You’re a wedding planner with a budging portfolio, glowing testimonials, and experience that a bride would appreciate. But, not displaying the right body language during a meeting can hurt your chances of getting a bride to hire you, even if you have the best credentials.

Here are 6 tips that will help you through your meeting with brides:

1) Greet with a firm handshake

Practice shaking hands with friends and make sure you have a good handshake. I weak one shows you lack confidence. A bone crusher will make the bride think you will be  pushy and overbearing during the planning process.

2) Have good eye contact

If you look around during the conversation, instead of at the bride, you will appear disinterested and distracted. If you look down, it will appear that you lack the confidence it takes to plan weddings. Always maintain eye contact, or, if you have trouble looking into someones eyes, look at the space between their eyes.

3) Smile

You want to appear confident and happy to be meeting your bride. Smile when you are on the phone also, it will make your tone of voice seen friendly and warm.

4) Don’t cross your arms or legs

I have seen people enter a room with both arms in front of them clutching a portfolio or briefcase, they looked insecure and like they had something to hide. Crossing you arms and legs during a meeting indicates you are closed to the information being shared. Remember, you want to appear confident, open and interested at all times.

5) Sit up straight

You may have a tendency to slouch when you sit, especially when you meet a bride in place with lounge seating, such as a reception venue or coffee shop. This could make you appear too casual or disinterested so sit up straight without appearing stiff, unnatural and uncomfortable.

6) Don’t play with your hair, rub your nose, or scratch

These are actions you may be doing without even knowing it. Pay attention to what you may be doing in casual conversations with friends and family and make it a point to control these actions.

Wedding season is just around the corner and if you are a new wedding planner who has found yourself suddenly booked solid, you may be so focused on on doing a great job for your brides, that you are ignoring your health. If this is you, remember that you will not be able to enjoy your success if you aren’t healthy.

Here are 5 tips for staying healthy while running your wedding planning business:

1) Get plenty of sleep

You need to be well-rested in order to be able to think clearly when things don’t go the way you had originally planned. Organize your days and nights so you have downtime and can relax and get a full night’s sleep.

2) Exercise

This will give you the stamina you need to withstand long hours of work. You don’t have to go to a gym, put on walking shoes and grab a friend to walk with you at the start or end of your day.

3) Have a healthy breakfast at the start of a long day

I’m sure you encourage your brides to eat before their weddings, you need to take your own advice. On a busy wedding day, you have no idea when you might be able to take the time to eat, so as least start the day with a good meal.

4) Skip the fast food

It’s easy to visit a drive through and grab a hamburger when you are out running errands, but it is also can be an unhealthy choice for you. If you must visit a fast food restaurant, opt for low fat, low sodium, and low sugar selections from the menu.

5) Hire good  help

If you are busy, you can’t do everything alone and expect it all to turn out well. Hire assistants to support you. Find the best ones who possess the skills that you need and make sure they keep themselves healthy also.

You made a big decision to follow your dream and become a wedding planner. You decided to do it right and created an action plan outlining the things you are going to do to get the skills you need to be the best and the knowledge you need to successfully market your services to brides.

Now, are you making the right small decisions everyday to support your dream and your plans?  It’s often said that it’s the small decisions that we make each day that determine the direction of our lives.

So small things like deciding what you are going to do each day, and how you are going to do it, will impact how successful you are at realizing your dream.

Here are 10 decisions that you make each day that you might want to put more thought behind in order to reach your goal of becoming a top wedding planner:

1) When you return a phone call or email from a bride

If a bride is inquiring about your services, you might want to make it a point to get back to her within a few hours, or at least by the end of the day.

2) How much time you spend on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking sites

It’s  important to spend time marketing yourself on these sites but set limits or hours will pass by before you get to other work.

3) What time you leave for appointments

Decide to always be on time or early to make a good impression on everyone.

4) How well you listen

Make it a point to listen more that you speak. Brides love it when you show interest in who they are and what their wedding vision is.

5) How much you gossip

When you talk about others, others talk about you. And, stay clear of people who gossip, whine and complain, they cannot be supportive of you and your dreams.

