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Module 1: Wedding Planning Introduction

Duration: approx 10 minutes

Student Objectives:

  • To learn about the activities that wedding planners take part in
  • To know what being a wedding planner is all about
  • To understand why people rely on wedding planners
  • To learn how you can make money as a wedding planner
  • To know the essential skills you need to be a wedding planner

The videos in this course summarise the information in each module, as well as including additional content, but you will need to read the text to be able to complete any worksheets and final test.

Wedding Planning Introduction – 5m12s

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1.1 Introduction

nicheAs an event planner, you are often encouraged to find your niche.

Many people choose to go the route of the wedding planner because this is the type of event that they find most exciting. Who could blame them? A wedding is a joyful, happy affair by its very nature.

A wedding is a different kind of event for more reasons than the obvious. Many of the other events that are planned require the event planner to be able to market the event successfully. These events often require payment negotiations, ticket sales and all of the other things that are involved with running a business event.

Because a wedding is a personal affair, event planners can focus more on the details of the event rather than selling the event to other people.

However, this does not mean that the role of the wedding planner is easier than that of a corporate event planner or a conference manager; it just requires different skills.

FACT

2minsOn average there is a wedding every 2 minutes in the UK

Source: ons.gov.uk

1.2 A Day in the Life of a Wedding Planner

dayA wedding planner is more than just an event coordinator. A wedding planner is a shrewd negotiator, a purveyor of taste, a shoulder to lean on, a multi-tasker and a problem solver.

Wedding planners are personal assistants for the happy couple. They are also accountants who specialise in wedding finances, as well as people with great creative visions. When a client comes to you as a wedding planner, they want to know that you can take their ideas and turn them into a reality. They also want you to manage their budget, make sure that everything goes right on the day, and help you finalise the details of the wedding once the big day is over.
Every wedding is different and every couple is different. As a result, there is not a typical task that wedding planners do every single day.
Every wedding starts out when a couple approaches you to help them turn their vision for their wedding into a reality. In some cases, this may be an outer space themed wedding with 75 guests in a garden. In other cases, you may be renting a luxury hotel ballroom and struggling to figure out where the attendees can leave their vintage sports cars.
As a wedding planner, you need to be prepared for whatever the couple throws at you.
As a planner, you can expect to work on engagements of all sizes. Location weddings are becoming increasingly more popular. This means wedding planners now find themselves planning an event on the couple’s behalf, when the couple doesn’t live in their locality, but would like to get married in it.

Wedding planners may work directly with a couple in an office or on site. You might take the couple shopping for flowers or escort them to venues to choose a space for the event. Alternatively, you may be working with a couple who live on the opposite side of the country and want to have a destination wedding. This would require you to plan the whole event on behalf of the couple, checking in with them to provide them with updates.

The following list contains a list of the biggest tasks you will often be given as a wedding planner:

Coordinating the Venue

You will be in charge of all things to do with the venue. In most cases, you will need to find a selection of appropriate venues, and then present them to the client. You will need to do plenty of research to figure out what each of the venues can bring to the wedding, as well as any drawbacks to the space itself. For example, if you are looking at an inner city venue, you will have to figure out where the guests will park their cars.

Working with Vendors

As a wedding planner, you will need to draw on trusted vendors and suppliers. Your early days will often be spent tracking down the best vendors and forging relationships with them. The better your relationships are with your vendors, the easier your job will be. If you throw enough work their way, they will be more likely to go the extra mile for you. They may even send you new clients who approach them about their wedding services, which ultimately will help you build your business.

Creative and Design Initiatives

The wedding planner career requires someone who is both intensely creative as well as someone who is proficient in administrative tasks. Your career is not just spent coming up with themes, floral arrangements and designs for clients’ weddings. You also need to nurture your creative side and stay on top of the latest industry trends.

