you have got to get very organized! make contacts to vendors so you have a personal relationship with them. do whatever it takes to give the couple what they want. What advice would you give a first time wedding planner starting out?
Make sure that you go with the flow and don't get stressed if things have to change. This day is gonna be a blast for you and your soon-to-be husband. You need to decide the details: date, location, them, colors, types of venues you'll need, inside or outside, etc. Then really you need to focus on jobs you'll need to appoint and the people who you'll appoint them to. For example, I did the same thing, I had my dad bring down his sound system which my brother ran. My friend instructed everyone when to begin walking down the isle. I had a friend and my family help decorate and set up and make sure everything arrived alright. This was different before the wedding, my bridesmaids and I were going to decorate and then get our hair done do pics then have the wedding and enjoy the reception and our family. However the venue where we were planning on having the wedding fell through a day and a half before our wedding day. We ended up having such a blast though! It couldn't have been better. So, enjoy it and know that the two of you will be just as married no matter what plans change or don't work out and that it'll be great because you two will be there! :D Have an awesome time with the plans!! Congratulations!
You need great people skills, you need to be organized, you have to be the team leader and you have to have a Plan B ready at all times to pull out of your sleeve if something goes wrong. At crunch time, you have to be able to have answers, keep everyone calm, including yourself, and keep the show moving.
Wedding planning is hard work and its not always fun. You have to be prepared to deal with brides who are not always easy to get along with and not take it personally. If you can do all of the above, you'll be a huge success.
You need to be creative and you need to have a network of trusted wedding professionals to back you up. If you assemble your team and they MUST be professionals, you shouldn't have problems because you know they will always be there to provide the services for the bride, in time and as contracted.
Start out by networking with wedding professionals. You can meet them at bridal shows or by references from brides who were satisfied with their services. Introduce yourself and interview them as vendors you want to use for your brides. If you don't mesh with them, don't use them. You'll find some amazing sources from them yourself that you've never heard of if you just ask them for sources. They know who is exceptional in the biz and who is just average.
Start out by volunteering your services to a friend or church to get your feet wet and to get some great references for your portfolio. You can also try hosting children's parties or birthday, anniversary or other gatherings. Once you have some experience under your belt, go for it!
Good luck!
You are probably going to have to start out by helping to plan weddings for family and friends - to build up a referral base. Know the contractors/ vendors in your area really well, see if you can negotiate discounts for people that you are servicing.
Above all, listen to the bridal couple and see what kind of wedding that they envision - don't think that what you envision as a wedding is what everyone wants. Last - but should be first on the list, don't talk badly and put down the type of wedding that a bride and groom are wanting to have-- that will kill your business more then anything else. Whatever the couple wants is what you want to help bring to the table. To talk badly about someone's wedding plans behind their back to your relatives, friends, is just the ultimate of unprofessionalism and really very unforgiveable in my book. Not sure how anyone could ever be successful in this business being so judgemental and opinionated.
If you want to be in this business, you have to be professional and do what the customer needs, no matter if it is your dream wedding or not (remember-this isn't your wedding).
Make sure you are creating the bride's vision and not your own.
Listen, listen, listen.
Have good contacts/vendor relationships.
Have a partner or a right hand person that can run the show in the event you have an accident, fall ill, have an emergency in the family...
It can be hard to get in to... do weddings for friends/family. Maybe even try your hand on planning engagement parties/sweet 16's as well to get more experience if competition is too hard for a newbie in your area for weddings.
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