During this episode we discuss a variety of wedding topics.
A Celebrity Wedding Showdown
Did you hear? Bravo TV’s Real Housewives of Atlanta (RHOA) star, NeNe Leakes, is (or maybe it’s was, now…) considering becoming a professional wedding planner!
And in the same never-a-dull-moment vein as her TV show, NeNe is also going through her own drama with professional wedding planner Tiffany Cook. Cook claims that NeNe owes her thousands in unpaid wedding planner fees. Yikes!
But what I find really fascinating about this wedding planner debacle is that there are several layers of planning fees involved, here: a percentage of the wedding budget, a separate (and astonishing!) amount for wedding design and then another fee that covers the travel expenses for the wedding planning team to fly from their base in Florida to the wedding location in Atlanta.
This breakdown of wedding planning fees makes perfect sense (although, according to NeNe was not contracted) and confirms what I’ve been preaching for years…professional wedding planners should charge separately for each type of service provided. Don’t lump your wedding design services in with your wedding planning fees. Charge separately!
Start a Wedding Blog
If you’re considering planning weddings for a living, why not create a wedding planning blog while you’re getting everything together? There’s really no reason to wait!
A blog is a great way to simultaneously share your local wedding planning knowledge with your target audience as you develop (and decide if you truly want to delve into) the business end of things.
What should you write about? Post info about the wedding vendors and wedding venues as you discover them. Share short, need-to-know wedding planning tips. Share your opinion about the latest Bridezilla episode (and how area brides can avoid becoming one!).
Simply, create a “Hire Me” page that lets visitors to your site know that you’re available to help them plan their local wedding. No need to go in-depth with details, here. A few paragraphs and a contact form will do the trick.
The search engines (i.e. Google) love blogs and so will couples planning a local wedding.
Meeting with Wedding Venues
We got a great question from Claire, a destination wedding planner based in Belfast. Claire asked for help with determining the best method for contacting well-known wedding venues in her area. Should she drop-in, schedule an appointment, send an email….
Pinterest or Instagram?
So, are you using Pinterest or Instagram for your wedding business? Is there an advantage to using one over the other? Why not leave a comment, below, and let me know. (And, it will come as no surprise that yours truly is absent on both platforms!)
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Wedding Business Guide is a comprehensive, online resource that provides you with step-by-step info about launching your own, part-time, wedding-day management company. Learn more about Wedding Business Guide, here.
Confetti has a Facebook page AND a Facebook group: Click here to like Confetti on Facebook and use this link to be a part of the Confetti Insiders Facebook group.
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I think a blogs a great idea – it gives you credibility when starting your wedding planning business. And if you actually keep the blog going (!) you will beat the other 95% of your competition who give up after 6 weeks!
Dave, you’re absolutely right! Starting a blog is one thing. Sticking with it is another!
I love the idea of starting a wedding blog until I get my business up and running. A blog can also be a lot of fun. As one is conducting research for content for their blog, they can also learn a lot and get the scoop on fresh wedding tips on a daily basis.
Cool idea!
Hi, my name’s Julia, I’m just a simple girl from Australia. I just wanted to tell you how much your blog is amazing. It inspires me so much, and I’m very grateful that you take the necessary time to teach us how to succeed in our businesses. It’s helpful, so thank you so much for sharing. My cousin is also running a similar kind of business, here in Australia.
Have a look at – efyc.com.au/functions/function-packages/
Debbie
I listened to your show# 356, Thank you so much. This is helping to put mind at ease, yes it is overwhelming trying to set up a business, the expenses on running and ad, or just feel comfortable in telling others that this is something I love to do. I finally finish with my certification from QC Event Planning school. Listening to your show today, I really help me to have a clear vision how I want to approach to create this business, just one day at the time. I have talking with few vendors, but never occur to me to create a Blog and just share information there about their ideas, views and the wedding industry. One thing that I am finding out is that hiring a wedding planner is only for the rich, and also some vendors are not happy with the end result working with wedding planners, few vendors had said is all about the money, but there is nothing about the occasion, I think this will be great to create a Blog and open a conversation about these myths and wrong ideas of hiring a wedding a planner and the duties of the wedding planner is not only for the money. Debbie Thank you.. I have been overwhelmed, but today I have a better point of view of this business.
Thank you, may God Bless you
Martha Bejarano
Hi Martha!
Thanks so much for your feedback. I’m so, so happy to hear that listening to the episode helped you. Trying to get everything done can be overwhelming. As you say, ‘just one day at a time’. By the way, I highlighted your comment on the Weekly Wrap-Up Video (hope that’s okay with you). You can find it here: https://weddingsforaliving.com/weekly0.
As always, love and success.
–Debbie