Being or Becoming a Wedding Consultant

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Bridal consultants are the target of scammers. They rely on your inexperience and hope you will be so excited by their offer you will not confirm everything you need to confirm. Details are Here For Scam Details

If you are here, you are either looking for information on how to become a Bridal Consultant or increasing your knowledge of the business by getting your Credentials. First, being a consultant will require many attributes, check back here for a new page on "What it Takes" written by the top trainer in the country Ms Doris Nixon.

One of the first thing to understand is how you will earn a living. The BRIDE is your customer. She will be the person that pays your fee. She will hire you because you can save her time & money. (See my article on Tips for Consultants)

First, please understand we are not an organization that offers credentials. However, several of our members and associates do! Our function in the wedding industry is to assist you in your marketing to the brides. Part of that assistance is direction on becoming more proficient in your field. We do that by inviting you to attend conferences/seminars in the industry.

The schooling you need to become a bridal consultant covers many fields, e.g. Hospitality, Event Planning, Decorating & Diplomacy to name a few. Other abilities that can come in handy are Bookkeeping, Marketing & Negotiating. These are not the only things required of a consultant. It will also help that you like weddings. You do not need credentials in order to operate as a consultant, but I strongly recommend them. Most of you will be self employed, which means you will need to do heavy marketing.  Most of the bridal industry averages 8% of their income in marketing, to start you may need to expend 12-15%. The reason for this high percentage is that the brides are only 1% of the population. You will find one of the more effective methods of marketing will be exhibiting in bridal shows, we can assist you in finding those shows.

To find the consultant organizations that offer credentials please go to our members section (the link is below) and click on the Associations Heading. You will find a few members there that offer the training. June Wedding Inc.or Weddings Beautiful And the ACPWC. They all offer "Home Study" courses. We also recommend you visit some of our members pages that offer items for you. Elaine Parker has a book called Wedding Director, a how to book. For information. Another of our members runs Coordinators Corner, a meeting place for wedding consultants. Contact Nancy Tucker, visit her page for more information.

If you are looking for an academic experience please visit, The Wedding Planning Institute. WPI has an on-line Certification program, as well as the opportunity for you to attend a local college. Many WPI students who attend their local university or college also participate in real weddings during the course to get more hands-on experience. Visit WPI to see a short demo of the online experience.

In San Francisco, Joyce Scardina-Baker teachs at SF State check her course

What Afwpi can do for you if you are a consultant is to offer exposure for you in our "Consultants" section. We are looking for consultants everywhere in the world to assist the brides that need the help. To view the section for the US, go to Consultants USA to reach the other countries visit our "bride" page at Brides and look about half way down the page. You do not need to be a member to be listed here! Members, aside from the logo next to your name in this section you will receive many other benefits, to see what those are go to Benefits

We do ask a favor, please our newsetter for consultants before moving on to the other associations. Without your information we will not be able to update you on the mixers, seminars & conferences that you need to know about.

One thing you might start putting together is a directory of ALL (well the most popular ones at least) of the wedding facilities in your area. Include photos of before & after a facility is decorated for a wedding. Fee ranges and any requirements should be filed there as well as their preferred vendor lists. Anything else including your recommendations when you do a wedding at the facility. When meeting brides you will be in a better position to assist them (and get their bookings) with this knowledge.

Good Luck

Richard

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