For years I’ve been answering questions for wedding planners who are subscribers to my biweekly ezine, “Wedding Planner Tips” (you can sign up if you’re not already a subscriber). I’ve decided to also answer questions here on my blog every Friday. I’ll select ones that are of interest to other readers.
If you have a pressing question about starting or running your wedding planning business, you can send me an email at [email protected].
If you are on a computer with a microp[hone, laptop, iPhone, or iPad, you can leave me a voice message using the “Send Me a Message” widget on the left side of this screen. To use the widget, just click on it, make sure your microphone is turned on, and follow the directions on the screen. (You’ll have to get the SpeakPipe App on an iPhone or iPad.) Be sure to speak up! Your name and email address are optional and I will not use them if I post your question.
To kick things off, here is a question I recently received along with my answer:
Question
I’ve only been planning weddings for a short time. I just had a meeting with a high-profile couple who is planning a destination wedding at a local 5-star venue. They are having the venue handle the wedding planning but they found me through a referral and asked me to give them a proposal for handling all of the logistics; such as picking up guests when they arrive and getting guests from one location to another during the wedding weekend. They also want me to manage the RSVPs and set-up and keep their wedding website up-to-date.
I understand the logistics part, but do wedding planners handle RSVPs and wedding websites? I’ve never heard of this.
Answer
You have received a request that many seasoned wedding planners wish they could get. Working on a wedding with a high-budget couple and a 5-star hotel can open many doors for you in the future.
The answer is a most definite, “YES!” When you work with high-profile clients or any busy professionals, they may ask you to help them with more aspects of their weddings than most couples. They understand that time is money and they are willing to pay experts to do what they don’t have time, knowledge, or desire to do.
Many wedding planners handle RSVPs for couple who are having destination weddings and/or weddings with a large number of guests. It takes the details away from the couple and their families. They want to enjoy the time leading up to the wedding rather than spend time answering numerous emails and phone calls on directions, food selection, and, in the case of destination weddings, travel, weather, and hotel information.
While most couples enjoy setting up and posting information to their wedding websites, some don’t have the time or the patience to do it and may ask you to do it for them. There are many wedding website companies that offer easy-to-use templates that you can use to create a site for them. Or, if they want a custom look, hire a web designer to work with you to create one for them.
As you work with couples with larger budgets, be open to their requests and if they are tasks you and your assistants can accomplish or you know experts who can, by all means take them on. Be sure you set your rates so you are appropriately compensated for these tasks and add them to your existing contracts if they are services that were not included in your initial negotiations.
