Are You Ready for a Wedding Planner Career?

Brisbane, with its impressive venue choices, ranging from elegantly antiqued castles to sandy beaches, is an ideal location for a wedding planner.  For those who can claim Australia’s third most populous city home, Brisbane will keep you in tulle and candied almonds. The city is no less than a wedding planner’s dream.

Not Your Average Party Planner

Do not confuse a wedding planner with your average party or event planner, because a wedding planner doesn’t just book locations and choose centerpieces for the reception. A wedding planner is, well, oh, so many things, including:

1.      Organizer

2.      Stylist

3.      Counselor

4.      Financial analyst

5.      Food Taster

6.      Color Palette expert

7.      Juggler (metaphorically, although literally couldn’t hurt)

8.      Punching-bag (metaphorically, and never literally; even brides can’t dole out random bully behavior)

9.      Raconteur

And, most of all, a multi-tasker. A wedding planner must be familiar with each of the specific necessities involved in ceremonies for major religions, as well as the variations in non-denominational services.

Personality, Please!

While there is a physical aspect to the many duties of a wedding planner, it is clearly a personality-driven job. A wedding planner must be prepared -- at any time during the process of putting the big event together – to calm down whoever in the wedding party needs it, to offer a measured solution and the proverbial helping hand (if you need to go through the trash to find the flower girl’s retainer, you do it).  A wedding planner must always be able to proverbially “keep it together,” when things are falling through, failing, and flailing.

Restaurants: A One-Stop Wedding Shop

One of the easiest (although, let’s face it, a wedding can never be “easy”) wedding venues in Brisbane amongst the numerous choices is a restaurant. Clients are going to want a lot in their single location and it’s up to you, the wedding planner, to accommodate, however outrageous or exorbitant.  Brisbane’s many restaurants can offer a beautiful location, a large private room, plenty of parking and delicious food. The key, however, is to make that careful match between bridal couple and eatery.

Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You

Before venturing into any commitments, it’s important that you have a lengthy sit-down with the couple, and encourage them to enumerate the importance of what they want. Remind them that what will really dictate the service and reception will be the dreaded budget. You should be able to tell them if their wants and needs are realistic within the boundaries of what they (or their family) can afford.

There are several ways to approach the prospective job. Wedding planners can work full-time for a specific restaurant/venue, or with a group of planners, or for one “in-demand” planner (like Hollywood’s iconic Mindy Weiss, for example) or they can freelance. A freelance wedding planner, must have contacts in every aspect of the industry – from churches to synagogues to mosques, from florists to growers, from textile companies to dress designers, from mobile eateries to Michelin-rated chefs.

Location, Location, Location

A couple who chooses Brisbane for their wedding location have their pick of the finest resort hotels, luxury golf grounds, lodges, iconic railway stations, city hall, boat houses, cricketer’s clubs, beaches, grassy knolls, river and park views, island resorts, historical estates, retreats, and botanical gardens. Restaurants and wedding venues in Brisbane can accommodate a thousand guests or ones that feature “boutique wedding” services.

In the Beginning….

Before you meet your prospective clients, be sure you know how much you’ll charge and have a contract prepared for them to sign. Do not begin work until you are confirmed. Remember there are many others who aspire to the same career as you.  You need a lot of information from them, including:

·      Biographical facts of the bride and groom

·      Number of guests

·      When/what time of year

·      Budget

·      Number in wedding party

·      Color and/or theme

·      Type of ceremony

·      Type of reception (budgetary concerns may deem a cocktail party preferable to a full dinner, for example)

·      Entertainment (live music at ceremony and/or reception, DJ)

·      Bar (hosted or no-host; will they serve alcohol)

You Want Me To do What?

Your involvement may include planning and preparation of the hen and/or bachelor party, securing blocks of hotel rooms for out-of-town guests, and, planning the honeymoon.  If you are slated to organize these additional issues, Brisbane, again, has much to offer, with a vibrant nightlife rife for a last-night-as-a-single blow-out (and your contacts in the hired car/limousine industry can be used for these parties as well as the actual wedding).

Brisbane’s the Best

If you are an organized multi-tasker with a romantic heart and head, Brisbane is the ideal location for your wedding planner business and duties.