Brides very often book their wedding venue before doing anything else so it makes sense to have great relationships with venues and to have them recommend you to all of their brides. In my Q&A today I give you an idea of what venues look for in a preferred wedding planner.
Question
I’ve been planning weddings for 2 years and I would like to become the preferred wedding planner for a couple of venues. How do I do this?
Answer
Great idea! Being a preferred wedding planner can give you opportunities to have clients who you may not have been able to meet on your own. You may also meet many fellow high-quality wedding vendors with whom you can exchange referrals for weddings and events in other locations.
Most venues have specific criteria that a vendor must meet before being considered, these are the items you’d want to include in your proposal. The first one will probably be that you must have planned weddings at their venue in the past. They will want to have seen you at work so they can feel confident that you will provide excellent service when they refer you to one of their brides.
5 other requirements venues may request of you:
1) A minimum number of years as a wedding planner
They may be looking for a specific level of experience and knowledge so be prepared to show and tell them what you have done. Include information about your education and certification, if you have one.
2) A registered business license and business insurance
They want professional wedding and event planners, not people who do it as a hobby. Professionals have the proper license and insurance needed to run a business.
3) A list of references
Even if you have planned weddings at the venue, you will need to provide testimonials and references who they can contact to verify the quality of your services.
4) Information about the services you provide and how much you charge for them
They will need to know what you offer so they can make sure that it lines up with the types of weddings that take place at their site.
Be honest with them about your rates for planning weddings at their venue. Don’t quote low rates because you think that is what they want for their brides. Low rates may indicate to them that you don’t provide high-quality services.
5) Your own staff
They may want to make sure you adequately staff your weddings so they don’t get stuck with being your assistants.
I don’t recommend you just write proposals and send them out unsolicited. You need to make personal connections with people. Go back to venues you have used with your brides and talk to the contacts you made there. Tell them you are interested in joining their preferred vendor list, ask about their requirements, and ask how to submit a proposal. If you made a good impression on them in the past, they will be more than happy to explain what you need to do.
Beware of anyone who charges you to be on their preferred vendor list. They are selling an advertising opportunity and their main intent may to be make money for themselves, not to help you be successful.
And if you have a pressing question about starting or running your wedding planning business, you can send me an email at [email protected]. I will answer them on this blog or in my ezine, “Wedding Planner Tips,” which you can subscribe to here.
