Trust Me, Luck Has Nothing to Do With It

by Danielle Andrews, President and Co-Founder of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada Inc.

If you’re any kind of successful in the wedding industry, or honestly, in any industry, you’ve probably heard this sentence more times than you can count:

“You’re so lucky.”

It’s usually said with admiration, sometimes envy, often with good intentions. But for those of us who actually live this life and build these businesses from the ground up, that sentence lands a little differently. Because while it’s nice that we make it look easy, effortless, glamorous, or even magical…

Luck has absolutely nothing to do with it.

The Unseen Hours Behind Every “Lucky Break”

People see the final product: the gorgeous weddings, the magazine features, the styled shoots, the conferences, the international travel, the accolades, the clients who trust us.

What they don’t see is everything it takes to create and maintain that level of professionalism and excellence.

• The late nights and early mornings
• The constant education and certifications
• The investments in conferences, courses, and coaching
• The reinvention, the evolution, the strategy
• The quiet perseverance during slow seasons
• The commitment to always be the most prepared person in the room

Behind every achievement is an entire archive of hours that nobody applauded.

Success Costs Time and That Invoice is Paid in Weekends

Wedding professionals don’t work “Monday to Friday.”

We work:

• When our families are gathering for birthdays
• When our kids have tournaments, plays, and recitals
• When our friends plan get-togethers
• When our communities host weddings, reunions, events, funerals

Our lives revolve around other people’s milestones.
Our weekends are not our own.
Our summers are not our own.
Our holiday season certainly isn’t our own.

And while we love what we do, while it’s a privilege to be trusted with these moments, it absolutely is a sacrifice. A real one.

Education is not Optional, it’s the Foundation

One of the biggest misconceptions is that seasoned professionals stop learning.

In reality, the most successful people in this industry are constantly:

• Taking courses
• Attending conferences
• Seeking mentorship
• Updating their skills
• Learning new cultures, trends, and technologies
• Putting themselves in rooms that challenge them

Nothing about long-term success is accidental.
It is engineered through ongoing education and the refusal to get comfortable.

The Investment in Yourself Never Stops

Success costs money, often before you ever see the return.

We invest in:

• Branding
• Marketing
• Certifications
• Travel for networking and site visits
• Equipment, technology, CRM systems
• Professional photography, videography, design
• Coaching and consulting
• Staff, team development, contractors

People say “luck.”

But what they call luck is actually years of putting money back into our craft rather than into vacations, wardrobes, or impulse purchases.

If We Make It Look Easy, That’s the Mastery Talking

Here’s the twist:
We should take “you’re so lucky” as a compliment.

It means we’ve done such a seamless job presenting our work that others can’t see the sweat, the stress, the sacrifice, or the strategy behind it.
That’s professionalism.
That’s mastery.

We make chaos look calm.
We make logistics look like magic.
We make hard things look effortless.

But let’s also be honest, every now and then, a little recognition feels good.
Because success is not an accident.
It’s not fate.
It’s not luck.

It’s earned.

Every hour.
Every weekend.
Every missed event.
Every conference.
Every decision to keep going when it would have been easier not to.

Final Thought

So the next time someone says, “You’re so lucky,” smile, but know your truth.

You weren’t lucky.
You were determined.
You were prepared.
You worked harder than they’ll ever know.
You sacrificed more than they’ll ever see.
You invested when others hesitated.
You showed up, every time, even when it cost you something.

Luck didn’t get you here.
Commitment did.
Relentless effort did.
You did.