Dear Stressed Out Wedding Planner,
Yeah, YOU the one who’s trying to stay on top of all the event details despite, triple shot latte in hand. Yet, even with your best of intentions, the remainder of the 2020 wedding season is just about finished. And yet again, you’re feeling guilty about forgetting to include event sustainability into your wedding planning process.
I know you’ve worked so hard and stretched so thin to balance all of the wedding cancellations, postponements, and figuring out how you’re going to continue making money this year! From negotiating deposits to help clients recover their costs, to holding out for weddings in the autumn and convincing other couples to reschedule for 2021, it has not been easy. After continuously refreshing the news app on your phone and the government websites for event updates, you accumulated a mountain of mind trash. How can you possibly juggle between salvaging the rest of the wedding season AND the twice the amount of bookings for 2021?! You went from Plan A to B all the way to Z.
Feeling Impossible
And, right now, you’re feeling like it’s impossible. You’re questioning your capabilities as a wedding planner because this year all the details have gone out the window. Every time you find a solution, the rules change. You’re constantly readjusting your templates and master plans but then new guidelines get rolled out with two days notice and you’re back in the cycle of Googling “Wedding Planning with COVID-19” or “How to pivot my wedding planning business.” By the time you’re ready to start researching eco-friendly options, your motivation is out of the window and your overwhelm has peaked beyond capacity. Starting to think about implementing event sustainability in the middle of a pandemic is like finding a new series to watch on Netflix.
You’re NOT Alone
But you’re not alone! Despite setting the best of intentions, you’ve let it slip through the cracks. No matter how many years of experience you have in the hospitality industry, there are simply TOO many details to think about pre, day-of and post wedding. Back in October 2019, a friend of mine was working for this non-profit who was hosting their annual fundraiser. The event team had every intention of reducing the impact of their event, however it wasn’t until a week before the event that they realized their venue did not have organics bins. They were frantically searching for a solution. That’s when I received a call and within a matter of TWO days, I was able to secure a waste management company to suit the needs of the event. We were able to drastically divert the amount of organics that would have ended up in the landfills. Of course if we were trying to solve this problem last year, it would’ve been as simple as that annual fundraiser. But this year… is a completely different story.
So what do you say? Would you be willing to tell me all of your problems for 30 minutes on a Clarity Call, to get 3 ways you can instantly implement eco-friendly options? If that’s a yes, then let me tell you what’s on the other side! You will be less stressed, you will be able to focus on all the aspects of wedding planning that you actually enjoy and you will continue to be inspired to think outside-the-box to create better events for your couples and the planet!
Starting is ALWAYS the Hardest
Taking the first step is always the hardest, but it doesn’t have to be. I understand because to have made it so far in the wedding industry and having to appear so knowledgeable with all the vendors thus far, asking for help feels like something that will make you lose authority. It can be scary to ask a question when you think that the answer might be simple but you just don’t know it yet. But not knowing the answer is okay. That being said, if you do want to build this area of expertise – and start positioning yourself to set yourself apart from other wedding planners in the future, now is the time. It might not seem like the biggest challenge at the moment, but when you’re continuing to book weddings for 2021, couples are much more conscious of their environment and the world around than they have been their entire lives! This is what sanitizing your hands every day for 6 months will do to you – it makes you pretty aware of what’s going on in the world! We’ve all seen the accumulation of plastic masks in the ocean – they’re the new plastic straws.
Now it won’t be long until you’re planning your next wedding and realize you need guidance and expertise. But honestly, there’s only one thing you have to do right now. So go ahead and admit it to yourself that you need help. When you’re ready to take the first step, know that all you have to do is book a 30 minute Clarity Call with me and we can go through all of your pain points of creating and implementing an event sustainability plan. You will walk away with some actionable next steps when planning for your next wedding!
