Advice I Wish I Had When I First Started

By Tracey Manailescu, Cofounder and Vice President of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada Inc.

WPIC Inc. is celebrating it’s twentieth year in business this month. Whoot Whoot! This means that I have been planning weddings and events for twenty-three years.

In this article I’m going to discuss advice I wish I had when I first started. Danielle is going to share some advice from her perspective, in the next blog.

We’ve learned a lot over the years, and as we go, each wedding season we learn more. We happily share them with our students year after year. As the years go by, we have more advice to share and stronger opinions about things, as well 😉

Here is some advice that I wish that I had when I first started in the wedding industry:

• Sales and customer service are key!
• A little competition is healthy.
• Not everyone has your best interests at heart.
• Working non-stop is not healthy for you, or your loved ones.
• Have a strong contract.
• Do not work on anyone’s wedding without business insurance. Liability and E & O to be exact.
• You can’t please everyone.
• You are a running a business, not a charity. You need to turn a profit.
• You will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Choose a specialty.
• Ethics are not adhered to by everyone. Never badmouth another wedding professional to try to get ahead. It’s a small community and it will eventually come out. Trust me.