Let’s talk about the oversaturation of the wedding pro-education industry for a second. Today, everyone shouts from the rooftops that they can teach you to be a better wedding planner. But how do you tell the good from the bad? How do you tell who and what is worth investing in with so many different options at your fingertips? With over 13 years in the wedding industry under my belt, I’ve gathered the best resources for wedding planners – just the best, nothing else – and stuff that I’ve personally used in my own business.
Inside this blog post, I’m sharing with you the BEST resources for wedding planners–from software to stock photos, education to courses, we’re covering it all in today’s post.
So, if you’ve been searching for resources to up your wedding planning business–bookmark this post and check out each below.
WeddingPro Insiders
This is my pride and joy, and if you’ve followed me for a while, you could have probably guessed WeddingPro Insiders would be at the top of the list. Not to be dramatic, but my 12-month business mastermind is kind of the crown jewel over here at Candice Coppola.
It’s a complete 360 transformation in your wedding business – with high-level support and accountability where you need it most. I think what I’m most proud of is the community I’ve cultivated with such an intimate group.
You should NOT have to do business (or cocktail hour) alone; in WeddingPro Insiders, you won’t have to. Spaces tend to fill up fast, so if that sounds like what your heart needs, get on the waitlist, and I will reach out once the doors open again!
The Planners Playbook
Calling all wedding planners looking to elevate their business! Unlike WeddingPro Insiders, which caters to weddings pros of all kinds (from cake designers to stationery pros!), the Planners Playbook was created just for you, a wedding planner.
There’s a lot of focus on marketing and some of the sexier shiny objects in business out there, but in the Planners Playbook, I want to help you become better at doing the work you love: planning magazine worthy weddings.
So are you ready to level up your planning skills and learn ALLLLL my wedding planning, coordination, AND design tricks? I know–how can you resist! Be sure to get on the waitlist so you’ll be the first to know when The Planners Playbook opens!
Honeybook
You know I LOVE Honeybook. I love the little sound my phone makes whenever I get paid, but more importantly, I love how EASY it makes it for my customers to pay me. I could go on and on about the features, but if you are looking for a tool to help you manage your customers’ contracts, brochures, and invoices all in one place, I honestly believe Honeybook can’t be beaten.
It was my weapon of choice in my own wedding planning business, and I still use it for my coaching business today. Sign up using this link and get 50% off for your first entire year!
Another perk? Honeybook connects you with even more resources for wedding planners because of their close relationship with the Rising Tide society. Trust me, this is a community you want to be in!
I’ve written several articles about Honeybook if you want to investigate further. Check out these posts:
- 2024 Honeybook Review: Is Honeybook Worth It And What You Need To Know Before You Sign Up
- Honeybook vs. Quickbooks: A 2024 Review
- Honeybook Pricing & Plans: Which Honeybook Plan Should You Choose For Your Business?
- 7 Ways to Use Honeybook as a Wedding Planner
- Why Honeybook Is The Best CRM for Wedding Planners
Legally Set
If you are running a business, you need a solid contract (and likely – contracts!). My dear friend Kunbi (who you’ve likely heard on the Power in Purpose podcast!) has created contract templates for wedding pros of all kinds. She also has a free rescheduling addendum on her site, so make sure to snag that, too (heaven forbid you ever need it again, right?). It’s hard to tell the good from the bad online, but your contract isn’t something you want to roll the dice with, hoping it’s strong enough to protect you. I trust Legally Set with whatever I need (and you can hire Kunbi if you want even more support!).
Flodesk
There are so many reasons why I love Flodesk, and if you are a wedding planner looking to grow an email list, I have a feeling you are going to love them too. First, they have so many great email templates that make your emails actually look good. I can’t be the only one more excited to create a beautiful email, right?
And because I’m enjoying the process more, I’m actually sending out more emails to my list as well (and making more sales). Lastly, I love that the price for Flodesk doesn’t change, no matter how large my list grows. Click here for a 50% off Flodesk Promo Code and save on your first year! And if you’re wondering about which is better – Flodesk vs. Mailchimp – check out this article!
Haute Stock
Remember when stock photo sites used to be completely janky (and hideously expensive)? Haute Stock has been such a game-changer for me as I always look for new ways to market my wedding coaching business. I also love the value they place on diversity, and I know not all of my stock photos from them will have exactly the same type of model in them (one that, quite frankly, rarely represents the type of clients I actually work with!).
If you’re just starting out in your wedding planning business, Haute Stock will be one of those secret weapon wedding planner resources you love. Building your portfolio is tough at first, but Haute Stock has beautiful images you can use to get started!
Styled Stock Society
If Haute Stock isn’t your style (or you just believe more is more), I also absolutely love Styled Stock Society for fresh stock photos on the regular. One little extra thing I love about them is that they provide new templates every month (Pinterest Pins, Instagram carousels, onboarding brochures, you name it – all editable in Canva!). So not only do you get stock photos, but you get easy ways to create graphics you will actually use.
They have plenty of wedding photos, too, so you can use them to beef up your website with imagery. And let’s not forget the ‘gram!
