Wedding planners?

Question

My advertising group and I are doing our term project for a wedding photographer. We think that some of the advertising will probably be aimed at wedding planners. So how do wedding planners work. Do they already have all the services or do they have contact with a bunch of caterers, photographers, florists etc. and show them to their clients? If the second option is the more right, how do they know about all these businesses? and how do these businesses usually advertise to wedding planners?

No one in my group has ever gotten married and none of our close friends have either, so we all technically have no clue how people even plan their weddings. The idea about advertising to wedding planners just came to me. We have to plan a year long advertising campaign for the company. We have others things planned, this wedding planner thing is just something we want to add in.

This is for my advertising class. I'm not in the business. We have to do a term project for the class. I'm asking questions on Y!A to get a feel for what goes through people's heads when they get married. I've tried calling some wedding planners in my area but as soon as I try to ask them some questions they automatically assume I want their business.

Answer 1

Isn't that what you are supposed to learn - on your own - for your assignment? Perhaps you are unaware that Google.com, Yahoo.com, Ask.com, etc. allow you to conduct searches without leaving your home? Did you visit one of these sites and type in such things as "wedding planner +career"? I did it for you. Here are some URLs you can use to find info on what wedding planners do:
http://www.acpwc.com/
http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/a/wedding_planner.htm
http://www.studentnow.com/career/greatjobs/fj-wedding.html

Also look at "bridal consultant".

Once you have an idea on what they do, make a list of questions you need to ask a real wedding planner (to get answers for your assignment). Keep track of the ones you called, so you don't call them again (if they already declined to help). Once you have questions to ask, start calling some planners.

Look at some existing advertising, see if you can track the ad agency. Call the agency and ask your questions.

Hopefully, you received some response to your calls. Good luck.

Answer 2

Wedding photographers would do better advertising to new brides. The idea behind your project seems to be more" what is the advertising you would do." So therefore if you are in advertising (or hope to be) what would you present to the client?

For example--what magazines would you use? Modern Bride, The local Wedding Guide, get yourself posted on The Knot. Now design the ad you'd place there.

You would go to bridal shows. Brides go to these huge events--you have some local all the time at the hotels around you.
http://afwpi.com/shows/
http://www.wedalert.com/bridal_show/

Basically the idea seems to be for you to put together an ad portfolio. Not just contact wedding planners and prove you can dial a phone. Now I just graduated with a degree in advertising and advertising is competitive. If you aren't even willing to research how to do a project that YOU picked--you better change your major now. Creativity--not using Y!A--is the KEY to success in this cutthroat business. In order to create an ad campaign you need a theme. What will you sell to? If you don't have the motivation, creativity, nor desire to create an ad campaign--drop the class. B/c you would do an ad campaign the same way for every new client--research research research. You don't KNOW the client, you don't know what the client wants. Without bothering to know what they want, how do you ever expect to give them what they want?

Look up how much the wedding business is growing each year. So there are thousands more wedding planners each year--former brides who think it would be a fun career--obviously they are always looking for more contacts. But yes the huge name celebrity planners already have their contacts. They know about these businesses b/c they have worked with them in the past.

If you were a bride--how would you find out about your services? Most brides know just as much as you do--few of them have been married multiple times before. They are just regular people. Wedding planners are probably a very very small percentage of a wedding photographers bookings.

That was so much more info than I intended...

Answer 3

We are a wedding officiant service in Texas (www.lovewithnoboundaries.com) that offers links to other professionals in other areas as part of our services. We link with people that we meet at weddings we perform or at bridal shows. Most wedding planners we meet offer mostly catering, decorating, and favors. Some offer location as well. Most recommend photographers, videographers, cake makers, officiants, etc. Some do nothing more than decorate and just organize all of the other professionals. Most of what wedding planners do you can do yourself, but if you don't have time, they can make it all come together. Since they do it for a living, they probably have good ideas and know which professionals to recommend and which ones are not worth it.

Answer 4

I hate to tell you but wedding planners are a HUGE ripoff! We hired one for my daughters wedding and it turned into a nightmare! This horror came highly recommended and funny (?) thing was, after I used her other customers fessed-up and admitted she had made some terrible gaffs w/their weddings too. I hope your term project gets you a good grade but I think you need to talk to the customers of some of these "professionals" to get a well rounded look at the whole story. Given some good friends and a few wedding prep parties, complete w/pizza or something, you can do nearly everything yourself. And save a ton of $$$.

Answer 5

I make all kinds of florals for weddings, and the planners must research and find the services they need or the services can call wedding planner and talk with them and send them samples, etc.

Answer 6

I know of an excellent wedding photographers and videographers. The name of the company is LCDphotography. They are internationally recognized and have a great portfolio of previous weddings they have done online.

http://www.lcdphotography.com

Answer 7

I think in order for you to get a better idea of what a wedding planner does, try planning your own "mock" wedding. it would help you to see what adversiting is needed, etc.

Answer 8

To be successful, you have to network. Here is a plugin for our networking attempt with other professional in the industry.

If you're a wedding planner in San Jose / San Francisco Bay Area, my best friend is looking for a wedding planner to partner with. She's a photographer for Shoot Me Now Studio in San Jose, CA. They want to promote you via video marketing in and around the Bay Area. This video will show up on first page of Google. No charge to you. They will pay for it in exchange that you refer them your clients.

Just Google "Shoot Me Now Studio" in San Jose. You can contact them anyway you want. Ask for Annabeth.

Regards,
Zoe P.

Answer 9

Wedding planners take your hard earned money for arranging things that you can arrange for yourself. Look in your local phone directory and there they all are.