By: Tracey Manailescu. WPIC Co-founder & Vice President
The much anticipated and sold-out “Wedding Planner Pricing Wars,” event happened on Monday, February 25th at the Aga Khan Museum.
It was time to address the rising frustrations between the “Charge What Your Worth” camp and the Dabblers. Is there a middle ground where we can peacefully co-exist? These are some of the topics that were discussed.
Attendees were treated to a colourful and delicious feast upon arrival, then escorted throughout this beautiful venue for a wedding site visit by Sonia Borkar, WPICC who is the Event Sales & Service Coordinator (as well as the Wedding Specialist). After the site visit concluded, attendees made their way back into the beautiful Bellerive room for our panel discussion.
Our delicious menu:
- Assorted pita and flat breads with house made hummus
- Baby kale and curried cauliflower salad with picked red onion, saffron almond, shaved radish with honey lime dressing
- Bandari spiced crusted chicken with caramelized fennel and onion relish
- Lemon harissa glazed Atlantic salmon with scallion tapenade
- Moroccan couscous salad with eggplant, raisins and cashews
- Steamed French beans with freekeh, mint, dill and olive oil
- Sliced seasonal fruit
The panel consisted of four wonderful wedding pros (who all happen to be WPIC alumni). WPIC Co-founders, Danielle and Tracey were the moderators of the evening.
Diana Pires of Truly Yours Planning, Caryn Leith of As You Wish Weddings, Mallory Cheung of August in Bloom, and Trevor Frankfort of Trevents Wedding and Event Planning.
What are the suggested minimum rates for Wedding Planning Services in the GTA?
Please note, these are merely suggested starting rates, there is no cap, minimum or maximum as to what a Wedding Planner can charge.
- The suggested starting rate for Wedding planning is $50/hour. For every hour that a Wedding Planner is with their clients, there is probably 2 hours of preparation that went in to that hour.
- The suggested minimum rate for Consulting is $150 for the first hour, $50 for every hour after.
- The suggested minimum rate for Month-of Coordination (also known as Day-of, Wedding Day Direction, Wedding Day Management) is $1000.
- The suggested minimum rate for Full Coordination is $2500, and should based on 10-15% of the total wedding budget.
Here are some of the questions asked of our panel. (Each panel member has provided a written answer to a question below):
- What is your perspective on the difference between Flat Fee vs Charging by Percentage? Is their difference and how do you know which is right for certain clients?
- At what point did you feel comfortable increasing your prices? At what point did you know it was time to do so?
- How do you justify your pricing to a client?
- Should you negotiate if someone is looking for a price adjustment or a discount? How do you word this?
- How do you go about attracting your target couple? What do you do to brand yourself through your website or social media?
- How do you determine your pricing for larger weddings? Is there a formula?
- What is your ‘go to’ response when someone haggles you on price or asks you why you cost x amount when someone else charges x amount?
- There are so many wedding planners to choose from. How do you differentiate yourself from the other wedding planners in the GTA?
- What are some things we can do to attract our target market?
I have potential clients tell me the other planner keeps them within budget and I am over by a few hundred dollars. I tell them about my experience, my professional development etc, but I feel sometimes its just not enough? And of course it’s only after the wedding do they realize what they paid for. How do you let them know that you are worth what you charge?
“If you’ve done your due diligence in explaining your process and experience and they don’t think you’re worth the cost, instead of kicking yourself thinking that you haven’t done enough to convince someone, you have to move on and know that it just wasn’t a right fit.
You won’t be happy changing your route and diminishing your worth and then continue in working with someone that has lead you to do so.
However, if this continues to happen on a regular basis though and you’re losing more prospective clients than having any business at all, you may want to assess your overall charges for your clientele.”
~Mallory Cheung of August in Bloom
What do you feel is the best way to put pricing on your website – starting price, price range, contact for pricing, and why?
“We ask to be contacted for a few reasons.
– We’re able to better understand the level of service the couple requires with conversation.
– We develop rapport with the couple. Something to think about that I don’t think planners first starting out consider enough is although a couple wants to book you, you have to consider whether they’re a good fit as a client for your brand as well as a good fit for you to work with.
– You get to tell them about yourself and have an immediate chance to answer why your packages are priced a certain way instead of them base your worth on a number.”
~Mallory Cheung of August in Bloom
If I’m just paying an assistant for the day, I pay at least $17/hr. But I’m curious what other people do if they have people leading events for them and how they compensate them. Is it % based, like a 70:30 split for example or is it still an hourly/per event rate? I’m getting multiple requests for the same dates and am considering bringing on a second lead planner. Just wondering how to pay them if they are doing the majority of the work for the event.
