Destination wedding planner

[Frenchsalesadministrator]

Hello,

I was wondering if there is anyone on here involved with Destination Wedding Planning as I am interested to find out more about this industry.

Thank you.
Fabien

 

[WeddingsInWales]

I own a 'destination wedding venue' and employ four Wedding Planners who essentially plan the day. If you glance at our wedding website which will be linked to by UKBF below this post (choose the wedding one!) you will find your way around the site with a bit of searching on the Wedding Planning pages.

There is a general wedding planning section and a specific planning section for our own clients planning their own wedding. The second planning section was introduced to cut down the number of times our planners had to send emails explaining the same thing to different customers over and again. Now they can write a quick reply addressing any specific query and forward a link to the relevant wedding planning page.

We were also getting customers making incorrect assumptions about what they did or did not need to do - with one or two not even realising they needed to book the registrar. Adding all this information to the website reduces a load of misunderstandings but there is still a tendency for people not to read what they need to read! Too many people now use mobile phones to view websites, and probably are in a distracted state due to where and when they are browsing. So we still get Couples not understanding what they need to do, and our Planners are there to ensure all goes well on the day.

As to finding out more about this industry, the only option (given the lack of wedding planners in the UK operating independently of a wedding venue) is really to go and work for a wedding venue. After two or three years you will know everything about planning the day and will also have got to know all the suppliers for that venue, which would then stand you in good stead for setting up as an independent agent.

I know in the USA wedding clients employ actual wedding planners but it is not so common in the UK, at least not in our experience (Wales does have a lower wedding budget though - £10k lower than the average wedding cost in England). In our experience our own planners do most of the 'Running Order of the Day' Wedding planning, while a wedding decor company may be involved for the centrepieces and room decor. The venue also has a list of wedding suppliers and will recomment a DJ and other key suppliers, e.g. chair cover companies etc.

Most Wedding Couple will happily sort out their own suppliers independently, whether we recommend any or not. Many will book suppliers (and know who they need) by meeting the hotel's own recommended suppliers at Wedding Fayres and Open Days. They then ask those same suppliers for their recommendations - e.g. asking the photographer for his recommendations where the best shots are.

I am not sure you would be able to make a lot of money setting up as an independent wedding planner but I have come across one individual who is working with a number of hotels, training them how to get more weddings and more bookings, and going around training their wedding planners. Venues can make some basic errors such as not keeping their banqueting room on permanent display set up for a wedding (as walk-in viewings can visit us at any time and do not want to see stacks of chairs and undressed tables).

There are a lot of skills a good venue will teach you, but find a busy venue doing at least 100 weddings a year, as they are likely to be pretty knowledgeable in how get wedding bookings and how to plan weddings.

 

[Frenchsalesadministrator]

I own a 'destination wedding venue' and employ four Wedding Planners who essentially plan the day. If you glance at our wedding website which will be linked to by UKBF below this post (choose the wedding one!) you will find your way around the site with a bit of searching on the Wedding Planning pages.

There is a general wedding planning section and a specific planning section for our own clients planning their own wedding. The second planning section was introduced to cut down the number of times our planners had to send emails explaining the same thing to different customers over and again. Now they can write a quick reply addressing any specific query and forward a link to the relevant wedding planning page.

We were also getting customers making incorrect assumptions about what they did or did not need to do - with one or two not even realising they needed to book the registrar. Adding all this information to the website reduces a load of misunderstandings but there is still a tendency for people not to read what they need to read! Too many people now use mobile phones to view websites, and probably are in a distracted state due to where and when they are browsing. So we still get Couples not understanding what they need to do, and our Planners are there to ensure all goes well on the day.

As to finding out more about this industry, the only option (given the lack of wedding planners in the UK operating independently of a wedding venue) is really to go and work for a wedding venue. After two or three years you will know everything about planning the day and will also have got to know all the suppliers for that venue, which would then stand you in good stead for setting up as an independent agent.

I know in the USA wedding clients employ actual wedding planners but it is not so common in the UK, at least not in our experience (Wales does have a lower wedding budget though - £10k lower than the average wedding cost in England). In our experience our own planners do most of the 'Running Order of the Day' Wedding planning, while a wedding decor company may be involved for the centrepieces and room decor. The venue also has a list of wedding suppliers and will recomment a DJ and other key suppliers, e.g. chair cover companies etc.

Most Wedding Couple will happily sort out their own suppliers independently, whether we recommend any or not. Many will book suppliers (and know who they need) by meeting the hotel's own recommended suppliers at Wedding Fayres and Open Days. They then ask those same suppliers for their recommendations - e.g. asking the photographer for his recommendations where the best shots are.

I am not sure you would be able to make a lot of money setting up as an independent wedding planner but I have come across one individual who is working with a number of hotels, training them how to get more weddings and more bookings, and going around training their wedding planners. Venues can make some basic errors such as not keeping their banqueting room on permanent display set up for a wedding (as walk-in viewings can visit us at any time and do not want to see stacks of chairs and undressed tables).

There are a lot of skills a good venue will teach you, but find a busy venue doing at least 100 weddings a year, as they are likely to be pretty knowledgeable in how get wedding bookings and how to plan weddings.

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, I meant to reply sooner, where has January gone?

Thank you for the links to your website. It's a very insightful and useful source of information for wedding planning.

By wedding destination, I meant abroad and more particularly in France where I come from.
I see your points that wedding couples will sort out their own suppliers but I doubt they would to that in France due to the language barrier, culture and I would assume that they would use a destination wedding planner to do that for them.

Thanks again for the wedding planning info.