Become a Wedding Planner
The wedding business is booming! Every year, millions of couples tie the knot, spending an average of $20,000 a couple — making it a billion industry. Planning and organizing a wedding is still a major undertaking and many couples simply don’t have the time to devote to it — and are more than happy to leave the planning to a professional.
The demand for wedding planners is booming too — an estimated 15% of couples now use the services of a professional wedding planner. Being a wedding planner allows you to be your own boss; it’s a profession that most people consider to be fun and rewarding — and there are no particular educational qualifications or requirements. Around 10,000 people in the United States claim to be professional wedding planners.
As a wedding planner, you are responsible for every aspect of the wedding — flowers, photography, food and perhaps accommodation for out of town guests. You also have to enjoy dealing with people, as that is essentially what you will be doing much of the time, as a wedding planner. And perhaps one of the most important qualities is simply to be well organized and efficient — you don’t want to find that you forgot to book the caterers for the big day!
Starting a wedding business is not much different from any other business — although start up costs tend to be minimal. You will need a small office to work from, or a quiet space in your home — keep in mind your clients may meet with you there. You will need such basics as a separate phone line, fax machine and business cards and you may need to register your business in your county or state. Having your own web site is an essential too.
A portfolio is also an excellent thing to show potential clients. If you aren’t sure where to start, offer your services to family and friends in exchange for being able to take and use photographs. Your portfolio should contain photographs of any weddings you have helped to plan — anything from the flowers and the table settings to the catering and the choice of venue. Reference letters from some satisfied clients are always a nice finishing touch.
The best way to become experienced as a wedding planner is to learn all you can about weddings — and what makes them successful. Attend weddings, talk to those people involved such as caterers, photographers and florists. Try to get as many contacts as you can — you will need them later. It’s also worth trying to negotiate discounts with some of your contacts. And if you want to go back to school — you can take classes that teach you all about the profession.
So now you are a wedding planner — but where do you find your clients? One of the most effective ways to find potential clients is through your network of contacts in the industry. Make sure your business cards are visible at caterers, florists and bridal shops. You may want to advertise in the local newspaper and display your business card at such places as libraries, community centers and workplaces. And as every small business owner knows — word of mouth is often the most effective advertising.
And one of the best things about being a wedding planner? You have the satisfaction of helping to plan what many people consider to be the happiest day of their lives.
Using a Wedding Planner Checklist
The ring is on her finger, and the date has been set! Now what? As the bride and groom to be, you could be looking at one of the most fun seasons of your life – or, you could be entering into the most stressful period of planning you’ve ever experienced.
You want everything to be beautiful, to be a representation of your personalities and to give yourselves and your guests memories that will last forever. The best way to accomplish all the above is to hire an experienced wedding planner who will use a tried and true checklist, the greatest tool to bring your dreams to reality.
Let’s take a look at the items which should be on any good wedding planner’s list:
- The Wedding Party – Who are they? You can’t have everyone so how do you choose wisely?
- The Wedding Attire – What colors will you use, what length of gowns for the girls, and what style of tuxedos for the guys?
- Photography – How to choose one who will make you feel at ease and understand your desires. References and portfolios should be available, and an interview should let you know if your personalities mesh well.
- The Venue – Indoor or outdoor? Traditional church wedding? Wedding and reception all in one place?
- Pre-wedding and Rehearsal activities – Venue, who gets invited, do you need a microphone?
- Wedding Cake
- Caterer – tasting menus, budget, open bar, cash bar?
- Decorations – Both for the wedding venue and the reception
- Rentals – What will be needed and where is the best place for price and service?
- Children involved – How to manage properly and assigning adult responsibilities
- Printed Material – Invitations, newspaper announcements
This list will vary and is certainly not intended to be the complete list your wedding planner may use, but this should at least give you an idea of what basic should be included.
It would be a good idea to put this list into a spreadsheet where you can also assign dates and responsibilities for tracking the progress, and ensure that nothing slips through the proverbial cracks and you have a last minute “surprise” you weren’t expecting.
There is a LOT that goes into planning a memorable wedding. Feel free to suggest that others be given small tasks or errands. Include members of your wedding party, your parents, and even your spouse-to-be. It’s just too much for one or two people to handle.
