So many new wedding planners are clueless when it comes to pricing their services. They look at what other planners in their town are charging and decide to charge a little less so they can stand out and get booked. But that’s the wrong way to go about pricing your planning services.
3 Ways to Price Yourself as a Wedding Planner
1. Package/Flat Fee
You charge a set fee for each package you offer. This is the most common way planner’s price their services. Your flat fee can be based on an hourly rate; if desired.
2. Percentage
You charge a percentage of the overall wedding budget. A common starting percentage rate is 10%. If you are just starting out and want to charge a percentage of the overall budget I would start at 10%. Percentage based pricing is most popular in the luxury wedding market. I consider a budget of $100k plus a more luxury wedding. Planners that work with high end luxury clients usually charge a percentage rate of 20%.
3. Hourly
You charge an hourly rate for planning services. You need to determine how much your hourly rate will be. To determine your hourly rate you will need to track your time then divide that number by the number of hours you worked.
Of course when you are just starting out you won’t be able to track your time until you actually book a wedding. Even if you don’t choose to charge an hourly rate I would suggest still tracking your time so you will know how much time you are spending on a single event. If you do decide to charge an hourly rate the minimum you should start out at is $50-$100 per hour.
Once you have established yourself as a planner and have several weddings under your belt I suggest increasing your pricing. Revisit your expenses, your needs, taxes and how many hours you are spending working on weddings to determine how much you need to increase by.
I also suggest having an hourly rate for package add ons if you chose to do so.
I personally charge a flat fee for the two planning services that I offer. The price is always the same no matter the size or budget of the wedding. This has just worked for me, but this may not be the best fit for you.
When I first started out I did it all wrong and looked at what other planners were charging and charged about 50% less. I was not charging nearly enough for the first year or so, and gradually increased my prices every year after that. Anytime I would increase my prices I would do so by $100-$200 per package. I finally reached an amount that I am comfortable with and that my market is willing to pay.
Once you see how much time goes into each wedding you will really see the value in pricing yourself appropriately.
xo, Terrica
