Continuing my “Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Wedding Business“! I love sharing my experiences with those just starting out in the wedding industry, even those who’s been in it for a few years but still find themselves struggling. It’s always great to learn from others’ experiences. I wish I had more resources available at my finger tips when I first started.
1. Branding is Not Just a Logo!
Oh this is a HUGE one and actually what I had to understand to turn my struggling wedding business around 360 degrees. Whenever I thought I needed to “rebrand”, I went straight to redesigning my logo. That was what I thought was a rebrand. Believe it or not, your logo is less than 10% of your brand. In fact, your brand is not your logo! Your brand is all of your customer’s touchpoints!
Your brand consists of tangible elements such as your logo, color palettes, taglines, imagery, and style. Your brand also includes your mission, vision, values, unique selling point, your messaging, tone of voice, and many other elements that aren’t tangible.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, says “your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room”. So think about it, put your logo aside, what do others say about you to their friends? Are those the things that you want to be known for?
2. Don’t Do What Everyone Else is Doing
How often do we look at other wedding floral designers’ Instagram and drool over the big and beautiful weddings they just did over the weekend? You wish that was you so you start imitating them and trying to do what they do. No friend, this is not what you want to do. Why do you want to be like other businesses? Why would you not want to be unique and different and stand out among the saturated market?
What do you, or can you, offer that others don’t offer?
3. I Don’t Need to Have a Commercial Space to Be Legit
When I decided to take my business seriously, I rushed into signing a lease for an office/showroom space. I thought this was what made me legit. Who would want to hire a florist who works out of their garage? Where would I even meet my clients without a commercial space?
Well, guess what? I’ve executed some of my biggest weddings straight out of my garage! Couples don’t care where your studio is, most of the time they don’t even ask. We met via Google Meet or Zoom even pre-covid days. I bet you those 10k wedding floral contracts never knew I prepared their floral arrangements from my garage. So let’s get rid of this misconception that you need to rent a space in order to be legit. And not to mention, more money in your pockets!
4. Don’t Waste Money at Wedding Shows & Print Ads
Yup I said it. Sorry. Wedding shows and print ads just don’t work anymore in this day ‘n age. I spent years at wedding shows and spent at least 3k to 4k at each show because I was afraid that if I don’t, clients won’t find me. The truth is that couples don’t usually find their people at shows, they go straight to the internet to find their vendor team. So investing in your website will give you a much bigger ROI (return on investment).
5. Being Super Busy Means Crap
Just because you have 3 to 4 weddings a weekend doesn’t mean you’re profitable. I used to be so proud that I had so many weddings every weekend. But the truth was that I was not profitable. It’s also not sustainable if you’re a solo weddingpreneur and you’re killing yourself with a few weddings a weekend. Don’t aim for quantity, aim for quality.
6. Alwaysss Have a Contract No Matter What
I know I know, your couples are such sweethearts, it doesn’t seem right to have them sign a contract. Every time I thought that, that would get me into trouble! Not that the couples who didn’t sign a contract weren’t nice people. But business is business and we’re people with different opinions. Let’s just do things the right way and get things signed in black and white. This will ensure both you and your clients are on the same page with the terms and conditions. This is especially important when you’re dealing with perishable goods like flowers.
Having a signed contract doesn’t only protect you, but it also communicates to your clients that you’re a professional and legitimate business. This builds up their trust and your credibility!
Hope you enjoyed reading my two part series on “Things I Wish I Knew When I Started my Wedding Business”. Which of these things I wish I knew resonate with you most? If you want the 5 steps I took to turn my struggling business around, you can download it for free here.
Cheering you on!
