At this point, I’ve written a lot of blog posts about making more money as a wedding planner. Making data-driven pricing decisions, following a Profit First model, and even just sharing marketing tips to help you generate more leads, are all ultimately written to help YOU grow a profitable business with purpose. And I’m proud of the posts I’ve written! But today, I’m taking it even FURTHER. I’m sharing 3 ways you can make more money PER wedding (without raising your prices or lowering your expenses). I’m talking about more cash in the bank here! If that’s what you need right now, keep on reading.
And if you’re also feeling like you’ve been doing everything right but still aren’t seeing the growth you expected, make sure you read my post on why you still feel stuck even when you’re doing everything “right.” It’ll help you understand the deeper shifts behind building a profitable, sustainable planning business.
Why should you raise your revenue per wedding?
There are a lot of ways to make more money as a wedding pro. Just off the top of my head, I’m thinking:
- Affiliate Income
- Selling digital products/templates
- Offering mentoring to other wedding pros
- Selling online courses
- Offer “one-time” planning calls for couples
And heck – if you’ve spent any time on TikTok lately, you may even be thinking about starting a dropshipping business or selling something “print on demand” on Etsy. Please tell me I’m not the only one getting flooded with those.
But today’s post isn’t about any of those things. Instead, I’ve focused on ways you can raise your revenue PER wedding. That way, you can make more money without booking more weddings or adding a whole other revenue stream to your business (which is almost always more work than you think it will be – trust me!).
#1 Separate Venue Research from Full Planning + Design
One of the first steps to making more money is to go through your current wedding planning packages, and then figure out what you are including that is “non-essential” and then offer it as an “add-on” service instead. For most of the wedding planners I coach, venue research falls into this category!
Storytime: I still remember the first time someone told me they had already found a wedding venue, so could I remove it from the full planning and design fee. It felt like the question hit me like a ton of bricks realizing that 1. I was going to make less money on this wedding now, and 2. How had nobody ever asked me this before? I knew right away I did NOT want that to happen again. I remember sitting there thinking “How much is venue research really worth?”
As you can imagine, I had two thoughts again:
- It was a ton of work so likely worth a significant chunk of change.
- On the other hand, the higher I valued the service, the more I had to deduct from my fee.
Naturally, I’ve learned a lot since then (and that’s why you are here right?). If you want to make more money per wedding without raising your prices, I highly recommend offering venue research as a separate service from your more comprehensive packages. While you are revamping your packages, look at what else you can remove from your current planning packages and consider offering them “a la carte” too.
If you are looking to start charging for venue research in addition to your full-service planning and design fee, I go into detail about the process here. I even include swipe files so you can start selling this new service immediately.
And by the way? Even though I’m talking about this service being something you “add on” for full planning clients, you could also offer it to couples who don’t feel like they need a wedding planner yet, too. Once they get a taste of working with you, there’s a good chance they will want you to guide them through the rest of the wedding planning process too! And let’s be honest – it’s a great way for YOU to get a taste of working with them too.
#2 Start Managing Your Couple’s Rentals
This strategy is HIGHLY profitable, and a great way to make more money per wedding without raising your prices. Again, this is a way to make more money from the work you are ALREADY doing for your couples. Don’t you want to get paid for it?
I’m going to break down a little more about “what it is” so you can start to think about ways you might want to implement rental management in your own business, but if this is something you plan on pursuing, I highly recommend you grab this Playbook where I outline the Wedding Planner Rental Revenue strategy. This ONE tweak has made me thousands of dollars in extra revenue (PER wedding!). It felt like it literally doubled my revenue overnight.
Here’s the short version of this powerful revenue-generating strategy:
In the simplest terms, managing your couple’s rentals makes YOU act as the rental company, and you act as the intermediary between your couple and the rental company. In most cases, your couple will pay you, and then you’ll pay the rental company. Obviously, there are ways to maximize the amount of money you are getting back, but that’s the essence of it. You “manage” the rentals, and therefore you’ll get paid a commission or fee for that work. You’ll need to require your planning couples to book through you, and you’ll likely want to open a separate bank account too. Before long, there will be a lot of money flowing in and out of your account.
And since rental management involves a ton of repeat communication like quotes, updates, confirmations, this is one of the best areas to start using AI in your wedding business. If you want help creating email templates that match your exact voice, read my post on how to train ChatGPT to write like you. It’ll save you so much time while keeping your communication elevated and consistent.
Want more? Inside my Rental Revenue Playbook, I share:
- Step-by-step guide on how to sublet rentals and make money off tents, tables, linens, lighting, and everything in between without carrying any inventory of your own
- Example rental invoices you’ll send clients
- How to establish relationships with rental companies and secure discounts
- How to pitch high-end rentals to your clients
- Rental policies swipe files to protect your business
It’s over 50 pages, so it’s a smidge more than I can include in this blog post!
#3 Add Partial Planning Hours to Day of Coordination
Raise your hand if you’ve been guilty of giving your day of coordination clients free advice because at the end of the day, it makes your job easier if they get it right. While I’m not going to tell you to stop doing that (I don’t want you walking into a shit show on the wedding day), instead, I want to encourage you to start offering to add partial planning hours to your “wedding management” service. You KNOW your couples will use them, and this can be a great way to make more money per wedding.