“I work in a partnership so it’s either myself or my partner who is currently leading all weddings.
However, I have worked as a lead planner for other companies in the past and have worked on a percentage basis discussed at the time of hiring. I find this route makes the most sense if they are doing the majority of the work. The percentage given back to the company should cover administrative fees that benefit the second lead planner as well, i.e. business cards and marketing.” ~
~Mallory Cheung of August in Bloom
How do you go about attracting your target couple? What do you do to brand yourself through your website or social media?
“The first thing we did was creative shoots. We created concepts we want to create for our real clients and this attracted people with the same design styles and budget priorities to reach out.
Since then we have been sharing our real weddings as well, which is an accurate representation of our work and style.
Aside from our work, we share our involvement at industry events so clients can see who we often work with, which for us are other luxury brands.
By featuring ourselves in these industry event photos, videos, and stories, clients get a sense of our interests, friend’ors, personal style and personality. As the faces of the company, we are our own brand.” ~Mallory Cheung of August in Bloom
Should you negotiate if someone is looking for a price adjustment or a discount? How do you word this?
“The most important thing to remember when negotiating your pricing, is that you never want to discount your services such that you are doing the same amount of work for less money! Do not undervalue yourself. Maybe you’ve come across your ideal client – perhaps their personality is a great fit with yours and you know you’re going to get along great, or their wedding is going to be at a venue you have been dying to work at – but they just don’t have the budget for the services they want. In this instance, see if you can work with them to create a smaller package that meets their needs and also fits their budget – and most importantly, ensures you will be paid appropriately for the amount of work you’ll be doing.
Maybe they wanted Full Planning, but based on your initial meeting, you feel Partial Planning could still work well for them. Or instead of hiring you for your complete Design service, could you do Consulting for them instead? Always go with your gut. Someone who is haggling back and forth with you on pricing likely does not value the service you are going to be providing for them, and they are not your ideal client. Without a doubt, your ideal client will always value you from the get-go and will pay the fee you are worth.”
~Caryn Leith, WPICC of As You Wish Weddings
What do you feel is the best way to put pricing on your website – starting price, price range, contact for pricing, and why?
**I don’t have any pricing on my web page because I want to engage with my potential new couples. I want them to contact me so that we can start up a conversation and begin bonding. I provide them with my brochure and pricing before we meet in person so we don’t waste time.
If I’m just paying an assistant for the day, I pay at least $17/hr. But I’m curious what other people do if they have people leading events for them and how they compensate them. Is it % based, like a 70:30 split for example or is it still an hourly/per event rate? I’m getting multiple requests for the same dates and am considering bringing on a second lead planner. Just wondering how to pay them if they are doing the majority of the work for the event.
**I pay my assistants by the hour. My lead planner gets a flat fee for each event that she leads. This fee was negotiated between the two of us to ensure she is getting paid what she is worth knowing that I still have to cover the costs of running my business. Everyone wins.” ~Trevor Frankfort, WPICC of Trevents Wedding & Event Planning
At what point did you feel comfortable increasing your prices? At what point did you know it was time to do so?
“**I started my prices higher than the average price because I came into wedding planning with an event planning background and had past jobs planning corporate events and project management. I knew I would be providing high quality service and wanted my fees to reflect that. I increase my rates every year as costs of running a business also increase. ~Trevor Frankfort, WPICC of Trevents Wedding & Event Planning
What is your ‘go to’ response when someone haggles you on price or asks you why you cost x amount when someone else charges x amount?
**My go to response is “You get what you pay for”. And I say with a smile.” ~Trevor Frankfort of Trevents Wedding & Event Planning
There are so many wedding planners to choose from. How do you differentiate yourself from the other wedding planners in the GTA?
“**What other wedding planners? 😉 I know that I am different from all the wedding planners in the GTA so I really don’t have to work differentiating myself (and not just because I’m a boy in a large wedding planning world of girls). My personality speaks for itself, as should yours. If you are authentic, passionate and good at what you do you shouldn’t have to worry about all the other wedding planners in the GTA and you will attract all those wonderful couples.” ~Trevor Frankfort, WPICC of Trevents Wedding & Event Planning
It was a very informative and inspiring evening. Our panel gave thoughtful and well explained answers.
The answers that were given, will be provided in a recap on our WPIC Alumni Association forum boards for our alumni who were unable to attend.
Michelle says
The photos are beautiful. Then questions prompted me to think. I’look forward to the recap in the forum boards.