So, you’re booked and busy? We love that! Now that you’re raking in clients, developing vendor partnerships, and fostering customer relationships, it’s time to get organized. As a wedding planner, you’re so often focused on delivering the best experience for your clients that staying on top of everyday business operations can become overwhelming. However, organizing your small business is essential for continued growth and success between contracts, invoices, and client files.

Thankfully, there are tools, tips, and tricks to help you stay on top of it all without getting swept away into a vortex of stress. 

Tip #1: Organize Client Files

Keeping your client files organized is crucial to avoiding disasters like double-booking yourself (guilty!) or sending out the wrong invoice. You want your business to run smoothly, and housing all your data in one place allows you to focus on doing what you do best without wasting time on administrative tasks.

Finding the right CRM (Customer relationship management) program for you and your business can be quite the undertaking in and of itself. That said, tools like FindMyCRM are beneficial when comparing different systems and finding the best one. We particularly love Honeybook as offers many great features to streamline your business from marketing to data analysis. Here is a 20% OFF coupon for you! You can also check out Planning Pod, an Event Management Software that’s tailored to event planning specifically. You’ll be able to track contact data, leads, sales, and relationships through either software, which can take the pressure off of trying to organize all that information manually.

Tip #2: Digital Event Binders Are Your Friend

Gone are the days when you’d carry a physical binder around with you (RIP), but you’ll definitely need a digital one to access your client event files wherever you go. No matter which event you’re running, you need to be able to pull up a list of vendors and their points of contact, the wedding day timeline, guest list, venue layout, and any notes with additional information or special requests. Additionally, having all your client files in one digital binder allows you to efficiently juggle multiple events as you move from one to the other. 

Tip #3: Organize Your Vendors

As you know, vendors are critical players in making a wedding magical. You want to ensure they show up on time, bring their “A” game, and are compensated accordingly. That means you need a running spreadsheet with your vendor’s contact information, where you are in the contract process, and payment due dates and status. No matter where you are on your business journey, being organized only serves your success. Maybe that looks like using Google Sheets or Excel for now, or perhaps you’re using a free CRM tool, or maybe you’re investing in a customizable CRM to take your business to the next level. Starting somewhere is better than not starting at all. 

Tip #4: Organize Your To-do’s

Contrary to popular belief, multitasking is a myth and the enemy of efficiency. You’re more likely to have a subpar performance if you’re trying to divide your attention and skills across multiple tasks. Instead, create a to-do list based on urgency and complexity and prioritize from there. By focusing on one thing at a time with all of your energy, you’ll perform better and get more done. So, when you’re trying to organize several events at once, pause and create your list. Which event is first? Which vendors still need to sign their contracts? Who still needs to get paid? Have I done my taxes? Do I need to renew my business license? Start with the most urgent tasks and then ask yourself which ones are more complicated based on the number of people involved in the execution or the skills necessary to complete them. 

Tip #5: Organize Your Wedding Day Timelines

You’ve got your comprehensive business to-do list, but now you need to organize your wedding day timelines so that they’re accessible and user-friendly. Timeline Pro does everything from tracking the sunset to creating a photo shot list, alerts, and sharing timelines with clients and vendors. In addition, it allows you to duplicate templates you like and makes the user experience easy by letting you swipe to mark specific tasks as done. And you can download it for free! 

Tip #6: Organize Your Books

It’s time to get your books in a row! Even if you’re just starting out, having your books organized will save you time and headaches in the future. Hiring an accountant or CPA to help you navigate taxes, business expenses, and licensing requirements is an excellent idea if you can swing it. Beyond that, you’re going to need a budget, a way to track your spending, profit, and taxes. You don’t want to miss a payment and lose unnecessary money to fees. 

Tip #7: Organize Your Wedding Planner Inbox

Email is a powerful business tool that becomes even more useful when organized. Creating folders for potential clients, client contracts, vendors, vendor contracts, and invoices can jumpstart your ability to prioritize tasks and stay on top of crucial communication. As a small business, you also want to ensure you’re clear about your boundaries. Identify what’s realistic for you regarding response time and make that clear to your clients and vendors. You want to preserve the human aspect of your business and maintain efficiency. Another way you can do that is by utilizing the automation features offered by some CRMs. By doing so, you can create workflows to send follow-up emails to potential clients, invoice reminders, or requests for business reviews. 

Tip #8: Time to Say Goodbye: Client Off-Boarding

Forming lasting relationships is part of the wedding planner business! We are in it for love, after all. That’s why having a formalized process for off-boarding your clients is so important. You want them to return to you, refer your business, and sing your praises. Of course, the process will vary based on you and your business. However, having structure for closing out an event and continuing the relationship is the goal.

That could look like sending a “Congratulations!” email after the big day or scheduling a “Happy Anniversary!” email. These gestures keep your role in the event “top of mind” and open up a dialogue for you to request feedback and improve. Additionally, off-boarding processes give you the opportunity to make sure you’ve met all expectations. 

Tip #9: Communicate to Be a Great Wedding Planner

You’ve collected all of this data, now what? A system to archive your files after closing a project helps keep your information clean and up to date. Maybe that means you’ll keep your client’s data active for a certain time period, and then you’ll archive it. That could allow you to stay connected for significant anniversaries and potential business down the line. However you choose to maintain client data, you should make sure you communicate that with them upfront. That way, it won’t seem like you’re spamming their inbox if you launch a marketing campaign and their information is still active. Clear communication around how you’re handling client information keeps the door open for authentic connection moving forward.

Tip #10: Start Small & Start Today

Running a business is no easy feat. Give yourself some space to show up wherever you are on your journey. Start small and always return to your “why.” Why are you in this business? Who are you doing it for? Then, you can craft your to-do lists with that motivation driving you to get organized. Just take it one day at a time and start today. You’ve got this.

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