoyed by this.
YES to this post! I just unsubscribed from 3 different wedding sites today because they sent me at least one email every day and the emails were completely irrelevant.
When my son was applying to colleges, we set up an email account just for all the forms and school inquiries, so his junk, personal and official emails wouldn’t get mixed up. I took the idea one further by creating what I call my “Oh, no you don’t!” email address. Anything that requires me to fill in my email address and is a potential for large amounts of unwanted crap and/or the surreptitious selling of my information, I give them my faux address. No worries. Bring it on wedding industrial complex, I have my own defense line!
My “send your crap here” email address is [myname]sjunkmail at wherever dot something. If a real person is going to be looking at it, I think it’s funny because they’ll either understand that I think their emails are junk, or they’ll think it’s a joke that my email address says “junk mail” in it.
I did the separate email thing for our wedding. All the wedding spam goes to it, as well as anything important for the day. The address will be deleted after the wedding stuff is over.
I just got one saying im sabotaging my wedding lol
I’m so intense about NOT spamming the people who follow Offbeat Bride via email that I obsessively go through our newsletter subscriber list and remove people who haven’t opened our emails in the last couple months. Unsubscribing from our newsletter is one-click easy, but some people are too lazy to do it… and so I do it for them! That’s how obsessed I am about not spamming.
I have to ask – how do you know who’s opened the email? I hope it’s from link clicking, not some creepy technology I didn’t know about!
MailChimp tracks both email opens and clicks. Here’s how it works… nothing especially creepy about it. (Most newsletter tools track both opens and clicks.)
What if I am using an email service or settings that blocks downloading external content in an email (e.g. images), as part of a routine security setup? It looks like MailChimp would be blocked, even though I read your update. :/
You might want to just subscribe to the plain-text version, then.
@Ariel’s reply above– (direct reply was disabled, but I wanted to say thanks!)
Thanks!
I created an email account for all our wedding shite, that way we could both easily log in, and all wedding related emails (and spam) would go there. And boy does that account collect spam. 🙂
Also, in case anyone hasn’t gone to David’s for the first time, but is planing to: you do not have to give your phone number. Each time they asked for it I said nicely: “Oh no thank you.”
ie:”We need it for your profile.” “Oh, no thank you.” “But that’s how we create your profile, it’ll be hard for us to pull up your favorite dresses otherwise…” “Oh, I see, no thanks, I’d rather not.” *smile at them and say nothing else*
You could also say: “Right… I don’t put my number on things like this.” “I don’t give away my number because I had a stalker” “My number is for business only” “I’m not comfortable giving you my phone number” “I prefer to communicate via email” Online forms get: 555-555-5555
(btw I also asked my bridal assistant to write the dress numbers I liked on a card for me. She did it no problem. Then we tipped her $20. Now I can shop for used David’s Bridal dresses online)
You could also rock their world with a simple “I don’t have a phone/phone number”. They’ll be completely stumped and amazed. There’s no way to argue it or push it, either.
It would be really funny if you said this while texting on your phone, right in front of them.
Writer Boy and I used the Knot for our wedding website (it was free). I was also annoyed by all the countdown to-do emails I received for the many things I had no intention of doing. I got calls form tux places, china places, makeup reps, travel people; I always “had to check with my fiance, I’ll call you back.”
After the wedding, I was like “cool, no more of this shit!” Wrong. I started getting emails from The Nest and The Bump; oh hell no. Spam blocked.
I used the Knot for our wedding website (it was free).
Psst: we partner with mywedding.com to offer free wedding websites. 🙂
Sadly, I had not discovered that yet. 🙁 I am, however, referring all my friends who are getting married to OBB so they can see ALL THE AWESOMENESS!!!
I have to say, mywedding.com is great. As far as I can see, no spam!
I am subscribed with mywedding for our wedsite, and I do get emails from them every few days. Eh, I’m not bothered, I just delete.
I got spam a couple of times a week from mywedding but nothing too bad.
