Planning A Wedding

I got a request recently from someone who just started a wedding blog and it got me to thinking, because this is my first wedding blog and I had no idea how to do keyword research and learning how to pick profitable niches. I just knew that I loved weddings and that I saved $15,000 planning mine. My whole point on this blog was to pass that knowledge on. Now that I’ve learned how to make a profit online, I have more profitable wedding sites (none that I’ll divulge here). This particular blog has become more of a helper site and I hope that it encourages more people to come online to make money planning a wedding.

But part of the fun in wedding planning, at least for me, is actually dealing with the bride. Seeing her dress, helping her pick the colors, food, decorations is something that most interests me. Five years ago I was planning my wedding and I used all the resources I found online to save a lot of money planning a wedding on a budget. At the time my husband and I had just bought our first house and were a year away from our wedding. Don’t worry I’m getting to the point! A few weeks ago we decided to move and sell our house. Luckily I’ve made a living online, with the help of The Keyword Academy and a certain Make Money Online blog, and can move my business with no problems. So anyway…on Tuesday we went to sign the papers for the sale of our house. It turns out the people buying it are a year from getting married as well. It was so exciting to say that a) I help plan weddings for a living online and b) I can help you check out my websites. I came away from that meeting thinking a few things about working online.

When it came down to it, what I really wanted to do was really get involved in the wedding planning. I wanted to be hands on, not just online. Then again I love writing online. And I guess in some ways you can have it all because in the day of computers, a wedding planner can’t compete if they can’t compete online. So if you’re going to be a wedding planner in the real world, you’re going to need to know about being a wedding planner online as well as offline.



Being a wedding planner isn’t just about knowing what dresses are in fashion and what colors go well together. Actually, wedding planners hire stylists for that role. Being a wedding planner is about knowing which stylist to call! Not only the stylist though, the caterer, the event centers, the seamstresses, dress shops, how to measure and on and on. There is a reason that people take classes in how to be a wedding planner, it’s because there is a lot to know.

A bride needs to know how to set up a seating chart, what caterers are available, what event centers cost, how to budget for the dress, food and everything else. By the way, I say bride because let’s face it, the only males in my life interested in wedding stuff are getting married to the other males in my life. So a wedding planner has to know all of those things. They have to know how much a bride would pay on average for a 50 seat caterer, how much a cake goes for in terms of slices (did you know, for instance, that a cake maker doesn’t charge for how many tiers or inches the cake is? They charge by how many slices are dealt out).

A wedding planner needs to know the best event centers, what days are booked, who to call to book. They know the flower shops, the type of flowers that are in season locally. They’re on the in with decorators and party rental places. A wedding planner, in short (too late, I know), has to know every possible thing about wedding planning.

In the States, a wedding planner doesn’t need any special licensing, but there is an association of certified professional wedding planners. Is it important to become certified through them? I can’t answer that. I know you don’t need to, but it may help you deal with some event centers and hotels.

The bottom line is you can go out and put up a sign in your front yard that says “Wedding Planner”, but eventually you’re going to have to start planning a wedding. Eventually, it’s going to become pretty clear you have no idea what you’re talking about and then you’ll lose future business. One thing is certain, a wedding planner’s business is 50% word of mouth. Today, in the world of the Google phones, it’s about 40% online and maybe 10% advertising in print.

Want to be a great wedding planner? Start by reading some books. From there shmooze the local hotels, event centers, caterers, florists, dress designers, wedding boutiques and on and on. You’ll need a hefty list of great referrals and a good spot on Google’s search. You can learn how to be on Google’s hotlist by going to Courtney Tuttle’s Keyword Academy and learning how to do search engine optimization and build a popular blog. You can also visit Grizz’s Make Money blog where he can even tell you how to get a double listing.

Making money planning a wedding is about referrals. Commissions is what I’m talking about. You send bride A to florist B and you get a percentage of the sale. Now couples often pay a flat fee to the planner, but that isn’t where money is made. Money is made through advertising inside your offices, websites and through referrals. The flat fee might pay the rent, but it won’t make you a lot of money.

If you have any questions please feel free to leave them here.

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