When it comes to wedding packages, it can be overwhelming to figure out exactly what you should offer. There are tons of types of weddings out there, and you never know what a client may want right off the bat.
This is why variety is key. Offering different wedding packages is not only a great business move, but one that will enrich your own wedding planner career. It will make you more versatile as well as expand your own creative horizons.
But which wedding packages should you offer? There are things like location and types of clients to consider, but here is a great selection of options for you to look over.
The All-In Wedding Planner Package
This is your typical, plan everything, break down a budget, run things on the day wedding package. When most people hire a wedding planner, this is what they are coming for. They want you to handle everything, and they just want to know what their options are.
You can still offer tiers based on just how much involvement they want, but keeping it simple with an “all-in” package will leave your clients with fewer questions. If they want it, you can help them get it—within reason of course.
This package will start with a consultation and navigating the budget, then go on to finding and booking vendors, venues, and the reception location, and handling things on the day as well.
Day-of Coordinator Wedding Packages
DIY brides have become a lot more common these days, and many couples have everything planned on their own down to the final centerpiece. However, on the day of the wedding, they are going to be a bit busy, well, getting married!
Day-of wedding packages will give them peace of mind and an additional, lower cost package for you to offer. This package may include any of the following tasks:
- Run-through during rehearsal of what clients want the day to look like, making sure you’re both on the same page
- Creating a detailed and comprehensive itinerary of the day for the wedding party, including any activities, photoshoots, and such they will participate in
- A walkthrough of the venue and reception site to make sure everything is in order prior to the actual event
- A checklist and itinerary for vendors, providing a timeline for the day and any last-minute changes
- Assisting and managing set-up of the ceremony and reception sites (Are all the plates in the right places? Where is the guest book?)
- Management of the wedding day (While your clients are getting married and enjoying themselves, it’ll be your job to make sure everything is running on time and in order, as well as providing any additional aid, be it finding that perfect red lipstick or making sure everyone is at the right table.)
- Being available for any questions or concerns from guests, the wedding party, and vendors
- Making sure the day and night go off with a hitch and that everything that needs to get done, does so
Partial Wedding Planner Packages
Sometimes a partial wedding planner package is done a la carte. Clients may only need help with vendors or it is florals they are desperate about. Whatever it is, having a menu of partial wedding planner packages will not only gain you more clients but assure fastidious couples that they don’t have to hand over control of everything.
1. Venue Hunter
One of the most stressful aspects of getting married is finding out where to do so. Venues get booked out months and years in advance, and it can get to be too much. By offering a venue-hunter package, you will take care of that huge piece of their wedding puzzle for them.
2. From Vendors to Catering
This partial package is all about the vendors and dealing with them. This is great for couples who maybe want to concentrate more on the aesthetics and feel of their wedding, but don’t want to deal with contracts for the DJ or the food.
Catering is always a huge deal and can be overwhelming to even the most prepared brides and grooms. With this package available, you can take control of that and any other vendors they may need, make it simpler for your couples, and still have a part in their special day.
3. Just the Decorations, Please
The clients may have all they need done in terms of the venue, food, and even reception. What they need help with, however, is decorations.
This sort of package will have you handling everything from florals to linens, lights, and maybe even the altar. It is highly customizable and perfect for those couples who maybe aren’t creatively inclined and need some help.
The Latest Trend: Micro Weddings
These weddings grew in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic and are continuing to be very popular in 2021. Having these as an option will let couples know you can create personal weddings in a short time frame on a limited budget. That’s going to make you very popular in itself.
But what does a micro wedding package offer clients? The list is much shorter, but that’s kind of the point.
- Finding and setting up the ceremony spot, perhaps somewhere meaningful to the couple
- Booking the furnishing the reception, typically from 10-50 people max
- Pot-luck and family style eating are good micro wedding ideas
- Assisting in any decoration ideas—again simpler and minimalistic is the name of the game here
- Seeing if venue/reception spots have inclusive photographers or other amenities specifically tailored to micro weddings
Don’t Forget Pop-up Weddings
These are for the couples who are even more impulsive than those doing micro weddings and the ones who give you two weeks notice and not much else. Pop-up weddings are for the spontaneous, fun, quirky clients who are ready to get married and don’t really care about the trappings.
Offering a pop-up wedding package will bring in the clients who are too afraid to elope but still want to get married right now! Offer these packages at a flat rate with a scale based on what clients may want. At the bare minimum, however, these things should be included:
- A set time slot with an officiant, a venue, a photographer, and a cake or florist
- A la carte items can include:
- Bottle of champagne for a wedding toast
- Themed weddings (Halloween, Harry Potter, etc)
- Extended time for socialization
- A videographer
- Additional photoshoot time
A Wedding Planner for Elopements?
We know what you’re thinking: Why would anyone need a wedding planner when they are eloping? Well, not everyone knows how to do that. This package is more like a consultation or question and answer session.
You can offer a list of places where legal elopements can happen and how to do them. There are even services that specialize in elopements abroad if that is something the couple is considering.
Remember, Less Can be More
All these wedding packages can be great for business. They will drive more clients to you, especially those who are handling bits and bobs of their own wedding. It will show you are versatile and flexible as well.
That said, you don’t want to over extend yourself, so only offer wedding planner packages you can handle. If you don’t want to deal with things like traveling, translators, and remote vendor shopping, don’t offer destination wedding packages. If you don’t like working with little to no notice, then pop-up weddings aren’t going to be your forte.
You can still have a selection, but make sure they are ones you are comfortable with and can deliver on. After all, when someone hires a wedding planner, that is what they expect. Now, go and do some research and build out those wedding packages and a new wedding planner business plan.
