Getting your first wedding booking can be hard and may take some time, especially if you don’t have the experience or the money to invest in marketing your new wedding business.
A great way to get your first wedding booking is to offer a wedding for free! Be honest with potential bridal couples, let them know this is your first wedding, and that you’re willing to do the wedding for free.
Should You do a Wedding for Free?
I know that some of you will be uncomfortable with the idea of a free wedding to get your first wedding booking, but I can assure you that it works. I know this because I did it!
When I first started my wedding planning company back in 2009, I had no experience, no portfolio, no reviews, and no idea of how to get my first wedding booking.
So I came up with the idea to get my first wedding booking by giving away my time for free.
I put an advert on the local classifieds website offering my wedding planning services for free. I was very honest in the post, stating that this was my first wedding and that I would be willing to work as a wedding planner for free.
This method worked really well for me. I had three replies to my advert, which obviously isn’t a lot, but for me, it was the validation I needed.
One of the replies came from a lovely woman that was very open to working with me, and the best part – was a wedding at one of the best wedding venues in my area.
So, not only did I get my first wedding booking, but I also got to work at one of the best wedding venues and align my wedding business with the best venue and other top vendors in the business from day one.
If I had waited to book a wedding for money. I may have had to wait a long time. But, instead, by offering a free wedding. I got real wedding experience, a great review for my website, and most importantly, images to show to other bridal couples as I moved forward with my business.
Should you offer your wedding services for free to get your first wedding booking? My advice is Yes! The money will follow your passion. Giving up some of your time for the experience, the review, and the images you will have from your first wedding is well worth it.
Other Ways to Get Your First Wedding Booking
There are several ways to get your first wedding booking, whether you’re a wedding photographer, a wedding venue, a makeup artist, a planner, a decorator, or a florist.
Whatever wedding services or products you offer, here are some other ways to get your first wedding booking:
- Start an Instagram account and post daily reels, stories, and regular posts
- Create a Pinterest account and add 5 new pins every day (linking to your website)
- Write at least 10 new blog posts about your wedding niche every month
- Go for coffee with various wedding vendors in your area (build relationships)
- Join wedding networking groups in your area
- Create an introductory offer for your products or services
- Host a competition (give something of value away for free)
- Make time to visit EVERY wedding venue in your area (if you’re a vendor)
- Add your wedding business to the best directories that you can afford
- Share your new business on Facebook Groups (but, only the really good ones)
- Collaborate on styled shoots with other wedding vendors in your area
- Participate in your local wedding and bridal expos
- Learn everything you can about marketing for wedding pros and growing your business
Get Your First Wedding Venue Booking
If you own a wedding venue and looking for ways to get your first wedding venue booking. One of the easiest ways is to host an open day at your wedding venue and then give away a free wedding to one of the lucky couples that attend the event.
This is a great way to get your first wedding venue booking as you will have ample opportunity to market the event on social media.
Vendors that you invite to showcase at your open day will also promote it to their audience which will help you reach a wider audience and get your wedding venue in front of more eyes.
Conclusion
If you’re trying to get your first wedding booking, my advice is to offer a wedding for free. If this doesn’t feel right for your wedding business, there are several alternative ways to promote your wedding services and products which I share in this article.
I have another article about starting your wedding business with no experience that you might also find helpful.
At the end of the day, every wedding business and wedding business owner is different and will have their own unique ways of getting their first booking. There are no right or wrong answers, but in my experience ~ you get more when you give first!
Until the next time,
