Work in a wedding organization agency. How can a professional start working with wedding agencies? Why do you need a wedding organizer

26.12.17 47 100 0

Become a wedding planner

And go to a holiday like to work

A year ago, Lyuba got married. She enjoyed organizing her wedding and quit her job as a lawyer to become a wedding planner.

Mikhail Kenegesov

is friends with the wedding organizer

I asked her about her career, work, money and difficulties.


Why do you need a wedding organizer

The organizer is such a "assemblage point" of the wedding. He makes sure that everything you need for the wedding arrives, everyone has a good time, and then they leave for their homes, and not for hospitals.

Wedding - big event: it is attended by artists, cooks and waiters, pastry chefs, florists, decorators, drivers, pyrotechnics, security guards, stuntmen, carriages, horses, mummers, doctors and special forces soldiers. First, you need to find them, select, synchronize, agree on prices, approve a concept with each, draw up a general program and agree with the site where all this will take place. And you also need to make sure that all this pleases the bride, groom and their parents.

Then the playground will refuse at the last moment, the clowns will get sick, the horses will kick up, and the dog will eat the goods from the pastry chef. Then all the work needs to be done again two days before the wedding.

On your wedding day, you need to make sure that everyone comes to the right site (and not to the same restaurant on the other side of the city); check the quality of the installation of the scenery so that no one is killed; examine flowers; check the diesel level in the generator; disperse the clouds; give ammonia to the mother-in-law; to calm down the paratrooper from the groom's side and send a helicopter for the bride, because there are traffic jams in the city and she cannot leave the house in any way.

This work can be done by the newlyweds themselves - but then they take on the organization of a large project and solving problems on the spot. Not fatal, but little pleasant. The groom distributes envelopes with royalties to the performers all day long, the bride argues with the florist, and an ice sculpture of a swan is in a traffic jam on the other side of the city.

If the wedding is big or the newlyweds don't want to bother, they turn to the organizer. He prepares the wedding in advance and supervises the situation on the wedding day. The newlyweds just come to the holiday, and the organizer coordinates the contractors, pays everyone and solves problems.


Lyuba (in the center) with her colleagues greets guests and controls the seating at the tables. Photo: Yana Alexandrova

Market

Some organizers work on their own and get clients through friends. Others set up agencies with multiple organizers. Some agencies specialize in weddings, others are engaged in any kind of holidays: even anniversaries, even matinees.

Contractors work on the market separately from the agencies: decorators, florists, pastry chefs, restaurants and catering, artists and presenters, photographers and operators. There are companies that organize logistics or simply lease transport. There are also those who supply light and sound, organize cleaning, security, conduct flash mobs or are professionally engaged in pyrotechnics. As a rule, all these contractors simultaneously serve the entire event market: concerts, weddings, photo sessions, and whatever.

One of the organizer's tasks is to gather reliable contractors around him and quickly present them to clients. For example, if the groom is to enter the ceremony on horseback, then the organizer must have a contractor who will negotiate with the horse.

A good organizer knows which of the hosts is drinking and how much; which stylist will suit which bride; how much paper roses cost from different decorators; to which of the photographers to go for sophisticated photo stories, and who will give a high-quality bride in the palm of your hand. The organizer is such a guide in the holiday market: he knows who costs how much, how to negotiate with whom and who can be combined with whom.

Studies

Almost all famous agencies conduct their own courses for wedding organizers. So they share their experience with newcomers, help to recruit a base of contractors and look after themselves personnel. You can do without these courses, because you can develop experience and base on your own. Diplomas and formal education are not required for this job.

The training programs are different: monthly, weekly and even two-day intensives on weekends. The price depends on the city, the popularity of the wedding agency and the duration of training, usually it ranges from 20 to 45 thousand rubles.

Theoretical classes went on for several hours every day. They told how to organize a wedding in summer, winter or autumn; what to do if you need to prepare an on-site registration; how to avoid major mistakes and find reliable specialists to join your team. At the end, all participants were given ready scripts for talking with clients and contractors, as well as templates for contracts and other documents.

