How to become a wedding planner with an event management course | FAQs

Have you always dreamed of becoming a Wedding Planner but not sure if an event management course will help you break into the industry? This niche area of events management is a great career option if you love creating, conceptualising and organising beautiful events. You need to have the foresight to anticipate unforeseen occurrences and tick the following skill boxes.

[bctt tweet=”Ask any Wedding Planner how they started in the industry – each will have a different answer. ” username=”getsmarter”]

The skills you’ll learn on an event management course to help you become a Wedding Planner:

1. Successful Wedding Planners are able to manage resources
Skills you’ll learn with an event management course includes financial management and people management. This is because proper budgeting and good staff motivation always contribute to the smooth running of the event.

2. Professional Wedding Planners are always team players
This is vital, as a successful event depends on the effective use of team skills. An Events Manager must ensure that each member of their team is performing the task that makes the best use of their skills. Project management skills are important when keeping the team on track towards the overall event goal.

3. Wedding Planners need to be good communicators and inspirational leaders
An Events Manager must be able to share their vision and ideas with their team. They must be approachable and receptive to new ideas and criticism. With the development of good communication, Event Managers can also improve their leadership abilities, and inspire their team members to work together.

4. You need to be a networker to become a well-known Wedding Planner
A successful Events Manager is personable and has the ability to connect with and understand people from different backgrounds. This helps them to build relationships with future clients and sponsors. These relationships could become a valuable resource for planning future events.

5. Make sure you’re able to stay calm under pressure as a Wedding Planner
The manager must be able to react quickly if things do not run as planned on the day of the event. This requires considerable resourcefulness and creativity, but is also linked to proper planning. Planning and process will allow you to have the foresight to put alternative plans in place in case things don’t run smoothly on the day of the event.

In this short video Mandy Mulder, Head Tutor on the UCT Events Management online short course gives insight into how you can begin your Wedding Planner career and how an event management course could give you the edge you need.

Transcription

If you asked 10 different Wedding Planners how they got started in the industry, you’ll more than likely get 10 different answers, and that’s because there isn’t really a clear cut path to becoming a Wedding Planner. There’s no specific certification required or course to study. Obviously, my advice to those wanting to get started in the industry, is to get some form of undergraduate degree or diploma if possible under your belt in a field like PR, marketing, business management, etc. Then to complete a course in event management or wedding planning. These courses will give you the practical tools and the confidence you need to go out and actually start planning weddings. Like everything in life, the more hands-on experience you get, the more successful and better you’ll become at what you do. When starting out, get stuck into volunteering at a wedding company or working for a catering company at weddings, etc. This will give you a foot in the door and the on-site experience you need.