As a new wedding planner you will need to give a good first impression at meetings with brides and fellow wedding vendors. You want the brides to hire you and want vendors to recognize you as a high-quality wedding planner so they are willing to join you in creating the weddings your brides want.

Here are 5 things you must do to create a good impression at all of your meetings:

1) Prepare in advance

Set a goal for your meeting. For a bride, your goal might be for her to sign a contract. When meeting with another wedding professional, you may want to find out if they would be a good fit for your brides and if they are willing to exchange referrals. Once you know your goal, you’ll know what you need to bring with you, such as your portfolio, a contract, marketing brochures for others to share, etc.

2) Plan to be early to your meetings

Check the route to the meeting place in advance and leave in plenty of time so you can get there early.

3) Avoid stressful situations before any meeting

The morning before a meeting with a potential client, or a vendor who could potentially refer brides to you, is not the time to have a heated discussion with anyone. Your negative feelings from that conversation will carry into your meeting and you will not be at your best.

4) Plan your attire and accessories in advance

You should look well-groomed and professional so check your clothes and shoes the night before and be sure what you want to wear is clean, pressed, and polished.

If you plan to carry a handbag, briefcase, or tote bag to the meeting, it should be clean and free old receipts, papers, and miscellaneous items so if you need to get something from it, you can find it easily and nothing embarrassing spills out. If you don’t look organized, the other person will assume you will not be able to organize a wedding.

5) Put away and turn off  your cell phone and/or tablet

It goes without saying that you should not talk or text while you are meeting with anyone. Put away your phone and iPad or other tablet (unless you will be showing a presentation or your portfolio on it) and turn them off so you don’t get any unwanted alerts.

Once you are at the meeting, remember that people are attracted to people who listen to them when they speak, so be sure you aren’t the one doing the majority of the talking.

And don’t forget to send a note later thanking the person for your meeting, even if it didn’t result in a client or a partnership, it’s worth the effort. You never know if something might work out for you with them, or someone they know, in the future.

How do you make the most of your time? As a busy wedding planner, you may need to spend your week doing a wide variety of tasks such as, meet with new brides, visit new venues, and meet with vendors to discuss wedding details. Of course, you also need to market and run your business and have a personal life.

One of the best ways to fit more tasks into each day is to “batch,” or group, similar tasks and do them together.

Here are 5 tasks you can batch:

1) Write blog posts

If you post to your blog two or three times a week, you can sit down and write all of your posts at the same time. If you write one that is particularly long, split it and create a series that you schedule to post automatically throughout the week.

2) Make phone calls

Make a list of the calls you need to do and sit down and do them together. You might want to do this once in the morning then again in the afternoon. If you let phone calls interrupt you during the day, you will not get many of your tasks done.

If you give consultations to brides over the phone, select a particular day or days in which you are available for appointments so you can get and stay in a “consultation” frame-of-mind. This way you are more focused and will do your best for your brides.

3) Attend meetings and appointments

With the price of gas being so high, grouping meetings, appointments, venue visits, and errands not only saves time but also money. Plan a day when you can do a majority, if not all, of your outside-the-office appointments. Be sure you leave plenty of time between them to allow for problems in traffic or meetings that last a bit longer than scheduled.

4) Handle administrative tasks

Schedule a few hours in your week to write contracts, pay bills, reconcile your checking account, and handle your mail. If you don’t schedule and batch these tasks, you might not get around to them in a timely manner.

5) Post to social media sites

Decide on a particular time each day to work on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and any other sites where you are active. These sites can be additive so if you don’t limit your time each day, you will find that you have lost a good part of your day. Use a service such as HootSuite to schedule messages and Tweets.

Before you batch, take the time to write a list of all of your tasks so you can see what they are and group them easily.

Successful entrepreneur and owner the basketball team the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, recently posted an article with his rules for startups. I thought 5 of them applied particularly well to the wedding planning business so here they are along with my comments on how they apply:

1) Don’t start a business unless it’s an obsession and something you love

Today there are many celebrity wedding planners on reality television and it has made many people believe it might be a fun. It is but it is also hard work so unless you have a real passion for planning weddings and working with brides, don’t do it. If this is your dream, take steps to begin your business right away.

