The Skills You Need to Become a Great Wedding Planner
Source: Unsplash
One of the most popular jobs that are almost always in demand in the event management industry is the wedding planner – because weddings happen every day and they also happen to be one of the most important days in the couples’ lives. Like any job, being a wedding planner is no cakewalk – it takes some serious dedication to be able to pull off planning a wedding, especially one that goes smoothly with little to no flaws.
Weddings can be one of the most stressful events in a person’s life, and that’s why most people hire a wedding planner rather than try and do everything themselves. So the most important job of the planner would be to make sure that the client doesn’t have to worry about a single thing and can truly have a great time, knowing that the planner is in control of the situation.
That’s how you’ll grow a career as a wedding planner and build credibility based on the amazing experience you give your clients.
In this blog, we’ll be walking you through some of the must-have skills and qualities that wedding planners usually need given the type of job they do – so you too can develop these skills to use them in a time of need. Now let’s get started!
Communication, Interpersonal, and Social skills
You may be able to run a successful home business or even a tech job with little to no social or interpersonal skills – but not as a wedding planner. This is because people feel more comfortable discussing their needs, wants, fears, and hopes with a person who makes them feel at ease – and that’s the only way you’ll be able to understand exactly what your client needs and give it to them.
But don’t worry even if you’re an introvert (or simply aren’t the best communicator) because these are qualities that can be built and developed from scratch, even if they don’t come to you naturally.
The key is to learn how to keep a conversation going, listen to what others are saying, and then come up with the right answers based on their needs. With a little patience and practice, you’ll be able to become a great conversationalist and also feel more confident in your role as a wedding planner.
Organizational and Planning Skills
It goes without saying that you need to be a great planner to really shine at your job. This doesn’t simply mean making a list of everything that needs to be done, but rather means that you need to proactively keep checking in on every part of the process to make sure no issues have come up and that things are moving at an efficient speed.
This is definitely not as easy as it sounds – weddings aren’t one-day events that you can pull off at the last minute, it takes weeks (if not months) of planning to execute a flawless wedding planned to the dot. That’s why many wedding planners make the most of wedding planning and management software, to make sure they digitize the process to make it as fast, easy, and collaborative as possible.
You too can go through different wedding planning software comparison guides to make sure you’re getting the best one in the market that will truly help you plan every part of the wedding and also help you streamline the process with your clients to keep them in the loop whenever they’re needed.
Budgeting and Business Skills
Your job doesn’t begin and end with planning a wedding – you also need to make sure that the entire wedding takes place within the allocated budget that you’ve discussed with your client. This means that you need to be super aware of every little spend that’s going on because it only takes a little oversight for the wedding expenses to completely overshoot the set budget.
Some of the most needed skills, in this case, are being able to budget your expenses wisely. This may also mean having good negotiation skills because you’ll be the one helping your client find the right vendors for different parts of the wedding – starting with the flowers to the decor, food, seating, venue, and maybe even the dress in some cases.
Make sure you have a sound understanding of the market, the cost and expenses, and the best vendors in town to be able to pull this off as best as you can – since you’ll need to be able to deliver the best experiences you can on a limited budget.
Empathy and Trust – These Are Your Core Qualities
You can’t truly understand your clients and their wants unless you’re able to properly put yourself in their shoes and see things from their perspective. This will not only help you plan a great wedding for them that suits their taste, but it will also help you understand their worries and anxieties.
Being a wedding planner is all about developing trust with your client, and you should be able to do that right from day one.
Some of the best ways to win your client’s trust are:
- Being a great listener and truly understanding what they’re saying.
- Keeping them in the loop on every conversation that concerns them so they don’t feel lost or overwhelmed.
- Sticking to the decisions you make together and not calling the shots yourself – this is especially true when it comes to the budget, because your client may not enjoy having to constantly remind you that the planning is exceeding the current budget.
- Being flexible and easy to talk to – weddings can be a handful and you need to be able to plan things as they come your way. Being rigid will get you nowhere.
- Always have a plan B (and maybe even a C and D). Your client needs to know that they can truly rely on you to pull off the best wedding and make the right decisions, even if the original plans need to be altered at the last minute.
Subscribe to our newsletter