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Wedding planning is a billion-dollar industry, as people want to make sure their special day is flawlessly organized for themselves and their guests. Approximately 2 million women marry each year, and it’s believed that at least 1 in 3 couples will want a wedding planner. And naturally, as a wedding planner, you want to be considered! However, as your clientele grows and people get wind of the fabulous events you put together, your work list also increases. Before you know it, it’ll start to feel like you’re spending more time doing everything but wedding planning. If such is the case now, it might be time to hire a virtual assistant for wedding planners.

What is a Wedding Virtual Assistant?

You’ve probably heard people speak about virtual assistants (VAs) a time or two, but what exactly are they? For clarity, when we talk about virtual assistants, we’re not referring to Alexa or Siri; we’re talking about human beings. A VA is typically self-employed, meaning they operate their own business as independent contractors.

As a self-employed professional, they’re responsible for paying their own taxes, ensuring they have a workspace (most work from home), and purchasing the equipment (e.g., computer) they need to complete their job. In addition, they must search for and obtain their own insurance benefits, like dental, vision, and health.

Occasionally, VAs are referred to as fractional service providers, which means they offer their services as needed to several clients. Unlike employees who are committed to one organization, you can access their skill set and experience without the full-time worker price tag.

Remote planner assistant

Why Hire a Virtual Assistant For A Wedding Business

If you’re trying to determine if trying virtual assistant services is right for you, consider the following:

woman in wedding industry

They Can Adapt to Your Business Needs

People mainly hire VAs for wedding creatives because they’re often more flexible than employees. For instance, you might only need a VA for 20 hours some months and 5 hours during slower times. With employees, though, you have to commit to paying them based on their part-time or full-time status. This could get pricey, especially if your business doesn’t yet have the volume to justify the cost of an employee.

They’re Often Less Costly Than Employees

VAs are also more cost-effective. Hiring a VA for even $40 to $50/hour might be more affordable than hiring a new employee. Consider this – adding a new team member to your payroll doesn’t just include the salary you agree to; it’s also the cost of health benefits, federal and state taxes, worker’s compensation, and more. The SBA states the cost of an employee is about 1.25 to 1.4 times the salary. So, if you hire a full-time employee for $50,000/year, you should really expect to pay $70,000. Part-time would be about $35,000 a year.

But what if you only need a virtual assistant for 20 hours monthly? Twenty hours multiplied by $50/hour is just $1,000, and the VA would only charge for actual time worked (with our company, at least). If you can bring on two extra monthly customers for $2,500 each, that’s an additional $60,000 a year. What a return on investment!

They’re Subject Matter Experts

Another thing to consider is that virtual assistants should be subject matter experts. Many people search for a unicorn VA who can do a little bit of everything, but this isn’t the most efficient practice. If you hire a VA who dabbles in some of everything, you’ll end up hiring someone who possibly knows just as much as you when it comes to certain tasks, and that’s not always helpful.

You want someone who can help fill in your gaps, especially for social media, email marketing, and technical support. Hiring someone who’s not proficient at any one thing could lead to more mistakes, which could be costly. However, hiring a VA who has specialized knowledge in a specific area often means they can deliver projects more efficiently, quickly, and accurately.

A wedding planner virtual assistant only works when you need them to. So, if some months are busier than others, they can adjust. In addition, if you need assistance after hours or during the weekends, that may also be possible.

Flexible

A wedding planner virtual assistant only works when you need them to. So, if some months are busier than others, they can adjust. In addition, if you need assistance after hours or during the weekends, that may also be possible.

Efficient

We match our clients to top-tier U.S.-based virtual wedding planning assistants with the specialized skills required to complete the tasks you need help with most. As a result, they are less likely to waste time or money when handling to-dos.

Cost Effective

Wedding planning virtual assistants pay their own taxes, benefits, and computer equipment, allowing business owners to save more than they would with in-house employees.

What Tasks Can a Virtual Wedding Planning Assistant Do?

A remote wedding planning assistant can perform numerous tasks so you can focus on other things. Consider the following:

Virtual Assistants Can Do Administrative Tasks For Wedding Pros

You can assign many administrative tasks to your wedding virtual assistant. For instance, they can support you with:

  • Adding notes in a CRM (like vendor details), such as (Honeybook or Planning Pod) following initial consultations or updates
  • Preparing and sending contracts to customers and sending reminders if needed
  • Creating digital folders, using tools like Google Drive or Dropbox, for each client
  • Developing and tracking client proposals to see where they stand
  • Gathering and organizing all event details, including budget, catering, entertainment, floral designs, etc.
  • Helping with the album design process
  • Sending training guides to new hires on your team
  • Finding a venue and then assisting with the venue booking process from start to finish
  • Building and maintaining a database, potentially using Google Sheets, of industry contacts, vendors (e.g., photographer), and venues
  • Overseeing client experiences from conception through post-event
  • And more duties that allow you to focus on your creative process and keep the business running smoothly!
VA helping a company with coordinating assignments

Virtual Wedding Planning Assistants Can Help With Customer Support Tasks

Customer service is absolutely crucial in wedding planning. Your customers trust you to handle their big day, so little things like replying to an email 3 to 5 business days later could cause worry. One stat revealed that 75% of consumers spend more with businesses that offer a good customer experience. Another one found that it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one negative experience.

