Throughout my 17 years as a successful wedding planner, and 15 years training wedding planners. I have come to realise leading wedding planners will have similar traits. After all being a wedding planner is often something we feel compelled to do, and no matter what wedding planner training course you do, you cannot change your personality and skills.

Organised (“to make arrangements for something to happen”)

Anyone that has planned their own wedding will know you have to be organised to ensure every task has been completed prior to your wedding day. Multiply that feeling by 10 or more weddings a year and you will have an idea of how organised you need to be as a wedding planner. Not only do you need to organise each client’s wedding and complete tasks in the correct timescale, you are also running a business.

You still have day to day tasks of working ON your business ensuring it is running smoothly and efficiently. If you have poor time management then this will be hard to do, you have to schedule your day accordingly into client tasks and business tasks.

Creativity (“producing or using original and unusual ideas”)

Even if you do not consider yourself a wedding stylist, you will still be creating the design for your clients. A certain amount of creativity is needed to interpret themes and ideas. It is worthwhile investing in some design books , floristry courses and design course to understand more about the process.

Personality (“the type of person you are, which is shown by the way you behave, feel and think”)

People buy people. I say this all the time to my students and consultancy clients. When a couple choose you as their wedding planner, a huge deciding factor is your personality and the connection they have to you. This is why the process of identifying your ideal client is so important, there is no sense in scatter marketing, instead you need to target the right client for you that feels connected to you.

Authoritative (“seeming to have an ability to control”)

So we have established you need to be friendly and approachable but this alone is not enough. If a client is being too demanding, or a supplier disrespectful, then you need to be authoritative. This is the ability to direct orders and requests with a friendly and assertive manner, especially helpful on the wedding day to keep the day on schedule.

Motivation (“enthusiasm for doing something”)

In most cases, you are working on weddings for about a year, sometimes longer and as such you have to remain motivated throughout, even if it’s going over the same detail with a client for the fifth time! Most wedding planners start their businesses alone and, at times, it can be an isolating job. It is your self motivation that will keep you going and focused on the task in hand. Students on our in person courses often stay in touch to bounce ideas off each other which helps keep them motivated. But belonging to a wedding planners facebook group like Build Your Wedding Planning Business can ensure online relationships are nurtured.

Confidence (the quality of being certain of your abilities or of having trust in people, plans, or the future”)

You have to have the confidence that you WILL be/ ARE a fabulous wedding planner; if you doubt yourself then others will doubt your capability as well.

A successful wedding planner is confident and knowledgeable. You should never say “I don’t know” when asked a question. If you don’t know the answer then you should say “Let me look into that for you”. You should always be positive and enthusiastic, even when problems occur. Remember you are being paid for your experience and knowledge; clients should have faith in you at all times.

 

Further Support

Train as a wedding planner

Launching your wedding planning business

Training offered by the UKAWP

Joining the UKAWP

 

Floral photo by Simon Carr