How to become a wedding planner?

I want to become a wedding planner. how do i do it?

• well i want to become a wedding planner but i do not know what i have to do. help please and thankyou

• Answer:

  Well, if you'd like to hear from someone who is actually a Certified Wedding Planner, I'd be happy to share my experience and advice with you! These days bridal clients really do expect the wedding planner they hire to have completed professional training from a reputable course and to be Certified. So that's #1. You DO need to take a course (read: a *good* course). Why? Well think about it from the client's perspective.... As a wedding planner your clients have to trust you to take care of everything concerning what could be the most important day of their life. They need to be able to feel confident that you're a professional and you've got the right training and qualifications to handle that, because they can't afford to have you botch something up. More and more consumer advocates, bridal magazines, etc are advising consumers to only hire a Certified Wedding Planner who has completed a reputable training program when hiring a wedding planner for their wedding. And it just makes good common sense when you think about it. So without certification and training you're going to be at a huge DISadvantage these days. You won't be competitive. If its between a non-certified wedding planner and other wedding planners who are certified, its obvious who the couple is going to hire. The idea of just working for a wedding planner to learn the ropes never really works in actual practice. You arent going to find many successful wedding planners who are interested in teaching you what they know, only to have you go off later and compete against them. So even if they do hire you or let you intern with them (which very few will agree to do), they are going to be very guarded about what they will share with you knowledge-wise and information-wise because it is a competitive field and it would just be silly for them to let you learn what they know! The only instance where you may not need to take a course to become a wedding planner is if you already have a lot of professional experience in event planning. For instance say you were the banquet coordinator for a big hotel for many years, then you've probably learned a lot by being in the industry and you may already have a lot of contacts and a solid reputation and a portfolio of events you've worked on. In that case, you may have enough experience to pull it off, but even at that, I know many people with this kind of strong background in event planning who are still going off and getting trained and certified as a wedding planner because the bridal consumer really sort of expects this now nonetheless. Before my wedding planner business took off, I took several courses (because the first *3* ultimately taught me very little useful information and were a big waste of money), and I will tell you, there is a big difference among courses. Some are just pathetic in what they teach (or dont teach). I agree with what one of the other people here alluded to, there are courses that might look very legit, but when you sign up you end up very disappointed in what you learn. Yes, some courses are a rip off. Even some with big names behind them. Been there, got the t-shirt! Keep in mind that you want a course not just to get a piece of paper "saying" you are a wedding planner, you want to have actually learned something of value so you can go out and do this job and actually be good at what you do. After taking several courses which were very disappointing, the course I FINALLY learned something from was The SuperWeddings Certification Program. Its affiliated with The International Institute of Weddings. I can't say enough good things about this program. Its been around for along time (which doesnt necessarily mean much, but in this case it really showed in their quality etc). I'd heard many good things about it, and it was everything I'd wanted in a wedding planner course and more. I will tell you, and I know many others who say the same thing, that was the course that actually launched my business. FINALLY! Until that course, I was really getting no where. I've heard others who took the SW course after having soaked money into other courses and they say the same thing. So the bottom line is, if you want to be a wedding planner, take the SuperWeddings course. Its the only course you'll need to take. It will all come together for you. It also happens to be the least expensive course in this industry, which is quite ironic given that it taught me the most by far (as compared even to programs that I paid close to a thousand bucks for! Grrrrr...!). Being a wedding planner is a lot of fun. If you really love weddings, you should go for it. I'm the type of person who would get very bored at an office job or anything like that. As a wedding planner I'm never bored because I'm always doing something different, with different clients. It works for me! Every wedding is different, so its always new and exciting :) Best of luck to you! Hope this has been helpful!