Therefore, if you feel like managing your leads and clients are becoming too much, it’s likely time to hire a customer service virtual assistant for wedding pros.

Your VA for wedding creatives can assist with tasks like:

VA love working for business; speaking with client
  • Answering phone calls in a pleasant and friendly manner – tools like Google Voice, Grasshopper, and RingCentral make it possible for the call to be transferred to their line (this works if you schedule and pay them to be available during a certain block of time – not on call)
  • Maintaining current client relationships and reaching out to past clients to identify if they need additional assistance
  • Taking messages and giving callers information about your wedding services and more. If the VA doesn’t know, they can direct the caller to you or another staff member who would assist them.
  • Requesting pertinent wedding and reception information from customers, such as guest count, etc.
  • Coordinating with vendors, like a photographer
  • Upselling services
  • Replying to text messages and emails

Wedding Planning Virtual Assistants Can Manage Your Social Media 

Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest could be a game-changer for wedding planners. Many brides make their way to these platforms for inspo regarding wedding decor and more. However, as a wedding planner, you’re likely bogged down with so many other duties, making it challenging to find time to work on social media content. Fortunately, this is where a social media virtual assistant for wedding planners could step in and help you with the following:

  • Develop an on-brand social media strategy and manage the process
  • Determine which platforms you should allocate the most time to with your marketing efforts. Is it Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, etc.?
  • Retrieve wedding photos and videos and organize them in a digital folder for easy access
  • Figure out which type of content resonates best with your target audience
  • Use Canva, Photoshop, or another tool to design graphics if needed
  • Utilize tools like SproutSocial, Planoly, Hootsuite, Buffer, or something else to schedule social media posts
  • Review the analytics and make changes as needed
  • Reply to comments and direct messages that come in
  • And more!
VA assist with event management

A Wedding Virtual Assistant Can Engage Your Leads With Email Marketing

If you want to inform your leads about your products and more, email marketing is a great way to reach them. After all, 99% of email users check their inbox every day. And get this – I came across one stat that said customers spend 138% more because of email marketing than consumers who don’t receive email campaigns. Therefore, it’s not something you want to overlook. But we also understand that you have a bunch of other assignments on your to-do list, so it’s probably hard to fit something like this into your schedule.

Thankfully, you don’t have to do everything alone. An email marketing virtual assistant could help you with the following:

Focus on event management
  • Putting together campaign content by gathering the copy, searching for images, and making graphics
  • Scheduling the content to send at whatever frequency you choose and is appropriate for your audience
  • Assessing analytics to check the open rate, clickthrough rate, and more
  • Uploading email addresses, names, and other details
  • Setting up automated emails
  • Segmenting your subscriber list
  • Adding tags based on subscriber actions
  • And more

VAs for Wedding Creatives Can Help With Some Tech Duties

A lot of people have a love/hate relationship with technology, and if you fall into the “hate” part, you might want to hire a tech virtual assistant. It’s easy to want to sweep technical stuff under the rug, but the most successful brands use technology to streamline processes and better assist their clients. You’ll want to incorporate technology if you want to stay competitive in the wedding planner industry.

Here are a few ways a remote assistant could help you and your team focus on other duties:

  • Adding or updating your portfolio or gallery on the website to include new photos and videos for each client
  • Organizing blog posts so leads can read about previous weddings you’ve done
  • Setting up your CRM tool (e.g., Honeybook, Dubsado, Keap, Planning Pod) and/or project management software (Asana, Trello, ClickUp, etc.)
  • Assisting with integrations that can help you automate various tasks
  • Setting up a teaching platform like Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, etc., so you can launch an online course to teach other wedding planners how to do what you do (another revenue stream 😉)
  • Creating forms/questionnaires that your clients can fill out on your website and manage them
  • And more things that allow you to use your valuable time elsewhere!
VA helping with tech job

Your Virtual Assistant Can Aid With Personal To-Dos

Maybe you have everything covered with your wedding planning business, but you need help with things in your personal life. Or maybe you just want to spend more free time not doing work. We understand!

