It's got me thinking about the essential qualities you need to succeed as a wedding planner. It's not an easy job and not particularly glamorous, like many people believe it to be. However getting to play such a key role in something as amazing as a wedding can make it the feel like the best job in the world.
Physical Strength
Unless you have a huge crew to help you it's pretty likely you will be setting up weddings by yourself and sometimes clearing up after too. This involves a lot of lugging boxes, carrying heavy chairs and trestle tables, bending, lifting, stretching, climbing ladders and the ability to stand for 12 to 15 hours. Transforming this empty tent into the image below took many hours of hard work but the results were so worth it!
Emotional Stength
Weddings can be emotional and so can running a wedding planning business. You have to be strong willed and motivated to succeed. No one will hand you success on a plate. You need to go out and work hard gaining experience, networking and developing your brand. Knock backs are hard to take but success will have you soaring on cloud nine!
People Skills
Not only do you need to provide an excellent service to your couples, but you also need to get suppliers on board and liaise with venues to create your vision. You'll also be on hand to assist guests and respond to their requests on the day. You need to do all of this with a smile even on long and stressful days.
Creativity
If you want to be involved in designing weddings you need to be creative and have a good eye for trends and understand how to make a wedding look amazing. You may be able to work with a stylist to help with this, but being able to put together a styled shoot or design a beautiful cohesive theme is a key skill.
Diplomacy
Often you might need to be the peace keeper or negotiator during the planning process. You need to keep everyone on side from the couple to family members and other suppliers. This can be tricky if there's lots of strong opinions involved.
Business Minded
As a wedding planner you will be running a business from home. You need to become an expert in social media, marketing, accounting, admin, invoicing and business planning.
Organisation
Not only will you be organising wedding but you will have heaps of admin to keep on top of as well as scheduling client meetings, liaising with suppliers and remembering lots of small details. If you don't love lists and spreadsheets then this might not be the right career path.
Flexibility
You will need to be flexible and quick thinking to deal with any issues that arise. You may end up working longer than you planned or changing things on the day that don't work but you have to have an open mind and lots of contingencies in place.
I hope that's useful, Steph x
Photo Credits: Life in Focus Photography and Stephen Richardson wedding Photography
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