Corporate Event Manager VS Wedding Planner

Have you been thinking about getting into the event planning business? Event management and planning is one of the fastest growing industries in the US. More and more companies and people hire event managers and event management companies to organize and execute their events. Some would argue that if you can plan one event you can plan them all…meaning all types and forms. I disagree!

Here are a few points to consider when making a career choice of becoming a corporate event manager or a wedding planner.

Working with CEO’s or Working with Brides
As a corporate event planner you will be dealing with high level executives, managerial staff and CEO’s. You’ll be networking with men and women who run whole companies and have years and years of experience of managing others. Here’s a great opportunity to learn skills and gain experience from people who have made all the mistakes that you don’t have to make.

As a wedding planner you will be servicing brides of all shapes and forms who all have their “perfect day” encrypted in their subconscious. This makes work difficult to say the least because oftentimes the bride assume that you share their subconscious thoughts and feelings even when they don’t share these verbally. This is why defining expectations before you close a contract is extremely important when working with clients.

Planning a Corporate Menu or Planning a Wedding Menu
A menu for a corporate event is a relatively easy task especially because there are lots of companies that specialize in corporate catering and if you have a relationship established with companies that provide catering services they will do their job over and over with great success. What’s great about a corporate menu is that most corporate events can be services through a buffet. And once you’ve developed your “perfect menu” you can use it over and over with different clients with minor modifications.

A wedding menu can be tricky. Most brides still prefer a sit down meal versus buffet and your job is to make the meal filling, served hot and looking good without seconds, to keep costs low. Also disagreements about portions and promotions are always common between the bride and groom and you will be put in a position of taking sides.

Corporate Budget or Family Savings
Let’s face it! Working with a corporate budget is easier because usually it’s bigger, readily available and at times flexible. You do have to be careful to show that you are spending your client’s money wisely, keep them inform of all expenses through reports and be sure to spend only on what’s necessary.  Click here to download a free great template to learn how to make a budget.

Some wedding budgets are bigger than annual budgets of whole companies and décor costs are larger than your paycheck. However mostly weddings are produced on a family budget, which includes loans, gifts and acts of kindness. This makes the budget tighter and your pay typically lower, this is why it’s important to speak about an estimated amount of hours and work that you will be doing for your corporate or private clients so that the bill doesn’t come as a surprise to them.

The Keyword Is Annual or Once in a Lifetime Event
Meetings, corporate conferences, galas etc are all annual events. Remember this when you are planning and working with your clients and establish yourself as their key-person to having an amazing event year after year, after year so that they remember to turn to you again for their next annual meeting.

Although the divorce rate is 50% weddings are still once in a lifetime event. So even if you do an extraordinary job at planning their wedding chances are that this will be the last time you see them. Although depending on the age of your client they might just have many single friends who are dying to have an amazing wedding like the one you just planned.

To conclude corporate event management is hard but wedding planning is a whole different ball game. If you are able to juggle two my hat is off to you but to the rest of us there are lessons to be learned and points taken.