How To Find Wedding Planner Jobs
Now that you know how to become a wedding planner, its time to start applying for jobs or building your client base. First things first, you need to create a resume that will catch a potential employers eye. Your wedding planner resume is almost like a proposalit shows potential employers how youll partner with them to create a happy future. You can get ideas from a sample event coordinator resume and an event coordinator cover letter to help create your wedding planner resume.
Then, once your application materials are prepared, you can get ready for your big day by searching through event planner and event coordinator listings that include wedding planning jobs on Monster.
Your Wedding Planner Website
These days, we all live online. That means prospective clients are going to expect you to have a legitimate website for your professional wedding planning business. Yes, you can have social media accounts but in order to truly be successful, social media alone wont be enough.
A proper website shows people that youre the real deal and that you take your business seriously. Once someone clicks on your website, the meat and potatoes of it are what will really seal the deal. This is basically just a fancy way of saying, make sure your website is worth their time.
Firstly, youre going to want to secure your domain name.
I strongly recommend keeping your domain the same as your registered business name, so as not to create any confusion amongst prospective clientele. From there, make a check list of all the different pages and information you wish to offer on your site. Pertinent information would include:
- An About Me pages, giving clients the chance to get to know you better as a person, as well as understand your qualifications and certification
- Your contact information
- A page where you list all of the wedding planning services you currently offer
- You can also list your prices, if you wish to include this info as well
- A blog, if you so choose to add to one to your site
- Your professional portfolio
- Client testimonials
- Links to your social media channels
- If you so choose, an option for clients to book with you directly from your site, etc.
Planning Checklist & Wedding Schedule
Unless you love chaos on your wedding day and flying blind, this is what EVERY bride needs. You really cant hold a wedding without knowing what needs to be done.and when it needs to happen. What does a Wedding Planner Do? Well, most often this is it. I have couples come to me in every stage of planning. Creating a checklist and schedule is the most requested service I get. For my clients I have several task managers and tools I use to do this. Each of my clients receives a Monthly Guideline Pamphlet upon booking our service. This month by month guide helps our clients to understand how to pace themselves with planning so they dont get overwhelmed. Along with that we email out monthly check ins to see how our clients are doing and setup any consults or meetings that need to happen to stay stress free and on track.
In addition to keeping a checklist going we also plan out your Ceremony Rehearsal and Wedding Day Timeline so everyone involved, including bridal party, family, and pros, know what they need to do and when.
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What Do Wedding Planners Do
Wedding Planners help couples successfully plan their wedding day and see that everything runs smoothly. As a Wedding Planner, your responsibilities include establishing a planning timeline and working with the bride and groom to choose everything from attire, to ceremony and reception venues, music, and food. You are responsible for every aspect of the event, and you must ensure that everything meets the needs of your clients. Wedding Planners may offer various packages that represent different levels of involvement in the planning of the wedding. For example, a coordination package may include managing logistical details on the actual wedding day only, while full-service planning includes months of coordinating details such as the budget, vendors, and venue.
How Much Do Wedding Planners Make
Monster data shows the median salary for event planners is $20.72 per hour, and their pay can range from $14.35 to more than $30 an hour. An independent wedding planner salary can be even higher, depending on your location, your clients, and how many weddings you plan a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . Independent wedding planners are either paid a flat fee per wedding or charge for individual services.
You can look up the average salary for a wedding planner in your location by using the Monster Salary Guide.
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What To Expect On Your Wedding Day
On your wedding day you can expect from both day-of, and full-service planners, to have everything coordinated for you, as described in the previous section, they will make sure the vendors are where they need to be, doing what they need to be doing.
They take care of emergencies and make sure guests have a good time. They also ensure that all the decorations are done on time and that everything looks right so that the bride and groom dont have to think about it.
Types Of Wedding Planners:
- Wedding Planner and Design Stylist This type of planner will handle all of the logistics and details, as well as help you pull off a creative design and style for your big day.
- Traditional Wedding Planner A tried and true wedding planner will purely focus on all of the logistical details, budget, and making sure all of the systems run accordingly.
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Incorporates Of A Detailed Timeline
A wedding planner takes the responsibility of a detailed timeline including the photographers timeline, decorators timeline DJ/Band timeline etc. including their own timeline in order to ensure that everything goes smoothly for the entire duration of the wedding.
It is advised to take down not just the wedding event planners landline numbers but also their cell numbers in case of emergency. The best wedding planner acts as a walkie-talkie to make sure that things are well connected and coordinated.
The Wedding Day Little Black Book
As a wedding planner, one of the key things your clients will expect is quality supplier recommendations. Its not just about managing the logistics so that the day goes off without a hitch. Its about connecting couples with suitable suppliers who will bring their wedding vision to life. Having a list of important contact of vendors, venues, suppliers etc., is just for starters!
A wedding planner typically starts by meeting with the couple for an initial consultation in order to understand their specific needs and wants for their wedding. This meeting includes not only the details for the wedding day itself but also any other related events such as the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, the next day brunch etc. As the wedding planner, you will also be informed as to what your clients budget is, and depending on that. The clients find out what services they can expect to get for their money. Excellent listening skills are essential here for getting a precise feel and understanding of the couples taste and their overall vision. The wedding planner also provides a legal contract for their services, which outlines in detail what the clients can expect to get from hiring them.
Wedding Black Book
A knowledgeable wedding planner has many important contacts in the business, has probably successfully organized many previous weddings, and is, therefore, able to suggest wedding reception venues and suppliers that fit the bill of what the individual couples want.
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Wedding Planning Professional Titles
In the world of wedding planning, several terms exist to describe the role of the individual hired to professionally plan a wedding.
