A working planner's roadmap — what to do in week one, month one, and before you book your third wedding.

1. Pick your niche before you pick a name

The biggest mistake new planners make is offering everything to everyone. Pick one: full-service, partial planning, month-of coordination, elopements, or destination weddings. Your packages, pricing, and marketing all flow from this. You can expand later — most planners don't.

2. Legal, banking, insurance — in that order

LLC in your state ($50–$500 depending on state filing fees).
EIN from the IRS (free, ~10 minutes).
Business bank account — never run wedding deposits through your personal account.
General liability insurance ($300–$700/year). Most venues require $1M minimum.
Professional liability (E&O) on top — protects against client claims.

3. Build three packages, not seven

Almost every successful planner offers three tiers:

Month-of coordination — $1,500–$3,500
Partial planning — $3,500–$7,500
Full-service — $7,500–$25,000+

Use the wedding planner fee calculator to sanity-check your pricing against percentage-of-budget norms.

4. Write a contract that actually protects you

Non-negotiable clauses:

Detailed scope (what's in, what's out)
Payment schedule (50% retainer is standard)
Cancellation policy with sliding refund scale
Force majeure (post-2020 weddings made this critical)
Image rights for portfolio use
Arbitration clause and venue for disputes

Have a lawyer in your state review it once — then reuse forever.

5. Set up the workspace

You need one tool that holds: vendor contacts, contracts, payments, guest list, seating chart, timeline, and a client portal. Cobbling together HoneyBook + Google Sheets + Pinterest + a separate seating tool falls apart by your fifth wedding.

See: Wedding Planner Central vs HoneyBook, vs Aisle Planner, and vs Dubsado.

6. Book the first three clients

Friend-of-friend discount wedding — 50% off in exchange for full photo rights and a written review.
Two styled shoots with local photographers and florists — free portfolio content and vendor relationships in one move.
Email every venue within 50 miles introducing yourself for preferred-vendor consideration. Most have a list; getting on it is the highest-ROI marketing you can do.

7. The tools you actually need on day one

Wedding-specific CRM (see comparisons above)
Email + calendar (Google Workspace, $7/month)
Accounting (Wave is free; QuickBooks if you'll have employees)
One backup drive (Backblaze, $9/month)
Phone with a business number (Google Voice is free)

Total stack: under $50/month. Skip the "wedding planner starter kit" courses — the money's better spent on insurance and that lawyer review.

How to start a wedding planning business in 2026