Use the checklist as the basis for everything. Remember, it’s flexible, but without a fundamentally sound plan and list, you’ll soon be drowning in chaos, which is NOT what you want during this very exciting time in your life.
Guide to Hiring a Wedding Coordinator/Planner
After reading every book on the subject, you may be concerned that you don’t have what it takes to plan your own wedding. Perhaps you feel that you’re too busy or that you’re just not creative enough. That’s okay.
Finding help
Wedding coordinators and planners are professionals at making your special day memorable and stress free. They know the ins and the outs of planning a wedding. And since they’re local for the most part, they also know what your city is like. They will know where the good places to have a reception are, or where the best catering can be found.
They do the work for you and come back with options for you to select from. You work together until you find something that suits the both of you. They’ll help you work within a budget, make all the calls that you need, and even remind you of things that only you can do.
They’re really a day planner for your wedding day creation.
For the busy couple that doesn’t have the time, or needs to travel a lot, a wedding coordinator or planner can provide a sense of security and ease. A good one with attend to your every need and desire in a beautiful wedding, while also relieving you of going through the motions.
Not for everyone
One of the main reasons that couples don’t always enlist wedding coordinators is that they do charge a fee for helping throughout the process. This makes sense because it is their time and their livelihood. However, if it’s an investment in your sanity, it may be well worth the extra check.
Another thing that you may want to consider before hiring someone to help you is whether or not it will make you less stressed. Those brides and grooms that enjoy planning and being in control of tings may find it hard to relinquish that to someone else. They end up calling the planner constantly, making additional plans without their knowledge, and other destructive behaviors. This is why sitting down with a few different coordinators will help you to choose one that complements your personality and your wishes.
A wedding coordinator or planner will be with you from the first step to the last, helping you navigate the details and doing the busy work. If you’re concerned that you’ll fall behind on the wedding planning, or you just want someone else to handle it, interview a few wedding planners and see if there’s someone who can help.
Take Advantage Of A Free Wedding Planner
Planning and organizing a wedding can be an incredibly stressful, albeit rewarding, job to do. When you’re involved in such a massive undertaking, it is advisable to obtain help and assistance from wherever it is offered. One place that such assistance is offered is one you may not have considered in the past as a source of assistance with wedding planning: online. The Internet actually can serve as a tremendous resource for all things related to planning a wedding and several web sites exist to act as a wedding planner. Many of these are completely free to use.
The Internet is primarily an advertising tool, remember, so your “free” wedding planner online may not really be free. Anytime you get something for nothing on the Internet you can be expected to be bombarded by advertising. For all of the assistance something as simple as an online or printable wedding planner provides, however, being targeted by a few ads (and the ads are obviously related to something you’re interested in at this time anyway: wedding related services and merchandise) is an acceptable trade off for most people.
Free wedding planners typically consist of useful things like checklists and other organizational tools to help you keep track of everything having to do with your wedding. They may be in the form of a simple downloadable or printable planner or a more complete online service that you must register for. These services, sometimes referred to as wedding channels, offer numerous planner type features. They often include individual tools like guest list managers, service ordering managers, RSVP trackers, and the like to assist you with always being on top of what’s happening with the planning stages of your wedding.
One piece of advice for those using a service that requires registration of some sort is to make sure that the service really is free and not some kind of a trial version or a site that offers very basic services at no cost but charges for the more useful features. For those services that really are free, you’ll want to create an email account (probably with a web-based email provider like Hotmail, Bigfoot, Yahoo, etc) for use as your contact email with the service. A big part of the advertising for these free services comes in the form of email and, unless you don’t mind receiving wedding related email advertisements for the rest of your natural life, these web based email accounts are the best way to provide an alternate address that you will use for the duration of the wedding planning stages only.
If the advertising is an issue, you can probably find similar services that do charge a fee. With these you’re likely to see and receive far less advertising. Advertising is simply an Internet fact of life, however, so even a pay service is likely to have some ads.
A free wedding planner available through the internet can be a great way to keep your sanity while planning a wedding. As long as you don’t mind being targeted for advertising while you use the free service you’ll find that you can save time, energy, and often money by using a one of these free wedding planners.
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