Certified Wedding Planner

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100% Online, Self-Paced, Instructor Support

See how a Course Works: Intro to Online Learning





Description

Ever wonder how to become a professional wedding planner? Our certified wedding and event planner programme is ideal for anyone looking to begin their career as a professional wedding and event planner. Our comprehensive, online wedding and event planner programme covers everything you need to know to start a successful career as a certified wedding and event professional. From contracts to wedding etiquette to dealing with vendors, you'll learn how to become a wedding and social event planner by learning every facet of the wedding & social event planning industry. You'll learn about flowers and florists, live music and disc jockey services, how to successfully market your business and trade secrets and industry specific applications known only to wedding and event planners. Whether you are planning on working part-time or a full-time this program will provide you with the tools you need to become a successful, in demand, certified wedding and event planner.

In our wedding and event planner certification course you will learn through a series of assignments that are geared towards starting your own wedding and event planning business. The lessons you learn through these assignments will be used again and again in your business and include such topics as how to write contracts, how to construct business packages, how to use profiling templates for new clients and which tools to use for designing a signature wedding. As you learn how to become a wedding and event planner through our wedding and event planner certification course you will use comprehensive textbooks that include templates and examples to consider as you develop your own, custom business tools. Our wedding and event planner certification course provides over 100 documents in our on-line library that may be download and used as templates for your bridal clients.

As you learn how to become a wedding and event planner you will learn about a variety of industry related topics including budgeting, effective project management skills, how to coordinate with vendors, traditional and contemporary wedding customs from over 15 different cultures worldwide, Wedding Gown Styles & Veils including the seasons top designers and videos of the most recent Trunk (Fashion) Shows, Wedding Event Planning, Writing your Business Plan, Signature Wedding Design, Invitations, Public Relations, Wedding Music Selections, Sales & Marketing, Pre and Post Wedding Parties, How to expand your business, Relationship Education as well as Production and Operations Management.

To address the demands of the industry this program is created for real-world application including experiential learning. This includes role-playing, vignettes and other ways to practice for actual business objectives or work settings in the day-to-day of wedding planning. This curriculum is developed utilizing a dynamic, interactive teaching method, focused on clearly expressed concepts and principals derived from research-based theories of adult learning.

Certified Wedding and Event Planning students can email instructors as often as they need to during the course and schedule phone meetings to discuss assignments if needed. Online students also have access to other students in the course through the course online message and discussion boards, as well as blogs and the online student center. Here, students find additional resources, support and networking with others in their area and throughout the WORLD. Many online students utilize this network even after graduation.

Because the wedding planner plays such an integral role in the planning of a couple's most important day, there is much to learn in the way of planning, budgets, working with vendors, contracts, revenue channels, not to mention keeping up with the latest trends in bridal fashion, color choices and wedding design.

Some typical tasks for a Certified Wedding Planner include:

·        Receiving, making and documenting telephone calls to clients and vendors.

·        Scheduling appointments with vendors for clients.

·        Helping a client to unveil her personal style or wedding day vision.

·        Designing inspiration boards for new client meetings.

·        Assist a client with her wedding gown/attire selection.

·        Budget Tracking and project planning.

·        Site visits with clients for venue selection.

·        Troubleshooting and solution solving.

·        Managing and delegating task as well as tracking progress.

·        Collecting payments and performing collection activities.

Wedding planners are in demand as more and more sophisticated brides discover they can not be the bride and the wedding planner on the day of their wedding. With popular shows like Platinum Weddings, Whose Wedding is it Anyway?, Race to the Alter, Married Away, Big Day and Bridezilla, the profession is growing at an increased rate year after year. Many professional planners run their own company while many others work for wedding businesses offering wedding planning services.

Outline

This comprehensive program has been streamlined into online videos to enhance the learning experience and help you move through the program more quickly.

  1. I. Introduction - Video Library
    i. Wedding Industry Overview
    ii. Wedding history
    iii. Engagement purpose
    iv. Current statistics
    v. Engagement Process as it leads to the wedding day

    II. Your role as a wedding planner
    i. Setting expectations for all involved
    ii. Budget Management
    iii. Wedding Etiquette
    iv. Planning, Coordinating and Directing

    III. Business Structure
    i. Fee for services, Pricing, Packages, Proposals, Project Plan Budgeting
    ii. Market place evaluation
    iii. Small business start-up cost
    iv. Business Location set-up
    v. Home Office
    vi. SOHO Solutions
    vii. Office Set-up

    IV. Documentation
    i. Training materials
    ii. Design boards
    iii. Fabric boards
    iv. Manuals
    v. Design Project

    V. Templates - over 40 editable documents for your business
    i. Pricing Packages, Contracts
    ii. Client hand-outs
    iii. Ceremony Structure, Customs, Traditions
    iv. Many, many more

    VI. Vendor Selection
    i. Vendor Interviews
    ii. Vendor contracts
    iii. Vendor partnerships and negotiation
    iv. Vendor marketing
    v. Vendor booking

    VII. Contracts
    i. Contract Law
    ii. Creating Your Contracts
    iii. Contract Templates
    iv. Bridal Client Contracts
    v. Vendor partnership
    vi. Traditional Wedding Planner packages

    VIII. How to work with a prospective bride
    i. Profiling
    ii. Training
    iii. Role playing
    iv. Making the sale
    v. Educating the bridal client
    1. bridal registry
    2. setting expectations
    3. wedding day vision vs. reality
    vi. Traditional vs. non-traditional wedding ceremonies
    vii. Wedding party delegation

