Question
How do I become a wedding/ event planner?
I love weddings! And parties! But what I love most about them is not actually PARTYING (except at my wedding LOL), it's the planning! I love designing and executing the invites! I adore all flowers and creating beautiful centerpieces! I obsess over color palettes and patterns... I'm addicted! I just planned my little sister's bridal shower and it was a TOTAL hit! It was a petal-pink and black damask theme, with home-baked cupcakes, finger sandwiches, macaroons, and tons of coordinating details! For my own wedding, I'm doing it ALL myself. I designed and executed the invitations; an entire suite with pocketfold closure. I even made the pocketfolds myself! I'm making all of the BM gifts myself. I've already designed the floral arrangements and the rest of the paper products. And the wedding isn't until May! LOL Everyone tells me that I really have "a calling". It's something I absolutely LOVE doing, and I'd love to be able to make a living doing it. But I have no idea where to start... Should I call local planners and ask to shadow them? Or maybe get a job with them? And how do I get my foot in the door with local vendors? Any and all help and advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much! OH, and I already have a name... 'Fete' :) What do you think?
3 months ago - 1 answers
Best Answer
Chosen by Asker
My wife did a lot of research into wedding and event planning. BE VERY CAREFUL of what you are getting yourself into. When you start looking at what the demands of the job are, you may be quick to see that it isn't for you.... my wife certainly did, and I'm glad she did. The first biggest problem is the schedule.... Most events will be occuring on weekends, that means you can pretty much plan on never having a Friday night, Saturday, or Sunday availble as free time... you will be working every weekend when everyone else will be having fun. Then on top of that, since your clients also have jobs, you will be expected to meet with them out side of regular business hours. This means that you can pretty much wipe any time up to about 9 pm off of your free time schedule. The scheduling reason alone was the primary reason for my wife deciding not to pursue wedding planning. There's no way you could have a healthy relationship with a husband, let alone a family if all of your time is devoted to planning other people's party. Another problem is the people you are planning for. When you help plan for a friend or family member, you are doing it to help... But when someone is paying, the tables turn big time. You become a slave to the clinet, and clinets can get mean and angry with you, they don't appreciate you help nearly as much as friends and family do when you are planning for free. Wedding and event planning is a very high stress, high sacrafice job. If you are going to call local planners, don't suggest "shadowing" them... do you really think your future competition is going to teach you how to compete with them? You can try to get a job as an assistant, then once you have a feel for it, break off and go on your own... but definatly don't ask to "shadow them". Just make sure you understand what you are getting into... and remember that what you love to do in your spare time, is rarely a good career choice. Once your pleasure becomes work... its difficult to enjoy anymore.
by boomn4x42
3 months ago
Asker's Rating: 