Wedding planner MBA: how to get started

1. Welcome to the course: you have just taken a great first step in becoming a wedding planner. Now, whether you are new to the business or you already organized a few weddings, this training will allow you to help organize better and structured weddings, communicate better with your couples or just let you discover a few new ideas. Ultimately, it will add up to you being able to increase your prices on become the best wedding planner in your area. In this video, I just want to thank you for enrolling and talk a bit about how discourses organized and structures and show you the secret to our success. Because discourse is based on real life experience off a team of wedding professionals and seasoned wedding planners, I'm here to present it to you. Although I have participated at over 1000 weddings in my career and we will show you every exact step professionals have done to reach that success. I hope that our joint experience and research can help you and becoming successful through this course. This course is structured and the way you would actually set up your company, market your services and ultimately organized a wedding day. It starts with showing you the basics of what couples will expect of you. Now, what is Wedding planner? What should be your mindset as a wedding planner, how to get trained and certified. We will show you the way to bridal associations and other ways to stay on top of trends and keep yourself trains. Then we are going to launch into setting up your actual business. If you already done that, you might skip that section or pick up a few ideas. Setting up a business is not done in a day. Therefore, dis training is not a one hour training. As you might find anywhere else. We really care about you becoming a professional wedding planner. Most importantly, whatever business you're running, whether it's opening a restaurant, wedding planner, our hotel, you will need business skills and we will teach you just that. Making the business plan thinking about efficient marketing and your personal presentation . Now, these are only a few of the things you need to have as a successful business burst. We will take you through writing your business plan and really having that laser focused to mentally right down the business off your dreams. It doesn't stop there. Um, next will be funding, marketing and ultimately launching your business. We will show you how to get up and running in only four weeks time. This program was a long time in the making, and we set out different goals. First, we wanted to give you the most complete information you can find on the Internet. Second goal is to teach you in a well defined time span so he can get up and running as quickly as possible. The next big section off this course is the organizing off the wedding day. That's the reason you took this course, right? We have amazing things in store for you. Going from decorating to music to dressing the table. You name it, we have it. And every section I will show you exactly how to do things. Greed documents into few brights. Deal with vendors on off course. Execute your preparations to perfection. We will go into detail on how to organize and run a wedding day address goats, etiquette, food, knowledge and even wrapping gifts. You will learn it all here when you are handling couples and seeing the magic of emotions a bright half Never forget you're also running a business and you need certain skills. For example, running an efficient meeting is a skill. Setting up your technology to support your business is a skill all to be learned in this course. In this course, you will discover techniques none of your competitors have. And how do you stand out in the 21st century? Our news flash. You have to be different in many ways. Did you, for example, ever think about how you'll put a stamp on invitation? No. Well, we will show you in the next video. I will give you three simple tips you can immediately use to become a better wedding planner. So all over this training, you learn things you will never find anywhere else. We will introduce you to professionals. You never heard off, but should have two websites you will use every day and to products you thought were not relevant in this industry. At the end off this course, we will give you leads on how to grow and scale your business. Don't be scared to ask me things if there are not included in this course. But we will hand you Ah, lot of resource is as to where to find materials, decorations or even softer. Our goal of this training is that you get quality reviews from your bride's your couples to ensure that you have a thriving business from the beginning. Your goal is to match your client's expectations, and this course will allow just that. No, if you're just starting or think about starting as a wedding planner, you might be saying, I have no client base to start with. I don't know where to start and cannot make a living out of this from the start. While all these questions and many more will be answered in this training, let me tell you my personal secret to success. It's details, details, details, details, surprising people with details. They didn't even think about details everywhere in your offers, in how you talk to people, even how you are dressed. If there is anything we can help you with, contact us. You can send us a message, a tweet, whatever. Hospitality tutors dot com is there to support you all the way. We're more than happy to give you advice or get advice from you to make this course better . We are very excited to share all of our research knowledge, experience, secrets or things we have learned over the last 25 years organizing weddings. So let's dive straight in the next few lessons. 2. Bow tie: 3. How to make an amazing bow tie: way, way. 4. What is a weddingplanner: How can we define a wedding planner? How could you explain to people in a simple way what it is we do? What if you had to explain it to a five year old? Now stop this video and think about that. Drop me a line on how you would describe it. First of all, we have been named many names. An event planner. Are we actually an event planner? Well, I would say yes. Wedding is an event, isn't it? A bridal consultants? Well, we do consult people, and people consult you for your expertise and knowledge. So again, yes, we are a consultant. What in coordinator? Regarded team of people on the number of vendors to assist in making the wedding day big success. So, yes, we coordinate as well. It's good to know all these names because you might start thinking about a name for your business, A name that makes it very clear what your services are. Maybe these names are also a good guideline to determine your corporate identity, the look and the feel of your website. The color and size of your logo. And me, Maybe even the outfit off your team, they will wear. But before we get into the marketing section off this training, whatever they call us, we are all of these things. And that brings us the question. What we actually do You get paid for advice. Your expert opinion on most of all your organizational skills. Look at it as taking away the burden for your brights, giving them back the time to spend with the loved ones and not to worry about the small stuff. That is your job. And what are the duties you perform? I hope I can answer this question full. Why? Because a wedding planner is to be seen as a property. Er the number of strings we hold are endless off course. Couples are coming to you for your wisdom. Your experience and your training advice and knowledge is not only what you sell as a product. It is this product that keeps you evolving with you. True. Organizing multiple weddings, you gain experience. True constant training. You can give advice to different types of guests. The bright the groom, the best man, the old lady having trouble with the loud speakers. Oh, are even the child who just fell on her knee and maybe needs a bandit. The flowers are their your responsibility. Well, that depends that you recommend the florist. The timeline is another off your responsibilities. Keeping everything and everyone on schedule, I always say, Be strict as a drill sergeant and kind as a nanny. Checklists. You will see a lot of these in many forms and shapes on your smartphone on a pre printed template or even a rip piece of paper you found while on the phone you will have to harness at all. You also are an ongoing budget control. You are handling other people's money. So at any point you must be able to communicate what the costs. The venue, scouting many things to consider for a great venue, the right questions to ask without upsetting the owner of the venue. We have a list ready for you off questions you need to ask invitations and R S v P. Getting them printed, distributed and, of course, free of errors. The videographer. Well, please make sure that he or she is not in the way off the photographer and vice versa. Honeymoon planning. You can offer this as an extra option. It's an up selling teak. The theme of the wedding. Keep everything in check. So it fits that dream concept off the couple. You really don't want purple napkins in the beach wedding? Actually, that remains to be seen. Could work anyway. And vendors? These are outside variables, as I call them. They can influence the wedding day in a positive and a negative way payments. You will act as a middleman in payments to vendors. Better have a good bookkeeper or financial system. Your team hiring and firing being their best friend and being their boss at the same time. Your business as a strong as your weakest team member rehearsal dinners yet another event to organize. But you're also the one who points out the finer things. Is the groom properly styled? Is the bright carrying the flowers correctly? And, of course, does the best man have the wedding rings? How can we forget that as a professional, you are the one who can make a lasting impression for the couple. You work for that? They should be memorable and you play a big part in its Why do they need you to keep the Romans and planning a wedding? The preparation towards a wedding day should also be fun for the bride. Not stressful. In the meantime, has said, You are also running a company. A Don't be overwhelmed. We got your back covers and easy steps. 5. 3 Tips to be a better wedding planner: as promised here on my treat tips to become a better wedding planner straightaway. It will not surprise you that all of these steps are interpersonal skills in this day and age, it doesn't matter if you have the latest iPhone or a fancy office. Of course, everything adds up to the experience. But the way you treat people is the most important. A good service quote as people might forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. Tip number one Personal presentation. First you have to look the part. Now you're thinking, Do I need a business suit? Well, that depends. What style off what in planner you are. The thing is that couples have a stereotype image off wedding planners Think for a minute who would you expect? I guess someone that looks organized, structured and have his surroundings in order. Nice and clean. So your personal presentation is the very first thing your clients will see. I can't stress enough How important First impressionists. You know what they say. You never have a second chance to make a first impression. I will go much deeper into dress coats for drone in the course, but I would advise you to choose neutral colors and not to combine more than two or three colors in your daily attire. Also, think about who you are meeting. Where are you meeting? And if it's the first time or the 10th time, this all comes into play. But like I said, we will handle Maura about this later on. The second tip I want to give you is the basis of my personal success details. You can surprise people with details that didn't expect How do you like the cake in the background? For example, maybe you expected me to be in front of a white war or looking down into my webcam. But I added some details on it suits my background, so please do the same. People will notice. Trust me. Last but not least, tip number Tree. Don't make excuses. I notice this a lot. I don't have any time. I'm new here. We're so busy. It wasn't my fault. That is what you ordered, etcetera. A really great wedding planner would say, Let me get back to you with some more information. Or maybe you'll be thinking Where can I find solution? to this challenge. It's all about how we communicate to our clients. These are my three tips to apply today. If you want to set your first steps in the wedding planning business and stand out from the competition. Hey, we're only just getting started and you already learned a few tips. I hope you are excited for what is coming next. 6. 