6) What you do at the end of your working day

If you make a list of your “to do’s” before you stop work for the night, you can be focused and ready to go when you get back to your office in the morning.

7) How much time you spend watching television

This can can grab your attention for hours at a time without you realizing it. Even if your office is in your home, keep the television off while you work.

8 ) Which programs you watch on television

You want to be a self-confident wedding planner with a positive attitude, make sure the programs you watch support positive thoughts.

9) How much sleep you get

Being rested will help you stay calm and clear-headed so you make the right decisions.

10) How often you express gratitude

Interestingly, when you decide to be grateful for what you have today, you will have more and more reasons to be grateful in the future.

What small decisions will you make today that will get you closer to what you want?

Did you start a wedding planner certification course but haven’t taken the time to complete it? Have you started updating your website or blog but can’t find the right photos to add to the site, so it remains unfinished? Worse, did a bride ask you for a proposal and you never responded because you didn’t get it done?

As a new wedding planner and business owner, you have probably started a lot of tasks, but unless you finish them, they will always be nagging at you and perhaps causing some sleepless nights. And unfinished projects hold you back from having the success you want.

Here are 5 tips to help you finish what you start:

1) Forget about perfection

I know you, you want everything to be perfect and it causes you a lot of stress, I can be that way too. Let go. Strive for excellence and being the best you can be. You don’t need a perfect grade for a certification. A website and blog can be easily be changed if it isn’t right the first time. If you are not able to put together a proposal you believe is right for a bride, you may need to go back and ask her more questions, but do it right away.

2) Recall why you started the task

For example, why did you start that certification course? Chances are you wanted to not only learn to be a wedding planner, you also wanted a certificate you could show to potential clients, and you wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment. Remembering why you started a project may help you recommit to getting it done.

3) Break the project down into small, quick tasks

If you have a project that might take a few hours or days, or longer, to complete, break it up into smaller tasks that you can finish quickly. This will help you feel a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to finish.

 4) Give yourself a deadline

Schedule the tasks that will lead to the completion of your project, then write down a date in which you can commit to being done. It you are delaying  finishing a wedding planner certification, check the terms of your course, some have a date in which you must complete the course or you don’t get a certification.

5) Plan to celebrate or reward yourself

Always give yourself recognition for the things you accomplish.

If you still can’t motivate yourself to complete a project, it might mean it’s no longer important to you. If so, it’s time to let it go and move on to things that you feel are worthy of your time and energy.

Brides today are using Pinterest to plan their weddings. As a wedding planner, you’re probably there too, pinning your favorite photos of wedding details such as invitations, cakes, tabletops and dresses. That’s great! Doing this is a way for you to attract brides and show them your style.

Did you know you can also use Pinterest to send brides back to your blog to get to know more about you and your business? I learned about pinning posts from The Publicity Hound and it’s a perfect way for you to market your blog to brides.

Here is what you need to do:

1) Create a new board with the title “Wedding Planning Tips,” or something similar.

2) Go to your blog and select blog posts in which you have offered wedding planning tips, ideas on wedding decor, and other topics in which you have shared your expertise. (I’m going to guess that your posts already have great photos on them.)

3) “Pin It” after you have written a short, compelling description of your post.

To see examples of “pinned” blog posts, check out my board, “Wedding Business Tips.” I’ve started to pin some of my old blog posts on it along with tips from other sites that I thought would be interesting and helpful.

By the way, don’t forget to complete your profile on Pinterest, you want brides to know you are a wedding planner when they visit your boards.

As a new wedding planner you probably have recently created a website to market your business to brides. You’ve filled it with beautiful wedding photographs and  information about the services you offer. But have you ever looked at it through the eyes of a new bride, coming to your site for the first time, to determine how effective your site is?

Look at your website with fresh eyes and ask yourself these 5 questions:

1) Is the site focused on what your bride needs to know?

Don’t get so caught up in having a beautifully designed site that you don’t address the needs of your bride. She  may enjoy looking at the site but if she doesn’t get the information she needs about your wedding planning services, she’ll leave without contacting you.

2) Can a bride in your niche tell the site is talking to her?