The Client Cocktail
When it comes to the best resources for wedding planners, you need to figure out who your ideal client is first. Otherwise, your efforts to improve your customer experience and increase your marketing efforts will ultimately be in vain. Fortunately, finding your ideal clients just happens to be my secret sauce, and I’ve spilled all the details you need here.
The Client Cocktail is NOT another ideal client avatar exercise. Instead, it’s a four-part formula teaching you:
- How to Repel the Clients you don’t want (before they inquire)
- How to find and attract real life ideal clients (I won’t try to convince you that unicorns exist!)
- Once they inquire, I teach you my sales techniques so you can book weddings faster than ever before
- Finally, I teach you how to serve them really well (so they refer their friends!)
Oh yeah, I even throw in my favorite rum punch recipe and an implementation checklist, so you actually use what you’ve learned. Sound good? You can grab it here for only $47!
Engage Summits
I believe that by elevating the people you surround yourself with, you automatically elevate your business. There are so many conferences out there that help you connect with fellow wedding planners, but truly nothing is like Engage Summits (at least that I’ve found!). Not only do they provide the most incredible speakers and education, but attending their summits is a completely immersive experience. Be prepared to feel inspired and creatively stretched once you realize truly everything that is possible for you.
Signature CEO Conference
Can I be honest? Sometimes I think we spend too much time looking within our industry and forget to look outside and see what we can bring in from other industries. Last but not least, if you want to transform your wedding business into a place where you are more than just a “wedding planner” but a true CEO, consider Signature CEO Conference your stepping stone to truly lean into and embrace that role. If you want to connect with fellow entrepreneurs of all kinds and want to step into something a little different than the typical wedding planner education circles, I highly recommend it!
Top 10 Resources for Wedding Planners
If you have ANY questions about anything I’ve recommended here, send me a DM, and let’s chat about it. If you know me, you know I’m insanely passionate about helping wedding planners grow and build a business and life they LOVE. These resources are just stepping stones to get you there.
Want the links again? Here are my top 10 resources for wedding planners
- WeddingPro Insiders
- The Planners Playbook
- Honeybook
- Legally Set
- Flodesk
- Haute Stock
- Styled Stock Society
- The Client Cocktail
- Engage Summits
- Signature CEO Conference
Is your head spinning from all the resources I just hit you with? If you are wondering where to start, jump on the waitlist for The Planner’s Playbook – it will be the best money you have ever spent.
Explore More Wedding Industry Resources
- How to Start a Wedding Planning Business
- An Honest Flodesk 2024 Review: The Pros, Cons, And If It’s Worth It
- Wedding Planner Marketing: How To Attract & Speak Directly to Your Ideal Clients
- 5 Contracts Every Wedding Planner Must Have To Be Legally Set
- How Much Should You Charge As A Wedding Planner? Learn How To Figure Out Your Wedding Planner Pricing
- How To Get Wedding Clients When You’re Just Starting Out
- Day of Coordination: The Pros and Cons as a Wedding Planner
- 4 Strategies That Will Help You Book MORE Of Your Ideal Clients
- How to Book Destination Weddings And Elopements In Your Wedding Business
- Why You’re Not Attracting The Right Clients and How to Fix It
- How To Become A Wedding Planner With No Experience
- 2024 Honeybook Review: Is Honeybook Worth It And What You Need To Know Before You Sign Up
- How To Find Your Niche In The Wedding Industry: 5 Steps For Niching Down
- How to Build your Portfolio as a Wedding Planner (when you’re just starting out!)
For More Wedding Planner Business Secrets Follow Me On Instagram
You might see the highlight reel and think ending up here was always my plan all along but you’d be wrong.
Like any good career, there have been lots of pivots and hiccups, and lessons that had to be learned the hard way.
Not seen here? The time…
- I forgot to add chairs to a rental order and ended up footing the $2,000 bill
- A client sat across from me crying that I ruined her wedding because her parents table had a low centerpiece
- I had to borrow $4,000 from Grandma Vera to make payroll, because I didn’t pay attention to my numbers
- About a hundred “dream clients” hired a different planner than me and I felt like an absolute failure
- I cried in my car before a wedding because I was completely and totally overwhelmed with the amount of responsibility on my shoulders (OK, maybe I did this more than once)
- My seasonal launch of The Planner’s Playbook completely bombed and I felt like my entire business was falling apart
…and roughly 700 other moments I’ve chosen to leave off the highlight reel.
So if you’re at the messy, nothing’s-working stage right now? Just know that if you have been to one wedding in your life, you are starting with more experience than I had.
I’m getting ready to embark on an exciting new chapter that I cannot wait to share with you… it’s big, and scary, and I’m sure in another few years I’ll have a lot more lore to share… but in the meantime…
Cheers to all the ups and downs I’ve experienced over the last 19 years!
And a special thanks to the photographers who made a lot of this lore possible: @c10ike @allanzepedaphoto @stevedepino @withincreative @robertandkathleen @thebrandedbosslady 💜🫶🏼😘
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
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.
All, Growing a Business, Starting a Business, Tech Tools, Wedding Planning Advice, Workshops & Education
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