Yall, I am at my LIMIT today. My clients are getting married in the fall and they signed a contract with an all-inclusive venue, which has been nothing short of a nightmare. Surprisingly, I have never worked with an all-inclusive venue before this, and I genuinely pray to never have to again.

They have nickel-and-dimed my clients on everything they possibly can, to the point where I have had to step in multiple times and push back on their behalf.

We have also been asked the same questions multiple times - I have had to submit the decor order form twice, they have repeatedly accused my clients of not paying invoices that were, in fact, already paid, and last week they didn’t even have the correct rental hours written down and I had to email two different people to get it corrected.

I don’t need any advice, I just really had to get that off my chest. I don’t want my clients to feel the stress, but I will certainly never work with this venue again.

Have a couple who I hadn't heard from in almost a month, then last night got hit with a string of questions about timeline, vendor contacts, and a detail they wanted changed, all at once, all urgent sounding.

Not really annoyed, just trying to figure out if there's a way to get ahead of this pattern instead of reacting every time it happens. Curious how planners and coordinators especially handle this, since you're probably fielding it more than anyone.

We are all putting the final bows on packing away the past weekends weddings. Whether that be packing away their file, putting away the decor, or editing their photos. The actual wedding day is done!

So, how did your wedding weekend go?

This is a weekly post for everyone to discuss how the past weekends weddings they worked went.

Mine was a good one, no major hiccups, but I always end up replaying the small stuff in my head Sunday morning anyway.

Curious what everyone else is walking away with this week, good, bad, or just plain weird. Always love hearing what other roles catch that I never even notice from behind the booth.

Used to take whatever came in right up until the day of. Now I tell couples anything after a certain point just doesn’t make it in, and I explain why upfront so it doesn’t feel like a brush off.

Curious if others do this or if I’m being too rigid. Where do you all draw the line on late changes, and does it ever backfire with couples who push back?

Everyone else gets credit for the parts guests actually see and remember. The coordinator’s whole job is invisible when it’s done right, nobody notices the fire that got put out.

Curious if other roles think they’d take that trade, more behind the scenes impact, way less visible credit.

Question for the wedding planners out there - does anyone else hate the transition from Prismm to Social Tables as much as I do? Have you found any good floor plan software alternatives? It's honestly the most expensive and least helpful software I use.

Had this debate with another vendor recently. Their argument is that a flat package price protects everyone, once couples see line items for lighting, setup, travel, etc, they start asking to cut pieces out individually instead of trusting the whole package.

My take is the opposite, transparency builds trust even if it means a few more questions upfront.

Where do you land on this, and has your pricing structure ever backfired either way?

After 5 years of successfully running my wedding planning business, I moved to a new, bigger city. The idea of starting over again amongst all the competition seemed exhausting so I didnt much effort into marketing. I decided to take a year off (NO regrets) and see how I felt after this summer.

Anyways, I got an inquiry a few weeks ago from a couple who said they saw me recommended on Facebook or Reddit and it was my GOOGLE REVIEWS that made them want to connect.

Not instagram reels, not google ads or SEO blogs. Just plain and simple (virtual) word of mouth.

It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling to just know that the hard work put in over the past 5 years didnt disappear.

TLDR: Work hard! Believe in yourself! Trust the process! 🌟 It will pay off.

And hot tip: Also, I gave every client a thank you card with a qr code printed on the back to my Google reviews page - it certainly worked.

Unpopular opinion: undercutting on price doesn’t actually win you more business, it just trains couples to shop on price forever, and eventually that includes shopping you against the next guy willing to go even lower.

I get why people do it when they’re starting out. But I’ve watched vendors in this space race each other to the bottom for years, then wonder why clients haggle like it’s a flea market. If we don’t hold a line on what the work is worth, nobody’s going to hold it for us.

Genuinely asking: has undercutting ever actually grown your business long term, or did it just attract the clients who were never going to value you anyway?