2) Know how your company will make money

Before you begin your business, you should have a plan that outlines who your specific target market will be (not just “brides,” think about who they are, what they do, what their budgets are, and what type of weddings they want), the services and products you are going to offer to them that will be of benefit to them, and how you will market to them. 

3) Know your core competencies and be great at them

The services that you offer should be the ones in which you can do the best, that is how you will be unique and that is what brides will pay you to do. If you want to offer other services, partner with people who are good in those areas.

4) As far as technology goes, go with what you know

It’s important that you are able to communicate with your clients, potential clients, vendor partners, and complete your office work. This doesn’t mean you have to make a large investment in the latest expensive electronic gadgets to impress people. Use what you have and know how to use first, before you make any huge investments.

5) Don’t invest in a lot of giveaways with your logo

I’ve spoken to new wedding planners who have given away expensive tote bags and other items to brides at bridal shows, hoping to stand out and look like a big company. Save those for your clients. While promotional items can be a way of keeping your name in front of brides, there are other, more effective and less expensive, ways to market.

You can get more of his startup tips on the Entrepreneur website.

As a wedding planner there will be many times when you will make appointments with potential clients and new vendors whom you have only “met” via email, the Internet, or a phone call. You will also find yourself running errands at different times of the day and night in unfamiliar areas in order to do business. While most people you meet with are good and most places you will visit are perfectly fine, it doesn’t hurt to take the steps necessary to keep yourself safe at all times.

Here are 5 tips for staying safe:

1) When meeting a bride or any potential client for the first time, do it in a public place

Don’t invite strangers to your home office and don’t agree to meet in theirs. Arrange to meet at a potential wedding venue or other public place that allows you to be seen by other people but also has a quiet place for you to talk privately.

If you have an office, make sure you are not the only one in the building. If you must meet after hours, ask someone to join you and wait in a nearby room so you are not alone.

2) Tell someone your schedule

Before you head out the door, let your assistant or family member know where you are going and how long you might be gone. Check in with them if meetings or errands take longer than you thought they would.

3) Prepare your car for your busy schedule

Keep you car in good repair and always have plenty of gas in your tank so you don’t have to stop at a gas station in an unfamiliar area.

Use a GPS to guide you when you drive or check directions before you head out so you don’t get lost.

Keep an emergency kit in your car that includes a pair of walking shoes, in case you need them. 

4) Carry a fully charged cell phone

Almost everyone has a cell phone but not everyone keeps theirs charged and ready to use, be sure you do. You need it not only to keep in touch with brides and vendors while you are on the road (of course, don’t text or talk while driving), you also need it for emergencies. Invest in a charger that plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter if you spend a great deal of time on the road.

5) Resist the urge to broadcast your whereabouts

Don’t go on Twitter and tell everyone where you will be and when you will be there. You could be putting not only your personal safety at risk, but also the safety of your family and personal property, if the information is seen by the wrong person.

Be safe!

As a wedding planner, you want to be seen as someone who can creatively plan a wedding, manage a diverse group of professional wedding vendors, stay calm under pressure, and give couples the wedding day they dream of having. You can be friendly, but you also want to be professional.

To make sure brides respect you and value your services as a wedding planner, don’t share this information with them:

1) Personal details about your life

While reality television allows us a peek into the lives of people we don’t even know, don’t feel you need to offer similar information to clients. Respect your relationships and family life by keeping details private.

2) The state of your business

Despite the fact that you see wedding planners in realty television shows fighting with their brides and their staff, this isn’t information you should be sharing. Nor should you share information about your financial circumstances. (A planner once told me she told her bride she needed to be paid right away so she could pay her mortgage, that’s way too much information.)

3) Gossip about other wedding vendors

Maybe you heard that a particular vendor’s business isn’t doing well. Or you heard that a competitor had a fight with one of her brides. Take the high road, don’t gossip about anyone else, even when asked.

4) Private details about another bride and her wedding

Gain permission to share photographs from weddings you have planned. Don’t give away secrets you might have learned about a couple and their families during the course of planning their wedding. Be respectful and keep their personal information secret.

