Wedding Consultant: How They Can Make Your Wedding Easy

Wedding Consultant- some people who can afford to splash their money hire a wedding consultant; whereas many people who cannot afford the service of wedding consultant plan their weddings with their friends and family. The duty of the wedding planner is to help you take the weight of the wedding off your shoulders. They are responsible for all the wedding planning. They are there to help make your day more special and organize all the events in a special way.

However, does a wedding planner really make your wedding plan special? Do they make it more organized? Do they really add that missing touch? The answer is yes and no. Yes in the sense that some event planners help you with organizing and plan your wedding well; you get on well. While other ones are like the devil let loose and rain on your parade! Your best bet is to hire a professional wedding planner, not just anyone that comes on your way.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Advantages of hiring a professional wedding consultant

3. How to become a wedding consultant

4. 7 Important skills for becoming a successful wedding consultant

Wedding planners are generally common among women but some men also involved in the wedding planning business. They have organization skills and talent on how to make things work. Sometimes, it does not always suit the bride and the groom because wedding planners own tastes usually come into play.

The Advantages of Hiring A Professional Wedding Consultant

Most couples who are on a tight budget are having second thoughts about whether it is necessary to hire a wedding planner or not. That is, they are contemplating if hiring the services of wedding planning is really worth their money.

In essence, hiring the services of a wedding planner is just a matter of choice. If you may avoid their services but believe that you and your fiancé can handle most of the wedding plans, then go ahead. If you think that doing all the planning will be tiresome, then, it is better to hire the services of a professional wedding planner.

Normally, a wedding planner is someone who is skilled and conversant when it comes to wedding plans. They have already had many contacts with many businesses that are important in the wedding such as caterers, venues, photographers, etc. I will, therefore, give you some of the reasons hiring the professional wedding planner is very important:

1. Hiring the service of a wedding consultant will save you time. 
Planning a wedding can be an overwhelming task. It can even be more wearisome if the person who plans the wedding is a partaker also like the bride or the groom. Moreover, planning a wedding does not happen overnight. Usually, it would take you one to two weeks of planning, thinking, and brainstorming. Therefore, to save your time and effort, and to relieve from unnecessary stress, it is better to hire the services of a wedding planner.

2. More savings 
Many people argue that the reason why they do not hire a wedding planner is that it will be an additional cost on their part. But they fail to realize that hiring the services of a wedding planner will definitely save them more money because most of the planners have already had solid contact with some of the wedding business like venues, photographers, caterers, musicians etc. Therefore, discounts are likely to happen since they have already had their own connections.

3. Organized planning 
With wedding planners, weddings preparation can be easily carried out because the majority of wedding planners are very particular from the biggest to the last details of the wedding. After all, they have skills and experience in wedding planning; they know what should be done best. 
In addition, wedding planners have a real timeline that they follow in order to have all the details be ready on time, leaving all the last-minute changes behind.

4. The decisions are still yours
With wedding planners, the couple is still having the final say. The couple will decide how they want their wedding to be carried out. The wedding planner will only guide, render some suggestions and assist the couple in making the decision. Hence, the couple still has their own style and preference with regards to the planning of their wedding.

5. Confidence boosters 
One of the qualities of the wedding consultants is that they act as confidence boosters for the bride and the groom. More often than not, wedding couples are nervous and anxious about finding the perfect item for their wedding especially if they are in a rush. But wedding planners are always at ease and more confidence that their wedding will be perfect because they have laid the details of their wedding at the hands of a professional. 
In actual fact, the wedding planner knows the ins and outs of wedding planning more and better than any other person who doesn’t have the skills, talent, and experience in wedding planning. Hence, it is better to hire the services of a wedding planner.

If you are interested in becoming an event planner, or you want to establish an event planning business, the following article will be useful to you.

How to Become a Wedding Consultant

The wedding business is booming! Every year, thousands of couples tie the knot in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, spending an average of N800, 000 per couple. Planning and organizing a wedding is still a major task and many couples simply don’t have the time to devote to it — and are more than happy to leave the planning to a professional.

The demands for wedding planners are high — an estimated 20% of couples now use the services of a professional wedding planner. Being a wedding planner allows you to be your own boss; it’s a career that most people believe to be fun and rewarding — and there are no particular educational qualifications or requirements. Around 10,000 people in Nigeria claim to be professional wedding planners.

