influence of high end entertainment shows...

TV MEANS BUSINESS

The influence of TV shows reaches the corporate market as well. "'Deal or No Deal' is very popular--we have been asked to take that premise and make an interactive team-building EVENT based on that show," notes David Merrell, head of L.A.-based An Original Occasion. "As well, 'Lost,' 'Fear Factor' and 'Survivor' are the themes that clients ask to be created with an interactive element for their attendees." The granddaddy show for corporate events: "'Jeopardy,'" Merrell says. "The question content can be specifically changed to a client-specific PRODUCT or product line."

The problem with the event-based shows in particular, planners agree, is they set unrealistic expectations about BUDGETS. "Many do not show the price tag associated with the over-the-top" events, Andonoplas notes.

Her bar and bat mitzvah clients "have to know going in that what they see on the shows is expensive to produce," Arthurs says. "However, I find that with that particular demographic of client, they usually get what they want." What's the craziest thing a client enamored of TV shows ever asked her for? "She wanted to be followed by a pink spotlight the entire night," Arthurs says.

As I noted, uniqueness is a quality highly prized, but within very narrow limits. Uniqueness is a fiction, in other words, but in the language of the shows and the wedding industry, it's something you achieve through intense attention to detail (with no detail coming free) or by spending more so that, yes, it's a strapless white gown, but its custom made. So learn what, in the language of wedding reality shows, what's unique, what's a fairytale, and what's just not really like a wedding at all.