New year new job are you dreaming of becoming a wedding planner

With the new year in tow there are a lot of newly engaged couples who will be planning their weddings. Is wedding planner a dream job for you? That is great if it is here are some tips on how to reach that goal.

• They perform a service.  Yes, much like one can change your own oil or do their own plumbing. What you will have them pay for is the convenience of having someone else worry about their wedding details. That is the very nature of the service industry — all the pretty stuff is just bonus.
• They are a neutral party. They don't really care if your Aunt Regita hates their guts because they didn't use her bingo buddy to make the cake. They have no family feuds to take part in or worry about. They are professional to everyone involved and when they are not treated professionally they don't care that they wont see that person again. By that person not planning their own wedding and choosing a planner for them they then can blame everything on the planner to take heat. You will have to be OKAY with this to be a planner. 
• They see the big picture. Lots of times when planning, anyone can become zeroed in on tiny minute details and not see the big web design. It will be your job to make sure that even though the bride has been focused on which flowers to use that the flowers actually get ordered as well as everything else that comes with a wedding that could be forgotten in the heat of the moment.
• They are not a guest.  Wedding guests should be able to fully immerse themselves in your wedding. They are there to make sure the caterer has the masterpieces set out to go, the weather is in check (haha they wish), everything is running smoothly and the bride is as destressed as can be. 
• They are the middleman. Every bride should enjoy and relax in her wedding. That is hard to do when you have small catastrophes happening in every room, around every corner, and with every family member. The planner is there to handle those moments so the bride can enjoy and keep laughing on her big day. 
• They do lots of weddings.When booking the venue and vendors they can easily smile, cover up dirty jobs, and win the bride over quicker than the hot light at Krispy Kreme doughnuts does. The planner has experience, connections, and a line of work with lots of other weddings to plan so vendors will be upfront and can't bribe their way off the bad reviews list online. This can be played in the favor of being a planner.
• They keep the brides best interest in heart. If the catering company leaves a mess or the rental company forgets an item that is all on the planner. The planner gets refunds for stained drapes and tablecloths or anything that goes wrong referencing the mini catastrophes that happen. The planner also holds the money and does all of the payouts to the vendors with the couples happiness at heart and knows all of the legal ramifications that can come into play for bad vendors!

Now after reading that if you still have that dream in heart to be a wedding planner then this is what you will need to do. Wedding planners come from all walks of life. But that doesn’t mean that waking up one day and saying that you want to realize this dream job is as easy as printing some business cards and creating a store front.

Working in the banquets department of a hotel would be good training ground to learn the expectations of the reception component of a wedding.
Several other related jobs that prepare someone for their own wedding planning business include:

• Banquet department at a large hotel
• Florist who mainly serves wedding clients
• Event planner jobs
• Church coordinators
• Banquet facilities

Required Training and Education

Many wedding planners are trained as event planners and then specialize in wedding planning . For some that means earning a bachelor's degree in hospitality management or a related field. Others have no formal training and learn their skills on-the-job. Those who are self employed should first learn how to manage and promote their own businesses. Certain soft skills—character traits that one usually doesn't acquire through formal training— will help you be successful in this job. You must be able to remain calm in the face of adversity. You must also be personable and, as mentioned earlier, a good negotiator. You are the mouthpiece for the bride and groom when it comes to finding a venue and hiring a florist, band, photographer and caterer. You must be able to get them the best service for the lowest price. Your reputation will depend on it. The ability to network is also important. If you can establish good connections, it will help you get the best deals possible. Which if this is your dream I can help get you in contact with the right people. The AACWP offers day long or week long educational experiences, hands on mentorships and then certification after the student has completed three weddings.
A day course costs about $400 which may be viewed as a minimal investment to determine if one should enter this complex yet fun occupation as most wedding planners charge 10% of what the couple is going to pay for the wedding. If I have $30,000.00 set aside for my wedding then you just made $3,000.00 for planning my wedding. If this is truly your dream job that you love to do then you just got paid for doing what you love. 


 That's not all. Running your own business, as well as handling other people's money, requires you to be adept at handling finances. You must also be very well organized.
 A wedding planner must have a good fashion sense. You must know about color, music, and flowers. A good knowledge of religions is also imperative since a wedding ceremony is often a religious one. Related to this is a knowledge of customs and traditions, which are also part of many wedding ceremonies. Plan to spend a lot of time reading the current bridal magazines, of which there are many, to keep up with the latest trends. As well as your own personal library of different religions and traditions; maybe even create your own library of scrapbooks for different religions and ceremonies that you can turn to when planning. By creating your own that will cause you to really research and learn.

Earnings

Event planners who worked for others earned a median annual salary of $57,434.00 and median hourly wages of $27.61 in 2014 (US). Which is $6.00 more hourly than what the rates were showing for 2011. While wedding planners fall under this category, their earnings may differ. Earnings for those who are self employed vary depending on their fee structures. According to the knot, wedding planners charge either a flat fee, an hourly rate or a percentage of the total wedding bill, ranging from 10 to 20 percent. They encourage couples to set aside 15 percent of their budgets. Another article on the knot says that a wedding costs, on average, about $30,000.00 excluding the honeymoon. That would mean wedding planners could earn average fees of about $4500.

Start-up Costs

Anyone thinking about opening a business must consider start-up costs. These costs for a wedding planning business can be under $2000; since one can work from his or her home. Although you may not need office space, you still need to budget for office equipment, marketing your business and purchasing appropriate work clothing. If you do not want to keep up with your tax deductibles after the year I highly recommend sitting down with your tax professional setting up a contract for them to do monthly deductions for you. Either they can take out the taxes monthly or set up a spreadsheet for you to mark your deductions and file away making it easier on you and your tax professional at the end of the year.