Thank you!!! I joined The Knot, mostly for their checklist (This was before I found OBB), but now every time I look at that list or get a spam e-mail I begin another panic attack. Mind you, I’m 2 weeks away from W-day, but still…I just need to get stuff done and in my own OCD way, cross everything off that danged list.
Yes, David’s Bridal sells your contact information to EVERYONE.
Marketers know that engaged couples are looking to spend money, and that women make a great deal of those purchasing decisions. They also hope to win your brand loyalty now, so you’ll keep shopping at, say, Bed Bath and Beyond in the next phase if your life.
Your data is valuable. Selling it is part of their business plan. They have to make money somehow, and large stores with lots of lights to keep on and employees to pay are expensive to run. It’s costly to keep hundreds of dresses in a whole range of sizes at hundreds of stores, especially when any large retail store like David’s, Barnes and Noble etc only expects to move 20% of their inventory. The other 80% is there to make the customer feel like they have a variety of choices in a pleasant shopping experience, AND they sell that inventory for cheap, at least compared to their competitors.
So yes, the corporate alliances with Men’s Warehouse, Sandals resorts, David’s own photo/video studio etc and reselling of customers valuable data is how they keep the lights on. This is the Wedding Industrial Complex at its finest.
Ugh, David’s Bridal and their spamminess. I bought my dress from them, and loved it, but dear Lord the spam… I’ve since warned fellow brides-to-be to give fake emails and phone numbers unless they actually buy something there and HAVE to give legit information to be informed of when their stuff comes in.
Also, when I first got engaged I signed up for the Knot. We were planning for a seven-month engagement, so when I put in our date the Knot helpfully let me know that I had *130 ITEMS* overdue on my to-do list. Seriously??? No.
Wow. I was considering going to a bridal store just to try on dresses for shits and giggles, even though I’m making my own dress and so far have spent 2 dollars on materials (TAKE THAT WEDDING INDUSTRY). No way in hell I’m doing that now.
For our wedding website, we just used WordPress. That way we didn’t have a million menu items we didn’t need, we didn’t have to sign up for anything new and spammy, we didn’t have to apologize for being queer, and we didn’t have to search through all those dissasterous style options. It has a form for RSVPs, registry info, and we are gonna put some queer propaganda and hotel info on there. It vaguely matches our colors. I’m quite pleased.
Haha…I totally “get this”. This is why I don’t do any direct marketing. I feel like poor brides are pestered to death, so I just try to put my stuff out there all over the internet in the hopes that people will find me if they need me. That is how I shop….if I want something, I will find it and will MOST LIKELY NOT buy from someone who is shoving their product in my face. A PS about David’s….all that junk you are getting isn’t free….those vendors pay a hefty price to David’s to pimp out their businesses.
you should see my face book … WEDDING CENTRAL!!!! Never let FB know your engaged ….
Seriously. The day after we announced our engagement, my fiance and I started comparing FB ads. Mine were all for wedding photography, weight loss, “dream bachelorette parties,” and other color-coordinated madness (They have since evolved to include maternity clothes. Hello, not pregnant). His were for a job-search service, mortgage resources, and sports. Talk about enforcing gender stereotypes.
Since I got married a month ago, my ads are either in Spanish or about conception. Talk about racist… just because my husband is Mexican. Geez. I don’t know how they even know that!
Totally related post:
http://offbeatwed.com/2011/09/hide-your-facebook-relationship-status
I set my profile to be a 72 year old man.
… Engaged yes. Bridal adds GONE.
I’ve been getting that stuff on my facebook ever since my guy and I started dating!
I use gmail for email and they have a cool trick:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-more-from-your.html
You can easily filter out spam and star important messages, all based on the version of your email you gave. Added bonus? You can track who is giving out your email, like if The Knot is sending you emails to the David’s Bridal version of your email. No need for separate emails!
Now THAT is awesome.
OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS!!!!!!!
I love gmail! Best tip evah!!
/gush
They may not honor this, though. I created a web account with [email protected], and then went to the store and filled out the paper with [email protected]. When they put the second one into the system, they deliberately removed the +db from the email (they must know the trick), so now they have both addresses and I get DOUBLE the emails from them.
