Become a wedding planner?

[violet02]

Has anyone here thought about or become a wedding planner after spending ALL of this time planning out your own wedding? I keep getting told I should change careers and become a planner after spending so much time on my own wedding. I''m not necessarily going to do that, heh... but that made me wonder who had either done it or pondered doing it?

 

[Amandine]

People mention it to me occasionally...my response is that I have no desire to give up every Saturday for my working life. I already work in retail, and it can be a PITA!

 

[violet02]

Yeah I have a good job in tech but gosh tech can get so boring at times. Anyways I''m not exactly a ''people'' person. But I sure loved planning my own wedding!

 

[marchswallowbird]

After watching those cable shows "Whose Wedding is it Anyway" and "Wedding SOS" there is no way ever that I would be a wedding planner. Waayyyyyyy too much stress and overtime.

 

[Blair138]

haha a colleague mentioned that to me because I am giving her planning advice. I think about it often, but don''t know if I want to give up every Saturday forever!

 

[emeraldlover1]

yes, I''ve thought about it but I probably wouldn''t be very good cause I''d probably plan a million weddings just like mine! Just kidding, I''m sure I''d listen to my clients but it wouldn''t be as fun, I don''t think. Besides, I love my career in my chosen field.

 

[violet02]

Yeah I never thought about all those Saturdays being gone... I figured if I ever got the bug to do it I should watch some of those bridezilla shows. In an ideal world I could have a fun creative job like that without having to deal TOO much with the people. All I need is a super personable perky front man or woman to primarily deal with the clients while I get to be the ''artiste'', hehe.

 

[neatfreak]

I''ve been told that a few times by friends/vendors whom I have helped at their weddings. But considering I really thought planning my wedding was fairly annoying, I would never consider it!

Event planning is one thing I am happy to hire someone else to worry about should I ever need it in the future!

 

[musey]

Before I got engaged, I seriously entertained ideas of becoming a wedding planner (my friend and I were going to partner up). After planning my own? No thanks. I think I''ve had my fill of wedding-related stuff, enough to last a lifetime!

No wedding-withdrawal for me

 

[elrohwen]

Absolutely not. Haha. I hate planning my wedding! Well, I don''t hate it, but I find it hard to get motivated sometimes.

After seeing your pics, Violet, I agree with others that you should consider it. You did a fantastic job with your wedding!

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Being on the other side of wedding "stuff" is completely different than being front and center. It''s a business, no different than a SA, or lawyer or doctor or hairstylist. And even in my limited role I can tell you, being a coordinator or planner is 1000% different than being a bride. And I know this because some of my greatest friends are event planners because, at my price level, its more common to work with coordinators or planners than brides.

A good planner has a staff of associates--I''ve never met a solo planner, stable business connections, the ability to put out fires, a planner must have a good poker face, and you have to be able to reconcile taste with budget.

The dark side of the wedding industry is that you have black out months (where you are busy from sun up to down, 7 days a week and you''re making money!!), and dark months (where you''re dead). Your summers is gone...no weekend trips, or even attending a wedding as a guest....Friday and Saturdays are sold out for you. But, you need those summer months, you need to book every weekend you possibly can, because although people get married all year long, regionally you''ll have dark months--like winter, here in Chicago is slow! And you don''t make money when you''re not working but you still have to pay your bills.

Money-wise, established planners (like my friend A) make about here in Chicago $7,000-$10,000 per wedding or more if you get celebrity status, which is h-a-r-d. But thats often time for a full year of work...and you have to have assistants, and support staff...so, really, take home is probably $5k max. Its'' a lot of work from what I''ve heard...and not all of it is fun.

Personally, I wouldn''t do it.

 

[Sparkalicious]

Thought about it and might really enjoy it, however, there is so much sacrifice involved and a lot of your personal time - weekends etc ... that I am reluctant. It may be very rewarding but also incredibly stressful having to deal with so many different personality types at such an emotional and expensive moment in life ... I think I might struggle with personal taste differences and signing off on what I perceive to be poor choices made by the bride ... actually - I may not be very good at it at all. I guess being good at planning my own wedding is a lot different than being good at planning other people''s.