As a wedding planner, you are accountable for every aspect of the wedding flowers, photography, food and perhaps accommodation for out of town guests. 
You will always deal with different type of people, as that is essentially what you be doing most of the time, as a wedding planner. One of the most important qualities of a wedding planner is to be well organized and efficient.

The start-up costs of wedding business tend to be small. In fact, you can start with a quiet space in your home or you will need a small office to work from so that your clients can meet you there for any wedding arrangement. You will need basic things such as separate phone line, email address and business cards. It is advisable to have your own website too. You may need to register your business in your country.

It is an excellent thing to show your portfolio to potential clients. In case you don’t know where to start, you may offer your services to family and friends in exchange for being able to take and use photographs. Your portfolio should contain photographs and videos of any weddings you have helped to plan- anything from table settings to the catering and decorations, the choice of venue etc.

Furthermore, as a wedding planner, you continue to learn all you can about weddings by attending weddings, talking to people who involved- photographers, caterers, venue renters, wedding ring seller etc. It is your duty to get as many contacts as possible because you may need them later. It is also good to know how to negotiate discounts with some of your contacts. Some event consultants go to back to school and take classes that teach them all about the profession.

Now that you are a wedding planner, where do you find your clients? You can find your potential clients through your networks of contact in the industry. Make your business cards available at caterers, bridal shops, florists, photographer shops. Making use of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc by uploading your business cards and wedding events.

In addition to the above, advertising in the local newspaper and display your business card at these places: libraries, workplaces, community centers etc. You can also tell people about your profession- words-of -mouth is effective too.

7 Important Skills For Becoming a Successful Wedding Consultant

Becoming a professional wedding planner is more than just planning a wedding. You must understand the ins and outs of the business aspect of the service. Besides, you should learn how to manage your time in order to earn the most profits. You are the face of your business in terms of your own public relations representative. Most of the time, you have the opportunity either to build or to damage your character as a business person.

As your business continues to grow, you will gain more experience in wedding planning. So you will probably begin to plan multiple weddings at once. It is very important to make every effort to provide the best service, personalized attention to each couple when planning their special day without losing your common sense.

The 7 Key Skills

If you really want to succeed as a wedding planner, you must have the following skills and talent- A good wedding planner is:

1. Calm. At times, there may be miscommunications either with the brides ( and the grooms!) or with the vendors at the ceremony, you must be able to keep calm in the wake of a calamity. In fact, a good wedding planner should always have a Plan B ready for action in case of an emergency.

2. Charming. You are dealing with different type of people, you are the face of your business and your client representative. You should have communication and social skills. Remember that not everyone you meet will be pleasant and easy to please. You must be able to defuse any situation to get the expected results your clients desires. As a wedding consultant, your reputation depends on your ability to network and maintain great working relationships with vendors and venues.

3. Negotiator: A good wedding planner should be able to have negotiable skills. The bride and groom will be relying on you to order flowers, hire the band, the video man and photographer. You should be able to recommend a caterer, help them select the venues for the ceremony and reception. You must be able to find a good service for the lowest price. Since you have already established a good reputation for yourself and developed good relationships with vendors and venues, everything will become easier. Your networking and your connections will get you better deals which you can pass on to your customers.

4. Good with Money. Before starting a wedding planning business, you must be able to manage your own expenses and stick to a budget. Furthermore, you will be responsible for someone else’s money and budget. Previous experience with money management is very important even if your only experience consists of controlling the household finances.

5. Organized. Basically, a wedding consultant will be responsible for almost every aspect of the big day: the venues, refreshments, photography etc. Keeping track of all the nuances, contract dates, and deadlines require an enormous amount of organization and attention to detail. Your calendar will be your new best friend.

6. A Plethora of Knowledge. Wedding consultant must have fashion sense, an eye for color, flowers and a good taste in music. Besides, you must be able to keep up with the latest bridal trends, hot honeymoon destinations, and traditional wedding manners. Above all, a wedding planner should be able to learn about different religious ceremonies and traditions so that they can accommodate couples of faith.

7. The sense of Humour: One quality of a wedding planner is the ability to maintain a sense of humor. Also, the ability to keep things in perspective is essential. No one knows everything from day one, therefore you will be learning as your wedding business continues to grow. Just as the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.

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