Become a Top Wedding Planner - 6 Ways to Expand Your Wedding Planning Business

Once your wedding planning business gets established, you may want to expand and offer additional services and products so you can help your couples with more of their wedding needs, create long term relationships with them, and bring in additional revenue.

Here are 6 ways you can expand your current business:

1) Plan wedding related parties

You may already be doing this. While you are planning a wedding, you can plan the engagement party, bridal shower, bachelor and bachelorette parties, bridesmaids' luncheon, rehearsal dinner, after-party or post-wedding brunch for the couple or their families and friends. You can also plan receptions for couples who have gotten married at city hall, eloped or had small destination weddings and want larger celebrations when they return home.

2) Social events

Don't think that planning a wedding is the only event planning your clients could ever want. Many people hire event planners for anniversary and birthday parties, retirements, graduations, bar and bat mitzvahs, quinceanera celebrations and large holiday parties. Keep in touch so they remember you when they need help planning events for these milestones in their lives or the lives of their families and friends.

3) Teach wedding planning to do-it-yourself brides

There will always be some brides who want to plan their weddings themselves. Why not help them by holding classes and sharing some of your expert advice? You may even turn some students into clients when they realize how difficult it would be to plan their weddings on their own.

4) Offer products

Carry a line of invitations, favors or gift items. There are companies that sell these items and allow you to be affiliates and dealers. You can sell on your website or, in the case of invitations, you can carry wedding invitation albums to show your clients and sell them just like they do in stationery stores.

5) Rent out party items

Small venues and party rental businesses in some cities do not have the appropriate high-end chairs, china and other items you need for weddings. Therefore, you may want to purchase the items and rent them to your clients yourself. However, if you do decide to do this, make sure you have the ability to transport the items to your events and have the space to store them. If you have to rent space, do some homework and make sure you are able to recoup the monthly costs involved in renting a storage unit.

6) Plan destination weddings and honeymoons

If you have done a lot of traveling and have knowledge of wedding venues and romantic vacation spots in other states and countries, you might want to learn the travel business and help couples plan their destination weddings and honeymoons.

Remember that you do not want to stretch yourself too thin when you decide to add services and products. Your couples deserve your full attention for their weddings, and you should not be busy offering services that you do not have the time or the expertise to do with excellence. Also, if you are beginning to think about expanding, it is also time to think about adding employees to your business.

The Procedure For Holding a Charity Event

Charity events, like all events, require careful planning. You can become a great event host by following these 12 steps.

Before you start, know what your goal is. Many events are held to raise money. But they can also be designed to raise friends. Friendraising events may be held to show appreciation for volunteers and/or donors or may expand your circle of friends. Friendraising events are as important as fundraising events and should be held more often than fundraisers. Be sure you have both on your calendar!

Once you have established what you want to get from the event, the procedure for making it great is the same for all events. Here goes:

1. Keep your mission in mind. Always. Don't consider any event that doesn't advance your mission. You exist to fill a need not to throw parties. Every single event should be designed to move you closer to your vision.


2. Pick a theme - this is fun and important. A theme drives everything else you do. Be creative. Make sure your theme helps you build your case. It might be around what you are raising money for or what is new or planned for your organization. I am working with a new organizations that has set goals for the year including how many families served and how many volunteers will be trained. That's their theme. Your theme will run through everything you say and do at your event!


3. Name it - give your event a name that reflects your theme. This should be catchy, friendly and appealing. In my example, the ED mentioned her goals and they were both 20 - 20 families served this year and 20 volunteers trained. The theme is: 20in12.


4. Brand it - once you have your name you are ready to design a "logo." Hopefully you have a professional designer to do this, if not look at lots of good logos before you start. In the case of 20in12, we used an appealing type font and colors that were part of the organizations palette. We added the tagline: Count me in! This brand will be used on all your promotions, your website, tickets etc.


5. Create a Task list - now to the nitty gritty. (Note: this detailed schedule could come first but it is nice to start with the creative part to energize you and your team) Use an Excel spreadsheet or equivalent and list, in categories, EVERY task you can think of for the event. Events go wrong when details aren't attended to. List the category (Invitations), list each related task, who is responsible and it's due date. You can't be too detailed. Assign a project manager to keep this list up to date, make that his/her contribution to the event, this is a different task than be the chair of the event.


6. Meet regularly. At each meeting review your list and mark completed items.


7. Involve many people. As you move from one category to another, involve more people. The more people that have a stake in the event, the better your results will be. When you get to program, bring in a videographer, a musician etc. Include your designer where appropriate. Enlist workers to prepare mailings.


8. Do tasks early. If there is something that can be done now, do it. Too many tasks must be done at the last minute. All shopping, selections, agreements, decorations etc. should be done well in advance. As long as you are guided by your theme your choices should be relatively easy.


9. Pay attention to the details. I can't emphasize this enough. If you are detailed oriented, move over, find a partner, do whatever it takes to make sure every iota is attended to. There will be surprises but when everything else is in order you can handle the surprises. You can be a bit of freak on this (I am), care about the colors, the name tags, the seating.


