Wedding planners can be an integral part of any wedding – they’re responsible for making a wedding memorable and engaging. The bride, groom, and guests depend on the success of the event, and this is all dependent on the wedding planner and the subset of skills he/she possesses to lead the event.
They can have a lot on their shoulders – managing the vendors, preparing the supply chain, managing the people working under him/her, eyeing for details, looking out for potential flaws and a lot more! There’s a lot that goes under successful events, and you must possess special qualities to come up with a successful and memorable event!
So, do you think you have what it takes to become a wedding planner?
What It Takes To Become A Wedding Planner
A wedding planner’s job includes a lot of uncertainties, problems, and unexpected situations. There might be a situation where the food is late, or the DJ cancels the program at the last minute. In order to become a wedding planner, one must have certain distinct qualities and experience to back off the qualities.
Jobs You’ll Have To Get Done
While working as a wedding planner, you might have to deal with a wide range of activities. The whole wedding event depends upon you, and it is your responsibility to make the event memorable for your clients.
While doing so, you might have to:
- Meet with the couples and discuss the wedding requirements
- Discuss the budget in details
- Prepare proposals and budget quotations
- Come up with creative ideas and themes within the budget
- Advise on the wedding culture and etiquette
- Negotiate with the vendors including florists, photographers, venues, and caterers
- Being present at the venue on the wedding day and making sure everything goes according to plan
- Manage staff working under you
- Crafting all of the wedding portions within the budget
- Keep keen attention to detail
… and a lot more!
Seems a lot?
You’ve got to handle a lot more when you’re managing the wedding. For most wedding planners, each wedding they undertake is a challenge. To overcome these challenges, you should possess some distinct skills and qualities to give yourself an upper hand in the wedding planning landscape.
Let’s go through some of the skills and qualities you should have if you’re to become a wedding planner.
Interpersonal Qualities
As a wedding planner, you must have excellent interpersonal skills. These include empathy and understanding your staff and vendors, taking responsibility, flexible during work, working as a team, and a good leader overall.
Too much to handle?
You must also have soothe nerves to handle all the stress!
Additionally, you must be an expert at problem-solving. These will ensure that you don’t succumb during difficult times and solve the problem effectively.
Other Skills
Other than interpersonal qualities, you should also take care of many aspects of the wedding. These include negotiating with the vendors, coordinating the event, managing the budget while making the whole event memorable!
To handle the wide range of tasks, you’ll be needing the following skills:
- Planning and Organizing
- Negotiating
- Budgeting
- Attention to Details
- Managing
- Solving Difficult Problems
- Networking
Having a good sense of style and color is a bonus. This will help you maintain a color scheme for the event. You must also be highly knowledgeable about all the religions and cultures, and you should follow them during the event. It is recommended that you study your clients before you take on the task.
Education and Training
To become a wedding planner, you don’t necessarily need formal education and/or training. However, learning the aspects of wedding planning can be quite effective for you. You’ll find many professional wedding planning companies offering educational programs and accreditations to potential wedding planners.
During your courses, you can have classes on a wide range of topics – including budget management, religious ceremonies, vendor management, wedding attire, wedding stationery, and wedding etiquette.
Learning in such wedding planner courses in wedding planner school can help develop your knowledge in the wedding planning program landscape. Depending upon your course, you might receive special accreditation like the Certified Wedding Planner or Professional Wedding Consultant designations. These kinds of accreditation will surely help you get more clients once you enter this landscape.
Conclusion
Wedding planning can be quite tough. You need to take care of many responsibilities, and you’ll have to tackle a wide range of activities to make sure that the event goes smoothly. You’ll be meeting with couples, discussing budgets, negotiating prices with vendors, managing your staff and a lot more. To make sure you organize a successful wedding event, you must have a specific set of skills and qualities.
You’ll have to possess excellent interpersonal skills, including empathy and understanding towards your staff and vendors, taking responsibility, flexible during work, working as a team, and a good leader overall.
Other than that, you should be good at planning and organizing events, negotiating skills, budgeting skills, attention to detail, solving problems and networking with people.
It is also recommended that you receive training and formal education and/or skills before you come to the wedding planning landscape. There are many wedding planning job opportunities, but skills and experience will surely help you in times of need! Certificates and accreditations will help enhance your credibility as a wedding planner.
Wedding planner schools like TSWA offer excellent courses for talented wedding planners so that they can shine in their future career. Stay in touch with our wedding planning blog to get more insight into wedding planning.