12 mindsets of a wp: wait. So the main question is, Do you have the mind set off the business owner? 80% of businesses fail in the 1st 5 year. We want to be in the other 20% because any way you look at it, it's running a business that will make you successful at this time. I hope you are excited with your decision to become a wedding planner. But there will be times you'll want to give up. It will be times when you will ask yourself why you started this. You will want to give up plain and simple. And you know what? That's perfectly fine because if you have the right mindset, you will not give up. You will overcome those hurdles. That is what we call passion. Here are my 12 mindsets for a good wedding planner. 12 months is you should have number one discretion Being this Greek is something which will really serve you in the future. Don't tell any gossip, especially not to suppliers. Also being very careful with name dropping, your clients will know when you were discreet and not the screen. There is no bright that wants to see her concept stolen two months later on her best friend's wedding, your discretion will make sure that every client has been treated uniquely. Number two organizing you like to organize parties and social events. Maybe you are already doing a bit of that. You might find yourself driving around every time friends organizes a party, and you seem to be jack of all trades. Alternatively, you may already have assistant your best friends at organizing their wedding day. If you're successful Wedding Planner, you will have more than one wedding a year. Well, I hope so. So you have to look at every wedding you organize as a project. You must be able to manage every single project to perfection, so project management and organisation goes hand in hands. Number three. Eye for detail, your detail oriented. When you walk into a room, you spot what is out of place. You see what is wrong or what could be improved. It becomes a part of the romance off wedding planning. Romance can be in little things in the details. For me, for example, it's making little things beautiful, so they leave a memory, an imprint for the future. A small vials with a few roses in the bathroom. It can romanticize in a big way. Number four be proactive and football, they say, Don't wait for the ball. Go get the ball. You don't wait for your customer to ask you something. You are always two steps ahead when a bright says she would love to have her wedding in the colors off her grandmother's interior. You don't think impossible, but you think, How do I get a hold of the grandmother? Number five multi tasking. You are able to juggle a few plates at the same time, if you know what I mean. The key to this is actually delegating and keeping that helicopter view. On a personal level, multitasking is just like a computer. Several applications are open at the same time, and they run in the background. As a wedding planner, it's a bit the same. You never take your eye off the bright and the crew, but at the same time you're in contact with all the key players the caterer, the live band, etcetera. Tackling all these tasks at the same time might stress you out, but you have to be able to keep your style while on the pressure Number six Creativity. What is it? As a wedding planner, it's thinking on your feet. This means that things can and will go wrong. Or at least not as you plan it. When you are creative at heart, you have original ideas that bring value number seven learning. Now this is really key. Never stop learning. Analyze every part of your business and improve. Take a course on wine and food pairing or maybe training and making beautiful gifts. You name it. Every skill you adopt along the way will make you a better running partner. Number eight vision. That is a question you hear a lot, and some people see it as a distant future. But I will tell you this when you have a vision, when you can describe in detail how you see your business in a few years, you will have much a much clearer view on how to achieve it. Imagine you say I want to make a blue painting. Well, that means you go to the shop and you buy blue paint, not read. When you have that vision, you will be able to scale your business much quicker than anyone else. You will build your team and very soon even have an exit strategy. That means that you might already have a view on when you will be stopping, selling or expanding to another business and keep this one going. Maybe with a partner, for example, Number nine action. The only difference between you getting ahead of the game or your competitors. Winning this game is action. You think ahead, you anticipate start getting sick. You do this rather than thing. Too much action is what sets you apart from everyone. Everyone can start a wedding planner business, but the one taking action immediately after dis training is the one who was going to succeed. A business is never made from your couch. Number 10. You can perform long hours when I say you can perform long hours. I don't only mean on the floor during the wedding event. No, your mind is working 24 7 To me, it's the most rewarding thing. I have a challenge every day, improving the business, being creative on the other hands. Can you physically handle it because you better get in shape to be there when those beautiful things were happening? Number 11 people are the core of your business. No team, no business. Nobody can do this alone. You have to be able to find the best people and then make them better. Look at yourself as a trainer, a teacher, Not so much a boss, but a trainer. Bosses create fear. Trainers inspire number 12 tried to innovate in this industry. What I'm planning is not new. It started out with a few friends helping brides out, and then somebody made a business out of it. Most wedding planning businesses are the same. So can you innovate? Maybe new ways of delivery, payment, choice of products, you name it all things to think about. These are 12 qualities or wedding planner with the right mindset. Should have leave me a comment or a thought on this and see you in the next lesson. 7. Why would you become a wedding planner ?: Why would anyone want to be a wedding planner? My number one reason is the connection you have with your clients. This is a very rewarding job. Not only do you see every time, the fruits of your efforts, but it's always something different. I never organized a wedding thinking, Oh, this is just another wedding. A very similar to others I have done No, They all have bean different personal on. The brides have different personalities. As a business person, I would say this is a great business to be in. Since the market rarely goes down, it's actually growing. It's a growing industry. More and more people are getting married, and since the financial crisis they might invite less people. But they spend more on the finer things in life, and especially during the wedding day. Which is a good thing for a wedding planner, isn't it? Let me first give you a glimpse off what industry you will be stepping into and the U. S. Alone. There are a staggering 2.5 million couples tying the knot each year. They average spent a nice amount for a wedding day that equals a very nice car and they pay anywhere between 4000 and much more for a wedding planner to bring them that peace of mind . Last but not least, I enjoyed it very much that I was able to have a combination off creativity and freedom in this job. 8. How to get the most out of this course: I think this short video just like to give you a few pointers on how to get the most out of this training. We know that online trainings or sometimes regarded as not being full blown trainings, and we want to change that. So to fully experience this training, try to turn off your cell phone. Even when you're watching this course on your smartphone, try to turn off notifications. We really advise you to keep distractions to a minimum. Better yet, try using a headphone take notes. It has been scientifically proven that taking notes helps you thing better. It will help you structure your mind. It's also easier later on to structure your notes. Extend your knowledge. Certain subjects are seeds were planting, for example. We cannot teach you everything about photography, but we can tell you how to handle the photographer. If you choose to dig in deeper in certain topics, you can. That's what we mean by extending your knowledge. Ask questions. We are here to help drop us a line in the common box. Email us. However we can help. Other students may help you as well, so find us on Facebook by searching for hospitality duties dot com and ask your questions there. Take the quiz is the quizzes at the end. Off certain sections will help you to remember better, even the small things. Do you know how impressed your clients can be when you know all sorts of little things, such as etiquette and things about food and drinks? Trust me, Do the assignments. Throughout this training, we will give you some assignments. Try to really do them. You might find yourself doing things you couldn't do before. What's discourse? Full screen. If you're watching on your laptop your notifications off and try maximizing the view. If you have access to a flat screen TV, that is really the best way to take this course. Try to set up a big screen TV and sit down in front of it so you can take notes if you can hook it up to a good pair of speakers and connected maybe also to a headphone to get the ultimate experience. This set up is the closest you can organize to me being there with you. It will really benefit you 9. Full time: How do you want to go about this? Are you in a job at the moment? Are you quitting your job and want to do this full time diving in head first? If you know what I mean. The options you have. Well, let's go through them. First of all full time. You basically quit your job, reclaim your freedom and go for it. How exciting is this You work. Life balance will change overnight and you will be busier. But you will probably enjoy it much more. And you're your own boss. So if you just feel like heading out to your local Starbucks and get back for an hour, you can part time. You have several options as well. You could start out as a on the day planner. That means that you're not preparing the wedding. But you present us as to assist a couple on the day itself. Just as a support. A part time wedding planner. Business is something you can start from your basement or from your attic if you want. And what do you need? A computer. Some software and determined mindsets. Last but not least, you can become a world traveler. Freelancer you're probably thinking. What? Yep. You can exist the best wedding planners in the world and be there right hand man, You get a lot of experience and you can keep your job. And if you don't know who these big wedding planners are, well, that's why you took this course. We will show you, obviously. Now, what is your current situation? Are you working at the moment? And what is your salary? And ask yourself how much you think he can make off course. We're going to determine this in your financial plan, but you should be aware that the income often independent running planner, is nothing compared to buy it. Pay job on. I mean that to the amount of money coming in can be much bigger. That doesn't mean they are yours to keep because running a business it's very different from working in one. How long will it be until your very first wedding could be from a couple of weeks to a couple of months when this time you might want to hang on to your daytime job? And how long till that very first invoice will be paid by your clients when booking your first client or retainer fee would be ideal, and that would give you a bit of breathing space to get started. But don't forget to bet to get a big enough advanced payment. If you're planning on paying some of the vendors upfront as a part of your service. Other wedding promise. Prefer to have the suppliers invoice directly to the couple. This, too, will be covered later in the course. Now let me give you a golden tip. You only start full time if your basic personal costs are covered. This means that you must be able to cover your rent. Basic living needs school bills for your kids etcetera because we have seen many other students in other courses diving right in and miscalculating the time it took to make that first sale. In any case, it all depends on your personal situation. Maybe you have saved up to start. This may be friends or family are there to support you financially, or you already have five weddings lined up, ready to be organized. I'm sure you will make a logic choice 10. Learn from the best: Do you have a role model? Someone you look up to? This could be in different