Looking for a wedding planner course? As a fellow course junkie, I know how powerful investing in your education can be in your business. And I’m proud of you for looking into resources to grow your wedding planning business. It’s important to seek out guidance to help fast-track your results! Let’s be honest – google will only get you so far. But do you really need another wedding planning course to get your business off the ground or to take your existing wedding planning business to the next level? And how do you decide which wedding planner course to buy?
Whether you are a few years into your wedding business or are still waiting for that magic moment when you book your first client, you will always be sharpening your blade and perfecting your craft.
As a wedding planner, you only have one chance to get it right. There are no do-overs in the wedding business. And who you learn from is important.
But before you swipe your credit card on the next shiny course that’s marketed to you on Instagram, let’s talk about what it really takes to run a wedding planning business.
The truth is: good marketers are the loudest, but it doesn’t mean what they are offering is the most important. There are a lot of wedding planners out there doing a great job of marketing an unsustainable business.
If you are new to the wedding industry, you don’t need to start with a “wedding planner course” that’s just a thinly veiled marketing course. In order to run a profitable, sustainable wedding planning business, you need more than just good marketing skills. Despite what you might think, the best way to learn to plan a wedding is not always to just jump in the ring and book as many weddings as cheaply as possible for “experience”.
Before you look for your first (or next) wedding planner course, I want you to decide what you really want. If you haven’t vision cast for your business yet, start here.
After all, how can I tell you how to get where you want to go if we don’t know the destination yet? Once you take some time to vision cast for your wedding business and get crystal clear on what you really want, you need to decide who you can trust to get you there. Trust me, there are enough educators out there. A successful wedding business looks a little different to everyone. Please don’t invest in a wedding planner course created by someone who has never been where you want to go.
You also don’t need a million mentors. In fact, it’s better to learn from just one person than to try and take bits and pieces from every expert on the internet.
Once you decide where you want to go, ask yourself if you need to add a specific skill to your tool belt (like how to design a tablescape) or do you have a broader range of skills you need to improve? If you aren’t sure exactly where to start to get the kind of business you want, it’s probably the last one.
If you are looking at a stack of wedding magazines and thinking, “I want to know everything about planning, designing, and coordinating weddings”, let me pause for a second and invite you to check out the Planner’s Playbook.
I know I just told you to vet the people you buy for – so here’s my super short bio. I started my wedding planning business in 2009 with no experience and no contacts – just like you. From there, I built my wedding planning and design business, Jubilee Events, from zero to six figures in the first 2 years. Over the course of ten years, I grew a successful wedding planning business, working with high end couples and six and seven figure wedding budgets. When I moved to Barbados, I expanded my business to be multi-country, and help me build the kind of life I really wanted. Not only have I been published in dreamy places like Brides, Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty, and more, but my work also landed me a book deal where I co-authored The White Dress in Color and The White Dress Destinations.
TL;DR: If you want to work with high end clients (and big budgets), planning and designing magazine-worthy weddings, and becoming the sought after wedding planner in your area, I know how to get you where you need to go.
The next question you need to ask yourself before swiping your credit card for a wedding planner course is whether or not you need ongoing support.
If you are in the first five years of your wedding business, I am willing to bet that you do. Running a wedding planning business is hard work, and the industry is constantly involving. It’s not the kind of job where you take a “how to become a wedding planner course” and ride on the coattails of that knowledge for the next ten years (although I am guessing you already knew that). As you choose your next wedding planner course carefully, ask yourself if it has the kind of support you really need to get to the next level. As a new wedding planner, it’s important to get yourself in the right rooms.
Connecting with other wedding planners that take their business as seriously as you do will move your business forward faster than any course you take alone.
I know this might sound like another shameless plug, but the community feature is one of my favorite parts of the Planner’s Playbook. Not only do the women inside get monthly coaching from yours truly, we have a strong community where they can ask each other questions too. Real time feedback from others in your shoes (or maybe just a little ahead of you) is invaluable as you start and grow your wedding planning business.
Most courses don’t include the level of support you need in the early stages of your wedding business. You don’t need another course with a Facebook group. You need a little more than that.
