No More Part-Time Work for this Wedding Planner

Guest post by Philippa Channer, who lives in Maryland and together with her husband operates Forever Always Weddings, a wedding planning business. She is a member and certified consultant with the American Academy of Wedding Professionals. Forever Always Weddings, LLC, is a proud member of the Event Network and Maryland Wedding Professionals Association. Contact Philippa via her contact form or find her at the Forever Always Weddings blog.

Once I decided to start my own business and become a wedding planner, I quickly discovered that the phrase ‘part-time’ was no longer in my vocabulary. I had to learn swiftly how to become a full-time wife, full-time executive director’s assistant, and full-time business owner.

I knew starting a business wouldn’t be easy, but nothing could prepare me for the extreme loss of time I had to learn to adjust to. It took numerous heart-filled, prayerful and tear jerking conversations with my husband, but we both knew in the end that starting our own wedding consultant business from home would be one of the best decisions we could make at that time and we haven’t looked back since.

The hours spent researching how to start a small business from home – gathering information on the proper documents, permits and licenses – was actually enjoyable because we were able to spend that time together. After leaving our normal 9-5 jobs, we came home to our new 5-9 jobs of researching, marketing and studying weddings. Although it did initially take away from the personal one-on-one time we had, that is something we both prepared for and understood, and we were able to come up with new creative ways of getting that time back.

Once we had all the preliminary business items out of the way and could start getting clients, we were able to adjust the hours and the majority of the time spent on the business was spent on the weekends. We were still able to do 90% of the work from home and together. The other 10% was spent on the road meeting and greeting the local wedding vendors, handing out business cards, and attending local bridal shows. Again, time we spent together.

All-in-all, staring the small business from our home was a wonderful decision that allowed for me to continue working for a terrific boss during the week, continue to love, respect, and honor my adoring husband and to live out a dream I have always had to help brides make their wedding day beautiful. I am so glad I made the decision and had the support, resources, and ability to follow through with it.