areas of your life. Maybe you look up to your mom or debt on how they look at life. What you could look up to say Steve Jobs on how he did business, for example. Now, let me give you a quick overview off some off the best wedding planners. And I would like to start with this gentleman, Mr Colin Cowie. I had the good fortune of meeting him in 1999 when I was attending a seminar by the Association of Bridal Consultants. This was in New Orleans, and Mr Cowley actually is born in the zombie in Africa, and he was educated in South Africa. He moved to the United States in the 19 eighties, and he founded Colin Cowie lifestyle. And ever since, he has made regular appearances on the Today show, The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Ellen Degenerate Show, and many, many others. He also had a daily wedding planning show, etcetera. Now have a look at some of his creations. As you will see here on his website, he should go to his website and completely read it, if you know what I mean. He also had a television show, which was called Everyday Elegance. It ran for about five seasons. Hey had also a daily wedding planning show called Get Married on Lifetime TV. On As you can See, his creations are absolutely stunning. He loves flowers. He loves to work with lights and lighting. So I'm absolutely a big fan of Hiss, and he's been going at it for many, many years. So go to his website. Colin carrie dot com Next, Mr Preston Bailey. He's in the same order as Mr Karius, and actually, he is an actor. He also has a younger brother who was an actor. And Mr Bailey is really good with flowers. As you will see in the next small movie. You can see here, for example, a regular tent. This is just a venue like another one. And the transformations he does is absolutely stunning. He will see the before and after. So this is a tent. Look what he does with it. Absolutely amazing. He also just like Mr Cowie. He actually limits the number off colors. Look at this ballroom, for example. He changes this into this'll. Isn't it absolutely amazing? You can also find him on television. He's always also been in several TV series and also on several shows. He also plans the weddings for the bigger ones. So the more known movie stars, if you know what I mean. Also, Mr Cowie has organized a lot of weddings for a lot off celebrities, and you can see it's a bit lavish. It's very big, etcetera, but there are some great ideas to take away from this as a starting wedding planner. Obviously, you will not maybe start with big weddings like these ones, but have a look at these pictures. Why? To has always a very good idea. On one side, you can make it very complicated or very simple. Look at the lighting, for example, at the bottom off the pillars off this artwork. Next, I would like to introduce you to Marcie Bluhm. Mercy. Bluhm is also a wedding coordinator. Wedding planner. I learned about urge. She has some books she has been written on. She's been a guest on the CBS morning show that today's show Oprah Winfrey etcetera, etcetera, invoked magazine names Morsi Bluhm, one of the top wedding planners in the world. Um, so she does many things. I show you hear a bit off her instagram accounts. I would really advise you to follow her. She has some great ideas there, As you can see, look at the candles. How amazing. And and and again, you can take away a lot away from this. Now, of course, there are many, many more wedding planners out there. And I would really advise you to go out on the Internet and look them up. Um, yeah, look for example here many wise David to terror. Sasha Souza, etcetera, etcetera. Look him up. You got them all here and last. But not least, I would really like to introduce you to To muster Barrena. He's actually a friend of mine. He's not a wedding planner, but he's a florist. He's a world renowned florist and creates absolutely stunning things. So check it out to mostly Breanna. So I hope in this lecture you have learned about who the best in the industry are. It's just a selection off them. I hope you are inspired by the story of these wedding planners. These are people working in this industry for a long time with a lot of passion. Hopefully you will have that passion as well 11. Certified wedding planner: certification and accredited wedding planner will always be much more trusted by couples seeing your credentials. They will know we have been properly trained on have experience in organizing weddings. Now, how do you become sort of fight wedding planner, Especially when you're just starting? I can honestly tell you that certain trained wedding planners are better than certain experienced ones. Why is that? Because the people who are willing to be trained are interested in every little detail, their business, some wedding planners. We have been working for years with our caught up in the routine. They don't look anymore trends, and they are not up to speed on the latest food hype, etcetera, etcetera, certain bridal associations. Who will help you by staying up to date and inviting you every year to come to a conference . For example, There you will meal meet people like you, people who are interested in the industry of weddings, colleagues willing to invest in themselves to offer the bright the best possible experience . The one I can recommend is the Association off Bridal Consultants. They have many programs to get you trains, and they have different levels off membership. It's probably one of the biggest associations and the most professional one. I had the good fortune of becoming a certified wedding planner with them in 1999. There are many others out there, but I have to warn you, and I see an association should actually have members. You have so called colleges mostly online, and they often the only accreditation, but also trainings. And these trainings are based on books you can buy for about $30. What we understand the training to be something interactive not only reading but the dialogue between teacher and students. That is why we have included quizzes and assignments in this training. So be very careful how you get accredited or get your certificates. All this being said, I would like to say a few words about becoming an experts because what is an expert? It's somebody who knows more about the topic than regular people, right? So if you read one book about every topic in this training, you will be more of an expert on 95% off the experience. Wedding powers. How do you know? I'm an expert. You probably don't know me. Yes, I have co created this course and are here to present it to you. But you cannot know if I'm an expert on all of these topics now, can you? The most important is that you give your bright a good feeling that you show empathy and couple that with your knowledge, you can always gain knowledge along the way. It's called experience. Some of the best wedding planners in the world. They didn't start out as experts. And just to be clear, yes, I am an expert. 12. Working from home: wait a few years, companies begin to realize the advantages off working from home. With the advances you see in technology, there is not much you can not do when you are not present in a certain spot. So the business. For example, When you start your business from home, you clearly save a lot of money at a start up. Your home is most probably furnished, so that takes care of having a desk and a chair. But what are the other benefits in terms off work and productivity? Let's have a look at the pros and the calls. First of all, the pros, you are free to do as you please. There is no commute, so you don't have to drive up and down every day. Hey, could work in your shorts and T shirt if you want to. On top of that, the one looks over your shoulder and you can write off a small portion of your home office as expenses to your taxes. Now your employer usually compensates you for incidental expenses. Next, if you are married or have Children home, this type of work situation could be especially convenient for you and what are the cons well, it takes a phenomenal amount off self discipline to start work when you know you don't have to be at the office by 8 a.m. For example. It's discipline, and you are the only person around all day, so there is no outside pressure to be busy. You must be entirely self motivated. So what shouts and you miss out on being friends having around you? Because colleagues sometimes become friends on certain working days, you have no co workers to go to lunch with. That's another one, and you can never escape the office and go home because you're already there. So there's a bit of things to think about now. Working from home can also be a bit messy and can take up entire spare room in your home. And you don't get face time with your co workers. And I mean that in a literal way. So it's more difficult to find out about new projects you might be interested in. It's all about communication. The boss cannot see you. You are working hard, putting in extra hours, so you are judged more on the numbers than you work on that your own work ethic or other factors, and there is a danger of putting in too many hours or overworking. Let me give you some tips for working at home. Working out of your home can be a great solution for certain people. I have worked in an office on in my own study, and I think it takes special discipline toe work at home. You need to ask yourself, Does this work style fit in what I want? And how am I most effective If you do work out of your home, it's important to remember that you maintain a presence at the main office, reporting often and let your boss know you are alive and productive and treat your study or wherever you work, like a really office. Close the door at 6 p.m. And don't open it until the very next morning, for example, and you should also get dressed as you would work and be consistent with your hours. Act like you are at the office and not at home, and you stand a very good chance off actually being productive 13. Setup office and technology: you know whether you start your business at home or your foreign office straight away. There are a few things to think about. Make sure you have a place to welcome clients. This place should be attractive and relevant to your business. Making inviting. Make it a place where people want to spend a few hours. Maybe you for see some great coffee or a tea selection anything you can do to make them feel more comfortable. Also, choose the right colors. Very bright green is mostly not a good idea just for a soothing, neutral color. And make sure that your personality is the most prominent item in the room. You know what I mean? Next, I will give you a few ideas for your office, so I hope you have your office by now. Could be your kitchen table. Could be great looking location on the high street, whatever and whatever it ISS. I'm very proud of you so far. Nice furniture is not enough, of course, in your office. At the end of the day, it's about getting proposal. Send out presenting your ideas or calculating a spreadsheet to get that offer out any way you look at it. You need technology, computers, phones, software, etcetera, all to achieve one single thing serving your customer. And so it begins. You have to start working and get things up and running. You know, in a few weeks it will feel very natural. Sure, something's will be new and there is a learning curve, but that will be OK. Don't worry to help you as much as we can. Let me give you a few tips on how to start working on a day to day basis. First, the thing you're probably watching the home needs to get organized. Your computer. In fact, your entire I T infrastructure. How small or big it may be. You can off course, get by with an office suite, such as I work by Apple or Microsoft Office. There are decent word processors, spreadsheets, programs and presentation solutions. Nothing wrong there. You can even get open office, which is completely free. Last but not least, there isn't the Google dogs. All of them usually include a feature where you can work together with your team fenders or maybe even other people could even be your customer. Firstly, I use a CRM system to follow up on my client's. It allows me to bumble all email communication and all documents owned that specific customer. It's linked to my email program. Now, this softer is for Apple Macs. But I'm sure you will find something similar for PC. We have made an overview off the things you need. I'm not gonna go through what you will need in your office, obviously, as to hardware, because you can forget it out on yourself, and you probably already have a computer. But I just want to take you through the software off course you need something like an office suite. This is the one from Microsoft. Um, as you know, office has word, Excel, power point, outlook