There are so many INCREDIBLE wedding planners in our community here, across the country and around the world. Not only do we love what we do, we truly care about our clients, know what we are worth, take education seriously and keep hustling.

These are the key elements to being good at wedding planning (a.k.a. not sucking):

1. Be more than 100% passionate. Wedding planning is HARD work. If you aren’t completely passionate and borderline obsessive about it, you won’t have the motivation to put forth the incredible amount of effort it takes to succeed.

2. Care more than you should. Weddings are one of the most emotional days in our client’s lives and quite possibly one of the most emotional days for their parents as well. If you don’t care deeply about their experience and how the day turns out, you are doing a disservice to your clients and the vendors you work with.

3. Don’t expect to get rich. Most wedding planners work their butt off with very little income or reward for a very long time before making a steady income. Even some of the most successful wedding planners take home less than six figures a year after taxes and business expenses. If you are pursuing this career mainly for the money, it’s time to reconsider your career options. You CAN make a sustainable income in our industry and many of us do support ourselves and our families with our businesses, however very few wedding planners become financially wealthy just from planning weddings.

4. Get educated. Weddings are usually a once-in-a-lifetime event. As wedding planners, we have a huge responsibility to lead our clients in the right direction, manage the process, recommend the perfect team of professionals, take the stress out of planning, create smart timelines and coordinate a fantastic day for our clients. Knowing the intricate details of wedding planning comes with time, practice and education. Invest in your education with conferences, workshops, books and coaching. Good wedding planners take their responsibility seriously and are constantly learning and improving their knowledge.

5. Keep hustling. As with many careers, wedding planning requires constant hustling. Hustling to get more clients, hustling to find great vendor professionals and hustling to be one step ahead of what everyone else is doing. There are a huge number of new wedding planning businesses being started every single week and none of us have repeat customers (well, hopefully not too many). It’s all about the hustle to keep putting yourself out there, keep learning, keep finding ways to attract new clients and keep growing.

These are all key traits to becoming a fantastic wedding planner. What elements do YOU think are important to being a great wedding planner?