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22
Jun
2011
By Boho
How to become a wedding planner
As mentioned before in my post Why does everyone want to become a wedding planner I get asked a lot by students and people aspiring to be wedding planners how to get into the business. I wrote my last post on why I couldn’t take on staff or placements, so I thought I would try and be a little more helpful and stop telling people why I can’t do something and try and offer some advice instead.
The main thing I get asked is 1) do I have any work placements/jobs and 2) can I offer advice to those who call or email me on how to get a leg up in the business.
No one told me anything when I start, I did get a few suppliers tell me how hard wedding planning is, others tell me of planners that had gone out of business, but I never once called anyone to ask their advice. Maybe if I had I wouldn’t be here now, as 2 years ago, planners were pretty few and far between, or certainly seen as a luxury item. The market has developed in the past 2 years, but it’s still something that takes explaining to others and still something that a lot of brides feel they can do without!
However the increased interest by others in becoming a wedding planner shows an obvious shift in its popularity and the fact that slowly but surely it is becoming the norm…or at least more common to some brides and grooms.
I started looking into wedding planning as a career about 6 months before I got made redundant back in June 2009. I had it in my head for quite a while as I was planning my own wedding that planning other people’s weddings was something I would love to do. I guess I started researching the idea while I was still in my old job. My position in recruitment at the time was pretty shaky due to the state of the economy so I was looking at other options in case the job went belly up…….and on the last day of my honeymoon it did just that and I was made redundant!
And from there my journey into the wedding industry began, I had no idea what was ahead of me, or how much my job would take over my life. I had been self-employed before so I did know some of the things to look out for, but I don’t think I was quite ready for how all-consuming the wedding world would be!
Now this is not going to be the bible of how to become a wedding planner! I can only speak from my own experiences; this is not the law of how to become a wedding planner, just how I did it myself.
Thinking about it all logically and in what order I did things, here is a breakdown of the areas I am aiming to cover each week and how I got myself on the road of wedding planning.
So this is going to be a weekly post until I run out of advice (which could be quite quickly!)
Coming up will be:
1. Get business advice
2. Start a wedding planning course
3. Research your competition & the market around you, find a niche
4. Create your brand
5. Get out and network and get yourself on social media
6. Get a website and a blog
7. Get some experience and work for free
8. Go out and meet suppliers and venues
9. Do your first few jobs and make mistakes
10. Think about add-ons and a side line to the business.
If there is anything above not listed that you feel you would like covered in this weekly how to post then do let me know. I will start next Wednesday with Getting Business advice, maybe not the most rock and roll of subject matters, but importaThis is a very organic process and I’m sure it will change as I start looking into each area in more detail, so I’m completely open to ideas and suggestions on this area.
These posts are for you, so they need to be as interactive as possible, feel free to ask me anything!…….well almost anything!
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Wow, this all looks so helpful for aspiring wedding planners. I’ve been thinking about setting up my own business so I’m sure some of this will be helpful to me too!
Kelly,
What a great post and a great subject. I personally like your ‘Do your first job and make mistakes’. I think that making mistakes (as long as not on an actual wedding!) in business are very good in the early days. A mistake is the greatest way of learning quickly. As long as you learn from it you will NEVER do it again. You will also improve from this, I personally obsess over past mistakes and believe me they will NEVER happen again! I can’t cope with the stress of it mainly!
Francesca
Good advice for anyone going to business for themselves, as a photographer my route was very similar.
Looking forward to the following posts!
Sounds very similar to how my journey as a wedding planner began. I agree witg the mistake making, and voluntary work. I worked a lot of free hrs just trying to get my name out.
Great writing :)
This is really interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your excellent article. Also, I have shared your site in my social networks!
Nice Post….This is great information for people who want to became a wedding planner. Great Job Done keep it up.
This is great, exactly what I needed!
Thanks very much and hope for my journey to be full of fun, excitement, love, beauty, treasure and of course – creating a perfect wedding every time.
P.S. I also think that believing in yourself would be a GREAT thing to do through out the whole business, what you do after the business and most importantly at the start.
I really like all these suggestions. Thank for sharing such a fantastic post. Great post, thanks for sharing .if you want to get Theme Based Party Organisers in Jaipur
For someone who is trying to get into the wedding planning industry this ll very helpful, thank you so much for sharing.
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