As a wedding planner you want to help all brides have the fabulous weddings they want but as a business owner, you need to make sure you are getting adequately paid for the services you offer.
In my Q&A today, I explain how to handle a bride who says she wants to hire a wedding planner at a very low price.
Question
A bride asked me to plan her wedding. Her budget for a wedding planner is $500. It’s not very much money but I want to be able to help. Should I do it?
Answer
$500 for full service wedding planning or “day of” wedding coordination is not enough money for all of the time and effort you will spend working. She is probably trying to find out what services she could get from you at the lowest possible price.
You may be able to help her by offering her services she needs and can afford but first you need to talk to her. Here are 4 steps to follow:
1) Learn about her wedding vision
Understand what she wants her wedding day to be like, what her vision is for her wedding.
2) Find out what part she wants a wedding planner to play in her vision
You want to make sure you understand what she wants for her money.
3) Briefly explain what you can do to help her
Some brides don’t really know what wedding planners can do and therefore offer very low pay. Tell her how you can help her have the wedding she wants, give specifics, referring back to her wedding vision, and talk about the benefits of hiring you. It’s important to stay focused on talking about her and her wedding not what you do in general.
4) Find out if she is interested in these services
If she is interested in what you have to offer, give her an idea of what you might charge for your services and set up an appointment to meet to further discus her needs.
If it becomes clear that the bride truly cannot afford your full services, suggest a consultation package. Your package can include a face-to-face meeting to learn her wedding planning needs and suggestions for wedding resources along with a customized plan she can follow. You don’t have to give away all of your secrets, but provide enough information to truly help her on the path to having the wedding she wants, on her budget.
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.
