Wedding Planner

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Weddings!

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Look for someone who can think on the spot, someone who is creative and someone who truly cares about you.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. I wish customers knew that my fees are relatively low.
That some wedding planners charge as much as $10,000.00!

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. I think they should at least know their wedding budget.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. Because we have excellent customer service.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. I like chatting with my clients.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. What do wedding planners do? I say everything connected with planning a wedding. The other question is: how much does it cost? I say my services start at $1900.00

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. Well one time we had a client who wanted to have friends and family handle the jobs that professional vendors usually handle. She had her friend bring in the flowers and her friend got caught in a traffic jam and got there 2 hours late! A professional knows that that particular highway has traffic jams all the time because they travel this route in their work and they would have left 2 hours early. She was supposed to bring the liquor and punch and she didn't bring it And lots of other incidents like this. The moral of this story is: if you want a beautiful wedding, leave it to the professionals!

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. That nothing's perfect and that I almost guarantee that something is going to go wrong. So don't panic, most likely we can fix it, but if we can't, if nothing else, your wedding will be unique!

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I planned and designed my parents' 50th wedding anniversary party and I got so many compliments on the party, and realized that I really liked doing this, so I took a course and hung out my shingle.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. A wedding for 100 accomplished on a budget of $4,000.00. It was very difficult to do on such a small budget, but we managed and everything looked beautiful!

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. I get newsletters, belong to several websites that are for wedding/party planners that keep you up-to-date, I read, read, read, I watch the wedding shows on TV and I belong to an event-planning club where we talk about the latest trends.

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. Color, color everywhere and lights!

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. I recently did a baby shower. It involved finding a venue, finding the vendors, designing the decorations, ordering,
addressing and mailing the invitations, maintaining an RSVP list, calling the guests who didn't respond, going to the party and acting as hostess and mistressof ceremonies, etc. I charged $600.00 for this job. It took 2 months to pull together.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. It's not complicated--it's based on how many guests you're having, how far ahead of your event date that you get in touch with me, and how much you want done.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. Plan all your family and friends' weddings and parties, take a course that certifies you, start out with low pricing and slowly ease it up as you get more experience. And get a website!

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. Do winning awards for your work mean anything?
You bet! Being able to tell your prospective client that you have been voted by other brides of the Knot as Best
Wedding Planner of South Jersey 2010 (As I was) really
seems to make an impression.