Resources for Starting a Wedding Consultant Business

Weddings are a billion dollar a year industry in today’s society. It can be a very lucrative field to get into if you are a vendor offering goods and services to brides. Many brides hire wedding consultants to assist them with the planning and execution of their special day, from planning the event, selecting the venue, choosing the dress and arranging for invitations, catering, music, flowers and even the limousine. Here are some key terms to get you started.

ACPWC

The Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants or AXPWC is a wonderful resource to check out for support in all aspects of starting and running your wedding consultant business including classes and information on local chapters. Use their event calendar to find a place to pick the brains of current wedding consultants on the best practices of starting your own business.

ABC

The ABC or the Association of Bridal Consultants is another organization there to help you get started in the wedding consultant industry. They participate in a yearly conference, giving you a venue to go to so you can learn from the pros.

Business plan

As with any start up, it is important that you have a clear understanding of what your wedding consulting business is going to be about, and where you see it going in the future. This is especially important if you are applying for financing, or want to eventually expand to hire assistants.

SBA

The Small Business Administration is the government's resource for those people who own businesses or those people who are looking to start a small business. The SBA has resources to guide you every step of the way in starting up your wedding consulting business so be sure to check them out and utilize them.
SBA for helpful information for starting any business. The principles apply also to developing a successful wedding planning business

Certification

It is important that you get the proper certification to be a wedding consultant. This involves completing the proper training courses. Having certification shows that you are serious about your business. Every state may have a different requirement as far as licensing is concerned, so be sure to check with your state's department of licensing.

Target bridal market

It may be obvious that your wedding consulting business is targeting brides. But which type of bride? Are you interested in working with older, working professionals, or younger brides who may not have a lot of life experience? What about income level? Are you interested in being a high-end consultant, or do you want to be available for any bride to be able to hire you. These are important things to consider when you are nailing down your target market.