You should address your target bride, not all brides in general. For example, if you want a bride who has the budget for a lavish wedding, she should see that type of wedding in your photographs and read about the benefits of having you plan that type of wedding for her.

3) Is the site easy to navigate?

Make sure it ’s easy for a bride to go from one page to another, and don’t make her click on too many links for information.

4) Do you have easy-to-understand information about your services?

A new bride might not have the depth of knowledge about weddings and wedding planning that you do. She may only vaguely know what a wedding planner does. Everyday wedding terms, like “day of,” may be foreign to her. Clearly explain the benefits you offer a bride and give simple explanations about what those services are. Remember the goal is not to tell her everything on the website, it’s to get her to want to contact you.

5) Have you included your contact information?

You can have a form for a bride to complete if she wants to ask questions, but you should also include your phone number and email address so a bride can reach you directly. Your physical address would also be helpful because it would tell her the approximate geographic area in which you work.

By looking at your website as if you are a new bride and making the necessary changes, you can make it a more effective way to market to brides.

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.

“I could be a wedding planner, if only I could quit my job.”

“I could get more brides to notice me, if only I could get one of my weddings into a bridal magazine.”

“I would have it made, if only I could plan a celebrity’s wedding.”

“I would be a better wedding planner, if only I could first work for someone like Preston Bailey.”

Have you heard yourself making comments like these?

It’s easy to believe that if one big, special thing happened to you, you wouldn’t have any problems being a successful wedding planner. After all, it does seem like this is what happens to wedding planners in the movies.

In real life, no celebrity or situation is  going to give you instant success.

You are going to be the one who makes yourself successful, and you can do it:

1) Start from where you are right now

Don’t wait for the “perfect time” to come along before you start your business. You can still be in school or working and start your wedding planning business part time.

2) Don’t let yourself procrastinate

It’s good to take some time to visualize your dream wedding planning business, but dreams can’t become reality without action. Make plans as to how you are going to have the success you want, then get going.

3) Serve the brides in your area

Sometimes new wedding planners feel a need to leave their area in order to find celebrities or people in a higher economic level.

There are local brides in your area and niche who need your services. Do some research, find out how you can best help them, then market those services.

4) Have confidence

Know that no one needs to rescue you in order for you to be successful. You can do it yourself when you take consistent action to move your business forward.

Do your brides and grooms and their families and friends know you can help them plan wedding related events? It sounds like a silly question, but believe it or not people often get so focused on the fact that you are planning the Big Day, that they may not realize that you can also help plan other events. These might include bridal showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties, bridesmaids’ luncheons, rehearsal dinners, after-parties, and post-wedding day brunches.

Share with your couples, and their families and friends, these 5 reasons why they should hire you to plan their wedding related events:

1) The bride can focus on her wedding

With so much to do before her wedding day, the bride doesn’t need to be involved in helping to plan parties, nor does she need to be worried about how family members and friends will handle them. You can take the lead and relieve her of the stress of dealing with the details of these events.

2) Everyone can relax and enjoying the time before the wedding

Family members and friends can get as stressed about the wedding as the bride and groom, and party planning takes a lot more work than people realize. With you helping them, they will be able to enjoy the events, even when they are hosting them.

3) You know traditional and modern etiquette 

People may not know whom to invite, when the events should be held, and what should take place during the events. You can share your knowledge in these areas and help them make the right decisions.

4) You have knowledge of a wide range of venues

With your experience, you can offer unique ideas for places to hold events that family members and friends have not thought of before.

5) You have creative ideas on how to make these events really special

Since you are spending a great deal of time getting to know the bride and groom while you plan their wedding, you will be able to create events that match their personalities and the style and tone of their wedding.

Offer to plan events from start to finish or offer consultation-only services. For example, for a flat fee you could find and book a venue and help with menu selection.

It’s important to remember that you should only take on these additional events if you have the time and expertise to deliver in an excellent manner. Hire assistants or bring in other vendors if you need help creating events worthy of your brides and their loved ones.

Spring is the season of rebirth and renewal, so renew your energy towards making the changes in your wedding planning business and personal life that will make the rest of 2012 your best year ever!

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!