YEAR 2018 in review: how I simplified my job as a Wedding Planner and what awaits us next year

At the end of 2017, after an in-depth analysis of the year, we came to the conclusion that there must be an easier way to achieve the same or even better result. 2017 was a rather tiring professional year, so for 2018 I decided to simplify.

I’ll tell you exactly how I did it, but what are the remaining takeaways and challenges for next year.

I have reduced the number of weddings I organize

The first simplification step I took was to reduce the number of my marriages. From ten, which in previous years were in fact 12 and more, to eight. I closed the diary very early: in February I shot the last weddings of the current year and tried to focus only on them.

My business has had constant growth over ten years, but it hasn’t been an explosion. So I knew quite naturally what for me is the reasonable limit of events that I can occupy. I have never had the opportunity to organize more than 12 weddings in a year. I mostly had about 15 overlapping events and it felt difficult, tiring and unrewarding.

In 2018 I added a service prize My offer, which is truly mega-super-premium and is intended exclusively for one customer per year. To create the resources for this exclusive package, I opted to reduce the maximum number of weddings even further. For 2018 it was not possible to hire someone else permanently into the team, so I followed the simplest solution, which worked very well.

I turned down 2020 weddings

The second step was refuse right from the start requests for marriages that take place within two years.

I received the first request for 2020 somewhere in March 2018. Then another one in May and another one by September. I realized that I can’t focus enough and that I didn’t have the resources needed to manage a project that spans more than 14 months. From a financial point of view, it seems even more complicated, because a fair price for the services offered for two years would mean almost double the current cost.

Obviously it is more difficult to sustain such a cost than not offering services for a period exceeding 14 months. So I chose the simplest way here. You can also find a brief explanation in the FAQ section on the contact page.

I was looking for a tool to help me

I wanted to simplify not only for my own good mental state, but also for a better communication flow with customers and a more pleasant experience in the organization. So since 2017 I have been looking for a management tool that would simplify some tasks and allow me to be proactive over time. I discovered, after much testing on various project management programs and tools, Lane planner.

Aisle Planner is an extremely complex event management application, created by the Wedding Planner team for Wedding Planners around the world. It is a wonderful application for those who have just started getting married, because it offers you powerful know-how and you can do it reasonably even if you have not organized any wedding so far. It seems very useful to me if you have more than 10 weddings or a sizable team, whether you are a florist, a photographer, a planner, a designer or even a restaurant.

And then I went back to something simpler

I have worked in Aisle Planner with almost every wedding shot since 2017. I have noticed small improvements in the communication flow and some progress in the consulting part. But I felt like they kept more of the client’s receptiveness to helping themselves than my effort or the wonderful tools designed in the water.

So, at the end of the last wedding I celebrated in Aisle Planner in 2018, I decided not to continue planning future weddings with him. At least for next season. I simplified and I’m back to Google Docs and Spreadsheetswhere I’m already used to keeping the flow of tasks, events, budgets and everything needed for the weddings and projects I organize. It is a simple and very high receptivity of the customer.

While it’s by no means a fantasy, unlike a professional management tool, it’s currently my solution for long lists and discussions, sometimes difficult to root into future actions.

I managed to stop working in the evening *** THE BIGGEST WIN of 2018 ***

Another thing that I applied successfully and for the first time was stop working in the evening. The Holy Grail of every small business owner nowadays. This meant organizing my workday so that I didn’t have to deal with «urgent» tasks at the end of the day.

I spent many years working hard, a lot compared to the normal work schedule. This inevitably led to a feeling of frustration and resentment towards myself first and foremost, but sometimes also towards my own clients. I need a little courage to admit that, however, the inability to plan the work as best as possible (which is not necessarily linked to the organization or success of the wedding, but only to my internal cooking) belongs to me.

Much of a Wedding Planner’s job becomes, at some point, putting out fires left and right. The first two or three months of the contract are quite simple, like a honeymoon, let’s say. After that, because some clients don’t even have time to decide based on the calendar, because others need more advice than the first or simply because the organization times are different from one client, «emergencies» start to appear.

In the language of time management, emergency They are the most unproductive tasks, because they don’t help the «project» move forward, sometimes they are not related to a specific task, and they completely interrupt the workflow you had. A big part of success in any normal workday is preventing emergencies or even avoiding them completely.

2018 was the year I had most evenings and nights without working. This allowed me to be more present during the working day and prevent many situations that could have ruined it. I created more time for socializing and networking. And more time for family, which every man wants, of course.

I reorganized my work calendar and planning system

Until this year I admit, to the amazement of my own ignorance, that I have not been able to simplify my working day. I usually made the task list at the end of the previous day or in the morning, looked at all the overdue tasks and prioritized them by complexity or by accelerate. If a potential meeting comes up, we allocate my time regardless of the day and purpose of the meeting (client, associate, or prospect).

Somewhere in March, however, I started working batch-uri And rearranging my schedule with a little more intention. For the few weeks remaining until the first wedding of the season (which took place in April), we have created a calendar with commitments divided by days. Days of meetings, days of emails and phones, days of research, etc. The result was surprising.

During the entire season I had to change and adapt the workflow a lot and for 2019 I decided to create the most predictable workflow for each quarter (respectively for each important phase of my clients’ wedding planning). This means including the creation of a multitude of templates, which suits each customer.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

There are also things I haven’t been able to simplify or focus on this year.

One of these refers to the intention to delegate ea the need to be helped. Which I can’t always recognize and which I stubbornly hide, in the most frequent cases. I want to learn to ask for help more often. And offer mine, when I can.

Another thing in the category not arrived yet is related to My relationship with Facebook and Instagram. This year, for simplicity’s sake, I tried to ignore social media as much as possible. Strange enough, my likes, comments and hearts create a state of anxiety, not the feeling of comfort that man feels, with the subtle infusion of dopamine. I didn’t notice a drop in the number of requests, the clients were some of the nicest and best I’ve had so far and overall I had something to post, I saw that reach-ul he did not suffer too much due to the prolonged absence. Even if the result was good, promotion is a long-term game. I’m still trying to find the right fit for me.

For 2019

If you’ve made it this far, first of all, thank you for your interest and patience!

For 2019 I set out to improve what went well this year and to create a balance between the planning/organization of work and that of Commercial activity Yes.

Throughout the year that is about to begin, I want to act with more Courage. Not the kind of courage that raises our adrenaline to alarming levels. A courage taken on, that of trying and exploring new things in the wedding field. Playing it safe is my middle nameand even if this has helped me a lot so far, the situation of always being at ease already becomes, paradoxically, uncomfortable. The longer you put something off, the greater the fear.

So 2019 will be approximately presumption and courage. About doing important, unpaved things. And to share them with those who, in turn, hire to do special things in the wedding sector.

***

In 2018, ten years after the first arranged wedding, I really learned to love this business as it is today. Not how I imagined it should be many years ago, but how it has changed and how I have been able to show it in front of the world.

I connected to a basic motivation: deliver on your promises and make your customers happy. I’ve learned to put aside the unproductive things and some of the big stress producers and focus on the things that are going well.

It is perhaps an atypical article for a wedding organizer blog, but there are some effective and sincere things that I wanted to share with both clients and future clients, as well as with readers who are on the same side of the fence, corporate colleagues and entrepreneurs in the wedding sector.

I wish you all a new year that is patient in your projects and very fruitful in confirming them!