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I work at a bridal shop. I started as an intern this past winter because I would eventually like to do planning or a DOC.
I work for a wedding book publisher. I started a couple years before I got engaged. I absolutely LOVE my job, and it's definitely helping me with the wedding planning!
@robinlinz: Oooh that would be such a fun job!!! I would love to do something like that!
I'm feeling rather bored with my current career. I'm one of these people who learns a job/career path, does it for a while, gets bored and moves on to something new. It can be a bit stressful. So since I'm in my "bored" phase now, I'm thinking about something wedding or events related. I was thinking about working in a photo studio (though I don't know in what capacity) or something like Robinlinz, or even at a bridal salon like ILuvDance17. I've also been fascinated with flowers for a long time, but I don't know if I'm up for more school right now!
I ABSOULTELY have! They make such GREAT money and most work only on the weekend! I have been considering being a wedding planner but then you think of the stress and how one little mistake can ruin someone's whole day and you reconsider. LOL. On the plus size though, my FI is starting a wedding invitation company so that will be fun :)
I've considered it. I used to be a wedding videographer, so that has been an option in the back of my mind for a while. I just need a lot more equipment.
However, what I would really like to do is to open a wedding venue. I'd love to buy a huge house with a large backyard and host weddings there. Mostly, I want to do this to create an inexpensive place for people to have weddings. Also, I have connections (through my husband) to people who work in wedding photography, catering, hair (my MIL) and even making chair covers. And I'd like to open the house (the entire thing) for a possible place for honeymoons.
I have working the wedding industry for five years and love it! I'm an event planner and used to work for a bridal magazine. Such a fascinating field. Now that I'm a bride, it certainly puts things in a different light. :)
I've sung weddings for family and friends... great money if they pay, great experience if they don't. I am currently trying to get a job with David's Bridal as a consultant, but we'll see. Four interviews and they still haven't given me the job!
As a result of planning my wedding I studied Project Management - I'm trying to score a project job / event planning role right now.
It is definitely a fun industry to work in!
@robinlinz: That sounds like a dream job!! Lucky girl!
I have a lot of friends who own businesses dealing with the wedding industry, so I just wanted to defend them a little...
Wedding vendors definitely appear to have glamorous jobs to us outsiders....but I think there is a small misconception with wedding vendors. Most DJs also work during the week - oftentimes they DJ at local venues for Karaoke nights, etc. They also handle all of their client meetings and bookkeeping. Photographers also do thousands of hours of editing each year, so that definitely takes up their entire week.
But I know they all love what they do, so I'm sure it doesn't even feel like "work" to them. =)
Best of luck to all of you pursuing careers in the wedding industry!
I write for a wedding website/blog!
It's freelance work, in that I'm not using it as sole income, but it's fun to be "in the industry" at events and such.
I've considered it, but can't get past the idea of working primarily weekends. Obviously, it's worth it if you can actually love your job, but it's just too risky for me.
I want to so badly! Either that or something in interior design. I really really wanted a job as marketing assistant to a wedding blog, and I've also tried to get a job at David's Bridal. So far nothing has panned out, but I keep hoping! :)
I'm actually thinking I might start a small linen rentals company right now. I have three friends getting married next year, so I might start there and expand.
From there I might get into designing? I don't know that I'd want to do all the planning, but giving a bride her vision, think that could be fun.
I might do some simple, inexpensive invitations as well.
I made my own luminaires that I believe I could sell as well as some jewelry, possibly even veils.
Not sure how to combine all of the vision right now.. I think it starts with a website. That's what I'm trying to figure out first!
@Ella1978: Starting a rental company is a GREAT idea....this is one area in the wedding industry that's not over-saturated with vendors, unlike photography, invitations and wedding planners.
Best of luck!
Thanks Miss Pinot Grigio:
I love crafts, so that's why I'm thinking of starting a webpage where I can sell hair flowers, luminaires, hair combs, things like that, but at the same time rent linens, which would be the bulk of the website.
I think I'd like to go modern with it to, and make it into sort of a local bride blog/ message board, so that local brides can chat. Not sure how to do that all on one site, that's what I'm working on now. I think it could be fun & useful too.
That's my goal at least!
DH has worked as a photographer for weddings. He mostly does smaller side jobs for friends and such. He has done all our friends' engagement shoots! He does bridal showers, stuff for school, group shots at work etc. I'm hoping that once our friends have babies he'll get to do materity & baby shoots! He's hopefully doing a wedding this winter for some friends - although they've been flaky and I think maybe wanting to hire a professional now but shy about telling us.
I've also thought it'd be fun to learn caligraphy for real - and do wedding invites or whatever!
