The Business of Luxury Weddings

Among the many superpowers of a luxury wedding planner, is the ability to turn 18 months of planning into a timelined, well-executed event with hundreds of moving parts.    The secret: there is absolutely no room for indecisiveness. The clients hire you to guide them and make decisions. If you're still thinking "I wonder if we should…" on the day, it's not a business you're built for.    Wendy Jac...

Luxury is the ability to surprise, delight, anticipate, and deliver. In the wedding space, it's ultimately the difference between planning an event and creating an experience. Our clients are incredibly discerning individuals, so we have to be discerning too.    The job is going above and beyond "what we have in the warehouse" to actually bring about a well-executed vision.    In this high stress...

In the realm of ultra-luxury event design, the pressure to exceed the client's high expectations comes with the territory. Creatively speaking, it's hard to say no to the vision, and that requires us to constantly push the boundaries of what's possible. The work of designers is incredibly detailed and precise, and that can be a heavy energy expenditure to whoever's at the helm of that vision.   Th...

In an industry like wedding photography, "there are as many opinions as there are planners". It's easy to get caught up in groupthink and herd mentality. People parrot information about running our businesses and what it takes to succeed like it's universal truth when it's one perspective.    All information and advice is meaningless if it's not filtered through what works best for us. Sometimes,...

Obsessive craftsmanship, storytelling, collaboration. If we could sum up wedding photography, it would be in these 4 words. It's not just about taking a pretty picture, and it's definitely not just about the technical stuff.    At some point focus, light, and composition become so deeply ingrained in us we have to reach for something more. We have to learn the art of earning the photo - both from...

"Your vision is safe with me." That's what a planner needs to say and deliver to their clients. When you're at the helm of a magical moment where every detail matters, how things look isn't your first consideration. You have to go 30,000 ft up, take what they want to see and steep it in reality, while still maintaining the magic.    To do this effectively, confidence, competence, and kindness are...

If you're good at the craft, raising your rates isn't a question of skill. It's more about doing the mindset work so you can confidently elevate how you show up in the marketplace. Your work has to be good - that's a given, but you'll hit a ceiling if you only focus on that. To grow our revenue, we have to raise what we think our work is worth - and that has a lot to do with branding.    The shift...

Luxury wedding or not, we're in the business of serving our clients and pulling off a once-in-a-lifetime fairytale for them. Of course, we have to be exceptionally talented, but there's also a whole strategic process of unglamorous, behind-the-scenes work to make it look seamless and luxurious.    All wedding vendors are in the unique position of not being guests, but having such a pivotal role on...

An emotion-provoking image that speaks to the planner, not a wasteful unsolicited gift.    Steady, quiet persistence, not annoying pushiness. Understanding the cues that say ultra-luxury, and nothing less.   That's how you get on the radar of an elite ultra-luxury planner, and get hired again and again. In the high stakes, high-touch and high detail world of elite wedding planning, photographers a...

"If only I was just better at the craft...."   If you're a creative in the wedding industry struggling to get those next level weddings, you've probably said this to yourself. It's easy to think getting better at what you do is the missing link.   The truth is: digging into and putting an emphasis on the business side is the solution. Most creatives feel like artists who happen to run a business....