Okay, enough of what you do need. Here are a couple reasons why you might NOT need to buy another wedding planner course right now:
- Courses that cover a large range of topics, like “everything you need to know to become a wedding planner”, will often be filled with general information that won’t help you more than a thorough Google search.
- If you DO find a wedding planner course that’s detailed enough, it can quickly become overwhelming. Seriously. When the heck are you going to find time to sit down and learn everything at once? If I know you, I know there is a good chance you’ll either binge the entire thing (and never implement it) or put it on your to-do list and never look at it again.
- The wedding planning industry is constantly changing, and some wedding planner courses are not updated often enough. If you are going to invest your time and money, you want to make sure that the information you are absorbing is current.
- Most courses don’t include the level of support and community that you really, really, need.
I know what you’re thinking… okay Candice, so what do I need more than a wedding planner course right now?
The Planner’s Playbook is not open for enrollment right now, but because you’ve read this post all the way to the end, here’s a special link for you to jump in right now.
The Planner’s Playbook is NOT just another wedding planner course. Here’s why it’s what you need instead:
- Instead of overwhelming you with information, we dive deep into one aspect of your wedding planning business each month and share ACTIONABLE advice so you can build the foundation of your wedding business one step at a time.
- Every month, we focus on one of the Planner’s Playbook pillars: planning, design, or coordination. As a wedding planner who has been around the block a few times, I can promise you that mastering the fundamentals in each of these three categories is key to building a wedding planning business that’s sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable.
- Each month, I also include a done-for-you marketing plan. This isn’t something I wrote two years ago that I am re-selling. I look at what’s happening in the wedding industry right now, combined with my years of experience, and create a marketing plan that you can implement the same month it lands in your inbox.
- We have a strong community of wedding planners, in all stages of business, and a community where you can receive real-time support 24/7. And no, it’s not just another Facebook group.
- On top of our community, you get live support and coaching from yours truly. Once a month, we host live monthly coaching calls where you can ask your most burning questions. Once a quarter, we host additional workshops to further help you put what you are learning into action.
Better Yet? The Planner’s Playbook is a monthly membership, so you can stay for as long as you need. Seriously.
At $57/month, you also aren’t committing to a payment plan for the next twelve months before you’ve ever made a profit. Listen, some of the best courses for wedding planners can cost four figures, and they still don’t get implemented. You don’t need to commit to that kind of investment before your business has even made a profit. If, for some reason, the Planner’s Playbook stops being *exactly* what you need, you can cancel. But remember, I’ve been in your shoes. And I’ve built it to be exactly what I wish I had in the first few years of my own wedding planning business.
Ready to jump in? Use THIS link to get started right now (and I will even throw in the Client Cocktail, my not-so-mini-course on booking your ideal clients, so you can start working on your wedding business right now).
Explore More Wedding Industry Resources
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- How Much Should You Charge As A Wedding Planner? Learn How To Figure Out Your Wedding Planner Pricing
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For More Wedding Planner Business Secrets Follow Me On Instagram
12 years of being the luckiest girl on the planet.💜 happy anniversary to the person who makes everything about this beautiful life we have possible.
📷 @c10ike
DAY TWO // WPI Spring Retreat 💜
If Day 1 was about getting closer to the question, Day 2 was about getting honest with the answer.
We came back together over mimosas and morning hugs (a WPI staple at this point 😉) and got right back into refinement — this time turning the lens inward. What are you actually building? And are your standards, your pricing, and your daily reality all telling the same story?
The member gives went THERE. We talked about how a systems strategist can help you untangle your process, and how saying no (A LOT) helped two photographers book better weddings.
I spoke about two important topics: setting standards and nervous system – two topics that have become very important inside WPI!
In between these conversations was room for the good stuff: small group breakouts, real talk, a few happy tears, a homemade Caribbean lunch (those pressed sandwiches 🤌), and an afternoon of feet in the pool and brains fully stretched.
Not pictured was the homemade Guac I whipped up and other poolside treats!
All these gorgeous moments captured by our retreat photographer + my business bestie @c10ike 💜💜💜
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. 🤍
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