10. Deliver a message. There is time at every event to share your mission. Practice what you will say and deliver it eloquently. Don't say too much, just what needs to be said. Use emotion when you speak, in testimonials and in video. Emotion is important, you want to capture people's hearts.


11. Have fun. Be so ready, personally and professionally that you can really enjoy yourself.


12. Follow up. Very quickly reach out to everyone you met for the first, to your team to thank them and to your guests in general. The more personal the better. Listen! They'll have something to say and you need to hear it.

Good luck. Events are wonderful, important, inspiring and rewarding. Make the most of yours.

Promotional Writing Gifts For Corporate Events

Promotional gifts have to be chosen with concern because they represent the profile of the company and the use of the clients should also be kept in mind. Perhaps the safest and most dignified of such promotional items are the writing gifts. Notebooks, executive pens and journals are used every day and express solidarity found in few other items.

Notebooks: You can never have enough of notebooks. With so many engagements and appointments to remember, so many events to attend and so many aspects to remember while running a huge organization, every moment something or the other crops up which needs to be jotted down in order to be carried out later. It makes for an excellent promotional item as well.

Get you company logo imprinted on the cover of the notebook. However, it is advisable to imprint the logo on the cover only if the cover is basic and neutral in design, otherwise the look of the notebook may not be appropriate. If you are planning to give away notebooks with designed or jewelled covers, then it is best advised to imprint the logo on the spine.

If you want to give an artistic touch to your notebook, then you can opt for notebooks with jewelled rims, or bold tile work print. Geometric designs also lend a sporty look. If they are meant specifically for female candidates, then notebooks with floral patterns or covers in pastel shades is also a good idea.

Pens or Markers: They may not appeal to a lot of people for the simple reason that they look very common. As every company tries to bring uniqueness into their promotional products, they often oversee the fact of usability, because looking at things from the practical point of view; the pen is indeed one of the most important things that we use in our daily lives.

It is inexpensive and is one of the best items to be distributed when the promotion is taking place on a large scale among the masses, instead of some corporate events open only to invited guests. The users will remember your company every time they use the pen, which also makes is the perfect tool in marketing strategies.

Pens are, therefore, apt promotional gift items for any kind of promotional event hosted by a company.

Folders and Files: These are another very popular promotional item. It comes in so handy when there are so many papers to be managed and so many leaflets and brochures to be gone through. It is something which makes work easier in our daily work life, however simple it might be in looks and common in availability. Moreover, sorting out company papers in company folders makes categorization more easier, and will surely be appreciated among your employees and clients.

Importance of Entertainment For Your Next Corporate Event

Many companies today are realizing the positive impact that corporate events have on their team members when it comes to entertainment. The companies are sponsoring more company teams such as baseball, soccer, and football. The employees look forward to the time they spend doing something they enjoy and the added bonus of having their company behind them makes it even more rewarding.

Not only are the corporations sponsoring these teams but they are also opening up to all types of corporate events, such as employee dinners, picnics, and recognition for their hard work by having parties. The entertainment aspect of the corporation is a relatively new idea. There are some that are still paving the way for the remaining companies.

When considering the importance of these corporate events, think about this from the employee's point of view. When an event is planned, this tells the employee that the company for which they work is very oriented towards taking care of their employees. When the employees do a good job, it is rewarded. This is an incentive to the employees to be the best they can be.

Not only does it show you are concerned about your employees, but it also allows the employees to interact, get to know each other, and have a good time together which will help relationships in the office setting. It is a well know fact that employees who feel that they are friends as well as co-workers get along better, have less problems in the workplace and are more apt to depend on each other when it comes to solving problems at work.

Many companies in the past frowned on the employees becoming too friendly with each other. Their reasoning was this would cause them to spend too much time socializing and not enough time doing their job. But today the importance of being in tune with each other in the work place is showing to be more of a help than a hindrance. The productivity of employees is better when they are not under the stress of working with people of who they know nothing.

The responsible employee is going to do their job. There are those who would rather do anything but their job. However, this employee is going to do so no matter what the circumstances. They will find any reason to spend time talking and dallying instead of doing what they should be doing. The employee corporate event is not going to be the cause of this. This is just how this person reacts. This is an employee who is not going to be around long anyway.

After years of experimenting with every type of situation for employees, it is being recognized that having a relaxed work setting where everyone is more comfortable with each other is the best type when it comes to production. When you schedule a corporate event do not make it the staid and staunch type of the past. Add the entertainment, have your employees interacting with each other and the knowledge that they are working together as a team towards one goal will be the attitude they project.

The Purpose of Corporate Team Building Events

The term corporate team building means different things to different people but in this instance it refers to a wide variety of actions with an objective of improving the performance of a team. This can take many forms from groups of people bonding behind a common cause or objective through to complicated role play scenarios. These situations tend to throw up leaders and followers, the optimists and the moaners and all thing in between.

Most businesses understand that the best businesses exist where the collection of people associated with the tasks of that business work as an integrated unit, looking out for each other, supporting each other, all believing in the common purpose. However, self development of the individual is an important part of any successful team.

