When you first enter the wedding industry, you are often eager to book anything you possibly can. We’ve all been tempted to work those crappy weddings for the promise of something, anything, you can add to your portfolio. The novelty wears off fast though. If you have been dreaming about how to book destination weddings and elopements, you are in the right place. In this article, I’m going to share with you how to get destination wedding clients.
As a wedding planner for over 13 years, I’ve learned a thing or two about booking the kind of clients you want (you can read more about my journey here if you are curious)! My wedding business, which I sold in 2019, started in Connecticut. When I met my now-husband, I eagerly started booking weddings in his destination where I now live and love – the dreamy little island of Barbados! Today, I am going to share with you 6 steps you need to take to book more destination weddings.
And if you want to fast track building out the destination wedding side of your wedding planning business, I recommend grabbing this resource on how to become a destination wedding planner in my shop.
Make sure your website and branding make it CLEAR that you offer destination wedding and elopement services.
I know that it sounds too good to be true but sometimes simply saying that you offer destination weddings and elopement services is enough to have people book you. Don’t assume that your ideal customer automatically knows that you are ready and willing to book their destination wedding. We are going to talk more about how to attract destination wedding planning couples in the next few steps, but you need to start here first. After all, what’s the point of attracting destination wedding planning couples if your website and branding aren’t going to seal the deal?
At the very least, advertising destination wedding services prompt wedding couples to start a conversation. Even if they don’t end up booking you for a destination wedding, you never know if they will send referrals your way. When it comes to branding, be clear over clever. If you are dreaming of becoming a destination wedding planner, make it clear in your marketing!
Select 3-5 destinations you want to be known for. Don’t worry, this list can grow over time.
I know, I know. Nobody ever wants to commit to their niche, right? If you have been dreaming about destination weddings, chances are you also have dreams of traveling the world and exploring many different locations with your wedding couples.
Bear with me while I hit you with a cliché like “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.
When you first start to advertise that you were open to destination wedding business, focus on just 3 to 5 destinations that you really want to be known for. Once you become the go-to wedding authority in your space for those destinations, you can start to expand to even more dreamy locations.
Research venue options that your ideal client would be interested in. If you don’t know who your ideal client is, you need to grab my Client Cocktail!
Seriously, let me just insert a shameless plug here. You may think you have a pretty good idea of who your ideal client is, but after teaching hundreds of wedding pros how to create their ideal client avatars (and the feedback I’ve received), I can guarantee you that you don’t know them as well as you think you do.
They are NOT just somebody between the ages of 30-35 with a household income of $200,000/year who loves shopping at Nordstrom and frequently drinks Starbucks (or whatever you have written down in your notebook right now).
The first step to booking your ideal clients (destination weddings, elopements, or otherwise), is a deep understanding of what they truly value (whether they admit it to themselves or not). For just $47, my ideal client cocktail will be the best money you’ve spent on your wedding business this year. Marketing your business to attract ideal clients is a lot easier when you know EXACTLY who you are talking to.
Align yourself with those venues, resorts, cities/towns, and areas through discoverable content like blog posts, Pinterest pins, and geo-tagged Instagram posts.
Once you have a deep understanding of the venues, resorts, cities, and locations that your ideal client would be interested in, you need to focus on creating as much quality searchable content that leads back to you as possible. Writing blog posts, creating Pinterest pins, and geo-tagging Instagram posts are great ways to get in front of what your ideal clients are already searching for.
I practice what I preach, ya’ll, after all – how did you find me today? There’s a good chance it was through searchable content!
Don’t let imposter syndrome get you! Don’t worry if you haven’t worked at the places you are trying to sell yet. Use stock images with credit if needed.
Who hasn’t felt imposter syndrome from time to time? I hate to be the one to break it to you, but as you embark on this new adventure to book more destination weddings and elopement, there is a good chance that imposter syndrome may rear its ugly head.
If you are reading this blog post and have made it this far, here’s what I know about you: you are resourceful enough to figure things out as you go. Remind yourself of that often.
Book the Wedding Planning Clients You WANT
When I started my wedding business in 2007, I told my accountant I was planning on doing the first few weddings for free or very low cost, so I could build my portfolio. The advice he gave me was pure gold, and I’m sharing it with you today.