And if you want to educate your couples more efficiently (without spending hours crafting the perfect email), you’ll love my post on ChatGPT prompts for wedding pros. It includes scripts you can use to set boundaries, answer repeat questions, and communicate clearly, without doing extra unpaid work.
If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ve heard me say that the only thing partial about partial planning is the paycheck. That’s NOT what I’m talking about here. I’m not talking about offering to help with specific tasks or taking on a partial planning role. I’m talking about setting an hourly rate and offering packages of 5, 10, or 20 hours that couples can use as they need throughout the planning process. This way you are ensured you are paid for your time!
If you are in the process of revamping your wedding planning packages, I’d be doing you a major disservice if I didn’t tell you I’ve done all the heavy lifting in The Ultimate Guide to Wedding Planning Packages. If you want to structure your wedding planning packages in a way that will help you make more money per wedding easily, it’ll be the best money you ever spend.
A note about upselling your current clients
I just want to add a quick note here – while you can offer partial planning hours to couples at ANY time in the planning/management process, the other two strategies should likely be implemented with NEW couples moving forward. I’m not suggesting that you go back to your current clients and restructure your packages to make more money. I’m sure you already know that, but this blog post wouldn’t feel quite complete without this disclaimer.
BONUS: Are you pricing yourself well as a wedding planner?
Listen, I promised to share three tactical ways to increase your average revenue per wedding, and I have, but the business coach inside of me has GOT to ask: are you sure you shouldn’t be raising your prices?
If you are curious how much you should ACTUALLY be charging as a wedding planner (and what factors go into deciding on a price – and hint, your “worth” did not make the list), I have one last guide for you to consider. If you’ve priced yourself “a little less” or “a little more” than your competitors, and are ready to actually take a deep dive into your numbers and make sure your business is PROFITABLE, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of my Pricing your Planning Packages for Profit Playbook.
While raising your prices is NOT the only way to make more money, throwing spaghetti at the wall and choosing a random number is not the vibe either. And despite what you might think, I actually DON’T always recommend you raise your packages. I talk about that inside the playbook, too!
Want more advice in your wedding planning business?
You’ve found your business coach. My membership, the Planner’s Playbook, is THE place for wedding planners who want to grow a wedding planning business they love (with a lot more ease than reading random articles on Google). Inside, you’ll get:
- Monthly deep-dive playbooks
- AI Tools and shortcuts
- Group coaching calls and Q&A
- Guest training and masterclass
- Strategy workshops
- A community of planners who GET IT
I’d love to welcome you inside! Sign up for the details and join us for our next coaching call here.
If you’re also ready to streamline your backend even further, make sure you read my guide on how to use ChatGPT in your wedding business. It’s one of the easiest ways to save hours every week and operate like the elevated CEO you’re becoming.
Explore More Wedding Industry Resources
- Wedding Planners – Should You List Your Wedding Planner Pricing Packages On Your Website?
- How to Stand Out in a Crowded Market: Creating a Website for Wedding Planners That Get Results
- Want to Book Better Clients? Stop Marketing and Improve Your Client Experience Instead
- Wedding Industry Branding: How to Create A Recognizable Brand in the Wedding Industry with Brand Strategist Nicole Yang
- Should You Increase Your Price? How to Know When It’s Time to Raise Your Rates
- 8 Steps to Spring Cleaning Your Wedding Business
- How to Book Your FIRST Client as a Wedding Planner
- How To Build Your Portfolio As A Wedding Planner When You’re Just Starting Out
- Elizabeth McCravy On How To Create A Knock-Out Business Brand And Website
- Top 5 Blogging Tips For Wedding Pros in 2023
For More Wedding Planner Business Secrets Follow Me On Instagram
If you’re sitting on a sales call running through your bullet point list of what’s in each package, congratulations. You just signaled to a luxury couple that you’re not the right fit for them.
Luxury clients are not shopping for “20 hours of planning” or “30 free belly bands” or “500 edited images.”
They’re shopping for the version of their wedding that only you can pull off.
They want to know what you’ll DO. How you think. What you’ve handled. Where you’d push back.
If they wanted features, they’d go to The Knot and filter by price.
They’re talking to you because they want a person with a point of view.
So the next time you’re on a consultation with a luxury buyer, give them one.
If you’re interested in learning more about how luxury buyers think, check out episode 209 of my podcast — or comment “209” and I’ll DM you the link!
A typical Monday for me. How do you spend your Monday? 💜
no thoughts just boss 💅
photography @c10ike (aka my co-boss)
Nobody is coming to choose you or your business.
I said this to a student last month who had been in the business for years. Her process was dialed in. She had weddings on the books. But the work she was getting didn’t reflect what she was actually capable of, and she’d been waiting for the right client to come along and finally give her the chance to prove it.
That’s not how it works.
If you want to be booked for the work you actually want to do, you have to start showing it. Styled shoots. Venue tour reels. A post that says “manifesting this venue for my next dream couple.”
If you sit around and wait for a dream client to pick you so that you can prove what you’re capable of, you’re going to be waiting around a long time.
On the flip side…
Another client told me how she pivoted out of the $70K weddings she didn’t want by telling two prospective clients their budget was actually going to be $120K.
Both signed.
She didn’t wait for permission. She decided. She chose.
I want you to do the same.
What’s one thing you could post this week that shows the work you want to be hired for — not the work you currently have?
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