Who Is A Wedding Planner?
Wedding planners are often used by couples who work long hours and have little spare time available for sourcing and managing wedding venues and wedding suppliers.
What Exactly Does A Wedding Planner Do?
Wedding Planners help couples successfully plan their wedding day and see that everything runs smoothly. As a wedding planner, your responsibilities include establishing a planning timeline and working with the bride and groom to choose everything from attire, to ceremony and reception venues, music, and food.
Can Anyone Be A Wedding Planner?
You don’t need a degree to become a wedding planner. Anyone can become a wedding planner with the right experience, drive, and curiosity for the wedding industry. Don’t worry to much about having a college degree. Instead, try taking some online courses to learn the wedding planning ropes.
What Requirements Must You Meet To Become A Wedding Planner?
While a degree is not a requirement to work as an events planner, having one may help you advance in your profession. Consider earning a diploma or degree in communications, public relations, hospitality management, or event management.
What Is The Price Of A Wedding Planner In South Africa?
The price of a wedding planner can range from R10,000 to R85,000,000, depending on the package you select and what it includes. Some wedding planners charge a percentage of the overall cost of your wedding, while others just charge a one-time fee.
For a one-time price, The Wedding Fairy provides complete wedding planning and on-the-day coordination.
How To Become A Wedding Planner In South Africa
Below is How To Be A Wedding Planner In South Africa
The wedding planner becomes the bride’s best friend in the lead-up to her wedding, taking care of all the details, smoothing out problems, and keeping track of all the service providers involved.
Step 1: Establish clear-cut wedding planning goals.
These goals will probably change over time, and that’s OK. But it’s important to head into any endeavor with a plan. Do you dream of planning celebrity weddings, a la Mindy Weiss? Maybe you want to work with venues in your hometown to give locals the day of their dreams.
Step 2: Conduct industry research.
Once you have your goals, start researching how you’re going to reach them. To get started, form a list of questions you don’t know the answer to. How much money can I make? Are wedding planners in high demand? How can I get my first client? Just like goals, make it a priority to research the market before getting started.
Step 3: Consider formal wedding planner training.
You don’t need a special degree or certification to become a wedding planner. But if you want to head into the industry and you have little-to-no experience, learning the ropes and all of the ins and outs can be extremely beneficial.
The American Association of Certified Wedding Planners, for example, was “created by wedding professionals who saw the need for an organization dedicated to the education of those seeking to become wedding planners, and to elevate those already in the field through certification and continuing education.” The organization offers in-person and online training.
Step 4: Write a business plan.
Remember those Step 1 goals and the Step 2 research? A lot of that information can go towards writing your business plan. There are tons of resources and templates online to help, and we go into greater detail in a separate post, The Essential Steps to Starting an Event Management Business.
Here are some highlights of what your business plan should include:
Executive summary. Write down your goals and your mission statement. Map out why you think your business will succeed — and how you’ll go about doing it.
Company summary. Is the wedding planning business going to be just you, or do you plan on having a team? Include your backstory, location, and just about anything else you’d share on your website’s “about” section.
