Edmonton Photography Workshop

One of Edmonton’s great wedding photography teams is offering a photography teaching session to wedding planners, to help you further your portfolio.

I’ll be there and hope you’ll be able to join us.

Jolyn | Wedding Planner Coach
Secrets of a Wedding Planner

Keeping Your Blog Active

On my weddings blog, I’ve struggled to keep it current and on top of the trends.

I started by creating a draft entry anytime I thought of a topic to write about. This was great when I had time to blog then I at least had some ideas to start with.

But then I had nearly 100 drafts and still not much content.

So part of my New Years’ resolution was to create an editorial calendar. For me, it meant setting certain days/weeks of each month to a certain topic. Then on my calendar, I set what topic I am going to cover for each of those days.

The great part of this is that when I dedicated one afternoon to blogging, because the editorial calendar spreads out the topics, I have a good solid base of blogging created over the next 3 months. Any new time I find to blog will be dedicated to dates past those. The hopes, is that I get to be ahead of the game, and always have some topics scheduled to post.

I still have to do the same with this blog, but I’m happy that 3 days into the New Year I’ve accomplished a great system for keeping my wedding blog current.

Do you use an editorial calendar? How do you structure it?

Jolyn | Wedding Planner Mentor
Secrets of a Wedding Planner

Signature Sasha Released Today!

Today is official release on Amazon.ca of the Sasha Souza’s wedding inspiration book!

Check out her inspiration wedding decor schemes and wonderful use of color throughout!

Jolyn | Wedding Planner Coach
Secrets of a Wedding Planner

Confidence to Make the Sale

Although business is picking up for many wedding planners, there seems to be one area of their marketing that consistently is a trouble maker…their confidence.

Not only are you a wedding planner, a wedding coordinator, a business owner – you are also an a sales person. Every day, you have to sell your services, and more importantly, sell YOU!

You may have the best marketing materials, best prices, best sales pitch – if you aren’t confident in your presentation – all of those other things won’t give you much help.

So, how to you go about becoming more confident, when you don’t feel it?

• Put on some high energy mood music to listen too while prepping for a new client meeting (what song is your anthem that makes you feel empowered?)
• Before your meeting, look yourself in the mirror and say ‘I will book this wedding’ – say it 10x or more until you feel like you can believe it
• Don’t use the phrase ‘I can’t’ or ‘I haven’t’ in a consultation – if you haven’t done a cultural wedding, when the client asks about one, respond with ‘I’ve been looking forward to an opportunity to work with a couple of that culture – I’ve done a lot of research and am excited about incorporating some of those traditions into your wedding day!”
• If the couple doesn’t book right away – don’t get discouraged, send a follow up email or call explaining how you are excited for an opportunity to work with them. Let them know you know how busy they are, but if they have questions or would like a contract to sign, you’ll be pleased to forward that to them…act confident even after they leave the office
• If they don’t book your services, offer them one of your lower services, especially if price was an issue. If they can’t afford full planning services, perhaps day coordination with some hourly consults would better suit their budget

Confidence is your most important sales tool – too much confidence, you’ll come off as arrogent to the couple – not enough confidence and they won’t want to put their wedding plans in your hands.

What else do you do to make yourself feel more confident going into a new prospect meeting?

Jolyn | Wedding Planner Coach
Secrets of a Wedding Planner

TT :: Post Wedding Routine

This past weekend, my husband was home, while I worked a wedding. Now, that doesn’t sound unusual, other than the fact that he is a wedding DJ – so he is often out later than I am on most Saturday nights.

So this past Saturday, I came home, and started my post-wedding routine…when I hear him chuckling at me…

I had forgotten he’s seldom here when I get home, and needless to say he got a laugh out of me soaking my feet in the bathtub with ice cold water, in my comfy PJs, guzzling 2 litres of water and downloading all my photos from my camera and video recorder.

I was on a mission, and I wasn’t going to bed until I had done everything I usually do…

So for this Talk Tuesday – what does your post wedding routine entail?? What do you ‘have’ to do after each wedding when you finally get home…comment below!

Jolyn | Wedding Planner Coach
Secrets of a Wedding Planner

E-Book: Lessons from Burnout

As wedding season progresses, it is time for you to do a check on your stamina – how are you really coping?

Are you drowning in paperwork or having trouble returning all your calls.

In the early years of my business, I’d strive to work weddings every weekend. I quickly learned it led to a non-existant social life, always feeling left out of the activities of family & friends, and a growing dread towards my business….

