Uncategorized, Your Event Career
Becoming a BETTER Wedding Planner: Destination or Luxury?
Professional event planners are ambitious. There’s always more to learn in this role! Because of this, many choose to round out their knowledge with more than one specialization. This increases their skill set and the services they can provide in order to set themselves apart!
So what branches of event planning are best? Destination wedding planning will open up many doors. You’ll get to be seriously creative and travel all over the world! And as a luxury wedding planner, you’ll work with high-end clients to produce stunning weddings. But which of these will really make you a better wedding planner? Read on for our advice!
Keep expanding your services
Professional event planning is competitive. You’re already familiar with the industry if you have a certification. There are many planners out there in search of excitement. So how do you go about setting yourself apart? We recommend offering a few different services.
Not every event planner focuses on more than one niche. It’s more common for planners to focus on one particular industry. Therefore, with a few specializations under your belt, you’ll be much more valuable to clients. You’ll also stand out from your competition!
For example, clients don’t always know the difference between planning a destination wedding and planning a local wedding. You can use this opportunity to market your skills. This is assuming you’re certified in both destination wedding planning and regular wedding planning. But why stop there? Adding other services such as luxury wedding planning will set you apart even more. You can expand your audience and boost your income!
Now let’s dive into the specializations…
Destination wedding planning
Over the past decade, destination wedding planning has seriously taken off. No pun intended! According to The Knot, about one fourth of weddings take place in an exotic location. This is great news for aspiring wedding planners and current planners who want to expand their services.
If you have a wedding planning certification, you’ve already jumped the first hurdle. You’ve learned how to plan weddings and have completed assignments based on real life situations. But you’ll need another certification if you want to branch out. A destination wedding planning course is made for planners who already know industry basics. This means that the course material will dive right into what you need to know to specialize. Consulting with clients and booking travel arrangements are high on the list. Also, a wedding in another location is very different than one at home! The guest list will be smaller and the celebration will likely last a few days. Don’t worry, you’ll learn all of this in your destination wedding planning course!
So why you should spend the time getting another certification when you already have one? This is a very competitive industry. Destination wedding planning is a niche specialization. With a few services in your repertoire, you can pick and choose which events you want to work on. Think of the diversity and excitement this will bring to your career! You’ll be fully qualified to plan traditional weddings in a couple’s hometown—an already valuable skill. Add destination wedding planning into the mix, and you’ll really open up your market.
Luxury wedding planning
If you’re focused on becoming a better wedding planner, you have options. One of the most popular paths for planners looking to expand their services is luxury wedding planning. You’ll work with bigger budgets and more demanding clients in this field. This is a huge draw for wedding planners who want to grow their careers. Besides this, you’ll also have the opportunity to improve your portfolio and grow your list of clients. It’s a wonderful choice for wedding planners who want to add to their list of services. Not to mention boosting their salary in the process.
When it comes to luxury wedding planning, you’ll take your services from regular to high-end. These are wealthy clients, so your income will increase. If this is a priority for your career, then luxury wedding planning is certainly worth the pursuit. Word of mouth is also paramount in this branch of the industry. Wealthy clients know how to network! It’s so important to build a good rapport with every client you meet and maintain your relationships between contracts. Referrals to other high-end clients are what will help your career take off. Especially if you want to branch out into luxury wedding planning!
As with destination wedding planning, you can be picky about which events you plan. This is the freedom that achieving more certifications will give you. Focus primarily on luxury weddings, or focus on regular weddings but market your expertise as a luxury wedding planner. The more services you can provide, the more valuable you’ll be!
So what’s better?
With destination wedding planning and luxury wedding planning as options, it’s tricky to decide on which is better. It comes down to your own career goals and interests. It’s never a bad thing to learn as much as you can in your career as an event planner. You could become certified in both of these branches and make yourself extremely valuable to clients. Or, you could focus on just one, choosing the one that will provide you with the most rewarding and challenging experience! Weighing out the different pros and cons of each specialization will help you decide.
Can you see yourself specializing in both?