Marketing and Branding

At the end of the day, you’re running a business. In the beginning, you will not have clients fighting over you. In fact, you will be fighting for clients. This is where advertising and marketing come in. You need to dedicate a proportional amount of time to making sure that you develop a well-rounded and recognisable brand in the industry.

Negotiating

No matter what task you are performing, you will be expected to negotiate, but most Britons are averse to negotiating. It goes against the culture to negotiate heavily over a couple of pence. However, you will not just be negotiating prices as a wedding planner; you will use your negotiation skills to ensure that you get the right flowers, the right food and the right space. If you can use these skills to get all of these things for the right price, you will ultimately be rewarded and make a great event planner.

1.3 Why People Hire Wedding Planners

whyCouples hire a wedding planner for many reasons.

The first, and most common, reason is that some people are simply too busy to coordinate a wedding themselves. This is especially true of people who are throwing a large wedding, but do not have the time to deal with the intricate details that goes into pulling off a big event. These couples will usually want a say in the decisions being made, but won’t have the time to deal with the day-to-day efforts that go into making it happen.

Some people will hire a wedding planner because they want to have a certain kind of wedding, but have no idea where to start. Many of these people will have basic ideas regarding what they want their wedding to be, but will rely on your creative vision to turn their thoughts into well-developed ideas.

Other people will hire a wedding planner so that they have someone to help them get through the day. Many couples want to be able to throw a big party and enjoy it. They do not want to place the burden of running the show on their friends and family. These couples will want everyone to be able to enjoy the party without having to worry about whether or not the caterer will show up on time.

Finally, some people will want to hire a wedding planner to make sure they stay within their budget. It may sound contradictory, but having someone else deal with the money is the safest way for some couples to ensure that they do not spend more money than they have. Many of these couples will come to you because they know you have contacts that can help keep their finances in line. They know that if they go out and look at vendors, they will walk away with someone more expensive than they can afford. But, if you present them only with those vendors in their price range, the temptation will be significantly decreased.

1.4 How Wedding Planners Make Money

moneyOne of the great things about being a wedding planner is how you make money.

How you make money will depend on the kind of services you provide for the couple. There are three main types of services that a typical wedding planner will provide. These services include: consultation, a day of coordination services and the full service wedding planning package.

A consultant package will usually see you sitting down with a couple and helping them with specific ideas. You might help them with design, answer questions or help them with vendors. Most planners who do consultant work will charge by the hour because this work is easier to track. How much you charge per hour will depend on your experience and your market. For example, a wedding consultant in London will charge more than a wedding consultant in Preston.

If you offer a day package, you will be offering a service that requires you to run the whole show on the day of the wedding. Usually, you will not have a hand in the planning of the actual wedding. Instead, you will be briefed one or two weeks before the event and then be on site to make sure everything goes smoothly. Day packages are typically charged on a per day basis. Again, these costs will depend on your market, your experience and often the size of the wedding. Typically, you will charge more for a wedding of 250 people than one for 100 guests.

Finally, if you are planning the whole wedding from start to finish, you will usually charge a commission.
For example, you might charge the couple 10% of their wedding budget as commission for your services.
Alternatively, you can charge a fixed fee for wedding planning packages. However, because every wedding is so different, you might find that you are either over-charging or under-charging depending on the wedding.
Using the commission structure is the best way to ensure you are fairly compensated for the actual amount of work that you do.

1.5 The Skills Every Wedding Planner Needs

skillsAlmost every career path requires a certain set of skills that are incredibly valuable to the profession.

Wedding planners require a specific set of both personal and professional skills that you need to succeed. Some of these skills may come naturally to you while others may require lots of extra training.

Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are probably the most important skills you can have as a wedding planner. Your career is people-facing and how you communicate with people will determine the success of your career, more than your creative abilities.

In wedding planning specifically, you will need to have a lot of patience and understanding. The nature of a wedding is emotional and there is so much that goes into planning a wedding that you might not see, but that the happy couple will have to deal with. In these cases, empathy is one of the most important tools you can have.