for the email, etcetera. Then you have the one from Apple, which is called I work documents, spreadsheets and presentations. As you can see, you can get by on that, and it's actually free when you buy a new Mac. This is open office, which is a free one. It runs on multiple platforms, and you can use it just for free and use it as, um, office or I work. I personally used this one. This is daylight sound daylight is not an office suite. It actually a C R M system, which stands for a customer relationship management. And also you can do some project management. It's a very powerful program, which I use, and I must say that it's, um yeah, it's cross platform. I mean that that works on all your devices. It's in the cloud. It's actually very handy, and you can use it for all sorts of businesses, but especially for wedding planning, it's very handy. Next up, The only group I really like these programs. Yes, it is for Apple, but you can certainly find them for PC. Um, in this course, you will see, for example, on the outline ER, which will give you a great program to make a outline. And with this outline, I actually make the timelines for the weddings. You can do anything with this. It's very, very handy. And as you can see here, they will show you how to do it. There's a pro version on. It's absolutely very affordable. Next from the only group. What I also use is only plan on. The plan is the one I used to make Gant charts on. I speak about gang charts in this training as well. So as you can see here, you can actually make a gang chart for your complete events. So that's very interesting as well. Let me show you ever notice. Well, I know it's very famous, and probably a lot of people use it. But it's very interesting to take notes and have it all across the other devices, such as your smartphone or your tablet. And, of course, your computer Now the next three arm or as to wedding planning themselves. Now this is called El I'll planner, and you can use this software to really get organized. And you can see here a few examples. You have some tips. You have some tricks, etcetera. Um, here, you see the planning pros you can choose. For example, I'm a wedding planner. There you go, the best one in planning and business management tools for wedding planners. So here you are. You have a selection off all of these tools you can use. It's very interesting. So check it out on I'll planner dot com. Another one is an online wedding planning. It's called planning pod. Um, you can see here what you can do with it. It's also a cross platform program. You can use it on any computer. Since its online you have a table plans you can work out floor plants climbed collaboration to so he can actually communicate with your couples. And if you have a look at pricing now, I'm recording this in June 2018. So, as you can see, it's quite affordable starts at $19 a month. So I have a look at planning part as well. I think I can really serve you as as a wedding planner. Next up. Here you go with planner, pro professional wedding planning tools. Let me show you the features here. You can see it's also completely made for you as a wedding planner. So you Klein's organized. Your budget is organized, as you can see. Hopes timelines for everyone. You can make him there. Fender courts. Very handy. File attachments collaborate with the couple's etcetera, etcetera. So again, if we have a look at pricing, it's fairly affordable. Also around $19. So these are a few off the websites and software platforms I wanted to show you, as you can use in your business So whatever software you choose, you need to think about pricing, ease of use and scalability. Think about the future. If in five years you have for employees working for you, will the system be good enough to support that? Very important have that long term vision. 14. How much you should charge: you to be able to determine your income, you will have to know up front how much you are going to charge. On top of that, what is even more important is to determine what is included in your prices and what nots. One of the questions we get the most from starting wedding planners is How much should I charge per hour? Now let me show you how you should calculate this now. This is what we made for you. A personal calculator lets me just zoom in here a bit now. First line to fill out is your net salary now or what you would like to make. So let's say you make now $30,000. But let's say, of course you want to start a business. You want to make more now, In certain cases, you will not make more in the first year since you have to look at it as a sort of an investment. Let's go just for the sake of argument. Go with 33 thousands. How many number of days off vacation vacation do you plan a year now? If you're a regular job, could be around 20 anywhere between 20 and 30 as an independent will be, maybe less. But let's say 14 house now the number of days you will work per week. Will you be working? Seven on seven will be five on seven like you did before. I don't think so, But let's go with six. There you go. So the days you will be working is automatically calculated to 99. And how many hours, really We worked well per day. Well, let's say eight. I don't think so. You're an independent guy again, so if you're working in the daytime job, it'll be eight or nine hours. But as a wedding planner, you're always busy. So let's take an average of 11. Their ego And what do you see now? It's a lot calculated here. So what I calculated as well or your annual texture? Texas. So 33% about depends on the country you're living in and on Social Security payments you have to make as an independent person. Now, this is the minimum you shoot actually charged to your clients excluding V 80. Now, this is actually way too low, because this would actually be what you will be making when you are in daytime job, so this should actually increase to at least let's say 50 thousands. There you go. And their ego 21.31. This is actually what you would charge. I would actually advice to you whatever this number is, you should calculate it times to. And that is what you should actually do. So let me do that for you. There you go. This equals that times two. There you go. That should be you. Hourly rate. So let's do 11. Their ego 42 excluding V 80. This is Ah, she to give you an idea. Actually, you should do your actual calculation in the financial plan. You can put in your desire salary in the financial plan under employees on you will see how that changes the financial planner rounds, so I hope that she will really help you in the beginning. It's OK to have some promotions or systems to attract customers, but that is different from price setting. The two have nothing to do with one another. 15. Opening your business: this is it. You ready to open your business? What do you have now? Well, you have the right mindset. You have your business plan and you worked on you. You are fully prepared now. Decisions have to be made. It's time for action. So here is an action plan easily divided for you to act upon in the weeks leading up to the opening off your business. Let's rock and roll, right? So let's open this business. We started out with planning. As you can see, we've already talked about that a lot, so the business plans should be ready by now. So that's done. We also talked about funding. We also showed you how to how to find funding. So that's done as well. Let's go on to the building face. Why do I call it? Build them? Get sometimes you have to refurbish or maybe make some change mints to the offices. You rent it etcetera. Maybe do some construction. Let's go on to the building face, so I'll give you a 12 week pre opening checklist. There you go. First of all, you should order equipment, office supplies, flatware, glassware, flatware, glassware. You're probably thinking Yes, you should have a small display off how a table could be set for the wedding, maybe with some flowers on it. It's a great way to get the couple's actually involved when they step into your office and see what it could be like. Make sure you confirm all utility installations, electricity, gas, etcetera. All insurances should be finalized. And I mean this as to the business, not to the wedding's your organizing. Put at out there to put your team together or contact your network. If you're looking for people 11 weeks, supplier contracts should be in place again. These are not vendors. These are suppliers. Um, order outside publicity. Could be anything. Could be local newspapers. Could be radio ads, etcetera, your interior elements, anything which is decoration furniture you name. It's make sure you have permits and licenses and that your software system is ordered so that you can start straight away 10 weeks back. Office supplies should be ordered. Set up the HR procedures. If that's necessary, you need a pair rolling system. Maybe check all government obligations. Do you have your tax number, local permits, etcetera and finalize all vendors. So that means start talking with your vendors. Who will be helping you there to organize those weddings next, All nine weeks. Think about the venue to hold the interviews for stuff. If you don't have your office ready yet, you might want to do this in a seminar room of a hotel, maybe a hotel lobby. You name it and from the media about the opening. Don't think that you're starting a small business and that journalists will not be interested. Certainly in certain downtimes of media, when there's not so much to write about, they will want something like this story that you are starting off course. It will be local, but anyway, order internal sign. It's if that is necessary. Could be a small of the scientists where the toilets are, too. Whatever you do you think of, for example, your name against the war with some backlighting, appoint a prevention, advisor or issued order and audits. So you should have a company that comes over and looks is everything in terms of safety okay in the building so as to fire safety as to escape routes, etcetera, eight weeks, Children related items I would actually order that to have in my wedding planning shop. Why? Because more and more couples will marry after they have Children, and you really want to keep these busy while you are chatting with the moment that you are about to get married. Credit Card Company to confirm Contracts Eso If you are accepting credit cards, you should have a contract with a firm that accepts thes things. And, of course, the terminal should be ordered as well. Uniforms for the stuff. If you're going to do that, you have to decide now in order them. Your stationery should be also on its way and softer for bookkeeping and general administration. That should be in action as well. Seven weeks. Start drafting the guest list for your opening reception. I think you want, Toe announced is with a big bang. So make maybe start thinking. Who helped you in realizing this? Friends and family etcetera order amenities for the restrooms, so eye for detail again, they will forget it. Parking items. If you have a parking, make sure that you have clear signage. Think about everything that you need. Six weeks were coming closer. Where are we on staff? Do you need extra efforts? Do you have everyone or you don't need anyone. You're starting this business on your own. The fire departments should check your business. So first you have to prevention advisor or the audits. Now, the fire Department is going to check if everything is okay. Because if they come afterwards, you might be fined. So be careful. Make sure that your entrance is okay for disabled people. First aid equipments. Make sure you have that as small as it could be. You will need it on weddings as well. Five weeks review all last weeks and only follow upon. Standing task this weeks or five weeks is really crucial. Look, the previous weeks, what have I done? What have I not done? Follow up. Follow up. Follow up. Invitations to the opening night should be send out at this stage. Start on the employees. Welcome book. That is something I'll explain later on. But it's actually a book where you write down the guidelines over your company to the future and police four weeks, one month, if possible, start training stuff. First sample proposal should be ready so that you have the feel off how to work on it. Because if you open and you want to send out proposals. The last thing you want to do is have to make that template. So start working on those samples. All interior decoration should have arrived by now. Go over the staff rosters for the first month. Invest for first weeks in extra stuff to cover first hiccups. If you have a lot of business coming your way, inform the press again closer to the date of the opening night. Software training, if that is relevant, is all stuff