It takes strength to recognize when you are burning out, and it takes courage sometimes to take some steps to stop your drowning spiral…so I ask you again, how are you really coping right now? If you are cruising a long, loving what you do – fantastic! If you are finding you are getting further and further behind or dreading answering the phone…then you need to take steps immediately to prevent further burnout.

I love reading Liene’s blog – Think Splendid – it’s full of wonderful business information. She’s put together a great e-book on “Lessons from Burnout” – a great reminder for all wedding planners how easy it is for us to take on too much, and how to make sure Burnout doesn’t consume your or your business.

I’d love to share this e-book with you – simply use the form above, and you’ll be send to the online pdf e-book for you to immediately review.

I hope your wedding season is going well, and that you don’t experience burnout. I want you to find ways to grow and be successful in your business, but have balance in all aspects of your life – that’s the key! I hope the e-book serves as a great reminder to you of the need for that balance!

Jolyn Saramaga  | Wedding Planner Coach
Secrets of a Wedding Planner
www.secretsofaweddingplanner.com

TT: According to Seth – It’s Broken

If you haven’t yet read a business book by Seth Godin – you are definitely missing out. Seth is the author of Dip, Tribes, Purple Cow, Big Moo and many others.

Today in his blog – he reposted a video of one of his previous presentations – I loved it – totally loved it! You can watch the presentation below:

What I really loved about it, was that the pointed out there are lots of things out there that are broken for various reasons – so why doesn’t someone fix them??

Then I got thinking about the wedding industry – and thinking about what may be broken, and how I can go about fixing it.

One thing I know is broken and fits in Seth’s ‘Not my job’ category – is wedding dress bustles – every 2nd wedding at least the bustle breaks. The seamstresses seem to forget or not care, that brides are bouncing, dancing hard, spinning around the dancefloor on the arms of their family and friends. Bustles should be made of titanium – don’t you agree? There has to be a better way to make a bustle that won’t break on a bride!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Seth’s video, and what else you may think is broken in the wedding industry…really think…I know, this video has caused me to take a serious look at what I do in my business and if it really works or is it some kind of broken?

What do you think is broken in the wedding industry…I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Jolyn | Wedding Business Mentor
Secrets of a Wedding Planner

TT: Calendars on websites?

I know a lot of wedding planners are using the Blu Domains for their website templates. And with that, I see a lot are activating the calendar feature…this has always been a curiosity of mine.

What benefit do you have, for having a calendar on your website?? I’d love to hear why you have a calendar or why you chose not to have a calendar on your website.

I don’t have a calendar – for a couple reasons.

• I want clients to call, even if I’m already booked – I want to sell them into a different package or service. If I’m not available for full planning, then I’ll sell them into one of my staff for month of coordination. If we don’t have anyone available for month of coordination, then we’ll sell them into monthly coaching calls and so on….if they think I”m booked, they won’t bother calling.
• I only work on 2 weddings a month for planning – it’s how I can ensure I deliver the high quality I do to my couples (and preserve some of my sanity)…so I think I’d look less busy than other wedding planners, simply because I don’t pump out the quantity.
• And yet, on that same note, if I post all my staff bookings too, then we look like a really large firm where our wedding clients are just a number, and that’s definitely not the case.

I’d love to hear why you’ve choosen to have a calendar on your website or not??

Jolyn | Wedding Planner Coach
Secrets of a Wedding Planner

TT: Wed Again?

I was talking with a good friend on the weekend, and she was asking me if I ever wanted to ‘re-do’ my wedding, since everyday I’m surrounded by incredible wedding ideas, and new wedding products!

I answered a very quick ‘no, I loved my wedding’, but then I got thinking…would I have loved a different style of wedding just as much? Is there a trend or idea I really wished I had included?

After some hard thinking, I realized that although my wedding was simple, it was ‘us’ on so many levels – it was fun, it was memorable, and nearly 11 years later, our friends and family still talk about it…so ultimately, and surely, my answer would have to be ‘no’.

So, if you had the chance, being in the industry, would you call a ‘do-over’ on your wedding day? What did you love and what did you hate about your wedding day?

Wedding MBA – Sept.21-24

If you don’t have the sixth annual Wedding MBA conference on your schedule, you need to add it!!

The Wedding Merchants Business Association is a fabulous conference to give your wedding business skills a fine tuning – and this year the conference is being hosted in Vegas – all the more reason to come (afterall, even Wedding Planners need a little play time!)

Early bird: Register by March 31/09 – and you and a friend can benefit with a 2 for 1 registration. So split the registration fee with a colleague, share a room at the conference, and you’ve just cut half your conference costs. The math is adding up in your favour!!

Definitely check out their stellar roster of seminars at their website: www.weddingmba.com

I hope to see you there!

Jolyn | Wedding Coach

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