You can find a career that completes you.

You’ve been dreaming of a job that makes your heart flutter. It seems like a career you can fall deeply in love with is only real in fairytales and you’re ready to just settle for something that is reliable. After all, your interests and talents don’t seem to combine to make you suited for anything that you’d actually want to do for forty hours a week. A love of love, parties, epic romance, and event planning might seem like something that is more of a hobby, or the character description of the love interest in a romantic comedy, but there’s more to it than that. Before you give up on finding your happily ever after career, did you know you really can have a career as a wedding planner? Here’s why this might be the job that finally has you saying “you complete me” whenever you go to work.

Love is a big business.

While you don’t want to take away the romance that goes hand in hand with a wedding — it IS a celebration of two people who love each other making a lifelong commitment — it’s a fact that they’re a profitable industry. The cost of the average wedding in 2018 was $44,000, which went up about $13,000 from 2017. Weddings are a big deal to the participants and their families. It’s meant to be a once in a lifetime event that marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in the couple’s personal fairytale.

It makes sense, then, that for many, planning a beautiful, extravagant affair is priceless. To make sure everything goes off without a hitch and the couple’s dollars are well spent, wedding planners are vital to the process. A well-planned wedding means the cost was more than worth it. And with people spending more than ever on their big day, it’s no surprise that the need for event and wedding planners is projected to grow 11% by 2026.

You can love your career and make a living that works for you.

A wedding planner needs a variety of skills.

You thought you’d never find a career that allows you to use all of your skills, right? But successful wedding planners need an arsenal of unique talents and interests to be the best they can be. That means you have the opportunity to pull everything together to pull off both elaborate and intimate ceremonies and celebrations. So what skills are important to wedding planning? A few important ones include:

1. An interest in making dreams a reality. Being a wedding planner is being a dream maker. You’re the magic genie who makes a couple’s wedding wishes come true and that fuels you. If you’re not interested in helping people plan their pie-in-the-sky, fantasy day, you may not be suited to the field.

2. People skills. You’ll be working one on one with brides, grooms, their families, and vendors to make sure the event you’re planning is the best. That means people skills are a must to your success. You need to be comfortable offering your opinions to clients about what they’re thinking for the big day, setting up meetings, getting discounts from vendors and venues, and more.

3. Organization skills. Wedding’s consist of a lot of moving parts and many couples start planning a year ahead of time. As wedding planner, you won’t just be working with one client at a time; you’ll need to balance different events and plans without dropping the ball. Organization and time management skills are key.

4. Creativity. While many people dream of their wedding day and have more than a few ideas of their own, you’ll also work with clients who have no clue what they want. Having a creative eye and an interest in different styles and trends can help you help your couples figure out what their wedding vision is and bring that to life.

5. Leadership skills. A wedding planner is the general on the big day, making sure vendors and caterers meet deadlines, that contracts are signed, and that everything from the walk down the aisle to the final wedding toast is seamless. That means you need to lead the charge, so being unafraid of being the boss is a must.

You also may find yourself working with emotional clients, so being prepared to be a shoulder to cry on and act like a guide is going to be important.

You can find your independence.

Wedding Planners have options when it comes to how they do their work. Many do work for event planning companies, one member of a team that’s dedicated to their clients. Others, however, decide to start their own business. As a wedding planner, you can be as independent as you want, working for yourself, being the leader of a team, or being a team member.

If you decide to start your own wedding consultant business, you’re able to negotiate your fees with clients, set your own hours, decide how many weddings you want to do, and more.

Find your true love with ICS Canada.

If wedding planning sounds like a dream come true, it may be the true love career you’ve been searching for! ICS Canada’s Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC®) Certified Wedding Planner Program can help you take the first steps toward the future you’ve been waiting for, covering information from wedding traditions and customs to how you can start your bridal consultant business. Learn more by speaking with an Admissions Specialist at 1.888.427.2400!