Become a wedding supplier

Have you ever thought about starting your own wedding business?  Would you love to be a wedding supplier or start a lucrative side hustle in the wedding or events industry?  Or are you a future bride or groom wondering what qualities to look for in potential suppliers? Having been a wedding supplier for over 10 years, I’ve noticed beneficial traits in myself and many other great suppliers and wedding industry professionals that I’ve met along the way. I’m not going to stand here and say working at weddings is rocket science. Or it’s life and death.  It’s much harder and more serious than that!  But seriously, there can obviously be a lot of pressure and expectation on a wedding suppliers shoulders. And rightly so. If you are being paid to do a job or deliver a service; you are being paid to take it seriously and take pride in doing it well. You may be providing critical aspects which define the smooth running of someone’s wedding day.  Deviating from this tightrope of a role can potentially cause significant impact to the enjoyment of someone’s wedding if these aren’t delivered smoothly and professionally.  Take heed.  Whether it’s the wedding planner, caterer, photographer, florist, DJ/band, celebrant or photobooth operator. These are the traits that you should look for as a future bride and groom to minimise fuss and ensure you receive a top notch, timely and well delivered service on your wedding day. Thinking of starting your own wedding business or already up and running? Sign-up now to download the ‘5 Things I wish I knew before starting a wedding supplier business’ * indicates required Email Address * First Name /* real people should not fill this in and expect good things – do not remove this or risk form bot signups */ Are you a current or future wedding supplier? Then you may recognise some or all of these in yourself. If not, cultivating these traits will hopefully help you in the future.  If you are thinking of starting your own wedding business, here are a list of the traits that help make a great wedding supplier: Conscientious The wedding is yours – or someone else’s – big day. Your moment in the lime light.  For many, one of the biggest and most memorable days of their lives. So you want it to run as smoothly as possible. Timely, issue free and with no unexpected dramas.  Of course issues happen sometimes.  But conscientiousness on the part of suppliers will help ensure that they prepare properly, turn up on time and are well presented. Most of all, being conscientious means they will take pride in delivering their service, and ensure you have a good time and positive experience in the process. Reliable Following closely on from being conscientious, being reliable is a key trait. Weddings aren’t your average 9-5 profession where you can phone in sick at the slightest sign of a headache.  Being reliable means you turn up when you say will and deliver what you have been booked to. No ifs, no buts. Come hell or high water, a reliable supplier will only let you down in the most extreme of circumstances or where it truly can’t be helped. They are being paid to take the stresses and strains off the couples shoulders. Occasionally equipment or vehicle failures do occur through no fault of a suppliers.  However the rest of the time, a reliable supplier will ensure the service is delivered and completed when it should be. Or if the worst happens, they will arrange for someone else to cover for them.  The same of course goes for staff. When looking for casual staff or summer helpers, one of the key traits I look for is reliability. There’s no room for shirkers and skivers on the wedding train! Be friendly and approachable You know what I think? Weddings are happy places. Magical days that people will look back on for years to come with fond memories, wry smiles and wistful stories. As a supplier, every interaction you have with couples, the venue or other suppliers should be a positive one that adds to this wherever possible. Okay, there may be challenges along the way and inevitably there are bumps here and there. However if you generally have a friendly and approachable manner, you will be remembered as being pleasurable and easy to deal with.  This will grease the wheels for future bookings and referrals – from the couple, guests, the venue and other suppliers – more than fancy marketing materials ever will. Try and make a couples’ wedding journey as smooth as possible.  Build rapport. Answer any queries you receive as quickly and positively as possible.  If you have any issues or challenges, try to ensure a mutually beneficial outcome for all parties whenever you can. People buy from people after all.  This will also go a long way to generating positive feedback, referrals and testimonials from a happy couple in the future after a positive experience working with you. Good admin and organisational skills Inevitably a well organised and professional wedding supplier is going to have to schedule their time effectively and be on top of any admin tasks.  This includes planning ahead, having effective time management practises in place, managing any staff and basic admin tasks such as emails, quotes, invoicing, supplier orders and payments etc. Not the most sexy or fun part of the job but hey, it’s got to be done. Unless of course you are super organised and have outsourced these unsavoury tasks! Having processes and systems help. Using templates and apps help. But however they manage it, having these underlying tasks in place lets them focus on the most important task of delivering fantastic events for their paying customers. Self motivated Working for yourself or running your own business can be a big shift from working for someone else. Ultimately if you don’t do things (or delegate or outsource them), then they don’t get done.  If you can’t drag yourself out of bed to attack your to do list, then no-one else will.  You need to be self motivated enough to be on top of things and make a success of your business.  Of course,