Wedding planning is the designing, planning, and management of a wedding. A wedding planner, thus is a skilled professional who makes that happen. I once did an entrepreneur profile on Kevin the Wedding Planner. You can check it out to learn some insights. The global wedding planning market is projected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7 percent over the next 7 years. There is abundant evidence to show the rising number of people looking for such services. That is why it can be a great fit for you to start a wedding planning business in Zimbabwe.
Wedding Planning Business Approaches
During conceptualization, you must figure out what kind of services you will provide. That is why you must take the time to conduct in-depth market research. Whilst wedding planning has broad focuses, the specifics of what one may offer will vary greatly. To give you an idea, I will point out some of the core themes to pick from. Here are 3 core approaches to consider:
Final Lap Wedding Planning Services
‘Final lap’ is up to your discretion. It can be a week, or it may be a day. This means you will provide wedding planning services relevant to that period. This will imply that you will step in to take up from what would have been done thus far. In other words, you will be coming in to fine-tune and finalize the wedding details. You may also come in to fill gaps that would not have been effectively plugged.
Month Prior Wedding Planning Services
As the name suggests, you will provide wedding planning services relevant to from a month before till the day of the wedding event. This somehow overlaps with the final lap approach. This means here there will be more effort required. Regardless you will be enjoying the convenience of building up from what is already in place.
Full-Scale Wedding Planning Services
Here you will be tasked with handling everything from the onset to the wedding event day. This is more demanding but comes with bigger revenue prospects. That is why most wedding planning services tend to settle for this approach.
Acquiring The Relevant Knowledge And Skillsets
Wedding planning is not necessarily rocket science. Most of you have the potential to become exceptional wedding planners. What is important to get your potential unlocked? One way to do this is to get the necessary training. There are many learning opportunities in the form of onsite academic courses, online courses, masterclasses, workshops, seminars, and more. It can be essentially strategic to enrol for accredited certified programs. This will boost your reputation once you start the wedding planning business.
You must also seek out strategic events serving as learning and networking opportunities. Some may be specific to wedding planning, whereas others may be under the banner of just event planning and management. Either way, you will benefit immensely, so make it a point to attend such events. Another approach is to find established wedding planning businesses or wedding planners. Then you pick their minds or even work with or for them. The thrust will be for you to get the hang of secrets to success in the trade.
The Place Of Outsourcing In The Wedding Planning Business
Having everything you need in-house is impossible, especially from the onset. After all, having everything in-house may be an unsustainable model. That is why you must grasp the tenets of outsourcing since it is crucial to the wedding planning business. You must establish a comprehensive network of reputable vendors for the various needs. Particularly when your wedding planning services are full-scale, this is imperative. Securing a venue, caterers, transportation, photography, videography, clothing and apparel, and so on often need to be outsourced. An ability to build a robust network of vendors is usually what separates average and exceptional wedding planning businesses. No wonder attending networking events is important.
Registration And Online Presence
Aside from enrolling on accredited learning programs, you must register your wedding planning business. Getting your wedding planning business registered is not that expensive. The benefits of being a registered business far outweigh the cost. Buttress that by building a strong and active online presence. One of the most important elements of your digital footprint is social proof. Use every satisfied client as a body of social proof. For the wedding planning business, people want to see your work. That is what does the most talking than any other thing. That is why you must invest in producing high-definition visuals from your promotional materials to wedding events coverage.
Branding is so important in the wedding planning business that you must know all there is to it. I would encourage you to study the 3 articles we published on the subject closely. Two of them covered 18 branding insights you must remember – there was part one and two. Then the other one is on core terms you must know in branding. Additionally, you can even engage a brand management expert to help you. Some businesses may get away with poor branding but in the wedding planning business, not so much. Getting clients and outdoing your competition is so intricately tied to proper branding. I urge you to seek out online wedding planning publications to stay updated. There are so many of them out there, and they are insightful. If you want to start a wedding planning business, go for it!