in place now. If not, keep recruiting. Don't give up, create overview off all necessary safety systems. So you have to have that in a Byner. That's what I do. It says safety simple and think about the general safety as well. So the lock down procedures, the back of house, the keys for stuff. You have to think about that. How are you going to organize that? So that everything is safe during the night. For example, two weeks, only 14 days to go or material should have arrived. Test all the machines and equipment. If you have printers, computers, whatever make sure everything is in place, look for shortages. Let's say they deliver a printer without the ink. Make sure that you have enough. Finalized the first orders, whatever it needs to be the coffee for the guests. I mean for the clients, for example, and start setting up your shop as a test. So really, get somebody in to help you and see it through. There are somebody who has never been there before and tested out. Maybe they will say, Oh my God, it's not comfortable sitting here. It's too close to the door, etcetera. One week go, go over all interior details. Now you still should start cleaning. Maybe get a professional company, and he should start making opening night event sheet. This Robert B. Probably your first and again. It's a very important one, because organizing is what your life will be from now on. Get the plants in, if that's what you like, or the flowers last week. Window cleaning. Don't forget, it should be spotless. Start inventory taking invite friends and family four days before opening and do another test run. And there you go a 12 week pre opening checklists. I think if you follow this one, nothing will be left out. So good luck thing 16. Working with vendors: do I really need to explain how important vendors our suppliers you work with is the key to the quality off your work. For example, I used to run a big catering firm and cater a lot of weddings. If my food or service was bad, that didn't look good on the wedding planner. Makes sense, right. Therefore, you need to put some work into first finding your vendors and second talking to them even before you open your business. Don't think for a minute you will be able to work with the same ones. Always know from time to time the florist will not be available or you will work in locations where the transport company doesn't operate as an example. Now, whatever the case, I want to take you through the work it requires to create a great vendor list and how to interview them. Listen to this golden tip. Don't start organizing weddings and then look for your vendors. You have to talk at least at a few before you take your first wedding. Why? For two reasons One you will know that they are able to deliver and you will be no what they cannot deliver second, you will learn so much from them. It's very likely that they have already worked with other wedding planners and you could only gain from that. Now we're going to cut this interview technique in two parts. For the vendors, The first thing is the list of questions you should ask every vendor. The second list is more specific to every kind of Endor. Right? Here we go. The general questions. First of all, how long have you been in this business? How long have you been doing this? How many weddings a year do you perform or do you work on multiple weddings on the same day ? Could be that they send out assistance. For example, how do I know 100% that the data's confirms. And will you be personally present? Talk to me about pricing packages, Deals better prices for being a regular customer. Etcetera now makes it maybe also about payments and deposits. Ask them if they have a plan B in case their equipment don't work or some of their people get sick. And how much space do they need to work, including storage of materials? For example, if I give you a fixed budget. Can you work around that? And when do you expect the final confirmation? Caters will ask that. Can we do a test prior to deciding, and if so, what is the cost? And to what extent can I give input? All of these questions will give you a good first basis to work with the vendor, and it will allow you to get to know them. The more specific questions preventer is to be found in the document attached to this lecture. Now read it carefully and remember this. It's not because you are new to the business that they can sell you anything they want. Be firm, stand strong and show that you have the self confidence you will pay them, not the other way around. So that means that you are the customer. 17. What the bride will look for: Ah, shocking started his lecture. Brian's don't care a bit about you. They care about themselves. It's dare wedding day, and you are just a piece of the puzzle. Now, in any cell situation, it's all about trust. The bride will ask herself a few questions. For example, do I trust this person toe organize one of the most important moments in my life. How do you build trust? How can you convey in a matter of minutes that you're not only trustworthy but also competent and the professional? Well, that's an easy one to tell you, but not so easy to perform. But of course, that is why you took this course. There are already a few steps we show you, such as your surroundings. That means how professional your offers looks and the most important factor you, your attitude, can make or break a sale. And in order to pull this off, you need to be prepared at any time. So never go to meeting thinking our wing it clients will feel when you are not properly prepared. Remember, people want to do business with people like them. They have to feel a connection, and that connection is usually made through the subconscious off liking the other. How can you do that? It's called making reports. It's in very small things you can do. But, boy, they're powerful. It's called NLP Techniques. Now, what are the other things that brights will be looking for in a wedding planner? They will want to know how many weddings you have already organized and maybe see some references from previous clients. That's where your portfolio comes in. Wait, I know what you're thinking. How can I show references if I'm just starting out? Well, we will show you that in the next lectures as well. We will show you how to blow them away. Even if you have never had a client before. Another thing they will want to know is what specific service you offer. We will talk much more about this, what you can offer. But personally, I don't believe in offering certain services you're all in or you're not. Are you really going to tell, for example, bright? You can do something because she decided up front to pick a certain package Needs will change over time, so break brides will change over time. And in that regard They will also want to know what your fee structure is by the hour flat fee or something else. If you're going to offer a flat feet, they will want to know how many hours are included for that amount. So putting yourself in the mind over your client is essential here because they will meet more than one wedding planner. Trust me, the difference will be how you made the couple feel they will evaluate if you told something important and if you took too much of their time, being pushy to sign an agreement is never good as well. On the most important, will they have control over their decisions? The answer to the main question. The broad is looking for the four seas consistency, choice, commitment and control our consistency. Your service should always be at the same level. If you have been answering your emails within 24 hours, keep that up. Don't go all of a sudden postponement to 48 hours. Choice. As I told you before, always give multiple options. Don't enforce what you like. It's her wedding, not yours. Your job is to facilitate and present ID's. You can do that by offering choice commitments going the extra mile is inevitable. In our business. There might be times you will have to drive down to the Brights house to comfort her when she is in a crisis. For example, and control. Offer your bright control. That is the key thing that they are the most afraid off that would be taken back control. Not every bright is the same as two personality, so we'll definitely speak up. But others might be a bit more shy on are afraid to tell you what they want afterwards. That could lead to bad reviews. So make sure your bride has control over her decisions. However small they seem, it's quite understandable that they don't want to give you full control. Think about when you would be the bridegroom yourself. You would want to have a say and things as well Am I right? It's all about solving problems. It's not about selling. Your job is to find out what the needs are and how much they are willing to pay for your services to fill those needs. It's a simple is that don't make your first meeting a one direction monologue. The bride should be talking at least 75% of the time. And remember what the Dalai Lama said When you listen, you learn something new. When you talk, you repeat what you already know. Remember that it will sort of you always. 18. Communication with the couple: Once you have an agreement to work for the couple, there are a lot of first steps at this stage. You need to get a lot of information without being too inquisitive. At the same time, you need to gather information to present them with the best possible services. It starts off your professional relationship. That's something we call the couple's dialogue now. What is the couple's dialogue? It's a questionnaire to get to know the couple you're about to work for. I asked a couple if they have a spare morning to set aside for the interview, usually in the evening could be convenient. Or maybe they want to discuss it over a Sunday brunch on before we continue the next part of this lecture. And actually, this whole training is not tied toe one type of wedding. We created this training to be used around the world, So if you are organizing a Jewish, Greek, Indian, Hindu Christian or whatever wedding, you should adapt to the situation. I hope you can understand that now you could say to the couple, Can we have a meeting to discuss your likes and dislikes? It will really benefit both of us and the organization off your wedding day. Don't forget to offer them a refreshment. Should this meeting, for example, happened at your office and let me go off script for a moment. The way you offered that drink is already a great moment to make a first impression. Offer them a creative, alcohol free cocktail on a warm summer day or a nice fruity if that is what they like, maybe something really hip and trendy to nibble. Now explain the couple. Why you have asked this meeting in line with everything we discussed so far. Make sure you are prepared, a writing pad and a nice pen to show that you have eye for detail and tasteful nice objects . That's not bragging. That's the mindset they will be in the wedding. They will be a bit of luxury for a lot, so get them in the mood by using a classy pen. I would like to ask you some questions now so I don't have to keep bothering you in the future. That's what you could say and then is the moment you start asking you questions. Now we have selected a few questions, and you can choose any off them to ask to the couple. There are a few questions that already will be answered if you listen carefully. For example, how long have they been engaged? And how did he or she propose? Normally, they will also already told you where they want to have their wedding at home in a hotel vinyard on a yacht, you name it. The first part is to get to know your new clients to make a connection. We have constructed these questions so that they don't sound like you're working down a list. There are open questions to stimulate enthusiastic answers and getting useful information from the couple. Tell me about your favorite restaurants, favorite holiday destinations, favorite colors, maybe favorite music. That is a great first question to start with because they will probably start off talking all about these interest. And one thing might lead to another. This is a great opportunity to already get other questions answered without having to ask them, such as what their other interests and hobbies are. Second, if you have a day off or when you're dating, where did you like to go? And was that also where you met? Question three asked a couple to close their eyes and ask if you would be at your own wedding. Now describe me what you see. Team the season Anything. Next. What is your priority, Div. N you? Or the day you want to get married again? A great question. Question five. Run me True. The timing off the day. How do you see it? Use our first draft timing sheet to write down the itinerary. It will come in handy when we talk