He said to me, “Candice, I don’t know much about wedding planning, but I do know a lot about home building. Oftentimes, home builders enter the industry with the best of intentions, to do work for free or very low cost to build their portfolio. In reality, what ends up happening is that they get stuck at a certain price point and have an incredibly hard time breaking out of it because the work and their portfolio doesn’t match the work they want to book.”
You need to start where you want to land. Boom, mic drop.
He might not have had any experience in the wedding industry, but boy was his advice spot on. Looking back, I’m so glad I took the time to listen. I ended up building my business on a DIY WordPress website using janky stock images and replacing them as I got better and better. Compared to the stock images we have access to now, I have to laugh a little bit!
In your marketing, tell stories about what you WOULD do there as a wedding planner/photographer/vendor.
Now that you’ve gotten crystal clear, all that’s left to do is spread your message far and wide and wait for your ideal clients to find you and book you. In your marketing, tell stories about what you would do there as a wedding planner, photographer, or another vendor.
Not quite sure how to effectively use stories in your marketing? Make sure to listen to this podcast episode!
For example, using a stock image of a beach, talk about how you recommend your customers book venues that have access to a private area of beach instead of in front for the whole resort to see. You have the inside scoop, of course (that’s why you did the research first!). Another example? Share stock images of food and talk about how you help your couples choose a wedding menu. Seriously, the sky’s the limit, and if you don’t have real weddings to talk about (yet!), that doesn’t mean you can’t share what you DO know.
How to Book More Destination Wedding Couples (+ Become the “Go To” Destination Wedding Planner)
Can you tell I’m passionate about getting wedding planners (and other wedding vendors) the businesses they have always wanted? Finding (and booking) your ideal clients is one of the things I’m known for. If that includes booking destination weddings, I am so glad that you found your way here. Below, you will find a quick summary of the 6 steps I recommend to book more destination weddings and elopements. This WORKS, ya’ll.
- Make sure your website and branding make it CLEAR that you offer destination wedding and elopement services.
- Select 3-5 destinations you want to be known for. Don’t worry, this list can grow over time.
- Research venue options that your ideal client would be interested in. If you don’t know who your ideal client is, you need to grab my Ideal Client Cocktail!
- Align yourself with those venues, resorts, cities/towns, and areas through discoverable content like blog posts, Pinterest Pins, and geo-tagged Instagram posts.
- Don’t worry if you haven’t worked at the places you are trying to sell yet. Use stock images with credit if needed.
- In your marketing, tell stories about what you WOULD do there as a wedding planner/photographer/vendor.
- Grab my Playbook on how to become a destination wedding planner.
Bonus Step: DM me on Instagram and tell me when you’ve booked your first destination wedding or elopement customer!
Ready to book destination weddings and elopements? Add “Destination Wedding Planner” or “Elopement Photographer” to your portfolio? I’m excited to see what you do. Want to make narrowing down your ideal clients even easier? Grab My Client Cocktail! Inside, you’ll learn how to attract, sell, and serve your ideal clients. Whether they are dreaming of Italy or Mexico…
Explore More Resources
- How to Start a Wedding Planning Business
- How Much Should You Charge As A Wedding Planner? Learn How To Figure Out Your Wedding Planner Pricing
- How To Create An Ideal Client Avatar in Four Easy Steps
- Why You’re Not Attracting The Right Clients and How to Fix It
- How To Become A Wedding Planner With No Experience
- Sign Up For Honeybook For Only $1!
- 4 Strategies That Will Help You Book MORE Of Your Ideal Clients
- How To Become A Destination Wedding Planner
For More Wedding Industry Business Secrets, Follow Me on Instagram
I’ve come to realize that many of us want to have a village, but we don’t recognize that we have to be a villager first.
My friend carla @c10ike is one of those rare exceptions and I want to introduce you to her!
When I started my planning business, I had no contacts and no real idea what I was doing. I was so green it makes me laugh to look back on it now!
And somehow, I got lucky enough to be taken under the wing of this incredible woman who showed up for me then when I was a little baby business owner, and has kept showing up ever since in more ways than I could possibly count.
She’s taught me so much over the years, and I don’t mean in the traditional sense of teaching someone something. She simply lived her life, and I paid attention.
She modeled what it means to be a friend.
A sister.
A daughter.
A wife.
A mother.
A business owner.
A boss.
I learned generosity by watching her be generous.
