The Bridal Book

Wedding Planner

Celebrations

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ON THE COVER

You love planning your wedding. Sure, it's stressful, but you relish every minute of it. After all, many of us started planning our weddings as soon as we were old enough to understand the phrase "princess cut." So, why let the joy of planning cease just because your own affair is over? Ever since J. Lo glamorized the career in her 2001 flick The Wedding Planner women all over the Tri-State area have considered a career change from accountant, lawyer, or writer-among other professions-to wedding planner. Google "becoming a wedding planner," and you'll find endless blogs of women asking how they can break into the industry. But just like any career, it is in fact, a job-one that requires hard work, flexibility, an open mind, and often, a thick skin. Your event is over, after all, and now it's all about her.

To help you decide if you should make the leap from bride to wedding planner (an all-in-one personal shopper, flower arranger, menu taster, minister organizer, wedding hall finder, and shrewd negotiator), we sat down with New York City wedding planner Lindsay Landman, owner of Lindsay Landman Events. Do fairytale weddings translate to fairytale jobs? We'll let you decide.

TBB: So, how did you become a wedding planner?

LL: I interned at Barney's after college and got bit by the fashion/beauty bug. Then I worked for a small agency where I did mostly magazine PR and a huge focus was on using events to pitch ideas. I had always been interested in event planning, but it was the first time I realized it was something I could do for a living.

TBB: And you now own your own businessÉ

LL: I first came out on my own in May 1999. I heard from friends in the PR business that some people were looking for individual publicists and I took that opportunity to slowly generate some clients. After a couple of months I had enough to go out on my own.

TBB: Are you married?

LL: Yes, I got married in October 2001.

TBB: Did you plan your own wedding?

LL: Yes I did. And the biggest mistake I made was not getting a wedding day coordinator for the day of my wedding. I still would have done the planning, but I was totally the bride that had the limo drivers' money in my purse and was chitchatting with the bandleader all night. It was a great day; it was very me. It would have been hard for me to switch the control.

TBB: Do you plan events for your friends?

LL: Yes I do. I actually just got off the phone with the wedding coordinator at the Elizabeth Arden Salon for a friend of mine who is getting married and I'm the matron of honor. It's nice when you know the person because I know her tastes.

TBB: Is most of the focus of your business on wedding planning?

LL: My focus is definitely on wedding planning.I really enjoy doing other events like birthday parties-a small event that you can get your hands around. But weddings are huge. Sometimes doing the smaller events is a great way for me to meet people and get exposure.

TBB: Take me through a typical day.

LL: I'm currently planning 17 events, which is a lot. Usually I have about 10-12 open events.

I've been really, really fortunate. So, that affects how my day goes. I guess my day starts with about 30 e-mails and 10 voicemails to answer. I would say about 60 percent of my time is in the office making phone calls, doing research, following up with clients and dealing with new business inquiries-you know, handling the business aspect. The other 40 percent is out of the office meeting with clients at their photographer's studio or at the florist. And whenever I have any free time (laughs) I try to take that 40 percent and see new venues and meet with new vendors. Since there are about a thousand photographers opening everyday, the only way I can find out if they are good enough for my clients is if I meet with them.

TBB: So, it seems like a lot of your job is research?

LL: Yes, a lot.

TBB: How do you do your research?

LL: Vendor referrals are huge. I think the most important part of my job, and for anyone who is good at this job, is building good relationships with your vendors. For example, a bride just hired me last week for her September 3 wedding. They want to do an outdoor, tented wedding at a mansion, but they need to bring their own caterer, which is difficult because a lot of the mansions have their own. I wanted to look for a field (as an alternative choice to the mansion), so I asked some of my really highend photographers where a really beautiful field would be to hold a wedding and they helped me out. And the Internet, of course, bridal magazines, and word of mouth, too.

TBB: How far out of New York do you go to plan weddings?

LL: Philadelphia, Delaware. But I plan a lot of weddings in New York City, New Jersey, Southern Connecticut, Long Island, Westchester, and Rockland. I would say I cover the metro area plus Philadelphia-because that's where I went to school and I lived there for a little bit. I also got married there.

TBB: What do you love most about your job?

