How To Become A Wedding Planner

Do you love weddings? Are you organised, good with time management and find planning events easy? Then a career as a wedding planner could be for you. Wedding planners are responsible for organising weddings and then ensuring that the day runs smoothly when it comes around. There are a few different ways that you can be a wedding planner.

You can be a full wedding planner which means you organise every last detail of the wedding from start to finish, a partial wedding planner which means you help with some harder aspects of the day that the family do not want to organise or you can just be a on-the-day wedding planner which means on the wedding day itself you make sure that everything runs smoothly and to time.

Some of the tasks that you may have to do as a wedding planner include: meeting with the couple to discuss ideas and budget; contacting suppliers to get quotes and then negotiate prices; book suppliers and make sure that they are ready for the wedding day; organise the venue and the décor and turn up on the day to coordinate from behind the scenes (source: The Pillar).

Making a couple happy on their wedding day can be an extremely fulfilling job but it is not for everyone, there are a certain set of characteristics that you need to be a successful wedding planner.

What Skills Do You Need to Be a Wedding Planner?

To be a wedding planner, there are some key skills that you will need to master to make sure that you can be as successful as possible:

• Calm under pressure – Weddings can be stressful! Making sure that you are calm under pressure when things seem to be going wrong is one of the most important skills to have as a wedding planner. Someone might let you down at the last minute but making sure that you can organise quickly and efficiently without panicking will help you be successful
• Creative – Couples do not always know what kind of wedding they want. If you are creative and can pitch innovative ideas to the couple
• Good with money – Weddings sometimes need to be made on a tight budget, being good and organised with money is a key skill
• Organisational skills – There are many different parts to a wedding, it is important that you are organised and can juggle multiple people and suppliers at once
• Time management – Speeches, dancing and more are liable to overrun at weddings making sure that everything runs as to time as it can so the couple can have the perfect night is an important skill you will need as a wedding planner
• Communication – Making sure you communicate effectively with the couple so that they know what is going on is an extremely important skill to have as wedding planner

Do You Need Any Qualifications to Be a Wedding Planner?

Although it is not necessary to have qualifications in order to be a wedding planner, there are courses that you can take that will help you learn some of the key skills you need to be a successful wedding planner. There are specific tutoring courses available online including from the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners (UKAWP) and the QC Event School.

How Do I Get a Job as a Wedding Planner?

Most wedding planners are self-employed meaning it is up to you to go out there are find your first job. Whether that be through connections or helping a close friend plan their wedding, there are many ways you can get a start in the wedding planning world. There are also sometimes adverts on wedding websites for wedding planners so that you can get your foot in the ladder and begin to build a client base.