With the Coronavirus causing chaos throughout the world, it has taken its toll on the wedding industry as well. Gatherings are being limited, some vendors aren't comfortable working, some couples are panicking, some weddings need to be cancelled or postponed. So as wedding vendors, what do we do?  Megan talks to Rachel Sheerin about tips for couples and vendors, and shifting your mindset both personally and professionally.

Next week, from March 16th-20th, Rachel will be providing a FREE webinar series on Motivating, Managing, and Handling Business in Times of Crisis. 

On February 27, 2020, Megan launched The Planner's Vault, a membership site for wedding planners who are hungry to grow, ready to hustle, and actively seeking community and education. In the vault, there will be guest experts on many topics relevant to growing and cultivating a successful event planning business with new content added consistently, plus all of my templates that I have built out over the years like How to Get on Preferred Vendor Lists, The Client Experience, and more. The mission with the vault is to elevate the industry (along with some amazing experts and fellow entrepreneurs) and I want it to be affordable so it's possible to stay invested in the community and yourself for the long haul. 

Do you ever meet a new friend, and things are going great. You feel like you’ve made a solid connection, and then one day, BAM, she ghosts you? It probably doesn’t happen all that often to you, but I’ll bet your clients feel that way when the wedding is over. And that last feeling you give them of being ghosted, unfortunately that might be what they remember you by.

Today's guest is Renee Dalo, wedding planner at Moxie Bright Events in Los Angeles AND host of the Talk with Renee Podcast, and she talks about tips for offboarding your clients.

On February 27, 2020, Megan launched The Planner's Vault, a membership site for wedding planners who are hungry to grow, ready to hustle, and actively seeking community and education. In the vault, there will be guest experts on many topics relevant to growing and cultivating a successful event planning business with new content added consistently, plus all of my templates that I have built out over the years like How to Get on Preferred Vendor Lists, The Client Experience, and more. The mission with the vault is to elevate the industry (along with some amazing experts and fellow entrepreneurs) and I want it to be affordable so it's possible to stay invested in the community and yourself for the long haul. 

On February 27, 2020, Megan launched The Planner's Vault, a membership site for wedding planners who are hungry to grow, ready to hustle, and actively seeking community and education. In the vault, there will be guest experts on many topics relevant to growing and cultivating a successful event planning business with new content added consistently, plus all of my templates that I have built out over the years like How to Get on Preferred Vendor Lists, The Client Experience, and more. The mission with the vault is to elevate the industry (along with some amazing experts and fellow entrepreneurs) and I want it to be affordable so it's possible to stay invested in the community and yourself for the long haul.

For Weddings For Real listeners, if you want $50 off your Annual Membership, use the code WFR50 !

How many of you are REALLY going after corporate events?  You probably can work a corporate event just fine, and maybe you’ve done some, but are you really making an effort to show your market that you’re available for corporate? My guess is, probably not. Today, Caryl Lyons from Roar Events and The Roar Playbook gives us the top five reasons you SHOULD be doing more corporate events! 

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM MEGAN.  On February 27th, 2020, we are launching The Planner’s Vault, a membership site for wedding planners who are hungry to grow, ready to hustle, and actively seeking community and education. In the vault, there will be guest experts on many topics relevant to growing and cultivating a successful event planning business with new content added consistently, plus all of my templates that I have built out over the years like How to Get on Preferred Vendor Lists, The Client Experience, and more. My mission with the vault is to elevate the industry (along with some amazing experts and fellow entrepreneurs) and I want it to be affordable so it's possible to stay invested in the community and yourself for the long haul. For more information, head on over to ThePlannersVault.com. I am so excited, and I can’t wait to open it up at the end of this month.

Lindsay Lucas is THE wedding venue consultant. She's a former wedding planner who now helps venue owners (and those aspiring to be) to create profitable and sustainable wedding venue businesses. Lindsay had the idea for a complete shift in her business, but it wasn’t easy convincing herself that this was the best way to go. Today, we talk about if YOUR idea is really something to go after, that feeling of imposter syndrome you are sure to have when you’re doing something new, and how vendors can know when it’s time to take the leap.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM MEGAN.  At the end of February, we are launching The Planner’s Vault, a membership site for wedding planners who are hungry to grow, ready to hustle, and actively seeking community and education. In the vault, there will be guest experts on many topics relevant to growing and cultivating a successful event planning business with new content added consistently, plus all of my templates that I have built out over the years like How to Get on Preferred Vendor Lists, The Client Experience, and more. My mission with the vault is to elevate the industry (along with some amazing experts and fellow entrepreneurs) and I want it to be affordable so it's possible to stay invested in the community and yourself for the long haul. For more information, head on over to ThePlannersVault.com. I am so excited, and I can’t wait to open it up at the end of this month.

Weddings for Real had the opportunity to interview engaged couples at The Merrimon-Wynne House in Raleigh NC Bridal Showcase, so that vendors could have a better understanding of what couples are looking for.

We asked couples:

What's the first place you looked to find your wedding vendors?

Where do you get wedding inspiration?

What's your splurge for the wedding? And what do you not care so much about?

Do you need to see pricing on a vendor's website before contacting them?

What's surprised you the most about wedding planning?

Are you hiring a wedding planner?

Are you hiring a videographer?

Such insightful responses, and we would love for you to share your thoughts in our Weddings for Real Facebook Group!

Do you work with your wife or husband? Or do you spend so much time with your work wife or work husband that it basically feels like you’re married? Well, working together for so many hours – and possibly living together too – those people probably get on your nerves quite a bit. Well my guests are Steven and Jenn Van Elk from Jennifer Van Elk Photography, the Wedded Podcast, and the Wedding Photo Hangover Podcast. They have (at least) two businesses together, two podcasts together, and two kids together. They’ve struggled but come out stronger, and they're here to give you tips on how to make it all work!The announcement we made at the top of the show is is that we have something in the works for all the planners out there………. To be the first to know when it’s live AND get my free Client Experience Checklist, head on over to http://www.weddingsforreal.com/checklist and enter in your email address.  

If you’re a solopreneur or you run a small team, and you’re thinking about growing, but you haven’t quite figured out how to clone yourself yet, then I want you to listen to this episode closely, because it’s all about putting your experience and knowledge in writing and making it easy for others to get in your head. On episode 92, Morgan Montgomery with Paisley and Jade talks all about SOPs – Standard Operating Procedures!As you heard on the show, we have a BIG announcement coming soon, and the best way to hear about it first is to join our mailing list at weddingsforreal.com or text "wfr" to 33777.