Your interpersonal skills will also come into play when dealing with vendors, photographers and even wedding guests on the day.

Creative Solutions

Chances are, if you are considering a career in wedding planning, you are already the creative type. But creativity is more than just about creating a cohesive colour scheme. You need to be able to come up with creative solutions. For example, if the power source is too far away from the wedding DJ booth, it will be up to you to fix the problem.

Time Management Skills

You cannot put off a wedding. Once the date is set, the invitations are out and RSVPs are coming in, you have a very strict timeline in which to get everything done. This is not a profession where you can finish your work a day late or ask for an extension. Your time management skills need to be up to scratch if you want a career as a wedding planner.

1.6 Is Being a Wedding Planner Glamorous?

celebPlenty of people will have seen films like ‘The Wedding Planner’ and dreamed of one day running down the streets of New York in a new pair of Jimmy Choos.

These dreams let people believe that wedding planning is a glamorous career in which they get to dress up and look at flowers every day.

While there are glamorous and fun elements, at times you’re going to find yourself feeling stressed. You’re also likely to find yourself doing tasks you’d never imagine doing. Some wedding planners have even reported having to spray paint bushes green so that they’re vibrant enough for photos. Other times, you will have been caught in a freak storm and be desperately trying to save those expensive rental tents from blowing away in the wind.

As with any career, wedding planning comes with its trials and tribulations. You’ll love spending time with the happy couple on the day and the glitzier elements of planning parties. But then there are logistics, arranging things like cutlery and portaloos, and taking calls from stressed couples in the middle of the night just as the wedding is around the corner.
Ultimately, the fun balances out the stress, but you have to be prepared to take everything the wedding planning world is going to throw at you.

1.7 Dealing with the Bridezilla

BridezillaNo introduction to wedding planning is complete without mentioning the scourge of the wedding planning industry: the Bridezilla.

Before now, you might have thought that this is a Hollywood construct that exists only to make movies more interesting.

Dealing with vendors, laws and other venues is all business. But dealing with a difficult couple? This is the hardest part of being a wedding planner. But it is also where you can learn to shine.

Don’t take it personally

The first thing that you have to remember in dealing with a bridezilla type is not to take it personally. There are often only two types of bridezillas. There are the brides who are using their wedding as an excuse to sponge up as much attention as possible, and there are the brides who are on such a strict budget that they are going crazy.

The whole thing is a crazy, emotional, trying time for the bride and your empathy and care can make it easier. Plus, feuding with the bride is the worst way to win clients.

Be diplomatic

The second thing that you will need to learn is diplomacy. Learning how to choose your battles is important. In some cases, you know you will need to stand your ground for the greater good of the wedding. But you need to be able to identify the cases where you should just let her do as she pleases because at the end of the day, it is her day.

Listening is also an important skill to have as a wedding planner. In many cases, a bride may be upset about something that has little to do with the actual reason that she is upset. Although you are not there to be her therapist, if you can use your active listening skills to get to the bottom of what she is really upset about, you can then move on to solve the problem.
Do not ever go behind the couple’s back. Even if you think that what you’re doing is for the best, going behind the back of the bride or the couple is always the wrong thing to do.
Not only is it rude, but the couple will find out and it will be embarrassing for them. It is the fastest way to get fired. Instead of circumnavigating the couple to get things done, work on your negotiation skills and do the best you can face to face.

Finally, it is important to know when to pull the plug. If a couple has you running at a loss, doesn’t pay their bills and is just short of verbally abusing you, you should fire them. There will be cases where nothing you do will make the couple happy. If it is early enough in the wedding process, tell them that you are not a good fit for their wedding, hand over what they have paid for and then bow out. Learning when to quit is the best way to make sure that you have a long career ahead in wedding planning.

Module Summary

Being a wedding planner is a lot of hard work. You need a whole combination of creative skills, business skills and interpersonal skills to succeed in this field. But even though there’s a lot to do, making a couple’s day extra special is one of the best rewards you can get!
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