Wedding Consultants

So you want to be a wedding consultant? Good for you! There are few jobs in this world that are more challenging and stimulating and yet more rewarding than the job of helping unite two people in holy matrimony, to make the world a happier place...one couple at a time!

If you're a Type A personality who loves working with people and who thrives on a variety of challenges and who welcomes the chance to bring chaos under control, then you may be made of the right stuff to become a wedding planner.

It takes a great deal more than simply the ability to organize to be a really good wedding consultant. You also need to ability to listen to what people are saying, even when they don't necessarily know what they really want or need. You must have the patience to hold someone's hand, both literally and figuratively, to help them get through this emotional transitional period in their lives.

There's a lot that a wedding consultant must deal with. The easy part of the job is helping to file all of the paperwork, making arrangements for consulate meetings, getting documents officially translated, making flight arrangements (often for a number of people who will be arriving at different times), making sure that ground transportation is arranged for everyone, booking hotel rooms, booking the wedding hall and/or the church, arranging for flowers, music, oftentimes arranging for costumes, actors and special music for theme or period weddings, arranging for a reception location, making meal plans and hiring caterers - and stomping out fires every step of the way...and all of that's the easy part of the job.

The tough part is dealing with the bride and her family. A wedding is a frightening and stressful time and people who don't do this for a living (such as the bride) are often confused and anxious and filled with contradictory demands. This is where your ability to listen becomes vital to your success as a wedding consultant. You need to hear past the words and understand what the bride is really anxious about. You must have the ability to get through the emotions and the verbiage and drill down to the core of the problem.

And you must be able to do all of that and convey a true feeling of both sympathy and professionalism. The bride needs to know that you really and truly understand her fears and her problems and that you have the solutions that will make her doubts go away. It's a precise balancing act, but if you are to be a great wedding consultant you must learn how to do it effortlessly. It must become second nature to you. It must happen on a subconscious level.

As a wedding consultant you are a confessor, a crying post, and a hard and ruthless professional who is both understanding and who can solve problems with the wave of a magic wand - or, in today's world, with a cell phone. Being a wedding consultant is the toughest job you'll ever love!