I've posted on the huge costs of weddings these days ($27k on average according to this Smart Money piece on 10 things your wedding planner won't tell you.) In addition, I've posted on seemingly simple tasks where people can earn a decent amount of money: mowing lawns, walking dogs, becoming a referee and so on. So in this post, I want to connect the ideas -- weddings cost a fortune and you can make some extra money from this fact. How? By becoming a wedding planner!
Here's the good news -- you're qualified for the job! The details according to Smart Money:
Since wedding planning requires no formal training, anyone can hang out a shingle, and a growing number of former brides are doing just that. “Many enjoyed the planning process themselves and have made it their living,” says Claudia Hanlin, founder of consulting boutique The Wedding Library.
And the even better news is -- you can make a good deal of money being a planner:
Planners now offer tiers of service, from full (meaning they manage the entire process from start to finish and charge about 10 to 15 percent of the total wedding budget) to partial (they select the photographer, caterer, and other vendors for an hourly rate of, say, $25) to day-of (they oversee the event as it happens, usually for a flat fee—though there can be a hefty hourly rate tacked on if the wedding runs over time).
Ten to 15% of a $27k wedding is $2,700 to $4,050. $25 per hour isn't bad either. Do a few weddings a year and you have a very nice side income!
Finally, you can add even more to the earnings by picking the right type of weddings to plan:
With an increase in multicultural and interfaith weddings, consultants are cashing in on the opportunity to incorporate more than one tradition into a single event. Just how much are these twofer ceremonies costing couples? They add roughly $10,000 to the total amount, after factoring in additional dresses, tents, and extra cocktail hours, Rohrer says. And that’s just for one-day affairs, never mind those that run two days or longer.
Oh yeah, baby, bring on the "mixed" marriages!
Ok, I've had my fun. It's likely that Smart Money embellished many of their comments to make the piece more interesting -- they usually do in these "10 things" articles. Then again, it's a fact that weddings are expensive, there is relatively little oversight of wedding planners, and you can make a decent wage organizing an event (and you can likely get it down to somewhat of a science -- with forms, details, the same suppliers, etc. -- after awhile). So, why not consider it as a way to supplement your income?
Yipes. It would take a lot more money than that to make me work with some of the bridezillas that are out there!
I have a friend who walked into her reception and freaked out that the flowers on the table were the wrong shade of pink. Wow.
Posted by: SUSAN FROM LI | June 11, 2009 at 04:27 PM
Sounds like one of the most stressful jobs I can imagine. In my bartending days I worked at many a wedding. I remember seeing hotel managers, bands, photographers and even young flower girls being berated regularly by hysterical brides, grooms and parents of the couple and even being assaulted in a couple of cases. Not for all the money in the world!
Posted by: guinness416 | June 11, 2009 at 08:20 PM
Okay, I've actually done this as a side job after my 2005 wedding. I coordinated a few weddings and had enough. It's just not worth the daily distractions from my corporate job to deal with the demands of bridezillas.
Posted by: Grace | June 11, 2009 at 08:28 PM
This is something I should consider. I sense the weddings coming on with my friends.
Posted by: Mena @ NoMoreStudentLoans | June 11, 2009 at 11:58 PM
$2,400 sounds like a lot of money until you consider how many hours it takes to actually plan a wedding. People who do this and make money at it have existing relationships with many vendors and don't have to do a lot of legwork for each ceremony. They already know which vendors are appropriate.
Posted by: Kris | June 13, 2009 at 03:50 PM