Some Wedding Planners Lie

I want to first preface this post by clearly stating that I am not a professional wedding planner, by any stretch of the definition. I've never planned a wedding (besides my own) and I have no desire to learn all the ins and outs of becoming a professional coordinator. In my opinion, I honestly don't think I have what it takes to become one. I often stand in awe of the magnificent feats of design and inspiration that wedding planners engineer on a regular basis, and while I would love to be able to create such nuptial masterpieces for a client, I respect the fact that I just don't have the creative insight in me to do so. Most people don't. Great wedding planners are a special breed. They don't just "see" the "big picture", they systematically break it down to the purest level: form and function. It's this one element that that truly helps distinguish the difference between a professional wedding planner and a wedding planner.

Professional wedding planners don't create events, they create atmosphere.

With that being said, this brings me back to the main reason I was inspired to write this blog post. The other day, I was chatting with a fellow wedding industry insider about the saturation of wedding coordinators and planners in the current bridal marketplace. We both agreed that everywhere a bride turns, someone with a pretty website or business card is marketing themselves as a "professional" wedding planner. One interesting question that arose was: What qualifications does a person have to have to establish themselves as a "professional" planner? Does a certification from a wedding course or organization instantaneously transform someone into a pro? Is is the total number of events that they have helped coordinate over the years? Is it the total amount of years they have been part of the bridal scene? Is it the volume of awards and accolades they've received from their peers in the industry? We were both perplexed. Both of us just sat silently sipping our drinks wondering how a person decides take it upon themselves to begin distinguishing themselves a "professional" event planner. We finished our drinks, parted ways and both felt an uneasy feeling inside for not coming to an agreed conclusion. I was truly bothered by not knowing the answer.

The next day, I took it upon myself to proactively contact a few fresh faces in the wedding planning world and ask them if they considered themselves a professional planner or not. I was surprised how quickly EVERY single one of them answered a resounding "Yes" or "Of course" when approached. I then proceeded to ask them why they thought so, and they answers provided were quite alarming:

"... because my last three events went smooth and there were no big disasters".
"... because my pricing is probably higher than most competitors".
"... because my wedding planning blog gets of 100K of visits per month".
"... because I have a ton of positive ratings on WeddingWire".
"... because every single bride has sent me a thank you note after her big day".
"... because my mother was an event planner and therefore I'm a pro".

My heart quickly sank. Is this what the newcomers in the wedding industry actually feel makes a competent event planner? Are we basing the integrity of the entire coordinator service off of pricing and thank you notes?

So instead of letting that topic of conversation end, I decided to take the most common sense approach: I'd consult others directly in the industry.

So my question to all you wedding planners, eventistas, coordinators and consultants is: How long have YOU been a "professional" wedding planner and what minimum qualifications do you think a person should have before attaching that elusive "professional" label to their title? Not only is it a viable question, but I feel it's start to creating a soft standard that others in the event business should qualify themselves against before calling themselves a professional wedding planner. Being a wedding professional is an earned privilege, not a right. It's time to stop lying to your brides... and to yourself.

Together, we can advance the wedding industry.

+35 Social Media Statistics That Will Blow Your Mind

If I had two words of advice to help a wedding professional become more successful in the wedding industry, it would be: network more. The more you reach out, participate and engage your fellow bridal industry pros, the more opportunities for business will ultimately arise. Think of it this way: It's hard for someone to recommend you when no one knows who you are! Social networking sites such at Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are 3 of the easiest ways to begin building professional relationships with others in the wedding industry and provide an outlet for building your brand and knowledge authority. Whether you like it or not, today's brides are online and eager to reach out and utilize these methods of communication, so if you're still "on the fence" about becoming active in an online social networking environment, check out the 37 social media stats below, and you just might change your mind:

If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia

1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media

By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network

Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web

Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama

Years to Reach 50 millions Users: Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet(4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.

Yet, some sources say China’s QZone is larger with over 300 million using their services (Facebook’s ban in China plays into this)

comScore indicates that Russia has the most engage social media audience with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month – Vkontakte.ru is the #1 social network

2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction

1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum

% of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees….80%

The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females

Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama

80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices…people update anywhere, anytime…imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?

Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé…In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen

What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…

The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube

Wikipedia has over 13 million articles…some studies show it’s more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica…78% of these articles are non-English

There are over 200,000,000 Blogs

54% = Number of bloggers who post content or tweet daily

Because of the speed in which social media enables communication, word of mouth now becomes world of mouth

If you were paid a $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you would earn $156.23 per hour

Facebook USERS translated the site from English to Spanish via a Wiki in less than 4 weeks and cost Facebook $0

25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content

34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands

People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them

78% of consumers trust peer recommendations

Only 14% trust advertisements

Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI

90% of people that can TiVo ads do

Hulu has grown from 63 million total streams in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009

25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video…on their phone

According to Jeff Bezos 35% of book sales on Amazon are for the Kindle when available

24 of the 25 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation because we no longer search for the news, the news finds us.

In the near future we will no longer search for products and services they will find us via social media

More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook…daily.

Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy Listening first, selling second

Successful companies in social media act more like party planners, aggregators, and content providers than traditional advertiser

(source: Socialnomics Blog)

Together we can advance the wedding industry.

Is it necessary to write thank-you cards to my wedding vendors after our big day?

OK, so the wedding is over, you're back from your honeymoon and it's time to start writing some thank-you cards to the people that helped make your day special and memorable. One common question that a lot of brides ask is:

"Do I have to send a thank-you note to my wedding vendors?"

In short, no, it's not necessary to send your wedding vendors a thank-you card, but, personally I feel it is an overall nice gesture that is often overlooked by most newlyweds. Wedding professionals do a lot of behind-the-scene work that if done properly, most people won't even notice. That fact by itself is a reason to send them a quick note of appreciation. But, what if your vendor went above-and-beyond what you would call exceptional service?

Want to know a little secret: Wedding pros LOVE testimonials!

One great way to show a wedding vendor some gratitude for their outstanding service at your wedding is to post some stellar reviews of them on some popular wedding vendor rating websites such as Wedding Wire, Project Wedding or Yelp. Unlike personal written thank-you notes, customer testimonials are a public recommendation to potential clients that a certain vendor is professional, reliable and newlywed approved. These sites are fast becoming popular resources for planning couples that are trying to decide which vendors to choose and work with in their local area. Your online review and testimonial not only helps build their professional credentials, it creates an atmosphere of helping, support and guidance. And if you ask me, every planning bride would appreciate more of that.

Together, we can advance the wedding industry.