LL: (laughs) That's really hard. Design. My favorite part is design. I love to get a client who is a clean slate so I can be creative. And also someone who is willing to take a leap of faith. A few years ago I had a bride say "My favorite color is orange, make me a wedding." I was like orange? No one's favorite color is orange. It allowed me to be creative and funky. About 25 percent of my clients have the kind of budget where they can afford to be as creative as they want. The other 75 percent are people who are very budget conscious and feel that without a planner who knows all, they couldn't stick within their tight budget. But it's way, way harder to plan a wedding for 200 people for $30,000 in New York than if you have $200,000

TBB: What is the biggest budget you've worked with?

LL: About $300,000.

TBB: The smallest?

LL: $10,000. And the $10,000 was 20 times harder. The client wanted this loft space, which was $7,000, and they couldn't afford it. So they caved in and said they'd rather pay money to a planner who could then get them a good deal. I have a good relationship with the owners of the loft and ended up getting it for them for $3,000.

They were so happy.

TBB: How do you get a deal like that? LL: There are a couple of ways. One is just having good vendor relationships. I can always get you a better deal because vendors know I will continue to bring them clients. But also being realistic with the client, saying: Listen, this is what you have to work with and while it's doable you need to be flexible and keep an open mind. Your wedding might not be able to be a black-tie Saturday night wedding in June, but it can be more informal in August on a Sunday, and still can be awesome and beautiful. And you also have to be fair with the vendors. I can't ask a florist to do a $20,000 job for $3,000.

TBB: So, you have to know a lot about pricing? LL: Yes. I would say flowers are definitely the hardest to get to know. They are endless. Different colors cost different amounts. A white calalily is way cheaper than a black one. You have to be very observant and listen well. Whenever I meet with a florist I take notes because each one offers different tidbits. You have to be as well informed as possible.

TBB: And there is no "wedding planner" school to go to.

LL: No, there isn't. I just got an e-mail today from a high school student who really wants to be a wedding planner asking what I recommend she takes in college and I was like, whatever you want. I was an English major. You have to take it upon yourself to learn this business. Professional development is important. I've taken courses on wine and food pairing and menu selection through The New School, and the Botanical Gardens offers flower courses. And of course professional organizations offer courses within their industry. I went to the National Association of Catering Executives conference just to see what's going on in the industry.

TBB: What skills/characteristics does a good wedding planner possess?

LL: You definitely have to be attentive to detail. It's a horror to send out 200 wedding invitations with a typo. Also you have to be open-minded culturally, religiously, ethnically, and financially. The bride who has $10,000 for her wedding is just as excited about getting married as the one who has $300,000 to spend.

Also you have to be business focused because there's a lot of money involved.

TBB: Do you find it hard working with brides?

LL: Yes and no. You can't take anything too personally or seriously. As you are giving them your recommendations sometimes you'll have a bride that doesn't have a lot of tact and will say "Eww, gross." And then you're thinking, "Wait this is my brainchild don't say eww, gross!" You have to look at it as this is her wedding, she wants it her way. Yes, I've had Bridezilla, but I've also had amazing, sweet brides who I still keep in touch with.

TBB: Do you find that a lot of grooms are getting involved? LL:Yes, yes, yes! It's great and really interesting to see what the guys are interested in. I've had a couple of grooms who were like "I just want to taste the cake and pick the band." But now the guys are at the florist appointment and talking about chair covers. They are really involved.

TBB: I know, my husband picked out my wedding shoes.

LL: Yes, sometimes they have an eye for things!

TBB: How true to life do you think the movie The Wedding Planner is?

LL: I think it's true to life if your client is as rich as the one in the movie and you have a huge staff. Her job seemed really glamorous and she was always dressed really nicely. I would love to look like that at a wedding, but I have a small staff so I lift tables and schlep tablecloths and the water from the centerpieces sometimes spills on me. So, yes, if you have that big of a budget it's true to life, but I would say most people don't have weddings like that. Oh, and I do have a kit (like J. Lo did)!

TBB: : Do you think it's easier to own your own business or work for a big company?

LL: It depends on the individual. For me there's no other way (than owning my business). This is who I am. I didn't know it though until I worked for someone else. I can't be four degrees of separation away from my client. I need to understand them.

It's not for everyone, but it's for me.

TBB: What do you think about brides wanting to become wedding planners?

LL: I think that like anything else it's right for some of them but not all. I get about five unsolicited resumes a week-a lot of people who want to do a career change or brides who want to get into the industry. I interviewed one girl who was amidst planning her wedding, which was a huge, lavish affair, and when I told her that we work with people who can't afford to put centerpieces on the table it was as if I told her that something horrible had happened to her family.