I wish I’d had a camera the day I went with a friend for a walk-in try on day at David’s. Once they found out I have a wedding coming up too, the store manager was on me like red on a ladybug. All she wanted was my contact information, and at first I tried to be nice. I work retail too; I get how ridiculous the “sales goals” can be. But the third time I said, “We’re two years out, and today’s about Jaime” and she kept freakin’ talking, I told her off.
Nagging and badgering people are NOT good ways to sell stuff; they are, however, good ways to ensure that you NEVER get a penny of that person’s money, which was the nail in the coffin of me having anything resembling a “normal” wedding dress.
I had almost the opposite problem. I wanted to buy my dress online, but waited too long. I went into DB and told them that my wedding is 3 weeks away, I want a dress off the rack, I did not want to order one, and my budget is $200. That was the last person I talked to for almost 45 minutes in an empty store. Every time I asked about it, they said “Let me find out who your salesperson is” I really wish I had the time to go somewhere else. I do love my dress, but it makes me sick to think about how horrible the customer service is.
Good lord, at that point did you just pick a couple roughly your size and go try them on by yourself? I probably would have! You’d think *somebody* would want even that small a commission. 🙁
NOT that you should have ever had that experience. Major crappy on their part.
I read an article once (don’t remember the source)… the bride was in a similar situation and disgusted with the service at various dress stores because she waited last minute for her dress and all the salespeople were rude because they weren’t going to be able to get whatever dress on time – so they wouldn’t get the sale – I think the bride was intending to buy online, but she still needed to try on stuff. She resolved to inform whatever mainstream dress store salesperson she encountered next (I think at a different store location) that she was trying on some styles for her twin, who wasn’t able to. If I recall correctly, she got the salespeople off her back by saying her twin had a medical issue and they dropped the issue and just treated her like a normal person trying on dresses.
Not saying that anyone would need to resort to this, but it seemed to have worked for this person. I remember the article because I personally HATE shopping and getting nagged by salespeople – and this bride said that there was like ZERO stress after that. I think she shared this “tip” with some of her friends when they were shopping for themselves. Of course, wouldn’t work if you are shopping where you might run into people you know.
David’s Bridal and The Knot give me hives. I’m not kidding, just thinking about them I break out in red splotches.
It’s been a while since I signed up for the Knot, but did you perhaps forget to uncheck “share my information with partner sites” or “send me updates on (whatever topics)”
I *so* wish that was the case, but I’ve heard this same story over and over again from readers who’ve fastidiously unchecked every single check box on registration screens. It’s not cool, but it’s not uncommon.
I do take the cake on the Davids Bridal fight. I took them to the Department of Consumer Protection through out state Atty Generals office. I asked at point of if information was used for direct marketing campaigns “just check the box” I was told. The sales associate unfortunately entered it wrong. They missed it and within 24 hour I received telemarketing calls. I called the store immediately and they blew me off…. they said they updated my profile but marketing info gets sen to corporate immediately. I sent 30 emails. My lawyer called. They blew her off too. Finally a FREE service stepped in on my behalf with a 2 page nasty-gram with my name on it. And Shit got done! This was 5 weeks out so my info had been sold 5x over but still its important to tell them that this is not OK. Below is an excerpt from DB Privacy Practices which one of their CS reps so rudely attached for me once.
so in summary : they collect everything, share everything, companies they share with have to comply with their Privacy Practices, except not really if they have their own.It takes 30 business days to update your preferences ( they can get it sold off to everyone in THAT time). David’s Bridal had my dress too and I went elsewhere over my hatred for the way they treated me.
I poked around The Knot briefly. It made me hyperventilate. Then I found OBB, and all was well.
Except…
The 2-6 emails I got PER DAY from The Knot and partner sites. Did I uncheck everything? Yes. Did I unsubscribe? Yes. Seven. Times. And I still received emails. So, a *very* sternly-worded cease and desist letter was sent. Pointing out that constantly ignoring my unsubscribe requests actually kinda constitute harassment.