about transportation. Another question. Will you have a receiving line? You might have noticed. I didn't start off with the basic boring questions. Such as? How many guests are you expecting? What is the name of the father of the bride, etcetera? There is a reason for that. You have to avoid giving the feeling that they are the 100 client. This year, you can easily prepare a document with the basic information and say I have here the basic information sheet. We could fulfill this out together now, or you can do this in your own time. When it suits you, just get it back to me. We have added this document to the training for you another question. What do you absolutely not want to see at your wedding day? Important any Children to attend the wedding, and if so, do you want something special for them? Could also be another question, and this is a great moment. Toe. Have few pictures that had with fun ideas for food, for kids, for example. Number nine. Any specifics you'd like during the ceremony? Number 10. The Wedding reception? How do you see the food in the beverage off her? This could be standing up. Sit down dinner buffet, walking dinner, whatever. And what about the drinks after the dinner, as at an open bar, drinks to be served at the table. Anything? Another question. Any speeches or prayers to be planned, and if so, who and how long will it take now? These are the basic questions. To get much more in detail. I have added the document with specific questions for specific parts of the wedding, such as photography, flowers, transportation, etcetera. Have a look at the file 19. Cost control: way is a profession where a lot of emotions are involved. Prides will decide out of nostalgia or maybe based on input from friends and family. But you should never forget that you handle someone else's money. Every single decision taken in the process off planning a wedding will involve a costs extra flowers for the bride's mates. They have to be paid six canopies instead of five. Have to be paid your assistant present at different locations than you has to be paid. So your task is to keep track of every possible expense for the services you are responsible for. This is actually a topic you should talk about when you present your services to potential couples. You have to show the added value off working with you the fact that you know local vendors and more importantly, that you will immediately know if the price is too high or too low is also great thing. On top of that, when you work with the same vendors, they will give you that extra. Since you bring a lot of business to them, you are doing thes fenders actually a favor. Yes, you are doing the marketing for them they don't have to go out and look for clients. You bring them, so you are in a good position to negotiate. But how do you keep track of all these expenses? Pen and paper? Not so much. There are some very good C or M systems that couple expense tracking. But if you know me by now, I'm one page person. So we're going to present you with a spreadsheet you can use not only to keep track of all expenses, but to present it to your clients in a nice visual way. The budget is a very important part of your job at all times. You should be able to show the bride what the costs will be, where they are at the moment. You can never let your brides in the dark as to additional costs. It's very dangerous. The thing that influences your budget the most will be the guest list. As these goals up and down, the budget will change as well. So this is something you should really point out to the bright upfront on all the time during the planning off that big day for every different vendor, you should clearly communicate how they will be paid deposits, invoice and changes in prices has something you should actually put in your agreement with the couple. There are a few areas who are more sensitive to changes than others. I mean, for example, the dinner when you have at the last moment an extra couple showing up, that is two more for dinners. And, of course, it has to be paid a bit the same as with all things where you order certain number off. For example, pictures, invitations, wedding favors. If your bride says, for example, Oh, I want that picture as well or I want 10 extra invitation just to keep be aware. This all adds up to the list of expenses. So again, be very clear. Your negotiating skills with vendors will be crucial to get a good price for the couple. As said before, talk to your vendors before presenting the budget to the couple. This sheet is actually a very important sheets in the communication to your couple in terms of the budget, so the budget is actually the guideline. You will need to show the couple how much they will be spending now what we did here, we made two columns. As you can see, budgets on the Green column budget means what they have foreseen as a budget. What they want to spend. Now this is more, and in the beginning, off the meetings you have the beginning. You get to note a couple so they might say, for example, 37,000 euros. That's what we want to spend on catering. We don't want to go over 3500 for the venue, etcetera, etcetera. You actually copy paste that column into actual costs, and that should be the column where we are at the moment and at the moment I mean, that is the moment where you sit down with a couple and say, Hey, guys, this is where we are. If I look, for example to let's say, um, the venue, it has dropped 7 2050 In the beginning, we set 3500 since we changed venue, or I got a better deal as a wedding planner that has dropped now. Whatever drops, for example, see had address 11,000 and here it goes up, so that's more. But if it drops, let's do this with, For example, hair and make No, that's not flowers. You see flowers. So let's go from 2005. 60 to 1500. Now, look closely over here. When I push enter, it will actually change their ego. So the blue one is money left over, so you can see that you're actually, um, on targets. You have your under budget. Now, what happens if it goes the other way around? Yes. Let's say we put this one at 44 thousands. There you go. Well, it's a miner's, obviously, as you can see. So this is actually very good to stay on track now. One thing I want to point out, you can see here Wedding planner services. Now, the services could be based on a flat fee, which you have asked. He said, For example, I'm gonna, um, charge of 5000 euros to organize the whole wedding. But it could also be on an hourly basis. And then you go to this sheet schedule and here you actually see the employee cost control . So, for example, let's say they had wedding planners. You you have spent 95 hours or you're about to spend 95 hours, have to assistance might be just the day before and on the day itself on this actually will change if you need to do more work. It's a go from 95 to 1 20 as you will see here when I hit Enter it changes, but this number automatically goes over here. So, as you can see, it is more than what we foreseen. So now let me go back again to catering in 31,000. There we go and we're in the positive again. There you go. And that's how it works. So with this sheet, you can actually control two things. The presentation off the budget to the couple. Firstly, the one we have budgeted up front and the actual cost. And we can keep track off our services of the services off your team and or yourself. If you're working alone, it's off. Obviously very easy. We'll take that one out that will be zero, and then that one will be zero was. Well, there you go. So we go down to 3007. 20 and again, it's adjusted here. So again, we have more money left over. So this sheet is very interesting to use when you are looking at budgets and off course, you can add some more over here. It's old calculated for you. The formulas are in there. And, as usual, if you have a question, just shoot me an email. This spreadsheet will give you a great overview toe work with and show your clients where you are a professional wedding planner. 20. General tips: this'll. I just want to give you a few general pointers, first of all, tastings. It's a good idea to organize a tasting for your clients. They will see the style of the food off course, how it tastes and, more importantly, the personality off the caterer. Don't forget that these days things are a bit like a mini event. It can do damage as well when things go wrong. So make sure you pay attention to every detail when you organize thes during the tasting, show that you are a professional and make sure you know every ingredient off the meal. Yes, that is the job of the caterer. But do you really want to go in? I'm prepared have also a look at the weight of the food. That means that the portions are not too big, and please calculate the number of canopies. Ah, lot of weddings will overdue in the can apace, and then the rest of the food is not appreciated as it should because it's simply too much to eat. Next tip. Take disabled people into account. Too often, these people are for gone blind. Guests or guests in wheelchairs have to be assistant think about easy to access places, not too many obstacles or even people you might need to assist them speaking off different groups of people. Always make sure your caterer has a decent vegetarian alternative. Off course, you will ask up front how many vegetarians will be present, but you never know that all of a sudden somebody turned vegan on. The couple doesn't even know about it. You should anticipate that. Next. Make sure that's for certain things. You have 15 to 30% extra. For example, when you calculate water on hope days, you will be happy that you're just a bit same with certain materials. And I'm immediately thinking about glasses or maybe candy for the Children. Last tip and this is a golden tip. Make sure you have a list of nearby shops. You never know that you need something at the last moment. I always had a list I googled off nearby shops for emergencies, especially night shops are very interesting. During one off the weddings, I organized a night shop actually saved my life when I needed supergroup so that the deejay could continue the music in certain parts of the world. You will see a lot of weddings in the garden off the bride's parents house, especially in warm climates, could also be that the tent is just put up at a venue. Actually, you can put up anywhere attempts to organize a wedding. A few things I have learned over the years, working with debts. Firstly, always install a floor when there is high traffic. You can do with a tent on grass if it's only 30 minutes ceremony. But the place where you serve drinks and food and dance really must be covered with the floor. Unauthentic wooden floor looks great, and if you add some carpet, it looks even more class here. Next, Heating off course. You check the weather forecast, but I would always put in heating. Why? But if you dress your table the evening before on overnight the temperature drops, you will have compensation on your glasses and maybe on other things as well. Don't forget about water supply and drainage as well, as well as electricity. Power generators are very necessary if you're working with heavy duty kitchen equipment or entertainment requirements, and try always to separate the kitchen tents from the maintenance and make sure that kitchen tent is big in a place to put in a kitchen, a changing room for the waiters. You need a lot of surface to store or materials. Stock drinks, fridges go big. Another great tip when working on grass or any other soft ground for ladies used. These people working during the event also show your professional attitude. It's up to you to monitor how they are dressed and how they behave. A good idea is to invest in accessories to make sure they all look the same. What I used to do was to breathe them up front as to what was expected. I briefed this in detail. I briefed the cater. I was expecting his staff to be dressed in black trousers, no jeans, Oxford black leather shoes on a white shirt. I would then have with me about 10 tires or bow ties, as well as waistcoats or jackets or aprons or all of them that would guarantee me that they all looked the same on the day. Other suppliers, such as entertainments, chauffeurs and others are to be discussed on a case by case basis. But you get the idea. First impressions will counts please realize that the staff coming to work on that day will have no or very little knowledge about the event and its guests. That is why I used pictures backstage. I would have a list of the most important guests with their picture. At least they should know who the father of the brightest. Right and picture is also great for a lot of other things. The food that will be served, the emergency exits, how certain drinks should be prepared. Anything visual