 

[dani13]

I definitely thought about it. I really enjoyed planning my own wedding, so I think I would really like it. It may be something I would consider doing part time in the future, but I do enjoy my current job and could never see leaving it to pursue something else completely.

 

[Pandora II]

I already do a lot of big events for my current job - it''s very stressful!

Add into that a girl for whom this is ''her special day'' plus the mothers and you have even more stress.

Would you give up every weekend as well?

Frankly I think these people must be saints!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 12/17/2008 9:21:40 AM
Author: Pandora II

Add into that a girl for whom this is ''her special day'' plus the mothers and you have even more stress.

Agreed! I was talking to the caterer of my friend''s wedding (who I was MOH for and also did a lot of coordinating) and the caterer was telling me that brides always think they are getting screwed over because vendors charge more for weddings, but this caterer was telling me that she NEEDS to charge a lot more for weddings because of how much more intense brides are than other people throwing events or else it just isn''t worth it for her!

So that was an interesting viewpoint on the "wedding upcharge" that so many people get in a tizzy over.

 

[zoebartlett]

NF -- interesting point! I''ve never thought of it like that before.

I''ve never thought of becoming a wedding planner. The thought never occurred to me while planning my own wedding. The IDEA sounds like it could be fun but I wouldn''t do it.

 

[luvthemstrawberries]

Haha i think it''d be fun... but not worth having to deal with so many egos and dreams and crazy requests and budgets and bridezillas... my patience is too thin haha!!

 

[violet02]

Date: 12/16/2008 9:08:43 PM
Author: Italiahaircolor
Being on the other side of wedding ''stuff'' is completely different than being front and center. It''s a business, no different than a SA, or lawyer or doctor or hairstylist. And even in my limited role I can tell you, being a coordinator or planner is 1000% different than being a bride. And I know this because some of my greatest friends are event planners because, at my price level, its more common to work with coordinators or planners than brides.

A good planner has a staff of associates--I''ve never met a solo planner, stable business connections, the ability to put out fires, a planner must have a good poker face, and you have to be able to reconcile taste with budget.


The dark side of the wedding industry is that you have black out months (where you are busy from sun up to down, 7 days a week and you''re making money!!), and dark months (where you''re dead). Your summers is gone...no weekend trips, or even attending a wedding as a guest....Friday and Saturdays are sold out for you. But, you need those summer months, you need to book every weekend you possibly can, because although people get married all year long, regionally you''ll have dark months--like winter, here in Chicago is slow! And you don''t make money when you''re not working but you still have to pay your bills.

Money-wise, established planners (like my friend A) make about here in Chicago $7,000-$10,000 per wedding or more if you get celebrity status, which is h-a-r-d. But thats often time for a full year of work...and you have to have assistants, and support staff...so, really, take home is probably $5k max. Its'' a lot of work from what I''ve heard...and not all of it is fun.

Personally, I wouldn''t do it.

I think doing it in a major city might be very competitive and very hard. My wedding planner was one of only 3 decent recommendations in the area I got married in and the other planner was WAY too expensive comparatively so she was the obvious choice.

I''m actually reading a book about the event planning business. I also took a class on running a small business. I mean basically you are running a business, accounting, paperwork and all. The weird part is I''m not having wedding planning withdrawal. It''s more like I''m having creativity withdrawal.

A friend and I had talked about opening a business around paper craft. Like making programs, menus, invitations and other paper craft items. We did a lot of it for both our weddings. That might be a fun business.

 

[mayachel]

Ah well, with this you could likely freelance some in the first year or two (and keep your day job). It wouldn''t require you to actively give up all of your weekend unconditionally and other than editing details, is likely one of the less stressful areas of the business...

Your work is very talented. I''m a big believer that most of us could do whatever we put our heart and mind into doing.

 

[swimmer]

Interesting, my mother has gotten into it as a side activity while she is heading towards retirement. She is a therapist so it seems a decent fit. Almost the same requirements, worst case scenario she can prescribe some Valium.

 

[fieryred33143]

During planning my "friend''s" wedding, I considered whether it would be a good side job for me.

But after realizing that even the nicest brides can become huge monsters, I''ve decided that its just not a career worth pursuing

I don''t even have any interest in ever being part of someone''s wedding ever again.