Wedding season is beginning to advance and for those of us in the wedding industry, we know that can only mean chaos if we aren’t time management wizards!
So, here are our time management tips to help you stay on schedule…
1. Establish a Schedule
This might seem obvious, but how you make your event planning schedule is the key to using your time effectively and ensure you achieve all the tasks on your daily list.
Think of this as your personalized event planning time management schedule.
So, establish regular habits on specific days.
If your life is fully digitized and you have an app for nearly everything, there are numerous online resources at your fingertips.
Manage your planning process projects, organize tasks, and track your progress all online.
Ta da! If you have a team, these can all be shared and tasks delegated. Get everyone on board with what is done and what is still outstanding.
2. Delegate
Just because you can do everything yourself, doesn’t mean you should.
The best time management techniques for event planners involve a thorough list and finding the best ways that work for you, so make sure you have a comprehensive list, and no dead time.
Plan ahead and don’t be afraid of delegating tasks to others – event planners are infamous when it comes to be jack of all trades, but timings are essential and you’ll have to take the lead and handle a diverse range of tasks and trust those around you to do their share of the important tasks too, so you can focus on one task at a time.
3. Multitasking isn’t always good
Multitasking for weddings might sound productive but, in reality, can make you use your time in an unfocussed way, as many tasks require your total concentration, particularly the unglamourous task of invoicing.
If you’re not careful you can actually lose time.
Event planners like to create simple daily routines and habits, that are accomplished daily with the help of a checklist that helps manage time productively. By following this order, saves time and can help avoid distractions which is the main goal.
4. Create Deadlines
Monthly accounting and invoicing typically takes a few hours or half a day, so create realistic deadlines for your regular tasks and treat those deadlines as you would any client.
The brilliant thing about wedding time management is that you can borrow tips from other businesses as it’s a very broad skill.
5. Set Realistic Goals
A mistake business owners can make with goal setting is identifying they want to accomplish for the big day without the steps for how they will achieve it.
If your aim is to increase your wedding planning business’s social media cohort, you’ll be more successful if you at the existing data to identify your current growth rate, then set a reasonable goal.
6. Make Sure There’s ‘You’ Time
Wedding planning is a highly stressful industry, and the worry from your clients and their family is often placed on your shoulders. Part of essential time management skills is making sure your needs are also met.
Having enough time for ‘you‘ time is essential to keep stress away whether that is exercise, more sleep or family time – life, work energy balance is vital for you and for managing your business.
7. What Can Be Outsourced?
When you audit how you spend your time in any given week or month you’ll likely discover some valuable insights, including what tasks are most time-consuming and can be dealt with more effectively.
If administrative or technical tasks are taking up a lot of time, you could decide to employ a virtual assistant as they are paid hourly and can be worth the investment if they free up your time for managing other wedding planning projects.
There’s a great App called Eternity which has been created to help you balance your time more effectively.
8. Expect the Unexpected
Wedding planners can spend a lot of time in meetings with florists and venue managers, photographers, and entertainment specialists. When planning your busy calendar, add extra time for travel to stay on schedule. Extra time for travel prevents stress when unexpected incidents arise.
9. Time Blocks Rule
Meetings in the wedding planning industry are endless, and many take longer than your guesstimated meeting time. Avoid this by establishing start and end times. This way, everyone knows exactly the amount of time you need for the business at hand.
10. Don’t be Scared to Say ‘No’
Before agreeing to take on yet another thing, think about your schedule and decide if there is extra time for you or your team to complete this new task.
Is this task really vital for your clients’ needs? Be able to say no to things that don’t help you creates professional boundaries and helps you stay on an effective time management schedule.
11. Highlight Essential Actions
Before agreeing to take on yet another thing, think about your schedule and decide if there is extra time for you or your team to complete this new task.
Is this task really vital for your clients’ needs? Be able to say no to things that don’t help you creates professional boundaries and helps you stay on an effective time management schedule.
12. Save Time, Go Virtual
The last few years have moved towards meetings being replaced by an email, and being done virtually which can save wedding planners a lot of time for other wedding tasks.
Virtual meetings and tours of venues can be done in a fraction of the time an in-person tour takes.
They can also be done with florists, stationary for invitations, and other vendors where the visual is really important. An in-person meeting isn’t always necessary in every situation.
13. Phone vs. Email
Wedding planners spend a lot of time communicating with clients, vendors, venues, and that’s just for starters. It’s therefore very easy to get caught up in long emails that can be simply sorted with a phone call.
If you think there are going to be lots of questions, then schedule a call with a beginning and end time. Then, address all related questions at the time of the call, resolve the issue, and avoid an endless string of emails.
14. Put an Enquiry Form on Your Website
Enquiry forms are a great way to keep track of your potential leads.
If they require essential information, such as the wedding date, you can let potential clients know immediately if you’re even available before going any further.
15. What Works For You
Wedding planning usually has you pulled in thousand different directions, all at the same time. By keeping to an organised schedule that uses your productive time will maximize your efforts and bring great rewards.
Time management skills are learnt over time, but with a few essential tools, you can create a customized schedule that works for you and helps you plan weddings in the most effective and successful way possible.
Want to know more about how to become a Wedding Planner?
Take a look at our Advanced Certificate in Wedding Planning, Styling and Business. Our first module covers time management to help you be more productive and get more done in the time you have available.
BECOME A WEDDING PLANNER WITH THE WEDDING ACADEMY >>>