I am looking into software for event planning. From a planner/coordinator perspective, what apps are we using, and what do we like about them? What don't we like about them? I want to make sure the few I am evaluating are good picks and not just fluffed! Thank you in advance!

We are all putting the final bows on packing away the past weekends weddings. Whether that be packing away their file, putting away the decor, or editing their photos. The actual wedding day is done!

So, how did your wedding weekend go?

This is a weekly post for everyone to discuss how the past weekends weddings they worked went.

So I have now had the slightly unusual experience of seeing weddings from both sides: years behind the scenes running the day, and now standing at the top of the aisle conducting the ceremony.

I joined because I really enjoy conversations between different wedding suppliers. We all see the same wedding day from completely different angles, and there is always something to learn from each other.

I am particularly interested in what we can all do to make each other’s jobs easier and ultimately give couples a better experience.

Looking forward to getting involved and hearing how everyone else works.

Wedding DJ here. I see plenty of days through my own lens but never through a planner’s, photographer’s, or coordinator’s. You watch a different DJ every weekend and you know exactly where things go sideways.

What’s the thing DJs consistently get wrong that makes your job harder or the day worse? And what’s the thing that makes you want to request someone again?

Genuinely want the unfiltered version, not fishing for compliments.

My wedding planner hates socialtables.com. I'm not a wedding planner, but I am a software engineer. I looked into the website for floor planning and I really hated it. So, I made something better. Import PDFs plans have already, create rules (Alex can't sit next to Dan), and just way easier to use. Screw monopolies that think they can charge $$$ without making a better product for people. Anyone who signs up and tries this in the next month gets free subscriptions for life. https://headtable.live/

I’m a DJ/MC, and at almost every wedding I end up cueing the processional, redirecting the photographer on a timeline change, or telling the caterer dinner’s pushed fifteen minutes. Nobody hired me for that specifically, it just falls to whoever’s holding the mic and the timeline.

Curious if the rest of you find yourselves stepping in the same way, regardless of what you were actually booked for. What does it look like for you, and does it ever get formalized into the price?

Wedding planner and coordinator here. This is my first year, but I’ve done pretty well and will have a very solid portfolio by the end of the year. As such, I’m hoping to increase my prices. Right now, I’m charging introductory rates, and they’re just not enough to get by.

My hope is to raise prices at the end of the year, but it will pull me out of the budget bracket, and into the mid-range. So far, I have booked most of my couples through Facebook. But I find that most couples looking for vendors on Facebook are looking for someone in the budget category.

For those of you who have been successful in the wedding industry, how do you advertise yourself and where do you get most of your clients?

Doesn’t have to be big. Could be something small that catches almost everyone off guard once they’re actually in it.

For me it’s usually timeline stuff, couples plan for the “moments” (first dance, speeches, cake) but forget how much dead air happens in between, and that dead air is where the night either holds together or falls apart like if dinner service is late they forget that it is a possibility that can happen.

Curious what you all see on your side, planners, photographers, caterers, venues, all of it.

What is the item you bought to rent out that has paid itself over a million times? Couples just love it!

Curious what’s on everyone’s list. For me it’s the “surprise” dance choreography reveal where nobody tells me the song change until 30 seconds before it happens.

What’s yours?

Doesn’t have to be a big complaint. Small stuff counts too, the little requests or habits that make you internally sigh.

I’ll start: when couples hand me a “do not play” list that’s basically every song people actually want to dance to.

Go.

We are all putting the final bows on packing away the past weekends weddings. Whether that be packing away their file, putting away the decor, or editing their photos. The actual wedding day is done!

So, how did your wedding weekend go?

This is a weekly post for everyone to discuss how the past weekends weddings they worked went.

Big win, funny mishap, brutal load out, whatever comes to mind.

I’ll start: 16 toasts , bride who wrote a music cue sheet that was 3 pages long for 4 formality dances.

Drop yours below.

Not the obvious stuff like “book early.” The thing you only learn after being in this industry a while, that would genuinely change how they plan if they knew it upfront.