Then I started practicing as an assistant to a wedding planner. Lyuba met guests, looked for lost artists, ran around with flower vases, made sure that the waiters took out the hot stuff on time - she did the hardest work. It was all part of the training, so she worked for free. So Lyuba was able to see the process from the inside.

In practice, Lyuba showed herself well, and she was immediately offered a place in the agency for the rental of equipment and wedding venues. At work, she interacted daily with people who are trying to organize their wedding. So she managed to find the first clients and appeared in her portfolio successful projects... This was enough to turn on word of mouth.

Six months later, Lyuba decided to continue her studies and took a two-day intensive course for experienced wedding organizers. She paid another 18,000 rubles. The intensive was about the latest trends in the wedding market and how to attract new clients through a business account on Instagram.

48,000 RUB

the total amount that Lyuba spent on training

It was possible, of course, not to do all this and just start working on their own. But as Lyuba says, such courses are still a relatively easy way to enter the industry. It would be harder to do it on our own.


Money

During the year of her work, Lyuba held 15 weddings with budgets ranging from 200 thousand to 1 million rubles. She was preparing a wedding for a million for 6 months and received 250 thousand for it. This amount consisted of two parts: a fee from the newlyweds and a commission from contractors.

Lyuba negotiates her fee at the first meeting with clients. Usually it is included in the general wedding estimate. For example, if customers are ready to spend 300,000 RUR for a celebration, she immediately writes out an approximate set of services, including the conditional 15,000 RUR for her work. The newlyweds will not spend more than the declared amount - this is the main advantage of working with a wedding organizer.

250,000 RUB

Lyuba earned for organizing a wedding, the total budget of which is 1 million rubles

The commission from the contractors is the basis of the organizer's earnings. The size depends on the region and the negotiating ability, but on average it is 10% of the contractor's earnings. In fact, this is the specialist's gratitude for the fact that the organizer invites him to his events. Of course, clients can find contractors themselves, but without being guided by the market, it is easy to run into non-professionals and ruin your holiday.

It is important for a wedding planner to meet the budget and get a predictable result. Therefore, you need to carefully select the specialists you attract to projects. When Lyuba finally had a team, her income began to grow. For example, for a wedding with a budget of 200,000 RUR, Lyuba received 57,000 RUR, of which the newlyweds paid her only 10,000 RUR.

Lyuba is just starting, so she takes on any orders. She is even interested in weddings with an estimate of 20,000 rubles. For example, if the newlyweds want to spend the day together - sign at the registry office and mark it in the restaurant - Lyuba will pick up a good place and tell you where to find live music. For an hour and a half of preparation, she will earn 4000 R.


Often, newlyweds want to sit in a very specific setting. Finding people who will create such a decor is difficult. Photo: Sergey Gribanov

Required skills

Outside, the wedding is lace, cream and ruffles. From the inside - rage, sweat, blood and three-story mats. This is what should be in the heart and mind of a good wedding planner.

Organizational skills. It is believed that working in the wedding business is for creative people. Lyuba is convinced that this concerns the organizer in the last place. First of all, a wedding is about logistics, documents, estimates and problem solving.

Providence. The wedding organizer is obliged to remember all the little things and anticipate any force majeure. If Lyuba is preparing an outdoor wedding, she always keeps umbrellas, blankets and heat guns... If the young people want to have a wedding on "beautiful" dates, for example 08.08.2018, she will do her best to dissuade them. On such days, venues, photographers and presenters repeatedly raise the price tag, and hell is going on in the registry office.

Once Lyuba was preparing a wedding in a prestigious yacht club. Suddenly it turned out that there are no trash cans anywhere nearby and the bags are simply dumped in the backyard. To prevent the wedding guests from accidentally stumbling upon such a pyramid, Lyuba had to urgently place an order for Yu-Du and pay 2000 R herself for garbage collection.

If it rains, the main thing is to save the bride from it. Photo:

 

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