And… No more emails.
However, now I seem to be getting a number of catalogues from partner companies. While stars’n’stripes bikinis might be just the thing for some folks, little photophobic Canadian me isn’t so into them. They’ll be getting a big ol’ Return to Sender: Unsubscribe back. Maybe I’ll be extragenerous and stuff ’em with all our other junk mail first…
“Envision my wedding style”
UH, I read that as “Eurovision my wedding style” and I was like “Now THATS an idea!”
I saw “wedding-related spam” and thought that someone was actually having Spam at their wedding, or perhaps a Spam-themed wedding. I was a little disappointed. 😉
Perfect wedding: Spam and Eurovision!
That sounds awesome. I wish that had been my theme.
David’s Bridal is by far the worst. I recieved three phone calls a day for over a week, and asked them politely all those times to stop calling me. Finally, I got nasty with the lady and I told her (which was true) “My wedding is 3 weeks away. No, I am not currently interested in buying one of your suits. If my fiance and his groomsmen are not outfitted by now, we are all screwed anyway. Stop calling.” That was the last call I got. I also have received multiple catalogs in the mail on wedding stuff. My fiance keeps insisting I signed up for it when I complain, but I assure you, I most certainly did not. I made the mistake of buying my dress at David’s Bridal. I will never shop there again and I will tell every bride I come across to RUN.
Just wait until you have a kid — a lot of the big box maternity stores do the exact same thing. If Destination Maternity or whoever wants your email, do not give it to them — they’ll sell it to everyone and their mother. Don’t get me started on getting unsolicited formula samples in the mail.
Not only that, but they sell your information to companies that ship you half a dozen dr suess books with a cute little bag and then start sending collections after you because you didnt pay for the books you never asked for. Not kidding you. I must have gotten three different magazines and all this “free” formula crap. All this because my mother decided to take me shopping for a few tops and then signed me up for all these coupons and crap. The best part? They even asked about breastfeeding and still send their inferior crap to me. That was Motherhood Maternity. So beware!!
Rather than addressing spam, I’m going to focus on your desire to acquire random animal facts for your programs. Because I think that’s an awesome idea. Here goes: A boar’s penis is shaped like a corkscrew. (It’s really hard to top that one, but I’ll keep going anyway.) Rats do not have a gall bladder. Cows only have one stomach, but it has four compartments. Unlike the four-chambered human heart, frog hearts only have three chambers. Giraffes and humans have the same number of vertebrae in their necks; obviously, the giraffe’s are much bigger. An octopus can fit through any opening big enough for its beak to pass through. A guinea pig’s teeth never stop growing. A male cat’s penis has barbs on it that go away after he’s neutered. Female rabbits have two cervixes.
You’re welcome 🙂
Saharan sand vipers can either lay eggs or give live birth, depending on the season and other environmental conditions.
Leopard geckos are one of the only geckos with eyelids.
A chinchilla grows between 10 and 30 hairs out of each individual follicle, making theirs the thickest fur of any mammal. It’s so dense, they are immune to external parasites because the bugs can’t reach their skin.
The British Royal Air Force once clocked a Peregrine falcon at over 240 mph. in a dive.
The smallest raptor in the U.S. is the Elf Owl, native to the American Southwest, where they nest in cavities in saguaro cactus plants.
The North American Opossum is the only marsupial native to the U.S., and because of its low body temperature, the animals rarely contract rabies because the virus cannot reproduce in their system.
A mother alligator will open her own nest to help her babies hatch. She knows it’s time because the babies make squeaky noises inside the egg just as they start to tear it open.
As with some other reptiles, the average temperature inside an alligator’s nest will influence the sex of the babies. A warmer nest will hatch more girls, while a cooler one will hatch more boys. An exact median of 85-86*F produces a 50/50 split of sexes. (/ amateur zoo keeper on the weekends)
Oh, and if you want to see some *weird* penii, google “duck penis”. Corkscrew doesn’t even *begin* to cover it! Lol.
Echidna penis.
Milkpads.