Disclaimer: I love love love my job!
But, it's a JOB! I work (as a photog) with each client about 60-80 hrs EASY. So, let's say I was to charge $2000 (the number thrown out ;-).
$2000 x .40 in small business taxes = $1200
$1200 - $400 (overhead directly related to client) = $800
$800 - Business expenses (insurances, online presence, advertising, professional organization fee's) around $250 a client = $550
$550 / 80 hrs = $6.87/hr
Still Glamorous? ;-) It seems "easy" but it IS a job. It is running your own business. Oh, and I totally forgot to factor in health insurance and other expenses that come with running your own business. Is it worth it? sure! But trust me, when it's the middle of the summer, and your FI and all your friends are doing something really really fun, and EVERY saturday you're working... it does get old. It's better than my corporate life, but it's not as glamorous as it seems...
On another note, if your vendor is making you pay cash only run away... they are not running a proper business. You should be able to make a check out to the business and they should be licensed.
@KLP2010: Do you pay 40% in small business taxes??? Holy smokes! The system is definitely broken! And you work 60-80 hours with each client? So either you work 80 hours a week or you do a wedding every other week. Dang!
@Superstitions: FI and I have thought about doing the same thing! Buying a big piece of property with a cool barn on it, fixing it up and opening it as a wedding venue. There's NOTHING available like that around where we live, other than government owned properties that have tons of rules or places where you have to use their catering. Maybe in a few years we'll talk about it again. Maintaining the property would not be fun, that's my biggest concern. We hate gardening! LOL!
Bakerella, we also thought of doing something similar.. there are a few mansions around here, but not much in the way of - cool barn, great property, large house... I think that would be an option for down the road too.
@jenbrandner: I also pay 40% in taxes. (We are taxed locally, county-wide, statewide, and of course federally). I also have to pay for my business licensing, which can run a few hundred per year.
I usually put in 60-80 hours a week too. You have to work 80 hour weeks to make sure you don't get behind! :) If you have back-to-back weddings or double headers, you must keep up on the editing, because no bride wants to wait for her photos, as I know how excited newlyweds are to see them.
In a slower period, say months where I only have 2-3 weddings, I can work 40 hour weeks and still meet deadlines, but not during the busy season.
@Tswife4ever: I worked as a wedding planner, and I can tell you firsthand that we don't only work on weekends. Sure, the events are on weekends, but you also have to work during the week to get everything ready for the weekend.
I worked for a year and a half in the event planning industry, and that was the longest I could make it before I totally burned out. Don't get me wrong, it was a fabulously fun job with lots of great perks, but regularly working 60 - 80 hour per week during the high seasons (summer and winter) really takes it's toll. And I did plan all sorts of events, not just weddings, but I have to be honest and say that weddings were the worst. I had a couple of brides who were wonderful to work with and their weddings were a lot of fun, but the majority of brides are pretty difficult. They're either bridezillas who make you bend over backward to do everything for them (when it wasn't in the contract) down to the last insignificant detail (and don't even care on their wedding day) or they're uber budget brides who squeeze every last penny out of you so you don't end up making hardly any money in the end.
It's a hard job and a hard industry, but it is a lot of fun! There's nothing quite like it anywhere else, but you just have to be prepared to work really hard and not get thanked for it.
I just accepted a job as the editor of a regional weddings magazine. I start on July 26. I'm pretty excited, but I have a background in weddings journalism and I just happen to be planning my own wedding currently (though I think it did help me get a job). I did an internship at The Knot in NYC in college and I've spent the past three years getting editorial/management experience at a newspaper (not doing weddings stuff).
Shortly after our wedding, I started my own business, which has a strong focus on event design. It's the only thing I love doing, and it never feels like work. Even if I never got married, it's still something I would love doing :)
I have tried on TONS of dresses, looked at hundreds online, learned all about the styles and fabrics, etc. It has totally made me want to own a bridal gown shop! Or at least work in one! I have learned a lot about what looks good on what body type. I think I could find something for just about anyone!
After the wedding I started my own WEdding Planning buisness.
NOT just because of my wedding though, i should add. I have wanted to do it for years! I already have three weddings to do!!! :)
I actually love the entire thing and I would love to do it as a side job.
my dream is to own a plus size only bridal boutique! but for now im trying to set my foot in the door at davids bridal but no luck! hopefully they will hire me lol
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With our DJs and Photographers both making $2,000 a party in cash (and they do several a week)...that equals a HELL OF A LOT OF MONEY!
Since you've started planning...have you seriously considered (or did you actually start) working in the wedding industry? What would you do?...