For most of us in the wedding industry, there are many days our work duties hardly feel like work at all. I mean…getting to help two lovebirds celebrate the most beautiful day of their lives? What could be more exciting, right? While exhilarating, working back-to-back events during wedding season can be utterly and entirely exhausting!
But remember, wedding season is a marathon, not a sprint.
If you’re not thoughtful about how you manage your time, energy, and resources during (and around) wedding season, you’ll find yourself in survival mode, dragging your feet from one celebration to the next. This is a surefire way to get burnt out.
The stress of the event industry? It’s no joke. But maybe we can help. Our team of Colorado wedding professionals put together a list of 12 actionable strategies we use to keep a steady momentum and high spirits during wedding season.
Here’s what we’ve learned over the years:
The key to efficiency and time management in practically every industry is defining and maintaining essential processes. Take client correspondence, for example.
The same streamlined mentality needs to be applied to all other processes, including team communication, booking, contract management, and invoicing.
Team meetings are an absolute must—if you rely solely on a virtual team chat or your scheduling app to manage your team, every event is going to feel like chaos.
You want to be a calm, supportive presence for your couples, right? Well, you can’t do that if you aren’t getting the reset time you need to be your best.
That means:
Don’t try to do everything yourself. Again, we repeat, DON’T TRY TO DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF. You simply can’t. Instead, lean on your teammates (or employees) to help with tasks you frankly don’t have time for.
That being said, delegate with great care to ensure you aren’t offloading TOO much. A good rule of thumb is to focus on your “core” responsibilities and delegate the rest.
When doing so, always try to respect others’ time and workload. Never assume a coworker can take on more without asking. And give them the option to say “no.”
You’re not the only one who needs recharge time. If you’re responsible for creating the work schedule, do so thoughtfully, incorporating built-in breaks and rest days for all teammates (including yourself). Beyond time off, think of different ways to show support to your team, such as team retreats, one-to-one meetings, performance recognition, incentives, and bonuses.
Something we take great pride in here at Spruce Mountain Ranch is our ability to facilitate seamless communication between couples, vendors, and staff. We’re able to do this because we don’t believe in “over-communication”— especially for weddings, which always seem to have hundreds of moving pieces.
A sudden rainstorm? Father-of-the-bride caught in traffic? Bridal party wardrobe malfunction? Last-minute itinerary change? So many things could go wrong—and often do—in the wedding scene. Do yourself a favor and learn to expect something to go awry. Solid contingency plans and flexibility go a long way in this industry.
In the bustle of wedding season, it’s easy to forget to invest time and effort into developing bonds with fellow professionals. But networking with other vendors and venues (like Spruce Mountain Ranch) is the kind of thing that will bring you more opportunities down the road.
Here are a few ideas for wedding industry networking:
After every event, take a moment to capture immediate feedback and lessons learned. Make this a part of your post-event wrap-up checklist before you send your crew home for the night. This shouldn’t be a long meeting by any means. If appropriate, schedule a more in-depth debrief for a later date.
Designated work hours and rest days don’t do any good unless you stick to them. Unfortunately, protecting these critical boundaries often requires the occasional “no” to a client request. But trust us—rarely is a client request so essential that it’s worth compromising on your carefully determined boundaries.
Referrals and reviews are EVERYTHING in the wedding industry. One of the biggest mistakes you could make as a wedding professional is dropping the ball on client follow-up. Try to establish a standard post-event process, including timely thank-you notes, review and referral requests, follow-up surveys, and image requests (so you can beef up your portfolio).
The busy schedule will slow down in mid to late fall (most likely). Until then, try to enjoy the ride, lean on one another, take moments to appreciate the beauty of each event, and practice gratitude for your team, clients, and the opportunity to do what you love.
Plus, in the end, you’ll have earned a pretty penny for all your hard work!
There’s no denying it…wedding season can be brutal, whether you’re an event planner, a caterer, a DJ, or a photographer. When you’re in the thick of it, just take things one step at a time. You’ll make it out okay on the other end—we promise!
Working a wedding at Spruce Mountain Ranch for the first time? Fantastic—and welcome! Feel free to reach out any time to learn more about our venue and policies.
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