She was horrified and totally turned off by it. To her, wedding planning was glamourous, not a lot of busy work. If you've been working in a similar industry for a while then it makes sense, but if you've been an accountant for your whole career it probably doesn't.

TBB: Why do you think that brides with no event-planning experience want to become wedding planners?

LL: I think a lot of women come home from work and get to tie the bows on their favors and it's relaxing for them. If they've been doing accounting or law all day, they get to come home and do prettiness on their free time. But the huge transition comes in when it's not your free time and when you are doing 17 other peoples' events and you're trying to keep it straight. And all of a sudden, when you've tied your 6,000th bow, you have to say, "Is this really what I want?"

TBB: Do you think that after a bride plans her own wedding-and has no other eventplanning experience-she is qualified to be a wedding planner?

LL: If she is a detail-oriented person with a good sense of style her innate qualities could make her qualified to assist a planner, and start at the bottom. That's another thing I'm always conflicted about. When I interview someone who has all the right qualities but who is 32 years old, does she really want to start as my assistant for $23,000 a year? No, she wants to start at a salary comparable to what she was making. That's the problem. People want to start in a new industry at the top instead of the bottom, and that's why I can't hire them.

TBB: Do you see a lot of younger wedding planners?

LL: Yes. There are two totally separate genres of wedding planners. There are people like me, younger women, and then there are more established, more bossy wedding planners. She's the woman who planned your daughter's bat mitzvah, and now she's going to plan your daughter's wedding.

TBB: What are a few things you think people would be shocked to learn they have to do as a wedding planner?

LL: Drive 80 miles to a liquor distributor in Connecticut to find the exact label of wine that can't be shipped interstate! I think it takes a lot of patience. I had a bride, who I now consider a friend, take three weeks to decide on the color of the sash on the flower girls dress. She deliberated between dusty pink and blush pink like it was the decision of a lifetime. That's why it took her 19 months to plan her wedding.

TBB: But as you said, there's that bride and then the bride that says plan me an orange wedding.

LL: Yes, true. You have to be very confident. I'm working with a couple in Michigan who I've never met, but they're getting married in New York. A new loft space just opened up and I sent them digital pictures and I hope they like it, but I'm not sure. And even if they don't like it I can make it into something they will.

TBB: It seems like as a wedding planner you have to be both detail oriented and creative.

LL: I've never really thought about that. When I first started out and I only had a few events to plan, I could spend endless amounts of time on them. I would take some notes but I could remember a lot. But then when you are managing a bunch of events at a time you have to keep diligent notes-when you don't, you pay. There's nothing worse than having to ask a bride for the third time how many bridesmaids she has. It makes her have less faith in you. Now, I'm in no way an artistic person, but I can translate a visual concept into something else. Like if you show me a picture from a Pottery Barn catalog I can translate that look for a whole wedding.

TBB: So you do everything for a wedding from the beginning to the end?

LL: Yes. I'm there the day of the wedding from the set up to the break down of everything.

Another thing that most brides don't anticipate is the time. I work on average about 14 hours for a Saturday wedding. Total, I probably work about 60 hours a week. And I have a son, so it's a lot to juggle.

TBB: Wow.

LL: Yes, (laughing) but I have an awesome and amazing husband and a great nanny.

TBB: The most important people to have!

LL: My schedule-keeping is very important. If I have to see a space on the Upper East Side you better believe that I will be doing three other things while I'm there.

TBB: If a bride is really serious about being a wedding planner, what steps would you suggest she take?

LL: If you planned your homecoming dance in high school or your sorority ball, put it on your resume. The person who planned their high school prom knows a lot more about event planning than the person who didn't. Be prepared to do an internship. You can get a lot of experience quickly. I've had people work for me on the evenings or weekends for free just to get some experience. I love having the extra set of hands, but also I'm happy to share the knowledge. And the last piece of advice is to invest in your passion. I hired someone once who was a lawyer and wanted to make the switch to wedding planning. She was really into animals and joined the humane society and planned their gala for free. And that's awesome. She really took the next step.

Read Up
Here are some great books on becoming a wedding planner you should check out before changing your career:

FabJob Guide to Become a Wedding Planner, by Catherine Goulet, Jan Riddell ($34.95; www.amazon.com)

Start Your Own Wedding Consultant Business: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success, by Eileen Figure Sandlin ($14.95; www.barnesandnoble.com)

Opportunities in Event Planning Careers, by Blythe Camenson ($13.95; www.barnesandnoble.com)

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