That is all.
Female kangaroos have three vaginal canals and the males have two penis prongs.
When I first got engaged, I went to the Knot and created a wedding website. And then after exploring the site for a while, I realized I kind of hated the sameness of everything on there, and randomly started googling things – and voila! I found OBB. I’ve since created a new wedding website from mywedding.com and love it so much more than my old one. (It’s a good thing our wedding date is still 9 months away!) I haven’t received any phone calls from DB yet, but I’m sure I will…. I did setup a wedding email address for all the spam to go to – it works pretty well. Today I got a record 13 emails from the Knot – mostly about things I don’t care about. I’ll have to figure out how to unsubscribe from their email listing since it’s starting to get fairly annoying.
An easy way around the phone number problem is to set up a google voice number just for wedding stuff. You can set all calls to go straight to voicemail and get an email or txt when a message is left. Block any unwanted spammy type callers that bother you then get rid of the number when the wedding is over. Super easy.
The second – the *second* – I changed my relationship status on facebook (cheaper than ~*~engagement announcements~*~, and everybody who needed to know knew in <10 minutes!), my ads changed overnight. BUY SOME SHOES! okay, yeah, probably at some point—CATERING CATERING CATERING! Well, that depends on our venue, but, okay, I'll look—WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUY SOME FANCY JEWELRY? Actually I was planning on having a consultation at my partner's mom's store, but, okay, I like looking at shiny things—LOSE WEIGHT FOR YOUR BIG DAY!!!!! …oh, go f*ck yourself.
If you have issues with phone-spam, get yourself on the National Do Not Call Registry. It doesn’t apply to the vendor you actually are working with, but anyone they sell your info to can’t call. And if they do, you can inform them you are on the list, and the calls will stop. If they don’t, you can file a complaint.
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0108-national-do-not-call-registry
Girl… my wedding is like a year and a half out and i’m getting my inbox blown UP with some ridiculousness. One of the bakers who emailed me was featured on CakeWrecks…for all the wrong reasons lol.
I have the same thing happening with all of my online ads(well, until i re-installed adblock-or catblock for a small fee). It went from roller derby stuff and workout gear to WEDDING! WEDDING! WEDDING! Buy this ugly smock thing with sparkles blah blah… Horrible.
I should never have opened any of them. I DID find a few venues i had never even thought of. Traditional venues, but holy cow they had some good pricing.
Thank you! I get stuff all the time after going to David’s Bridal once! It’s really nice to know that I’m not the only one frustrated by it. You’re right, I’m sure that many people find it very helpful and I can totally understand it but it is the assumptions that get to me. In particular, the assumption that I am making all of the decisions for my FI.
I was also very annoyed when I started receiving non-stop emails from all the wedding sites ect… I was missing messages left and right. I found a really cool site at http://www.wedding.me and I was able to create an actual wedding email address with my name ending in @wedding.me. It was forwarded to my existing gmail account. Im using it for my rsvp email. Very cool!
I’m not sure how it could have happened since I haven’t gone dress shopping (at least physically) yet, but I just received a copy of Golf Digest in the mail. I certainly didn’t subscribe since I don’t golf beyond putt-putt, but it being somehow wedding related is the only thing I can think could be the cause since signing up for a few websites for wedding planning is the only thing I’ve done with my email in the past few weeks…It boggles the mind.
Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet, but I’m a BIG fan of Google Voice. I use that number for everything, it forwards to my cell but I can screen callers (google voice asks the caller to state their name – when you answer you press 1 to accept or 2 to send to voicemail without ever having to speak with the caller). If they leave a voicemail it goes into my email transcribed (and with an audio file attached) and my favorite part…. you can block numbers for free. After being blocked, when they call again they get a “this number is no longer in service” message. It accepts text messages too (which you can reply to via email). You don’t have to forward calls to your cell, you could just manage them via the web if you only use it for spam management.
The only people/places who have my actual cell# are immediate friends/family and legit businesses (like my bank, doctor, etc…) EVERYONE else gets the google voice number. It’s so handy 🙂