Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Wedding Planner?

The wedding industry is big business. According to an article in CNNMoney.com[1], the average wedding costs $27,852, and since 1990, the number of weddings per year has increased by 200,000. Add to this the fact that the average bride typically doesn't have the time she needs to plan her dream wedding, and you have the ideal career opportunity.

If you are thinking about starting your own business, if you enjoy working with people in planning big parties, and you are good at networking or negotiating, then a career in wedding planning might be for you.

So what does a wedding planner do? First, let's clarify the different terms that are used to describe a person in this field:

Wedding Planner: handles many or all of the details of organizing a wedding. They oversee much of the work of the wedding from beginning to end, but the couple is still involved.

Wedding Consultant: works together with the couple as a partner to plan the wedding and guides them through the process. However, the couple is in control of the wedding plans.

Wedding Directors: coordinates the details for the entire wedding event, including the vendors and the itinerary. The couple only needs to focus on getting married.

Is this the right career for me?

A successful wedding planner needs to be personable, a good negotiator, and have the ability to remain calm under pressure. The planner is the voice for the bride and groom when it comes to working with vendors, such as when ordering flowers, booking musicians or hiring a photographer.

Are you good at negotiating? As a planner, you must be able to negotiate the best service for the lowest price. Your reputation and future business opportunities will depend on your ability to do this.

The ability to network with wedding professionals is also important. You want to establish good working relationships with other businesses. This will help ensure that you get good deals. You also need to be comfortable with handling finances. As a planner, not only will you be handling someone else's money, but you will running your own business as well. A successful wedding planner must also have some fashion knowledge. Brides will often ask your opinion on selecting bridesmaids' gowns or colors for her wedding decorations.

When making the decision whether this is the career for you, it's best to start with identifying your skills, your strengths, and your passions. Here is a 5-step plan to determining is wedding planning is the career for you:

1) Identify what you know about yourself, including your transferable skills. Consider the following questions: What are my natural talents, skills, abilities? What do I enjoy doing? Am I organized? Do I enjoy planning, meeting people, coordinating events?

Be careful not to confuse skills with traits or behaviors. Phrases like: is reliable, detail-oriented, and friendly all describe personality traits or behaviors, not skills. Transferable skills are the skills you've developed that you can take with you to other jobs or positions. In order to determine your transferable skills, think about the skills you use in your current position, in past jobs, or when doing a hobby.

2) Learn about the wedding planning profession. Research what opportunities are available in this field. You can then better match your interests, skills and preferences to the opportunities.

3) Write out your plan. Develop and write down your specific plans for entering into this career. Identify your goals and transform them into a realistic action plan.

4) Take action on your plans. Do you need training? How will you get the training you need? Training can help you develop the necessary skills that can make you successful in this field.

5) Review, monitor and evaluate the plan. Continually review your plan and make changes as needed.

How do I Get Started?

Now that you've decided it's the right career move for you, how do you begin? Start by gaining all of the knowledge you can about the profession. Bridal consulting is a career that can now be found on many colleges' curriculum. Education is a benefit in any business and learning as much as you can before beginning to work with clients will help you more easily build a successful business.

Perhaps the ideal way to succeed and excel as a wedding planner is to get as much wedding industry experience as possible. This will allow you to gather a wide a variety of skills, talents and knowledge along the way. Some ways to gain this experience is by working in bridal retail, catering, a floral shop, selling formal wear, or in event planning. By doing this, you can become familiar with the trends, services, rates and practices of the industry.

According to an article in About.com [2], another way to gain experience is to "use your talents in helping friends and acquaintances plan their wedding." Although your work may be voluntary, you can build a great portfolio by including photographs of your work at these weddings.

As you begin your career, remember patience is the key. Successful wedding planning practices take time to build. Your efforts will pay off if you are persistent and determined.

1 http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/10/pf/weddings_costs/index.htm

2 http://weddings.about.com/cs/weddingcareers/a/weddingplanners.htm