will work. I told you I have my one page sheet to organize my weddings. Well, look at this section. These are some of the things I always briefed my team on. As you can see to the right, you have event briefing, and this is rather important. You should go actually and brief your team about certain things. For example, the purpose off the events. Well, in your case, obviously, that will be mostly ah, wedding, obviously. But it could be that it's an engagement or a bridal shower. But if you're another type of event planner, it could be, for example, that says that this is it's a funeral or a birthday, whatever. So a funeral will ask for a completely different approach. Obviously also mentioned the type of catering. Is it a sit down dinner? A walking dinner, etcetera, Um, the locations of the toilets. That's very important. Where the cloakrooms etcetera. Your team has to be up to speed where everything is. It's very unprofessional. If people ask them, where are the toilets and they have to answer with, Um uh, I don't know. So make sure that that is very clear to them. So breathe them also on the fact that they cannot eat and drink whenever they like. Make sure you have everything for scene, but that will take away from their efficiency. Also, cellphone procedures. I would never let my team have their cell phone with them except if if they would need it for the work itself. Um, etcetera, etcetera. Now this sheet is what I use at the moment in my butler school. As you know, I trained butlers, but it's very, very interesting for you, so I hope it will help you. As you can see, it is very important to brief your team and even a team of the caterer. In fact, everyone who comes in contact with a guest should get this briefing 21. Licenses and permits: there are certain business and legal affairs you should think about when you want to get married. This could be contracts from vendors, your marriage license, maybe even changing your name. That is what you should tell. The company working for marriage license are determined by each country. You can get the requirements simply by calling the mayor's office or me even county hole off course. These days, you can find everything online. Now here is a list of what you need to find out to get the marriage license for your clients. Does the bright need to apply in person and thus her partner partner have to be there as well? What is the waiting time for the licence to be issued? That's another one. Order any age requirements that apply to the bride and groom, and is there a fee to be paid? Do they also have to produce a proof of divorce? If that is the case and what requirements are there in terms of residents? In any case, you will have to do your own research in your area and make sure that you give the accurate information to your clients 22. Organising the wedding day date: way before the couple gets over. Excited about the date. Make sure you have checked a few boxes. For example, do they get off from work? Is the venue available? What season do they prefer? Is there anyone else getting married? Maybe some friends? There is nothing worse than having your wedding on the same day of your best friend without the two of you knowing about each other, which is very unlikely. Is it a good season for their honeymoon destination? Or is that maybe not important? Are there any big events happening on that day? Or maybe there are whole of these plants? Have a look out for that as well? If you're asked to organize a wedding in another country, make sure you have a list of the national holidays in that country. Because not every country in the world has its national holiday on the Fourth of July. Also, be realistic and show them that it takes time to plan a wedding. Have a look at our Excel Sheet timeline. It's included. It's easy to use. You just fill out the wedding date and the sheet will calculate what should happen and how to stay on track. So this spreadsheet will actually allow you to calculate how much time you will need to organize this wedding. There are two dates to fill outs. The 1st 1 is the one where you actually signed the agreement with the bride and groom. So let's go ahead and put in first of March instead of what sets there. Six of April. So one three. 2018. There you go. Hit it on already. You see, things are changing. Now I'm going on to the wedding day. Let's say the wedding day is indeed the fourth of May 2019. But I want to show you a different one that say the 11th off June 2019. There we go. And again you will see everything changes as well down the roads. Now, this is a calculation we made. If you want to know, for example, send out final numbers on rental materials. As you can see here while I took the wedding date minus 29 days. There you go. So if you go, for example, drove guest list than I taken the time where you signed the agreement plus 60 days, as you can see here so you can adapt this however you want. We have put it into this lecture, and whenever you done something, there you go. It just you can just take it off. You can print it. We also adding it in a different format. So it's a really handy list. Um, now it's ah quite ah, complete list if you want. But off course you can add things. You can take things out. But it is a recommended timing for a professional wedding planner. And, of course, some some terms are generals such as this one. Start venues counting. Obviously, there's much more to only starting the venue scouting. You have to call them up. You have to make appointments, etcetera, etcetera. Obviously, I haven't put down every single step because I wanted to be clear for you. It has to be a list which is actually workable. So download this list. Let me know what you think about it. It's really handy. Just fill out these two dates and you're in business 23. Space and drinks math: organized events like this, you have to be able to estimate how many people fit in a room. Now do this exercise. Look at the room you are in. Now, stay where you are. And guess how many people fit in that room for a standing reception. So for drinks and also how many would fit in when we would have a sit down dinner in there , Stop the video and write those two numbers down. Most importance. Stay where you are and try to get this purely on site. Stop the video now. Good. Did you write down the number? Now stand up and go stand in the corner of the room. If you have friends standing around, ask them to join You. Stand in a circle as if you would be having drinks during a cocktail party. Look around the room again and try to estimate how many times that group of people fits The room Makes sense. Yes, here's a good formula to determine the number off people you can fit into a room, so if you want to calculate space, you need about 0.7 square meters for a reception and 1.25 square meters for a dinner. So that means if you have, for example, 10 people for reception, you would need about 7.5 square meters to to accommodate them. That's a good That's a good rule. Always think about bar deejay dance, for you have to take that into accounts. Obviously, when you are planning out your plan, let's say then the tables, for example, a roundtable of 160 centimeters is about eight people. 180 centimeters will be about 10 people. If you have a standing table, you need to calculate about 46 people if they are eating standing up at that table. If it's for drinks, then you can easily go toe up up to 8 to 10. For example, do you see how useful a simple calculation can be? This will allow you to reverse think as well. For example, 250 people wedding. How big should the 10 B? Another sort of calculation you might need is to determine how much beverages you needs. Is that not the job of the caterer? You're probably thinking, yes, it is, but the thing is that it has impact on your organization If the caterer doesn't have this expertise in calculating the right number off wine bottles, for example, you might end up with 50 boxes of wine too much, and that has a result again. And you having to for Seymour storage in the tent or venue storage space you maybe don't have. So let's count. How do you calculate drinks? Well, you can have about five glasses of wine per bottle and 67 glasses off champagne glasses per bottle as well. So one bottle of champagne will give you about 67 glasses. That's a good idea. If you have a wedding, make sure that you have at least minimum 1.5 liters of water per person. Yes, so you really need to take that into account sins. Weddings. Obviously, they take a lot of time. Sometimes people are there for many, many hours, so make sure you have more than enough water and calculate the time and the number off people that will be present. As I will show you in the exercise. Let me ask you this. 125 people having champagne for two hours. How many bowls do you need? Stop the video and do the math. When you put it back on, I will tell you the solution. Stop giving you now and start counting. You got a number? How much? 50 100 1 50 You know, there is not an exact solution. I will give you a calculated guess. I know I said that you get about 67 glasses from a bottle of champagne, but there are some things to calculate. First of all, not everybody comes for the full two hours and not everyone during champagne. And the best thing to do is to count the number of glasses. So 1 25 and about 15% that do not drink. They will maybe have orange juice. So about 105 people left that say they have about 2.5 glasses an hour. That means that the waiter serves them about every 20 to 25 minutes. Sounds about right. So 105 times 5 to 6 as 87.5 bottles of champagne needed. That would be a calculated guess 24. Writing proposals: way. If you watched the training closely by now, you would know that I am very keen on visual things and presenting things in a very nice way. The proposal is no exception to that. It should be visually attractive, have all the necessary elements and be easy to understand for your clients. So your proposal is ready. How do you present it to your appliance? First, invite them and make them as comfortable as possible. A drink, maybe something to nibble, etcetera. As I told you before and your proposal, you should always offer multiple options and make sure that the proposal is modular. That means there are certain blocks they can buy and others that are mandatory, if you know what I mean. Look at this example. Obviously you go into a wedding planning business to make some money, and if you want to make money, you need clients. If you want those clients to agree on your proposals, you have to send out proposals. So here you are. You see a proposal we have made for you. And the most important thing I have always found is when people read the proposal, they should actually understand it So what we do is we work in blocks. So first of all, you see a very small overview off what we present. So the day the number of guests in the venue very simple. Next, you have the timing. Two o'clock ceremony for a cloak arrival. Guests drinks in can apace. 86 it sit down Dinner. 