As a new wedding planner, are you  struggling with writing your “About Me” page? The new planners I speak to have had trouble knowing exactly what to say about themselves. Some have “About Me” pages that say almost nothing, mostly giving a description of their company. Others tell too much, including  minor details of every step they took on their way to starting their wedding planning business, in hopes of impressing potential clients.

What will really impress brides on your “About Me” page is information about who you are, what you know, and what you can do that can help them have the weddings they want.

 Here are 4 tips for creating an effective “About Me” page:

1) Include your photograph

I see  many websites that don’t have a photograph of the wedding planner. Don’t be shy! Remember the brides will be working directly with you, and they will want to see what you look like. You don’t have to look like a celebrity, just look professional, approachable, and well-groomed. And make sure you are smiling in your photo.

2) Make it personal

The “About Me” page should be about you, don’t just give information about the company. And don’t forget to include your name! I’ve seen sites that give the company name but not the name of the wedding planner. A bride won’t call you if she doesn’t know your name.

3) Provide information about your relevant education and experience

Brides will want to know what your qualifications are as it relates to their needs. Limit your information to education you have completed and jobs you have held that benefit them. For example, a wedding planner certification, a degree in hospitality, a job as a bridal consultant at a bridal salon, or experience working with a caterer or florist.

4) Include a call to action

Even though you have a “Contact” page with full contact information, ask the reader to contact you and provide your phone number and email address on this page. You want to make it easy for them to know how to reach you right after they read all about you.

In my last post I wrote about ditching “done-for-you” wedding marketing packages.

Today I’m writing about ditching contract samples and templates that you find on the Internet.

I know from experience that  many new wedding planners, looking for help with writing contracts, often turn to the Internet for templates. Cho Phillips, founder of The Wedding Planning Institute, wrote about this very thing in the February/March 2012 issue of Event Solutions magazine. She commented that in contrast to new planners, experienced professionals hire lawyers to finalize individual agreements with every client.

It is definitely easier and less expensive to use a template contract from the Internet, but it is also very dangerous.  It doesn’t take into account how you run your business or the services you are offering, nor does it take your bride’s concerns into consideration. Your contract needs to specify the services you are offering, when and where you are providing these services, and you payment terms. Your bride should know exactly what she is getting from you and how much she is paying for you services.

I know I’ve said this before, when it comes to legal agreements, don’t take a quick and inexpensive route. Invest in an attorney who can help you write a contract that protects you and your business.

A wedding planner recently told me that she was not getting the results she expected from her online marketing efforts. She was on Facebook and Twitter, offered an free report on her website to collect email addresses, and sent out ezines. Yet, she got little response.

When I looked at her marketing information I understood why. The information was cookie cutter. She had bought “done-for-you” marketing packages that had supplied all of the marketing messages, tips, ezines and articles. The information she was putting out was unfocused, not at all targeted to the niche she told me she was marketing to, there was no branding, every marketing piece had a different look, and, worse of all, it was very evident that she had not had a hand in creating any of it. In fact, her free report still had the name of the author on it.

So while she was staying in touch with potential clients, she wasn’t doing it in a way that would highlight her unique abilities and expertise and differentiate her from other wedding planners. Instead, her marketing gave the message that she couldn’t take the time to learn what they wanted and needed, and wasn’t interested in providing high-quality information. This would make brides believe that  she would not be a creative wedding planner who would work hard to meet their needs.

Don’t buy shortcuts.

Write your own marketing.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to come from you. Take the time to find out the information the brides in your niche would value and would encourage them to respond favorably to your messages by contacting you to be their wedding planner.

You spend everyday helping brides plan their big celebrations of love.

Today, take the time to celebrate love with those whom you love.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Even if your bride wants a traditional church wedding, she may want a reception that expresses the fun-loving, casual side of herself and her fiance.

Celebrity wedding planner David Tutera had a bride like this in a recent episode of his television show, “My Fair Wedding.” The bride’s theme was “Barbecue Picnic” and, according to David, she had done the best job he had ever seen of creating details for her red and white picnic wedding reception. He used her ideas and just enhanced them when he designed her wedding reception.

David set up the “picnic” in the backlot of a Hollywood studio.

