How Much Do Wedding Planners Make?

February 12, 2022
Lachie Hiriart
How to start a business
0

Every person arrives at that moment in their life when they leave their childhood and teenage years behind and move into the world of professionals. With this new era of life comes a career and responsibilities. Choosing a career is one the most important decisions a person has to make as it is a decision that will shape the rest of their life. If you are one of those people, then you might find yourself in one of the two categories. You might be one of those folks that enter the student life with your path and destination already planned. Or you might be someone who is yet to make a decision regarding what career path you want to pursue. The task of choosing a career might seem difficult at first as in the current age of technology there are hundreds of different options to choose from. But with doing some research and a little bit of self-assessment, any person can pick his career path that makes best use of his or her skillset.

One of the many career choices a person can pick is that of a wedding planner. Professional wedding planners help in the management and planning of a couple’s wedding ceremony. Weddings are, of course, special events and people often find themselves spending a great amount of money on wedding ceremonies to make them as memorable as possible. The wedding planner is often hired by people that work hectic jobs and don’t have to luxury to manage all the ceremony details. But before someone picks this career path comes the important question: how much do wedding planners make? To be honest, there is no one correct answer to this question. Earnings of a wedding planner usually vary from person to person as it depends on a number of factors. Some planners make 14 dollars per hour while some can make an average of 44,000 dollars per year. There are also people that can make up to 420,000 dollars per year. You can check how much money wedding planners make in different states of USA here to get an idea. As stated, there are a number of factors that can affect your earning as a wedding planner. Let’s discuss these factors in detail:

Table of Contents

Your experience as a wedding planner

If you are someone in any business related field, then it goes without saying that experience is key. People will always prefer planners that have been in the game for a longer run than someone who just set up shop recently. Not only that but the more experience you have, the more capable you are of charging your preferred amount. There is a reason that products from established brands and companies in any business field carry a hefty price tag. More experience means more reviews and more customers. People are also going to recommend established planners to their friends and family than the fresh ones. Another thing that can help you out in this regard is your education and background. If you are someone who is graduated from an official wedding planner school or have any degrees in the relevant field, then these could be used as your selling points during the marketing process. If you have experience in stuff like interior and floral design that you can also use credentials to draw people in and thus make more money. In other words, more experience as a wedding planner equals more money.

Your pricing model as a wedding planner

The second that can affect how much money you can make from this career path is your pricing model. Not all wedding planners use the same fee structure for their services. Some wedding planners tend to charge for the services per wedding while some do so on hourly basis. Doing some research shows that on average a wedding planner can make around 75 dollars per hour but an experienced wedding planner can make much more. Most wedding planners that cost by the hour provide their clients with crucial details regarding what activities what they will be charged for the hour. Often these activities include discussions concerning the event, any visits and actual designing and planning of the event in question. The other way of charging for the planning is by the per wedding basis. Once again, the overall costs could depend upon what services the couple wants to avail or not. A wedding planner can to make up to 3,000 dollars average per wedding.

The clients

A wedding is an important once in a lifetime event in most people’s lives and thus everyone tries to make their wedding ceremony as memorable as possible. So a good portion of what you might make from planning a wedding event depends upon how far the couple is willing to spend on their ceremony. For those people that like a few more bells and whistles will pay more for additional perks and services and this means you can supplement your income by charging them for these extra services. There are a number of wedding planners that offer extra services that may not be available through any other wedding planner in their areas. These extra services can include stuff like renting chairs, tables, tents, linens and other stuff, designing and printing of the decoration material, floral designing services, managing travel arrangements for wedding guests and even planning the couple’s honeymoon. These extra services can make a wedding planner the desired choice for many couples as it completely negates the need for visiting other vendors for these services, thus saving them time and the extra hassle.

The wedding location

This may seem like a minor point but weddings in different states or cities in the same country can vary greatly in cost. For example, a report shows that in Mississippi a wedding can cost around 15,000 dollars while in Hawaii a marriage can cost up to nearly 30,000 dollars. If you are a wedding planner in large metropolitan areas, then you can make more money as compared to other regions in the same country. Similarly, marriages cost a lot more in areas along the coast than in southern areas. If you are someone who is a beginner in this line of work, then you can make around 15,000 dollars max on a yearly basis. After working for a few years and having a good amount of experience under your belt, these numbers can go up to 25,000 dollars on average. On the other hand, an experienced wedding planner in larger areas can easily rack up to 100,000 dollars per year. Also keep in mind that expenses like rent, marketing costs, purchasing certifications and licenses etc. will be more expensive in major cities. So if you pursue a career as wedding planner, then make sure to compare costs and rates in your neighboring areas.

Your work ethic

Even if you have everything set up as a starting wedding planner, you have to ask yourself how many weddings you can actually plan in a given year. If you are someone who is an experienced wedding planner, then you might have a staff of people to handle some aspects of your business. Thus, you can definitely plan more weddings with a team of trusted and qualified people to back you up. If you are a beginner wedding planner, then things are going to be slow for you in this regard. Most beginners tend to be freelancers and are responsible for managing for everything as they usually work alone. This gives you less flexibility in terms of how many orders can you receive and how many plannings you can actually carry out in a year’s time. Thus, a solo wedding planner will carry out less of these services as compared to a team of people.

Conclusion

Overall, it is safe to say that being a wedding planner is a different kind of career path especially when compared to other jobs out there. You are not working a specific time slot and then waiting for your paycheck or salary at the end of the month. Here how much you make depends on a lot of factors including how many orders you receive and how much of these requests can you realistically carry out while working as a solo wedding planner or with a team. In other words, what you get at the end depends upon how much you are willing to put into it.

For more information on how to start a business Entrepreneurship Group has a number of informative article to help guide you through your entrepreneur journey!

Here are some helpful articles by Entrepreneurship Group to get your business off the ground:

Tags: wedding location wedding planner

Your experience as a wedding planner

Your pricing model as a wedding planner

The clients

The wedding location

Your work ethic

Conclusion

For more information on how to start a business Entrepreneurship Group has a number of informative article to help guide you through your entrepreneur journey!

Here are some helpful articles by Entrepreneurship Group to get your business off the ground:

1.Business Structure:

2.Business Planning:

3.Business set up:

4.Business managing:

4.Entrepreneur Health and well being:

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