11. Cutting the cake. 11 30 Dance. Simple. That's that's what it needs to be. So, second page, Here we go. So as you have seen, the wedding will happen in the garden off the bride's parents, and this is where we actually outlined the tent, so it will happen in a tense. It's a luxury tense 525 square meters. Then we actually describe everything which is in the tent, especially everything which is fireproof and how it looks, etcetera, etcetera. Obviously, you will show them pictures next to this proposal, but it's very important to emphasize everything on safety and security lighting he ago indirect warm lighting as well as daylight lighting for back off house, including electrical boxes and cables. Construction by certified electrician. When you look at heating, you also see construction by certified stuff again it's to give that ease of minds. Do the couple that First of all, you're a professional, and second of all, everything will be installed as to the guidelines off the safety. Next up. Here you go, the toilets. So luxury cabins with three gentlemen, restrooms and three ladies rooms, flowers, men's and candy will be foreseen, as well as a selection of perfumes. A toilet attendant is present during the whole event, and now these three lines actually show to the couple that you're a professional, that you have an eye for detail, a bit of men, some flowers. There's a selection of perfumes, and these are things they actually don't have or see during their normal life. I mean, outside of a special wedding day, obviously, the catering four o'clock, the guests will arrive. Drinks and canopies will be served by professional waiters in stylish attire. Again, is that eye for detail? It's showing them that you know what you are doing. Beverages. Guests will be served jumper, champagne, Bolaji or are offered a range of freshly squeezed juices. Other drinks are available as well. Drinks will be refilled constantly because this is actually a question they will ask you, will everybody be served as it should? Will they have enough drinks, etcetera? That is what a bride is worried about. Next can apace selection of seven kind of pace per person will be carefully selected by the chef and presented to you during the tasting off Wednesday, Fourth of April 2050. That's just an example. All kind of peas or handmade again to give that extra extra style. So six oclock sit down dinner. Here you have the menu, you can read it Azaz you like again. Here you see coffee and a selection of sweets and pastries. Then the dance goes on. As you can see, I didn't put down the hour you here because I don't want to pin myself too much down in the beginning. Off the document I put down 11 30 so close to midnight. But don't pin yourself too much down. Drinks include selection of Belgian beers, white and red wines and coffee, etcetera. Um, there you go. There's an overview of the decoration, so they were already have an idea off of what the interior will look like inside the tents . Just a small band here and then obviously the pricing. Full price per person. Now, this is done based on your calculations, you should have all the documents in this, Um, in this training to to do that and always put in something optional. This is what we call up selling. Try to sell something more. For example, parking attendants. Master of ceremony. Cloakroom attendant except etcetera. Here you go. This is what one that works really well with me. What happens next? Should you decide to work with us? We ask a moment of your valuable time to go over the planning and detail. So how does it work? We design a detailed timeline. We listened to your feedback. Adjust where? Need it also, In case of the budget, we start confirming fenders, Venues and mawr are Tina standby for you at any time of the wedding preparation on afterwards. Obviously, we have the briefing. Once you're customer decides, you need to register that carefully so that you have the exact details off the agreement when they leave. And how do you make an agreement and what should be in that agreement? Well, we got you covered again. Now, I do want to point out these small things here on the bottom. We guarantee our clients are perfect execution off every event. You can help us by agreeing to the following guidelines Ordering and payment guidelines. Stay there. Sign contract at least six months prior to event. Make sure you have that in there, because if they're with you treatments up before the events before the wedding, you should say normally it's six months, but so we have to. Might have to cut corners 25% down Payment at the time off. Agreement. Confirmation. 60% down payment. So you're 85% before the wedding. This is absolute, very crucial because you don't want to. You don't want to be a bank if you know what I mean. You don't wanna bankroll all off this final number of guests to be confirmed no less than nine days prior to the event. This is mostly to do with catering. And should the final number deviate more than 15% from the estimated number of guests on this proposal, prices may be subject to change. Now. That's an important one as well, because when I go back to the top and it says about 1 25 and you made them a good price. And they all of a sudden say, Oh, it's down toe 80. Then you're in trouble because you probably negotiated the price is with your vendors. So make sure that that last statement is in there that the final numbers should not deviate more than 15% to guarantee the prices. So go ahead, download these documents. You can use it as you like, but this is a great example off a proposal. So here you are to propose on the agreement. Very important documents you will need all the time. Hold onto them and, more importantly, adapt them to your own needs. 25. Event sheet final: guess what planning is actually event. I admit that corporate events are organized in a different way than weddings, but the basis they will still be the same. The whole idea of organizing an event is something I find very exciting. Why? Because a lot is happening at the same time. It's like being a pilot in the cockpit, often our playing having to watch all the buttons on the screens. To me, it's still very exciting. I absolutely love it. It could well be that you have never organized anything before watching this video. Maybe you have already organized a few things. If not, I would advise you to organize a dinner at your home as quickly as possible, but you have to organize it on a professional level. It's a great exercise. You probably had friends over before in your home, and you may be thinking you did a good job, but now I want you to do it on a different level. You have to think about everything. The temperature off the wine, the seating plan off the table name course at the head of every setting, and I even want you to fall the toilet paper Yes. Try to plan every single detail and get used to being in that state of mind. Play the movie in your head as if you would be a guest from the moment they ring your doorbell because that is the skill you will need. Once you're a wedding planner. From the moment the bright wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep is the longest movie you will ever see in your head. When I started out, I didn't start as a wedding planner. I worked as a caterer on my customers started to ask me to organize everything around the catering as well. That is how I got in even telling and eventually in wedding planning. My father. He used to ask me to load the truck with all materials needed to cater for a wedding plates , cutlery, linen, everything else that goes with it, and that's what I did. But after a few events and weddings, I quickly realized that I always forgot to put things in the truck. It could be as biggest cooking parts or a smallest toothpicks, so I decided to make a sheet and make a list of things I needed every time. As I mentioned before, I'm a very visual person also like things structures. I wanted to have one sheet that would remind me off everything I needed just one glance, and I wanted to have on overview off my event. I simply made short of a check list in Excel, and I ticked off what I needed to bring on the back of this document. I would write things that I forgot and added every single time until the moment that she didn't change that much. After a while, the sheet meant more than just a list of stuff to take with me. I restructured it so that I would remind me off absolutely everything during an event. Have a look. You can see the event sheet I started out with when I started in this business. Now it's in Dutch because I speak Dutch, but it's not that relevant. I just want to show you that I, um everything is in the air. For example, First column was about glassware than the magazine, etcetera. It's not that relevance, since I don't use it anymore, and I'm gonna show you the one which I'm using still now and which result from this one on . This is it. There you go. That's my daily event sheet, which are used on weddings, events, etcetera. So, as you can see, it's color coded. It's ah, we have different sections, and I use it all the time. Now I have added it to this training, obviously, and you can look at it in detail. But some things will not make sense to you because, for example, if you look at the section beverages to the left, it says fridges filled. Now what is that well to mean to me, that means are my fridge is already filled with drinks. And are they getting chills because you need to do that a few hours in advance. Now, of course, this is a sheet I am using, Um, and you can use the same one you once. Now, I want you to make yours start with one. You make up for the dinner at your home and gradually improve it. As you start planning weddings 26. After the wedding day: way over the wedding day went well, maybe a few glitches. But as a professional wedding planner, you have written down what went wrong and you took every measure to prevent. That will not happen again in the future. Now, a few things to remember after the wedding day. First of all, stay in touch with your clients. Send them a thank you note, or maybe some flowers after one month. Next to that, we have to get that testimonial that will guarantee us future business. There are a few ways to get one. Your film. It's you get it in writing or your recorded on audio file. Whatever the case, make sure you ask for a review when you meet with a couple to get the review. It might be a great time to ask for some pictures you can use for your website or maybe other marketing purposes. Once that Mauris sending a survey to ask how they feel about your services. We have included a sample survey and I want to show you this. It's over. It's done. The wedding day is over. You have done everything you can together with your team to make sure that your clients were satisfied to do the maximum you have put in every effort you could. Now I would advise you to send out a survey after the wedding day to make sure that you have ticked all boxes in terms of customer satisfaction and that you might maybe find out what went wrong if anything went wrong. Um, so let's go through it. You can right here. Like like you see the ultimate Kate, as you know, here at and then the name of your company. We constantly strive to improve our services, our staff, our facilities, etcetera in order to meet and exceed the demands the expectations of our clients. Therefore, we will kindly ask you to participate in the survey and ask you kindly to fill in these few questions. It will only take several minutes of your time, but it will make a huge difference for us to understand better and to improve name of the company again. Thank you so much. So the first question and overall, how satisfied are you about wedding plan is just the name I put down as an example. The couple can go from very satisfied to very dissatisfied if they would write down Very dissatisfied. Please ask them why Number two. How satisfied are you about the communication documentation and or emails received information transferred. Um, and maybe you want to ask them also about the speed of communication? I haven't put it down, but sometimes I see that couples are very delicate on speed of communication. So how long it takes, for example, to get an answer on an email number three. Which of the following words would you possibly used to describe our services? And then they can choose all of them, or just one or maybe three. So have a look at that. Number four. How would you rate the value for money over services? Now, this is, of course, a very tricky one. Um, it depends on the commission's You're asking your hourly rates, etcetera. Number five. How responsive have we bean to answer your questions or concerns and regards to the services you received? So that also is it might have to do something with question number two, but responsiveness is not really completely communication than onto this one. Number six. How would you rate the quality off the lunches by our catering company? could be launches. Could be dinner could be whatever. So just ask about the quality of the catering company, because this is one of your main vendors, as I told you. And overall, how satisfied are you about the scouting visits you made your in your preparations? So this is obviously one of the first contact you have with a couple of scouting the venues . That's in the very beginning of the preparation. So this is where they get a sense off your organizational skills. So ask about that. And last but not least, would you recommend us to friends, family or to other couples? And this is actually the most important question. And if they put down yes, I will be your ambassador. Then you really hit the mark. That is what we call a word of mouth, and that's the best marketing you can get. So go ahead, send out the survey to your clients due to couples and let's see what they write back. So there you go. Maybe a final tip. Reach out to all the people who assisted you during the planning of this wedding, the vendors, your team or anyone who contributed to the success off that day. Job well done, 27. Thank you: you know you've done it. You completed the course. I really want to thank you for sticking with me all this time. And I hope you have learned how to be a great wedding planner from our side. We have done everything to present you with the best information. And remember, training never sleeps. And we might be adding more conference later on. So keep an eye out. In any case. Congratulations on. I wish you the best of luck in your career as a wedding planner.