Welcome to our how to become a wedding planner webchat with Kelly Chandler

Are you the go-to-girl your friends turn to when they’re planning a party? Capable of taking a conference call while calculating numbers for the caterer? Bursting with so many brilliant W-day ideas you don’t know what to do with them? Then find out how to turn your passion into a profession in our live webchat with wedding planner Kelly Chandler, 30 August from 1-2pm.

Experts don’t come much better qualified than Kelly Chandler. A real-life wedding planner at The Bespoke Wedding Company and a director of the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners (UKAWP), she’s helped make countless brides-to-be dreams come true. The alliance is all about training and mentoring up-and-coming planners through seminars and special events, and giving brides an online hub of vetted specialists who meet their high standards.

Join us live on Tuesday 30 August from 1-2pm or leave your questions now for Kelly to answer on the day.

Hi Kelly

I am interested in becoming a "Wedding PA", its an idea I came up with when I first started planning my own wedding (and as you can see from the ticker I still have a while to go!) but I have planned pretty much everything at the moment and dont have a whole lot to do other than pay!

My background is a PA and project manager, both of which I believe are good starting points for helping others to organise their day (Mr.S is a buyer too so I have got great negotiating skills from him too!) - but my question is how do I put my wedding PA idea into practice?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Hiya Kelly,

I've always wanted to be a wedding planner as planning anything is in my blood! It's truely something I've always had a passion for but until I've started planning my own wedding I hadn't realised the potential it may have for being an actual career.

I've never trained in business, or events, or anything remotely similar. In fact, I'm currently in my final year of a degree in youth work and I work with young homeless people so I can't be further from the job! I do enjoy it, but I've always known I'd like to work for myself in something like Wedding Planning- I did youth work as a safe, back up plan! (Now kinda regretting the student fees etc...)

However, I do have passion, brilliant people skills (you have to working with teenagers!) and excellent organisation skills....is this enough? Or would I need a formal qualification?

thanks

Hi Kelly,

I really enjoyed planning my own wedding and am still full of ideas for weddings but have nowhere to put them into practice (I think I'm in danger of driving my friends insane as I keep giving them different ideas of things they could do for their own weddings!)!

My last role was in travel as a Reservations Manager (I was unfortunately made redundant at the start of August) and I believe that a lot of my skills such as organisation, attention to detail and people management skills, such as customer service and liaising with suppliers, would be transferable to wedding planning, but I'm not sure I want to start up on my own at the moment. Are there established companies that would be willing to take on a junior wedding planner, and if so, do you require any sort of formal training etc?

I look forward to your advice! Many thanks!

Hi Kelly,

Hope you're well. My Hubby and I got married earlier this year and I've at last found something I am incredibly passionate about and have the skills to make work as a business. I would like to know your views on the UK market competition, how important being accredited is, and if there is anything you would suggest avoiding when marketing yourself as a newbie planner?
Thanks
Claire Doubleyou

Hi Kelly,

Like the description up above, I am very much the go-to gal when planning any event involving friends or family. I am also passionate about flowers and have been studying floristry for 2 years. Is there any way to combine the two without opening my own business?

Also, how much store do employers put by qualifications? I have tried to enrol on an NFCE Level 2 Event Planning course but my local college has cancelled it twice. I have working as a facilities officer in a university and am very unhappy in this unsatisfying job. I think I have finally found something I actually want to do with my life. But I am twenty-four and have been working for 3 years. Will any employer consider taking me on without any work-based event planning experience?

Any little piece of advice very gratefully received. Thanks very much for taking the time to talk to us.

Louise

Hi everyone,

Thank you for joining our how to become a wedding planner chat with Kelly Chandler.

Kelly will be with us until 2pm so please do keep your questions for her coming in.

Enjoy the chat!

Webmaster

Hello everyone
I'm really looking forward to answering your questions over the next hour on how to make wedding planning a successful career. It looks like there are some great questions already so I'll start straight away. Best wishes Kelly @ The Bespoke Wedding Company and UK Alliance of Wedding Planners.

Hi Mrs S2B17
It sounds like your background of PA/organiser is ideal but as you ask how do you put it into practice? Anyone who sets up their own business in any field will tell you that you have to be big and brave and wedding planning is no different. You have to go for it if your circumstances are right and you feel you can really do it. That said you need to do your market research (which is endless) and really find out exactly what the day to day entails. You need to be prepared to earn very little profit in the first couple of years (again as per any business) as anything you earn will go into developing and building your business. You need to work hard at establishing a good name and there is no short cut for time and hard work. I would strongly suggest a training course of some description, and one that really tells you about the set up phase, marketing, websites, PR, that kind of thing. Good luck, it's a great industry to be part of.

Dear JP2BE
You ask about formal qualifications needed to get into wedding planning. The simple answer is no, there are none needed and certainly in order to start up your own business, you do not have to have an exam certificate. That has meant that the industry can be prone to individuals who don't start with the right knowledge or expectations which is one reason that the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners (i'm a Director) has a code of business practice and vetting procedure for our members to encourage high standards.
You can learn the trade in different ways though, there is no substitute for practical experience so working with a hotel or venue in their banqueting department would be very relevant. A practical and business focussed training coures such as one that we run at UKAWP would give you the understanding of what the industry is really like and a solid grounding for getting started.
I'd certainly say that your background and ability to work with teenagers is most definitely a huge benefit; people skills are really really key.