    IX. Over 15 different Ethnic Wedding Customs & Traditions Worldwide

    X. The Wedding Gown
    i. Gown styles
    ii. Veil styles
    iii. Body Types do's & don'ts
    iv. Top 50 wedding dress designers

    XI. Destination Weddings

    XII. Music - How to write a musical score
    i. Popular Wedding Ceremony Music Selections
    1. Processional
    2. Recessional

    XIII. Signature Weddings - How to create a signature wedding each and every time
    i. Rehearsal Procedures
    ii. D4 Analysis - Wedding Design
    iii. A6 Production - Event Experience
    iv. Event Project Management

    XIV. Business marketing practices, industry associations, networking

    XV. Bridal Shows
    i. Research
    ii. Checklist
    iii. Booking the bride
    iv. How to work a booth
    v. Post show activities

    XVI. Online Marketing strategies
    i. Designing Your Website
    ii. Marketing Your Website

    XVII. Industry terms
    i. Traditional
    ii. Trendy

    XVIII. Public Relations
    i. Becoming an expert in your field in your local market
    ii. Writing a Press Release
    iii. Writing Your Bio
    iv. Negotiating promotions

    XIX. Organization
    i. CRM (Client Relations Management)
    ii. Industry Software
    iii. Expanding your business offerings and adding additional revenue streams

    XX. Certification - what does it mean and how it sets you apart.

    XXI. How relationship education can be incorporated into your business

    XXII. Philanthropy

    XXIII. Final Exam

Additional Info

Languages
English
Course Length
300.00 hours
Duration of Access
All of our programs are self-paced and open-enrollment. You can start and finish the program at your own pace. When you register for our Certified Wedding Planner program, you’re given an initial six months to complete it. If you need more time, you may request a three-month extension free of charge. The cost for any additional three-month extension is $99.
Instructor

Cho Phillips is the founder and CEO of Lovegevity, Inc. and author of Professional Wedding and Event Planning, How to Start a Wedding and Event Planning Business textbook. Through her company Lovegevity, Cho has helped thousands of brides around the country plan for their special day, and is a consultant and trainer to numerous corporations servicing the bridal market. Mrs. Phillips is frequently featured in the media as an expert on wedding industry trends, professional certification, and wedding planning. She has been featured in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, Las Vegas Sun and a guest on NBC, UPN, WB and many other local television and radio stations across the country. Ms. Phillips is also the creator of The Wedding Planning Board Game and founder of The Wedding Planning Institute.

The Wedding Planning Institute was founded with the sole purpose of providing aspiring wedding planners with the best possible education. The Institute is dedicated to the highest standards, offering wedding planning certification, business fundamentals, continuing education classes and seminars.

Because the wedding planner plays such an integral role in the planning of a couple's most important day, there is much to learn in the way of planning, budgets, working with vendors, contracts, revenue channels, not to mention keeping up with the latest trends in bridal fashion, color choices and wedding design.

To address the demands of the industry our programs are created for real-world application including experiential learning. This includes role-playing, vignettes and other ways to practice for actual business objectives or work settings in the day-to-day of wedding planning.

All curriculum is developed utilizing a dynamic, interactive teaching method, focused on clearly expressed concepts and principals derived from research-based theories of adult learning. 

Our instructors and career counselors work closely with all students to understand their needs and to design educational career paths that provide the experience, engagement and competency needed to achieve the student's objectives. Our core instructors hold a Masters Degree in Education and have combined experience of over 150 years in the wedding industry from various specialties and backgrounds.

The Wedding Planning Institute is available to students who are interested in receiving the industry's premier education in the business of planning weddings and social events. This Certification program has been accepted by Colleges and Universities around the United States as the standard curriculum and business training for wedding professionals.

Graduates of The Wedding Planning Institute are the top performers in the industry and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Prerequisites/Audience
There are no prerequisites for this program.

This program is for you if you're interested in becoming a full- or part-time wedding planner.
Requirements/Materials Included

This course is compatible with the Windows Vista operating system.

Students will need access to a computer with Internet access and e-mailing capabilities.

The following textbooks will be provided:

·        How to Start a Wedding and Event Planning Business

 

Certification

Upon successful completion of the Certified Wedding and Event Planner program, students will:

·        Understand the role of a professional wedding and event planner.

·        Gain a basic understanding of the wedding and event planning industry.

·        Create business contracts, pricing, packages and presentation tools.

·        Identify the formula/method to structure and set-up a wedding planning business and operations.

·        Be proficient in skills such as budget planning, vendor selection and wedding design.

·        Be familiar with industry specific terminology, communication, telephone techniques, organization and project management.

·        Have knowledge of vendor contracts and what to look for.

·        Be familiar with wedding design elements, fabrics and styles.

·        Understand how to market as an expert in the industry to gain PR attention.

·        Understand online marketing and how it applies to a wedding planners business.

·        Have knowledge of different wedding traditions and cultures and how to implement a couple’s ethnic background into the celebration.

·        Have knowledge of traditional and non-traditional etiquette.

·        Understand the Event Planning Process necessary to design and deliver a successful wedding/social event.

·        Understand the Six Stages of Event Experience and ways to implement them.

·        Be fully prepared to take on his/her first bridal client.