Being a wedding planner requires a certain type of character and personality. A wedding planner has to be outgoing and confident but at the same time not too bossy and arrogant. They have to be extremely organized and resourceful and also very reliable. They also need to be the type of person that can go into an elevator and come out with a friends and this is for two reasons, first this is the type of business that spreads namely by word of mouth and second you have to make connections in many different areas such as travel, caterers, florists, entertainment, decorations, design, wardrobe, and many other areas. Part of your job as a wedding planner would require that you are able to make a few calls and rely on "your people" to do exactly what you ask. This is done often through trial and error.

Claiming yourself to be a wedding planner requires only that you obtain a business license, which anyone can do for about ten bucks and then ordering some business cards. You start passing them out and boom you will likely find yourself in business. Unfortunately there is a whole lot more to in being a wedding planer and being a flawless wedding planner. Basically, that is what you have to do, plan and coordinate a flawless wedding. That requires some skill, patience, endurance, a lot of experience, and many personal contacts. To be successful at being a wedding planner you have to be respected as a professional. Think of questions that you might ask when interviewing a wedding planer such as how much experience or training does she have and wouldn’t you want some proof? Proof comes by proving value which can be done by speaking with former clients and such.

Being a wedding planner is a very fun job and very rewarding but you must know that it is very hard and stressful work. You have to love details, organizing, creating events, and some credentials this might be your forte. Most wedding planners have claimed that they were always the people that everyone relied on to put parties together; organize family events, and gatherings. There are bridal consultant training courses that you should definitely attend that give you a heads up on situations that you may have never experienced before such as international wedding events, military weddings. You will discover that there is a lot of research and education involved in this career.

Once you have all that taken care of then it is all about advertising and creating a stellar website. Brides consistently use websites to gather their information so you want to be in all links of interests to brides. You will need an office space, preferably one away from home but a home office will work if you can create a professional atmosphere. Obviously you will need to have a computer and Internet access so that you are just a quick email away from your brides at all times. It is also a wise investment to make a strong presence at as many bridal shows as possible.

What exactly would it be that would make the difference between a really great wedding planner and a really bad one? Sure, a good wedding planner would be resourceful and she absolutely must know what is in and what is not. A really bad wedding planner would be one that takes on too many weddings so she makes her time short and is not easily available for her bride. Another example of a bad wedding planner would be one who is focused on what she thinks the wedding should be and does not listen to her brides. A great wedding planner will make sure that her weddings go as smoothly as possible and provide a beautiful display for both the couple and the guests.

A great wedding planner should be responsive yet diplomatic, calming and a great problem solver. She also needs to know people who know people who know people, meaning that she has connections with many vendors. When she is finished the bride and groom should be able to say that their exact vision of their wedding had come true and they couldn’t have done it without you. Most brides are paranoid that their day, and really that is how they look at it, will get messed up and their lives will be ruined forevermore. Certainly that is not the case but a great wedding planner needs to make a connection with her bride often or at least make herself available 24/7 to the bride. It is likely the bride may call with just a passing though or to reconfirm something that she has already confirmed before. That’s just how brides are!

A great wedding planner will first meet with you and get to know you a bit. In a short period of time a person can at least get a feel for what kind of people that she is working with and what their personalities are like, if they are working on a budget, and what type of wedding they are expecting. Initially that is what the wedding planner needs to do and of course since you will be spending a lot of time together over the next year it is important that they like each other and get along. A great wedding planner will listen to her brides and make sure that she hears what they are saying. She should keep notes about everything at every point of contact.
Each time the wedding planner has an idea such as where the reception might be or what type of cake the bride wants and all of those issues she needs to contact the bride and offer her choices based on what she said she wants. A great wedding planner will realize that it is likely the bride’s parents or sometimes the future in laws that are flipping the bill for this event and there may be times when there are some disagreements between the families, this would be when she would jump in and play peace maker but never in a way that crosses any boundaries. These are a few ways to become a great wedding planner.