Remember, a bride needs a professional wedding planner to help her with her wedding day, she isn’t looking for a best friend.

It doesn’t take a lot of money to start a wedding planning business. In fact,there are other, perhaps more important, things that you need to begin a successful business. Here are 4 of them:

1) Willingness to invest time

No matter how much money you invest in your business, it won’t go far unless you are also willing to invest your time. You have to take the time to get the experience and education you need to be a top wedding planner. You need to take the time to learn how to manage a business then you have to spend time marketing it.

2) Determination

Any business can experience twists and turns and, when you first start, it might seem to you that it is not all coming together as quickly as you would like, or in the exact way you had envisioned. You have to be determined to succeed and do what it takes to make your business a success.

3) Faith in yourself

If you don’t truly believe in your abilities, your services and the prices you charge, you will not be able to market and sell yourself to brides. If you lack faith in your business, it will come through in everything you do and say when you meet a bride, and she will doubt your abilities and not hire you.

4) Passion

Don’t be a wedding planner unless you have a real passion for weddings and the desire to give brides the weddings of their dreams. With passion and desire you will be able to bring all of your energy, knowledge and ingenuity to your work. Brides will be moved to hire you because of the enthusiasm and dedication they can see that you have.

An article in the September issue of Brides magazine offers 26 (from A to Z) suggestions for a bride to use so she can have a worry-free wedding. Unfortunately the best suggestion, hiring a wedding planner, isn’t one of them. But if you’re thinking of becoming a wedding planner, or are a new planner, pay attention to the article because it will give you an idea of what you will be dealing with when you become a professional.

Here are 5 of the worries they address that you will need to be prepared to handle:

1) A bride worries that she won’t be prepared with all she needs in her wedding day emergency kit

One question brides often ask planners is if they bring an emergency kit on the wedding day and what things they bring.

Your kit should have more than a typical bride might have in her kit. For example, your kit might have a pair of dark socks for the groom or groomsman who only has white ones, Wine Away for a sudden stain, clear earring backs, a pair of faux pearl or diamond earrings in case a bride forgets her jewelry and, of course, a pair of faux wedding rings in case the real ones get left at home.

2) A bride worries that her vendors might not make it on time

As the wedding planner, you coordinate the wedding vendors. Even if you have been hired only for a “Day of” service, you should have all vendor contact information and you should speak with them in advance and give them a timeline of the day so they know when they are expected and you can keep track of them.

3) A bride with an outdoor wedding worries about the weather

You can’t control the weather but you can make sure there is a “Plan B” for bringing the wedding indoors if it gets too hot, cold or rainy.

Of course, there are situations, like some couples are experiencing now, with Hurricane Irene, in which even executing a “Plan B” may not be possible. (If you are in an area that could have hurricanes, you might suggest your couples purchase wedding insurance.)

4) A bride worries about an inappropriate wedding toast or speech

During rehearsal, speak to the best man, and any other members of the wedding party who will be giving  toasts, and review what they plan to say. Remind them they are there to honor the bride and groom not “roast” them. Give them a time limit and have the emcee help you enforce the limit at the reception.

5) A bride worries that she cannot complete her wedding day “to do” list

You have a wedding day “to do” list, not your bride. Know in advance what she feels she needs to get done on her wedding day and take it on. Let her know you want her to enjoy her day. She is to eat, get her hair and makeup done, get dressed and enjoy her day.

You can read about more wedding worries in the September 2011 issue of Brides magazine.

One of the most important things you need to do when you become a wedding planner is select a name for your business. You want to have a name that attracts the brides in your niche and gives the message that you are a professional who offers high quality wedding planning services.

I’ve mentored wedding planners who have tried out many different names for their businesses and here are 4 mistakes I’ve found that hurt their chances of attracting the clients that they want:

Mistake #1 - They get too clever and creative

It’s great to be creative and you want to let brides know that you add style to their weddings. But be careful about being so creative with your name that no one understands it. Don’t make up words, use unfamiliar foreign words, change spellings of common words (“weddin” instead of “wedding”), or chose a name that is difficult to say, spell or pronounce.

