If you love being in an environment of romance and beauty, then a career in the wedding industry might be your calling. Making the dreams of a couple come true is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.
However, there is much more to becoming a wedding planner than arranging centerpieces and ordering a three-tiered wedding cake. According to Wedding Day Sparklers, a planner must have some innate skills to be truly successful. A wedding planner needs to be extremely organized, a great negotiator, budget-conscious, compassionate, calm, and charming.
If this describes you to a T, follow along because these tips will bring you a lot closer to your career goals.
Wedding Planning Skills You Need
A great wedding planner takes skill; an exceptional wedding planner takes expertise, professionalism, and a pleasant manner. Let’s aspire to exceptional by mastering these qualities:
- Budgeting
Balancing champagne taste on a beer budget is sometimes very challenging, to say the least. It is your job to ensure the couple stays on their budget and that you present them with the best options based on their affordability. Often they make a last-minute change, and you have to be ready to switch gears and start anew.
- Negotiation
As a wedding planner, you will have to negotiate with your client about your fees. But where your real skills come into play is when dealing with vendors and venues. Negotiating a better price or squeezing in a close date will win the hearts of your clients.
- Leadership
You will be wearing many hats as a wedding planner. You will deal with the couple, vendors, and finances. There will be stress and drama, so you must remain calm and collected. After all, someone has to delegate and have a plan of action. Your leadership abilities provide guidance and reassurance to the happy couple.
- Emotional Intelligence
In this profession, you don’t want to become like a robot. The train needs to keep moving forward; however, showing empathy and compassion is equally important. This can be an emotional time for a couple, so you want to make them feel special and purposeful.
- Organization
One of the top attributes of a wedding planner is organization and meticulous attention to detail. Wedding planning has many moving parts, such as venues, menus, music playlists, photographers, flowers, table arrangements, and seating. The wedding couple entrusts you with the details, so you want to ensure everything goes off without a hitch! (no pressure, of course)
- Communication
As a wedding planner, you will need to communicate with many people, so it is essential that you speak with clarity and provide detailed instructions. Weddings can bring out the best and the worst in folks, so you must be able to work well under pressure. Not only will you be working with several vendors and merchants, but you may have to appease family members as well. Remain polite, friendly, and patient, despite any chaos.
- Experience
Never underestimate the value of experience. Working with a seasoned planner is a great way to learn the ropes. Taking advantage of an internship or shadowing a professional wedding planner also helps to get your feet wet. Online courses can educate you on the intricacies of wedding planning. The New York Institute of Art and Design offers one such course.
Also, being a little business savvy goes a long way. You are running a business, so you need some business capabilities such as management, marketing, and accounting.
The Brass Tasks of Creating a Wedding Planning Business
Kaden Dean is among the many small business owners who make up the nearly $60 billion wedding services industry in the U.S. Below is her business outline for starting your new business.
Select a name and which services you want to offer
A wedding planning business can fulfill many services, but it is up to you to decide which you want to offer. You could have different wedding packages, such as:
- Full Planning Menu – You do it all – from soup to nuts! Naturally, this will be the most expensive option.
- Wedding Day Plus – The couple does all the planning but hires you for the day of, plus any last-minute issues a few days before the wedding. This is the most popular option.
- The Day Of – You are there to create the timeline for the “big” day, ensuring all goes according to plan. If there are any snafus, you are available to handle it. This is the least expensive option.
You will also need to create a name for your business. Check online with the Secretary of State to ascertain the name is available.
Select a Business Entity
Tax and legal considerations must be taken into account when structuring a business. You want one which protects you from any legal problems, such as an LLC, which stands for limited liability company. It might be a good idea to have an attorney review your business entity to be sure everything is up to snuff. Next, you want to register it with the state.
Create a Comprehensive Business Plan
Use a business plan software program to write your plan. Growthink has a nice one. This is like a road map siting the way to profitability. For reference, your plan should include:
- Business Summary
- Market analysis
- List of products and services
- Marketing and sales plan
- Financial plan and projections
- List of vendors
For An Affair to Remember (Kaden Dean’s business name), start-up costs were $10,000 for the first year. This included rent, furniture, signage, business cards, brochures, a website, and advertising on WeddingWire.
Obtain an EIN
An EIN (employer identification number) is required if you plan on hiring employees. This can be gotten through the IRS website very quickly. The benefits of an EIN make the following three things easier: (these are just the main items)
- Business taxes
- Business credit card
- Business bank account
Business Bank Account and Credit Card
As stated previously, having established your EIN for your wedding business, you now want to open a checking and credit card account in the business name. It is quite important to keep your business finances separate from your personal finances. Why? Two reasons:
- Filing taxes
- Boosting your credit score for your business.
Funding the Wedding Business
If you don’t have the resources to apply to your business initially, you may need to obtain a business loan. Your business plan can help prove a profit plan. Sometimes it can be difficult to get a loan. If that is the case, consider getting a credit card with zero % interest for twelve months.
Marketing
Now that you have established your wedding planning business and know the services you will render, it’s time to get down to business! Begin marketing at trade shows and bridal boutiques, and make business relationships with wedding venues. Utilize social media and network like never before.
Once you receive your first client and crush it, word of mouth will be your best marketing tool.
Some Parting Words
Being in the wedding and event industry has its challenges, but nothing is better than seeing months and months of hard work come together to create the perfect wedding day, wrote Denise Ferdinand of the Fairy Godmother Wedding and Event Planning Company.
A college degree is not a prerequisite for becoming a wedding planner. Still, it is important to take an online course or two, gain some experience from a professional, and create a solid business plan that will lead to a rewarding career path.
Bringing a couple’s dreams to life is magical. A compassionate, organized, meticulous, creative, and communicative person has found their calling in the wedding industry. If you check off all those boxes – this is your bizz!