Advice from the Guru...

About being a Wedding Planner, Preston Bailey said it right;

"I once did a destination wedding with a planner who lied about her level of experience. This is a cautionary tale for all of us: you do not become a planner simply by saying you are a planner. First and foremost, you must learn the mechanics of the job, and then you must learn by doing.There are no short cuts." It takes a lot of experience to become a wedding/event planner (which I am still learning to perfect my methods of planning and that is a learning process of 6 years so far) and much more responsibilities to coordinate an event because the way I see it, if anything should go wrong on the day of event, the planner/coordinator is the person the client would be looking for or to put the blame on as we are ultimately, the "floor manager" (as I have been called a few times myself). Unless you are prepared to take the blame or willing to be the scapegoat, this job is not for you.


I was once told that what I'm doing is out of the ordinary here in our country, which is not to get commissions from vendors or suppliers but I felt so glad and relieved when I read this advice, referring to his blog and advice;


If you’re charging a fee, DO NOT ACCEPT ANY ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONS UNLESS YOUR CLIENTS KNOW ABOUT IT. I am strongly against this practice. I used to work with a planner (you know who you are), who requested 15% commissions in cash, so as not to leave a paper trail.


... which I normally would explain to potential clients that PDP does not take commissions or percentages from vendors and/or suppliers. All transactions are transparent between Client and Vendors but sometimes I do get that doubtful expression from the other end as it is rather the norm in our society. 


For further reading, please visit Preston Bailey's blog.