It is no good having a collection of people whose only interest is the well being of the team. People need to feel self worth and personal development as well as a valued contribution to the collective.

Corporate team building is no easy task. You are dealing with a complex array of individual ego, aspirations and alliances and every team is different. Some of the most common objectives of team development is to improve communication, make people feel better about being at work, inspiration, better understand the needs and motivation of others in the team, cementing the common goals, using the diversity in the team to best effect, personal development of members, heighten productivity and getting better at collaboration.

Common exercises can involve plastic straws and plasticine, building towers with difficult materials. The purpose is to draw out the leadership of people, see how members interact, problem solving, whether leaders just like to hear the sound of their own voice or whether they garner all the skills in the room as well as the practical ability to problem solve in a short timescale

Organize the Best Halloween Fundraising Event in Your Neighborhood

Halloween is one of the ideal times for arranging fundraising events for some good cause. It is among the most popular festivals celebrated every year on October 31. You can introduce some of the most common Halloween party activities, such as carving jack-o'-lanterns on pumpkins and game of trick-or-treat in your fundraising event to make it all a fun-filled experience.

At a Halloween fundraiser, you can also organize a kids' costume contest. You can even plan a few games for the children, such as apple bobbing and others and offer them chocolates and burgers as treats. The money collected from the games, refreshments, donations, and clothing can be used to help children celebrate Halloween in a better manner.

Some of the favorite activities that you can organize at your Halloween fall fest fundraising event are:

Duck Pond

This is a great game for the young kids where they have to fish out ducks from a pool. They get prizes depending on the symbol on the underside of the duck. You need a baby pool and about 10 to 12 plastic ducks floating on water. Next thing is to put a symbol on the underside of some ducks. Mark one or two ducks with a 'star' symbol that will fetch a grand prize. Allocate smaller gifts for fishing the ducks containing other symbols.

Football Throws

Take a big wooden board and cut holes of various sizes in it. Kids will get points on throwing the football through the holes. Throwing the ball through the smaller holes offer better prizes compared to what is there for targeting the bigger ones.

Basketball Bounce

You can make kids try out the exciting game of basketball. They will have to bounce the basketballs into the barrels to win prizes.

Lollipop Pull

Get a huge bag or bucket filled up with lollipops. Color (red, blue, green, and others) the bottom of some lollipop sticks. The kids will then have to pick up a lollipop without seeing whether it is colored or not. Associate each color with a particular gift. Kids who pull out the marked pops will win small prizes.

Face Painting

Kids always love to paint their faces. You can hire an artist to use different colors for kids' face painting.

Draw Jack-O'-Lantern

Give the kids pencil and paper to draw their jack-o-lanterns. Tell them to color the jack-o-lanterns beautifully. Give prizes to the three best drawings. Children can also draw a jack-o-lantern on a brown paper bag and wear it on their head to scare people.

Trick-or-Treat

Children and teenagers will visit each home in their neighborhood, asking for some gifts. If they do not get any gift, they might do some silly tricks or pranks on people to scare or disturb them.

Haunted Attractions

Fundraisers can organize a haunted attraction, especially for the kids. You can charge a fee to view the attraction. It includes haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides.

Event Planning Requires True Preparation

Although some people seem to fear it, great event planners understand that regardless of how much planning you do, there are always others things needed. Every event, every organization, every venue presents different challenges, and different conditions, and the greatest event planning occurs when the organizers prioritize planning. The great Olympic athlete, Jackie Joyner- Kersee said, "It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret." As a professional negotiator, event planner, and event organizer for more than three decades, I have learned how true these words are when it comes to getting the optimal results from an event. There is no such thing as being over- prepared when it comes to an event, and while it may require more time, effort and commitment prior to an event, it invariably makes the actual performance of the event far easier to oversee and conduct.

1. Event planning begins with first identifying the goal or purpose. Is this for social reasons, fundraising, or some combination of purposes? What is the desired price point, both for attendees and the organization? What are you trying to achieve, and what are the top priorities (are they emphasizing the food, the speakers, or raising funds?)? This information is invaluable for the negotiator to have in hand, in advance, so that he has maximum advantage and detail to negotiate what is needed. The negotiator must understand what his budget is, what the priorities are, what the deal- breakers may be? He must have the opportunity to comprehensively do his homework on his adversary's needs (the venue), so as to know what is and is not negotiable from their point of view. Most organizers fail to recognize how valuable and essential this initial stage is to whatever success the end product will witness.

2. One can never spend too much planning for contingencies. Things always happen, either because of unforeseen circumstances such as weather, economy, labor issues, etc., or because of errors made at the last moment. Great planners develop valuable relationships with the venues, so that every effort is made to be prepared. There must not only be back- up plans, but back-ups for the contingencies. An organization and the venue must be on the same page, and all aspects must be clearly communicated well in advance, as well as on an ongoing and continuous basis.

Don't depend on luck or happenstance to assure the success of your event. Isn't it better to be able to anticipate and be prepared, and hopefully many of these plans will not be needed, but are ready if they are. Remember that all event planners are not created equal! Select wisely.