Mistake #2 - Their name is vague

Actually, along with many other planners, I’m guilty of this one. When I first started my business I used my name with “and Company.” I thought having a general name would help me get a wide variety clients and a lot of business. It actually was only a source of confusion. People didn’t know what I did. They also wanted to know if there really were other people working with me in my “Company.”

Mistake #3 - Their name is too long

Long names are often difficult to remember and even more difficult to type in quickly and easily as a web address. It’s also harder for a graphic designer to create a logo for a long name than a short one.

Mistake #4 - Their business name and web address are different from each other

Sometimes wedding planners haven’t been able to get their business name as a web address so their web address is a little different than the name on their business cards. They may have abbreviated or dropped a word from their name to create their URL. This makes it difficult for a potential client to find them.

People automatically type in the business name you have given to them. So, when you are select a name, make sure you verify that the web address is available and purchase it right away.

Take some time to really think about a business name that would appeal to the brides in your niche and clearly says what you do while being simple to say and spell and memorable to all who hear and see it.

Is it more important to get a formal education or to get experience to become a wedding and event planner?

This was asked of industry experts in the June/July 2011 issue of Event Solutions magazine.

Here are some of their thoughts about both -

The importance of a formal education:

-A community college or four year degree is valuable from a business and management perspective.

-Industry conferences and seminars are important for learning specialized wedding and event planning skills.

-Courses in oral and written communications, sales, marketing, accounting and hospitality management will teach planners how to have a successful business.

The importance of experience:

-There is knowledge that can only be learned through real world experience.

-You can only learn how to work well with clients by having face-to-face contact.

-The only way to learn to think-on-your-feet is when you are actual working on a wedding.

Conclusion – To be a fabulous wedding planner and a successful business person, you need to have both a formal education and experience in the business.

If you don’t have the time or money to go through a degree program or attend a conference, at least attend classes at local community colleges, or adult education programs, to learn the basics of business and take classes that will help you develop an eye for design such as interior design, fashion or costume design, architecture and floral design.

To get the experience you need, intern with wedding and event planners, florists, and caterers who handle many events. You can also get some experience volunteering to work on events for local charitable organizations. And, offer to help friends and family plan weddings and events for free until you have the skills and confidence needed to start charging for your services.

Just starting to think about having a wedding planning business? The July 2011 issue of Success magazine offers information for having a successful new business while maintaining a happy life.

Here are 5 tips from the article that I believe are important for you, who want to have a wedding planning business, to follow:

1) Assess your current situation

Before you start your business, decide if you are really ready for the responsibility. Being a professional wedding planner, even part-time, demands that you make the business a top priority in your life. You will need to devote time and energy not only to planning weddings but also to running and marketing your business in a professional manner. It is very rewarding work if you are passionate about weddings and are willing to devote yourself to it.

2) Get support

You’ll need to get the support of your spouse or partner and children otherwise you may have some difficult times ahead. They need to be understanding of the time you are away working on weddings, they need to be willing to leave you alone if you have a home office and they may need to lend an extra hand with chores to free up your time.

Some wedding planners are fortunate enough to have their spouses and partners join them in their wedding business thereby adding a trustworthy member to their team.

3) Have realistic expectations

Create a plan for your business that is realistic for the situation you are in. For example, if you currently work at a full-time job, it would be difficult to plan to market yourself at six bridal shows, attend weekly networking events, get a wedding planner certification and plan 24 full service weddings all in 12 months.

But you may be able to spend time doing some online marketing by writing 2 to 3 blog posts a week and spending 30 minutes a day connecting with others on social networking sites, like Facebook. You may be able to attend a few events each month to meet new vendors and potential clients. You could plan some “day of” and full time weddings and do hour-long consultations with brides who need you to help them find a venue, set a budget or create a timeline, but 24 weddings in a year, when you are new and working a job, would be unrealistic.

4) Set priorities

You will need to be organized and know what is important for you to accomplish each day in your personal life and your new business life. If you don’t decide, in advance, what your priorities are for each day, you won’t be focused and your time and energy will be drained before you accomplish anything.

5) Be disciplined

Having the successful wedding planning business of your dreams while having a happy personal life takes discipline and determination, but you can do it. You, and all of the brides you help, will be happy you did!