Tip – a wedding “picnic” doesn’t have to be in a park, think about other venues, including indoor possibilities, that can be staged to look like a picnic.

 Centerpieces were small bushels of apples, Mason jars with flowers, votive candles, and whitewashed lanterns.

Menus were printed on chalkboards.

Linens were red and red and white checked gingham.

The cake had a white picket fence design and was was presented on the back of a shiny red pickup truck instead of a cake table. The cake was made by NancyKay Confections.

The photo at the top is of the couple leaving the ceremony for the reception in a vintage firetruck (the groom is a fireman).

Tip -  with this theme, a limo would have been out-of-place, don’t overlook vintage cars as a mode of transportation for the bride and groom if it fits with the theme.

What will experienced wedding and event planners do to be successful in 2012?

Special Event magazine published the results of their survey of what professionals thought this year would look like for them and what they planned to do to be successful.

Here are 4 of their answers with tips on how you can use their ideas for your wedding planning business:

1) They feel a need to be ready to deliver a lot at a low price

Brides will negotiate with you and other vendors to get the most for their money. In fact, many bridal magazines tell brides to do this. Be prepared, don’t blurt out a low price off the top of your head during a consultation! Decide in advance what services and products you can offer, and what extra services you can add, while still making a profit.

2) They anticipate a huge increase in the gay wedding market

If your state has recently allowed gay marriage, you may have many opportunities to plan gay weddings. If this interests you, take the time to understand the needs and concerns of gay couples so you can serve them well.

3) They plan to form relationships with other event professionals

Don’t underestimate the power of a good vendor network. Get out and meet other event professionals and form relationships that may not only bring you referrals but also professional support when you need it.

4) They plan to market aggressively

They know they can’t get a steady stream of clients without agressively marketing their businesses. This is especially true if you are a new wedding planner. The brides in your niche should see you everywhere, both online and off, and see you as an expert in your niche.

When I speak to new wedding planners, I always ask them if they have a niche, a group of brides they target market, and many of them say they do. But when I look at their marketing, I often don’t see any evidence it. Their marketing is very generic. They basically just list their services, most of which seem like they can be offered by any wedding planner, so we work together at making them stand out.

Here are 3 tips to help you make sure you appeal to the brides in your niche:

1) Create services and products that fill their specific needs

Every niche needs something different from their wedding planner. For example, brides who have established careers and are planning their wedding in their “spare” time have different needs than those who may just be completing school, or from brides who are getting married a second time and already have children. Find the unique wedding planning problems of your brides and create services and products to fill those needs.

2) Communicate the benefits of working with you in their “language” and communication style

Once you know your niche’s problems and needs, speak to them about the benefits of hiring you using the medium that they use. Your brides might like to communicate via Facebook or Twitter, so speak to them there. Or, you may need to get out and join their social and business groups because they prefer hiring people they know personally, or have heard about from friends. Determine what works best and use that marketing channel.

3) Keep your marketing focused and consistent

Brides should know, when they read your marketing, your area of expertise and specialization. If, for example, you specialize in “day of” coordination, your marketing messages should convey your expertise in this area. Your website, blog, and articles should explain the benefits of having a “day of” planner. If you offer a free report on your website, write a list of the most important things a bride needs to do on the “day of.” The last tip, of course, can be to hire you to relieve them of handing these last-minute details.

Many successful wedding planners will tell you they were struggling until they decided to select a niche and target their marketing efforts towards specific brides. So if you have done the research and chosen the niche that you believe will bring you success, take the time to create the services and products that they need and the marketing messages that will tell them that you are the expert who can best help them plan their weddings.

When planning a Paris themed wedding, celebrity wedding planner David Tutera’s bride on his television show, ”My Fair Wedding,” had gathered everything that was French, including a collection of assorted Eiffel Towers and a set of ceramic French poodles. She had been going for the Paris/Marie Antoinette couture/love/romance theme.

David talked to her and got to the heart of what she wanted her wedding to be like, which was “Springtime in Paris,” and what she wanted to celebrate, which was not only the love she and her fiance had for one another but also being able to eat cake. She had been battling anorexia and her fiance did not want to have a wedding until she was well enough to enjoy cake on their wedding day.