I primarily refer to the term wedding planner to describe this profession. Youll also see other terms like bridal consultant, wedding consultant and, occasionally, wedding coordinator
For the purpose of this site, however, each term is interchangeable and refers to a person hired to plan and organize a wedding.
And although in different parts of the country, each of these terms may have a very specific meaning with regard to what tasks are performed, try not to get too hung up on your professional title. Its totally up to you to decide which one works best for you in your wedding planning career.
What Is The Difference Between A Wedding Coordinator And A Planner
Traditionally, a planner spends over 200 hours walking you through the months of preparation required to choose and manage vendors as well as execute the day itself.
Day-of wedding coordinators:
- Step in a few days leading to the wedding to handle all rehearsal dinner, wedding weekend events and the wedding itself
- Make sure the event goes smoothly behind the scenes
- Often do not help with the early stages of brainstorming and contract assistance
Remember, each planner and coordinator will have their own scope of work and ways to personalize the best way to utilize their skills.
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Day Of Wedding Coordinator Duties:
Here is a sample of what you can expect your wedding planner to do on your wedding day:
- Meet vendors and deliveries as well as handle any no-shows.
- Solving other last-minute crises that may happen.
- Running the wedding rehearsal.
- Ensuring that the ceremony and reception are set up to satisfaction.
- Making sure that the wedding party is on time and well-coordinated.
- Coordinating the reception timeline.
And much more.
My wedding planning list is over 15 pages long depending on the type of wedding I am planning.
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Wedding Consulting: $40 To $150+ Per Hour
Maybe you have some experience planning events or you have a reliable team of friends and family to help plan your wedding. In that case, you might only need a wedding consultant. This persons job is to help work out the kinks in your plan, advise you on major decisions, and send you on the path towards a successful wedding experience. Make sure you do some research on how to survive your first wedding consultation and have your wedding binder or mood board handy when you go in.
Once youve decided on what level of investment youd like to make in a wedding planner, youll need to figure out how to tell the difference between a good wedding planner and a great one.
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Alternatives To Traditional Wedding Planners
Besides a traditional wedding planner, there are also other types of planners that help out at weddings. These include wedding designers and day-of wedding coordinators. Although some dont help out on planning everything on the checklist, they focus particularly on one aspect of the wedding.
These event planners are a great alternative if you decide that you dont want a traditional wedding planner, but you would still like some help in making preparations for one aspect of your wedding.
Day-Of Wedding Coordinator
A day-of coordinator is there for the day of your wedding, to help make sure that everything it set up, running smoothly, and on schedule.
Check out our blog post to Learn What a Day-Of Wedding Coordinator Does.
Wedding Designer
What do wedding designers do? Wedding designers are creative event planners that oversee your wedding decor. Not only do they manage your wedding decor budget and vendors, but they also bring your wedding visions to life.
Simple, extravagant, outdoor, or royal- they know what decorations and arrangements look great for your weddings theme and location. They visit your wedding site, they create a wedding design concept, they create wedding floor plans, and they make sure that your decorations are all in the right place on the day of your wedding.
Destination Wedding Planner
You Can Expect Your Wedding Coordinator To Work With You To Select A Responsible Individual In Your Wedding Party A Family Member Or A Close Friend To Handle And Transport The Gifts Home For You
We’ll double check under the gift table’s skirt and behind things to make sure no stray card or gift is left unaccounted for, hold the doors for your designated gift transporter while they load, and even unlock their car for them while their hands are full. We just don’t want to touch the gifts if we can avoid it.
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So How Does A Wedding Planner Learn The Skills
Theres no mandatory license or certification that is required to practice wedding planningand whilst you can belong to an organization such as the Association of Bridal Consultants, the Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants, or the Wedding Industry Professionals Association all of which are indicators of experience, theyre not the only factors that can influence possible clients.
Yes, talent also speaks for itself by fabulous photos on the wedding planners company website or blog and of course, reviews are a great asset.
Wedding Planning Education
However, being associated with an established educational provider such as the Wedding Academy can also give you serious street cred
Learning up-to-date skills about the wedding industry and how to manage an event, however large or small, can help give you confidence as well as some really essential skills. Obtaining certification with the Wedding Academy will help reassure prospective clients of your professionalism and capabilities until you have built up the reputation and testimonials of a more experienced planner. If you are already a planner, obtaining further credentials keeps you on-trend and helps you develop more essential contacts by networking.
Wedding Planner Duties & Responsibilities
Successful wedding planning requires you to be a jack of all trades. According to Pittsburgh-based A Piece of Cake Wedding Design, the job entails: “…the role of the wedding consultant is that of a facilitator, mediator, money manager, artisan, and constructor of dreams.”
If you’ve ever been a bride or groom, or even a bridesmaid, you also know the kind of stress that planning a wedding can bring about. A wedding planner often also ends up also being a therapist, sounding board, and even punching bag, figuratively of course, when frazzled nerves come into play.
Although the job can involve a wide variety of tasks, certain typical duties and responsibilities are involved in the day-to-day life of a wedding planner, such as the following:
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So What Does A Wedding Planner Do For You
Your planner will spent about 100-200 hours helping you plan your wedding
Remember that at the end of the day a planner is helping you plan YOUR wedding so dont hesitate to be honest and open about what your want from that day. Let them know if you feel uncomfortable with anything or dont like an idea they throw out. It will never hurt their feelings and you can talk through some of the reasons and details behind the decisions.
Whether it is with or without the help of a planner, enjoy the planning process. It might be a bit stressful leading up to the day but once the wedding day arrives it is amazing and fun and spent with the people you love.
High Fives and Happy Planning!
xoxo, Becca + Jessie of Modern Vintage Events
