Tips for Starting Your Wedding Planner Business

Planning a wedding is an art form, and it takes a lot of work. As a wedding planner you have to know what you’re doing and be on top of things. You have to be organized, assertive and confident in your skills and decisions! Got all that in the bag? Then here are some tips for starting your wedding planner business:

Starting your wedding planner business

Research

The first step to starting your own wedding planning business is research! There are many different facets of the industry and you will want to make sure that you find a niche that works for you.

Networking

Secondly, it’s important to network with other professionals in the industry such as photographers and florists. This ensures that they will be willing to refer clients your way or provide discounts on their services because they know who you are and what kind of service that they can expect from your business.

Connecting

You should also consider marketing yourself online by creating social media platforms and blogging about upcoming trends in weddings or unique ways for couples to incorporate their personalities into their special day.

Organization

Organization is key during this time period so make sure everything has its place. Take advantage of physical forms and digital. There are a lot of great organization apps to help you stay on top of things.

Doing Research

When starting your wedding planner business, you have to do your research and come up with a marketing plan in order to stand out from all the other planners out there.

• Research the Market
• Find out what other wedding planners are charging per hour/day/week. This can give you an idea of how much you should charge for your services.
• Find out what your competitors are doing on social media, their websites and blogs.
• Know your strengths. You want to make sure that whatever your strengths are as a planner, they will be conveyed through social media/your website so clients can learn about them before booking their services with you!
• Define Your Target Audience: Who is your target audience? Who do you want working with? If you don’t know yet then now’s the time! Take some time thinking about this and write down everything that comes into mind when thinking about who would hire someone like yourself.

Networking

Start networking before you even launch your business website or social media accounts. It’s the best way to get your name out there, meet potential clients and build relationships with them (and their friends and family) in advance of booking them for weddings.

And then use this search bar to find groups that focus on industries related to wedding planning. Once you’ve found a few groups that look promising, make sure they’re the right fit for what you have to offer by checking out their descriptions and members’ profiles on their websites.”

Connect with Local Vendors

There’s no reason to go it alone. Wedding planners are a dime a dozen, but wedding planners who know the local vendors and the industry like the back of their hand? Not so much. It’s important to familiarize yourself with your area’s top-notch vendors so that you can stay on top of things and make sure everything is going smoothly for your client.

If you’re not already in touch with these people, now is the time to start building relationships with them—and not just because they’re good at what they do. The fact that your clients are paying you means they want something done well by someone they trust, which means they want someone like you who has done this job before (or at least done some kind of work similar to it) and understands how things work behind-the-scenes. So get out there! Meet new people and keep those old contacts alive by staying in touch regularly and paying attention when something changes (like prices or availability).

Find Your Niche

Finding your niche is essential to your business. If you want to stand out, you need to be unique. That’s why it’s important to find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition in a way that makes sense for your market. Not every couple wants a wedding planner who specializes in destination weddings or one who specializes in budget-friendly weddings or one who specializes in traditional ceremonies—you get the idea! You need to think about what sets you apart from other professionals and make sure it aligns with where your strengths lie as well as what differentiates your particular area from others.

Finding your niche is part of the branding process. We’ve compiled some tips here to help guide you during that process.

Stay Organized

You need to be organized. This is a fact. No matter how good you are at multi-tasking, no matter how much coffee you drink, no matter how many times you tell yourself “I’ll just jump in when I get there and start doing stuff…” this will not work as a long term solution for staying on top of everything that goes into planning one wedding (let alone two or three).

To keep yourself focused on what needs doing next, use an app like Asana or Wunderlist. That way when one task is done another pops up immediately afterwards. It’s easy enough for clients and vendors alike to get sidetracked unnecessarily. Don’t let it happen to you too! Looking for other apps to assist you? Here is as list we’ve created of useful apps for your business.

Be Confident

To start your business as a wedding planner you need to be assertive and confident in your skills and decisions.

You’ll be working with all kinds of people and not everyone is going to agree with you. That’s okay! But it’s important that you know when to set the tone for a conversation, and stand up for what you believe in (and what your clients want). This is your client’s big day—you have to look out for them first!

Wedding planning can be hard work but it is rewarding!

Wedding planning can be a difficult business, but it’s also rewarding. If you’re looking to get started as a wedding planner, take our tips into consideration and don’t be afraid to do your research! You can grab more tips for starting your business on this blog.

Rooting for you!