Tip – When a bride tells you her theme, help her to focus and bring out the key elements of what is important to her to make it personal and meaningful instead of just a collection of decorative objects.

David set her ceremony and reception at the Hyatt Regency Orange County. He draped the rooms in white and hung lights, making it look like the city lights of Paris.

Tip - Draping and proper lighting can  transform a space, helping the focus be on the decor in the room and enhancing the theme and colors of wedding.

The ceremony area was decorated to make people feel like they were walking down a street in Paris.

Tip – The bride doesn’t have to wait until the reception to express her theme. Incorporating elements into the ceremony helps set the mood for the entire event.

The reception centerpieces were explosions of Spring flowers.

One area of the reception space was set up with tables and umbrellas that made it look like the cafe tables on the streets of Paris. An artist was positioned here to draw caricatures of guests while another artist painted a large portrait of the couple.

The dance floor was covered with a recreation of Monet’s “Waterlilies.”

There were 15 small wedding cakes surrounding one magnificent Eiffel Tower cake.

It was covered with edible peonies, the bride’s favorite flower.

When I have a mentoring appointment with a new wedding planner, I will ask him or her to email  information to me about their background and experience and to send me links to their website, blog, Facebook account and anything else they may be doing for marketing. I like to get a clear picture of who they are before we start meeting.

Almost everyone shares with me information about skills and experience they have, in addition to their wedding planning skills, that are very valuable “extras” to have as a wedding and event planner.

But none of the information is mentioned in their marketing materials!

Instead, they just have lists of their available services. But these lists don’t make them stand out.

Brides don’t know how talented they are and they end up not getting all of  the clients they deserve.

Are you also guilty of hiding some of your valuable skills and knowledge, thinking they aren’t directly about wedding and event planning, so they don’t matter?

For example, have you worked in catering or the restaurant business?

Then you know how to help a bride select a menu that will appeal to her guests while fitting within her budget.

Have you worked in financial services?

Most likely you know how to create a realistic budget and help a bride stick to it.

Have you been voluntarily counseling newly engaged couples at your place of worship?

Then you’ll be able to help couples not only plan their weddings with your planning skills, but also navigate successfully through the emotional highs and lows that often come during the months before a wedding.

Think about the knowledge, experience, and skills that you acquired when working in a job, or as a volunteer, that you can use as a wedding planner.  Then tell brides how they can benefit from what you know.

When they know the benefits, they will understand how valuable you are and realize how much they need you to be their wedding planner.

Planning a wedding for a bride who always wanted to be a popstar? Celebrity wedding planner David Tutera did just that recently on his television show, “My Fair Wedding.”

The bride and her fiance had met in Motown, Detroit, Michigan. They loved Motown music and wanted to feel like pop star royalty on their wedding day (think Diana Ross and Michael Jackson).

Tip – Selecting a theme that has a meaningful connection to the bride and groom is a great way to personalize a wedding.

The bride had gathered a mix of gold, silver, and pink items and a Michael Jackson silver-sequined glove to use as decorations at her wedding.

Tip – Stay away from party store items when carrying out any theme. 

As usual, David took over, replacing not only the dresses of the bride and bridesmaids but also the venue and decor.

He changed the venue to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the site of the very first Academy Awards celebration. The ceremony was held in the lobby of the hotel.

Tip – Think creatively and don’t forget to check spaces in the hotel besides the traditional ballrooms. However, if you do select a public area, make sure it can be made private for the wedding.

He chose gold, platinum, and white as the colors for the wedding.

Rows of gold chairs alternated with chairs covered with platinum chair-back covers. In keeping with the color scheme, the stage was covered with white fabric.

The flowers were white with gold and platinum accents. 

Different designs alternated throughout the tables.

All designs followed the gold, platinum, and white color scheme.

Tip – Alternating table designs will make the room look interesting, but stick to the same colors and basic styles or the room will look like it was decorated for different weddings, not one. 

David had a fabulous mirrored dance floor custom created just for this wedding.

Tip – Don’t think that there are only wood dance floors. If you need to rent a dance floor, ask the rental company if they can provide floors that can be covered with a custom design or made of other materials.

You can lean more about the vendors who helped dsign this wedding on the WEtv website.

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