How to Become a Wedding Planner

August 8th, 2016 Events & Media Careers

Weddings are one of the most important events of anyone’s life. To some people, it’s one of the biggest and most exciting days of a person’s life. Indeed, they are certainly eventful and a lot of work goes into the big, extravagant weddings that many people opt for. With so much to choose on and organise, it’s no wonder that couples are hiring the help of a wedding planner to ensure everything goes smoothly. If you love a good wedding and feel like a highly organised person, then wedding planning may be the perfect option for you.

What is involved?

A wedding planner is someone who assists with the planning, budget, design and management of a client’s wedding. Wedding planners assist couples every step of the way- from the very beginnings of budget allocation, theme design, venue hire and catering- right through to the big day. A wedding planner is there to ensure that everything runs smoothly without hiccups. With people becoming increasingly time-poor these days, it is no wonder that the wedding planning industry has boomed over recent years.

What kind of traits are best for this role?

A lot of people enter the industry after planning their own wedding and catching the wedding planning bug. Although this can be helpful to understand what is involved with planning a wedding, it certainly isn’t a prerequisite. You also need to bear in mind that planning your own wedding can vary greatly compared to dealing with varying clients, all wanting your assistance and dealing with multiple suppliers.

As a wedding planner, one of the key attribute you should possess is strong organisational skills coupled with exceptional attention to detail. If you thrive off organisation, stringent planning and timeliness, wedding planning could be the perfect career choice for you. Lack of organisation with wedding planning can lead to potential disaster. Say you forget to book entertainment and can’t find anything last minute- your client could be left with no musical entertainment on their big day which would be potentially devastating for them.

Having experience in event management will be a huge bonus. If you’ve worked with other kinds of events, you’ll have first hand knowledge of what needs to be addressed and organised for an event such as a wedding. You’ll also have a better idea of timelines, in terms of what tasks you need to prioritise to make sure everything is in order and booked for the big day.

If you have the ability to think on your feet, this will also come in handy as a wedding planner. If in the event that something doesn’t go quite right on the day, you need to be able to quickly problem solve, think on the ball and resolve the issue as soon as possible. If you’re more likely to stress in the event of something going wrong or not as planned, then this may be something you’d look to improve before venturing into this business.

Lastly, possessing good administrative skills is a great perk to have. If you are the kind of person who labels everything, has special files for every matter in your life and likes to get things done in a fast and efficient manner, you may find this job to be very rewarding. You need to be a multitasker by nature; you know exactly what is happening for each bride and have no issues with keeping up with each event.

Do I need a qualification?

Although you may have planned your own wedding, loved doing so and been told by all your friends and family that you’d make a great wedding planner, the truth is you can never know enough information to be an excellent wedding planner. If you gain skills and knowledge through a wedding planner course, you’ll be a lot better prepared for this kind of job. You will learn the basics of planning a wedding, what is involved and the best ways to get in contact with suppliers, discussing options with couples and how to plan out a large event as a wedding.

How do I get started?

Once you have a qualification under your belt, you may decide now is the time to start your own wedding planning business. You may not have a huge amount of success immediately, and it will take time to build your reputation and a client base, but you can start on building your marketing and business strategy. Here are a few tips to get you started.

• Build a website: You can start by taking a look at the websites of other wedding planners in your area or district. What do their sites look like? Use these as inspiration to build your own. There are plenty of websites online where you can build your own website and customise it easily to suit your needs.
• Create a name: It can be as simple as “(Your Name) Wedding Planning” or you may want to come up with something a little more creative for your business name. Have a think of how you’d like your business to be represented as your name may invoke different ideas of how your business is run. For example, a business called “Fun Weddings R Us” will be a completely different feeling to “Romance Weddings R Us” to your clients.
• Join social media: Once you have your business name and website, it’s definitely a great idea to create a social media presence with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can share them from your personal profile and get started by inviting friends and family to like your pages and share with their friends. Social media is a great way to make contact and connect with clients on a more personal basis.
• Meet other planners: getting in touch with other planners may seem like you’re interfering in on the competition, but truth is, they may be a great contact for your business and you for theirs. Having someone to talk to about the industry and share local supplier details with will help you both out in the long run. Ask to catch up for a coffee to introduce yourself and get networking.

Things to remember

Some key things to remember when deciding on this career path are:

• Some couples may take their frustrations out on you. You need to be able to handle this kind of stress and not take it personally. Having a bit of a thick skin is required for this role in case of a bride or groom-zilla.
• On a wedding day, the planner is usually one of the first to arrive and the last to leave. You need to be prepared for long, busy days on your feet. You’ll also need to ensure that on a client’s wedding day you’re always fresh, positive and ready to make sure the day and night run smoothly and to plan.
• Everybody has different ideas, tastes and preferences. Planning your own wedding can be fun and exciting as you search for all the things you love to include on your big day. However, other couples will have other ideas of what they enjoy and like the look and feel of. It’s important to help plan a wedding that suits the couple’s personality, which can be extremely different to your own ideas for a wedding.

If this sounds like the right career path for you, get qualified today! ICI provide a comprehensive Wedding Planner course to set you up for a rewarding career in the wedding industry – visit the course page here today.

by Gladys Mae

Gladys Mae serves as the General Manager and Head of Student Services at the International Career Institute. Gladys holds a degree in Mass Communication - Broadcast Media from the University of San Jose-Recoletos. She joined ICI in 2010 and has over the past 12 years been instrumental in providing leadership and guidance to staff and students alike. Prior to joining ICI Gladys led a multifaceted career with key roles in the banking and business process outsourcing industries.