If you’re here, you’re likely thinking about how to start an event planning business and turn your passion for events into a rewarding career. I also know that starting an event planning business can feel like jumping headfirst into an exciting (but sometimes overwhelming!) journey. You might be fueled by a love for creating unforgettable experiences or the dream of running a business that feels as fulfilling as it is profitable.
Whether your goal is to design stunning weddings, orchestrate corporate events, or bring luxury social gatherings to life, starting an event planning business can be your path to doing what you love every day. But as a business coach for wedding and event planners, I also know that there’s more to it than meets the eye (so I’m really glad you’re reading this today).
Step 1: Define Your Niche and Vision
The first step in how to start an event planning business is defining your niche. If you want to hit the ground running, I strongly recommend you take time to define your niche (or ideal customer) right from the start. The event industry is vast, and having a clear focus helps you stand out and attract the clients you want to work with.
Do you see yourself planning weddings for couples with big dreams and sentimental details? Or is corporate event planning more your jam? Maybe you want to dive into the luxury market? Or you’d feel more comfortable getting your footing planning birthday parties and baby showers?
Whatever your area of interest is, your niche will ultimately serve as the compass that guides your brand, your messaging, and the clients you’ll ultimately serve.
Finding Your Unique Value
If you’re struggling to narrow down your niche, try this simple exercise:
- List your top three reasons for wanting to start an event planning business.
- Reflect on past events you’ve planned, whether professionally or personally. What did you enjoy most?
- Identify the people you’d love to work with—what’s their style, budget, or vibe?
At the intersection of these answers lies your niche. From here, you can develop your unique value proposition (UVP), the quality that sets you apart. For example, maybe your UVP is your calm-under-pressure attitude or your knack for blending timeless elegance with current trends. Keep your UVP at the forefront—it will serve as the foundation for everything from your marketing to your client relationships.
Want to dive even deeper into this? I promise the results are powerful when you do. Check out my Client Cocktail mini course for my help walking you through it!
Step 2: Set Up the Basics (Legally and Financially)
Now that you’ve identified your niche, let’s move to the foundational steps in how to start an event planning business: setting up legally and financially. Getting the legal and financial aspects in order is non-negotiable. Okay? Okay. Let’s break it down.
Business Structure: LLC or Sole Proprietorship?
Choosing your business structure is a big first step in starting an event planning business. As a new event planner, you’ll likely choose between an LLC (Limited Liability Company) or a sole proprietorship.
An LLC can provide some legal protection for your personal assets, while a sole proprietorship is easier to set up but lacks this shield. If you’re serious about growth and protecting your personal assets, you may want to consider an LLC as it keeps your business and personal finances separate. Regardless of what you choose though, it’s a good idea to set up a separate bank account!
Keep in mind though, this is likely a conversation you want to have with your lawyer or accountant!
Budgeting and Setting Realistic Revenue Goals
Knowing how to start an event planning business also means planning for the financial ups and downs. When you’re just starting out, budgeting is your friend! Estimate your startup costs (think branding, website, marketing, and initial equipment or supplies) and set a realistic revenue goal for your first year. Not every month will be profitable right away, so plan for the ups and downs by setting aside funds from early income for leaner months. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself later!
Step 3: Create a Brand That Stands Out
Next, when you think about how to start an event planning business in an industry full of talented planners already, building a standout brand is key. Your brand is more than a name or logo—it’s the way clients experience working with you and how they remember you. From the moment potential clients see your social media profiles or visit your website, they should feel that connection that says, “Yes, I want to work with this planner!”
Love this? Head here for some of my favorite blog posts and podcasts about branding!
Focus on Client-Centric Branding
Branding is a whole other topic (that would make this blog post on how to start an event planning business feel like a novel), but I will leave you with this: you need to viewing branding from your ideal client’s perspective. Think about what they’re looking for: Do they want an organized, detail-focused experience? Are they looking for a planner who can take their ideas and elevate them? A collaborative experience? A completely-done-for-them experience?
I want you to think about this as you start to put together all of the “fun” stuff like websites, social media content, or building your portfolio. Make sure your brand speaks directly to their needs and dreams!
Step 4: Build a Client-Centric Marketing Strategy
The next step in how to start an event planning business is creating a solid marketing strategy. Marketing as a new business can be overwhelming—there are so many options! The goal here isn’t to do it all; it’s to set up foundational strategies that will help you get noticed and booked.
Let’s talk about a few key strategies to get your lead generation system off the ground.
Getting Started with Social Media, SEO, and Networking
Social media is a great place to showcase your work and connect with potential clients. Set up profiles on Instagram and Pinterest (ideal for my more visual people), and be sure your posts reflect your brand identity and showcase your style.
Next, get familiar with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) basics. Focus on using location specific keywords in your website copy and blog posts. This will help local clients find you more easily online.
Lastly, networking is a must when it comes to learning how to start an event planning business. Networking is still one of the best ways to build a client base in the event planning industry. Attend local industry meetups, introduce yourself to venue managers, photographers, and caterers—building these relationships can only lead to good things (like referrals and collaborative projects).
Step 5: Get Your Systems In Order
A huge part of how to start an event planning business is knowing how to streamline processes so your business can grow without constant burnout. When your systems are solid, you save time, prevent burnout, and deliver a consistent experience to every client.
For example, for client onboarding, create a checklist for each step, from initial inquiry to signing the contract (my onboarding playbook will help you do this a lot faster). Having consistency here helps you make a great first impression every time.
You’ll also need to set up systems for getting client work done, for marketing your business, for offboarding your customers—the list goes on. If you start to feel overwhelmed and want a short cut (and also want to make sure things are done really, really well), head to my shop for tons of playbooks filled with both information AND templates to help you get it done!
Beginner Tools to Manage Tasks and Communication
As you start to set up systems, you’ll likely want to invest in a few tools to manage it all. I recommend you start with simple tools: Asana is great for task management, HoneyBook is great client communications, and even things like Google Drive for shared documents.
Become an Event Planner Today!
The steps above are just the beginning of how to start an event planning business. But that’s usually what you need to do to get started—taking the first step. You don’t need to have every piece in place right away either. Small, consistent actions will get you where you want to be. And remember, the effort you’re putting in now lays the groundwork for a rewarding, profitable event planning business!
If you’re looking for more guidance, support, and insider tips to help you build a successful wedding and event planning business, check out my wedding planner tools in my shop and join me in The Planner’s Playbook. It’s where I share proven strategies, resources, and a community to keep you inspired and moving forward. I can’t wait to watch your business grow!
Explore More Wedding Industry Resources
- Is Month-of Wedding Coordinator A Niche? The Truth About This Wedding Planning Service
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- How Much Does It Cost to Become a Wedding Planner?
- How To Become A Wedding Planner in 2025 With No Experience
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
Some of the links used in this blog post are affiliate links. When you purchase something, our company receives a small compensation at no cost to you. This compensation helps to maintain the cost of creating helpful content, like our podcast, so you can build a profitable business with purpose.
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