Compassion, connection, leadership… none of it came from advice. All of it came from the way she carries herself and the way she treats the people around her.
She has taught me more than she will ever know by the sheer act of living loudly and joyfully in every corner of her life.
I am so lucky to call her my friend. So lucky to be one of the many, many people she has been a villager for.
Carla thank you for letting me grow up right beside you. I love you. 🤍
DAY ONE // WPI Spring Retreat 💜
This was our first real day together! The theme of this whole retreat was refinement, so we wasted no time getting into it on Day 1!
The women shuttled up to my home, walked through the gate to mimosas and the biggest hugs, and got their welcome totes filled with goodies I curated from female owned businesses that were mostly local!
Then we settled in, did some tapping to manifest all the answers we needed for the week, courtesy of our very own @ashley.peraino (who couldn’t join us this year, but was SO THOUGHTFUL to record a video for us!)
I opened with a talk on complexity, discernment, and self-trust (today’s podcast episode, BTW) simplifying your business and actually trusting yourself to lead what’s left.
From there the room took over. We had three incredible member gives: @c10ike on trusting your creative instincts, @ininkweddings on refining your creative POV, and @welldressedevents on generating real revenue through Google Ads (it’s giving… LEADS 😉).
In between we had small group discussions, hot conversations about where instinct and POV are out of sync, a homemade Caribbean lunch, and an afternoon of poolside snacks and conversation.
This is what the WPI room looks like. A talented group of women who came with one big business question and spent day one getting closer to the answer while having fun and getting their brains stretched!
All these gorgeous moments captured by our retreat photographer + my business bestie @c10ike 💜💜💜
Do it or delete it.
I said this recently to a coaching client, and now it’s sort of become our mantra inside WPI, because almost every business owner I know has a to-do list with 47 things on it (the same 47 things that were on last week’s list, and the week before that).
They don’t get done. They just travel from week to week collecting guilt, and that guilt somehow makes it even harder to get anything done at all.
After years of coaching women through this, you start to realize that most of those tasks don’t actually have dire consequences if they never happen. They just feel important because they’ve been living on your list rent-free for six months.
I want you to look at your to-do list right now and choose.
You do it… meaning you do it right now or at the very least put it on the calendar with a real deadline.
You delegate it… but only if it’s actually worth someone else’s time, not because you’ve been avoiding it and want to make it someone else’s problem.
Or you delete it… and I mean actually delete it, not shuffle it to a “someday” list where it will haunt you until 2027.
The guilt you feel about your undone tasks won’t go away if you magically “get more productive.” Instead I want you to see it for what it is: a list-curation problem.
What’s one thing you’re deleting today?
PS: I can confidently say these @aritzia sweatpants are 10/10
Syd from @ininkweddings spent $$$$ on a rebrand... and a year later, her gut told her to do it again.
She listened, and that’s how Messy Luxury™ was born.
The Behind the Brand series is BACK on the podcast, and this episode is one of my favorites yet. I’m excited to introduce you to Sydney Meyer (AKA ya girl, SYD) – a talented, vibrant, and dynamic wedding designer / planner based in Austin but serving clients worldwide.
I’ve been coaching Syd inside WPI since 2022, so I’ve had a front row seat to her evolution.
I’ve gotten to watch her build an iconic brand from the inside out, and it’s been one of the great joys of my coaching career. I’m so excited for you to hear her journey and some of the interesting twists and turns she’s encountered because boy, are they RELATABLE.
In this episode, we get into:
- What inspired her to start In Ink
- Why her first rebrand still didn’t feel right and how she knew
- The rock-bottom moment that forced her to build a business for HER, not everyone else
- How she trademarked Messy Luxury and turned it into the most recognizable design philosophy in Austin
If your business doesn’t feel like you anymore or if you’ve been searching for your unique creative POV, you’re going to LOVE this week’s episode!
Drop MESSY LUXURY in the comments and I’ll send you a link to listen!
A special shout out to all the photographers whose images reflect Syd and her great work: @alicialeighphoto @anastasiastratephotography @fallonstovallphoto @lightasgold @natalienicolephoto @haleyfolkman.photo @c10ike
All, Building Your Brand, Getting Down to Business, Goal Setting, Ideal Clients, Wedding Industry Marketing
filed under:
+ show Comments
- Hide Comments
add a comment