A personal virtual assistant for the wedding industry could assist you with the following:

keeping things running smoothly
  • Find and schedule a home cleaning service
  • Stay on top of birthdays and anniversaries, then search online for potential gifts to send on your behalf
  • Maintain the family calendar
  • Arrange for grocery delivery services and other errands
  • Help plan vacations by searching for transportation, hotels, activities, etc.
  • Schedule doctor appointments
  • Research child care and pet care companies
  • Look up senior care services, if needed
  • Help with meal planning by searching for recipes that match your diet
  • And other detail-oriented tasks that’ll help you save time!

What Qualities Do Great Wedding Planner Virtual Assistants Have?

A wedding planning virtual assistant should have traits similar to those of a wedding planner or wedding coordinator. We believe those traits should include:

  • Superb communication skills: They must know how to communicate with your clients, vendors, and others in a professional manner at all times. Whether it be via phone, direct messages, or text (verbal or written) – they should always strive to be fully attentive and courteous.

  • Detailed-oriented: When it comes to wedding planning, it’s all in the details. Weddings tell a story about the couple, so you’ll want someone who can help you stay on top of the most minor details so you can wow your clients and their guests. For instance, if the groom is allergic to certain flowers, you definitely don’t want a floral designer to incorporate that into his boutonniere, the centerpieces, or anything else.

  • Problem-solver: Something will always pop up, but the best virtual assistant will be able to overcome obstacles and maintain a positive attitude.

  • Great time management skills: When planning a wedding, there are certain things you need to know and do by certain dates. Your virtual assistant should be able to help you retrieve info from your clients and coordinate with vendors in a timely manner so things go smoothly.

woman trying to be the best virtual assistant

How Can I Prepare For A VA For Wedding Creatives?

If you’re thinking about hiring a virtual assistant, there are a few things you should consider. Overlooking these steps could lead to a hiring disaster, which isn’t just time-consuming but also costly in some circumstances.

Thinking about hiring a VA
  • Make a list of tasks you’d like your wedding planning VA to do.
  • If you want your online wedding planning assistant to follow specific steps when completing tasks on your behalf,  create some basic work instructions or standard operating procedures (SOPs). When you make those, you minimize the likelihood of being asked, “How do I do this?” later.
  • Decide when you’ll want your virtual wedding assistant to work. Do you need them for a one-time project, or will it be as-needed? Would you prefer your VA to be available daily or just a few times per month? It’s up to you!
  • Want them to use and be familiar with certain tools? Make a list of the software or tools your virtual assistant for wedding planners will need to access. Adding users sometimes generates additional fees, so you’ll want to plan for that.
  • Come up with a budget for hiring a virtual assistant, and keep in mind that you get what you pay for. Lower-cost VAs may not have the skills you desire and may need to be extensively trained. If you have the time and capacity to train, maybe you’re okay with that. However, if you want someone who can jump in as a subject matter expert with little training, you’ll pay a bit more.
  • Schedule a discovery call with Imperative Concierge Services so we can match you to a qualified virtual assistant for wedding planners.

The Best Time For Hiring a Virtual Assistant For Wedding Pros

I believe the best time to hire a virtual assistant is BEFORE you start to get overwhelmed. Once you begin operating in chaos, finding time to train your virtual assistant on how you want things done in your business will be more challenging. Many people don’t realize that hiring requires more time initially, as you want to ensure your VA is acclimated to your business practices. So, if wedding season is on the horizon, consider hiring an online wedding planning assistant during the slower season.

If you’re in the middle of wedding season and need a virtual assistant now, get clear on the tasks you need help with and create some work instructions so the assistant doesn’t have to ask as many questions once they come on board.

Thinking about the creative process

Ready to Find Your Ideal Wedding Planner Virtual Assistant?

VA tackling the to do list

As a wedding planner, you know your stuff and can create phenomenal events that will have your clients and their guests talking for years to come. However, as your business grows, managing the small details for multiple clients becomes a little more challenging. Understand that hiring help doesn’t make you incapable—it means your business is growing, which is a good thing.

At Imperative Concierge Services, we help busy professionals like you get matched to top-tier virtual assistants so you can seamlessly scale your business. By working with us, you don’t have to create or post a job description, read through hundreds of resumes/portfolios, or try to schedule multiple interviews. We handle the time-consuming to-dos because we know you’re busy enough! You can just sit back, relax, and let us present you with fractional service providers that’ll help you meet your desired personal and business goals.

So, are you ready to hire a virtual assistant? Book a discovery call below! And if you do more than weddings, that’s no problem—we also have event planning virtual assistants.

Book A Discovery Call Today | Imperative Concierge Services