Career as a Wedding planner: Gear up for Band, Baja, Baraat!

Be it recession or sunny season, Weddings remain one gala and exclusive affair, cherished by every individual. People all around globe, from every religion, region and society spend lavishly on Weddings. Considering the fact that weddings are once in a lifetime event, making them memorable still stays people's prime concern. So, if you too are fascinated by grand hustle bustle, big, fat and much talked about event, and then choosing a career as Wedding planner will click with you.

In a country like India, where the word ‘Wedding' itself sells like hot cakes, exploring career as a wedding planner is bound to benefit one immensely. While for the posh and elite, hiring a wedding planner is nothing less than a style statement, for the middle class segment it facilitates as a burden reliever.
A wedding planner plans, organizes, co-ordinates and executes an event meticulously. He/she arranges keeping in mind the budget, concepts and sentiments of the concerned families. Since this industry is still in its nascent stages in India, no outright formalities are required for pursuing it.

Industry Scenario

Being a fast paced, revenue generating industry, it is grabbing eyeballs of people worldwide. At present, the Indian wedding industry stands proud with more than a magnanimous share of Rs 1, 25,000. Moreover, this huge market is expected to grow further at a rate of 25-30% annually. Not only this, but if this rate continues to surge then the wedding market is bound to double up within coming 15 years.

In addition to this, another interesting trend emerging off late in the country is the NRI's and foreigners theme wedding fixture. People from across the globe have been flying down to India to solemnize their wedding aesthetically in a regal Maharaja Style. This new fascination with ethnic diversity too has been contributing largely to Indian wedding industry. Hence, pursuing a career as a wedding planner is surely going to give wings to student's dreams.

Challenges before a Wedding Planner

Some of the few very responsibilities and duties of a wedding planner are as follows:

• Choosing a suitable venue
• Deciding on correct décor, colour, backdrop or theme of the event
• Choosing flowers and decoration items, and doing their proper timely arrangement
• Music arrangement
• Selecting the wedding invites
• Selecting best of the lot Caterers and photographers
• Helping bride with her bridal attire
• Choosing a beautiful honeymoon location

Skills required

Since, wedding planners deal with many resources at once - from caterer to jewelry designer to fashion designer to wedding venue providers, electricians, and florists - they need basic management skills and cost estimation ability to ensure timely arrangements within the budget of their clients. Negotiation is another key skill that a wedding planner needs to be seamless at. Good taste in music and good sense of fashion too are required for making the one's big day click. To make a Career as a wedding planner is no kids play since it requires a lot of research and hard work. A wedding planner needs to read loads of bridal magazines and spend a lot of time keeping oneself updated with latest in-vogue trends.

Moreover, a degree in event management shall help one in understanding the intricacies and day today challenges of this field more profoundly. Working round the clock with a dedicated approach is bound to reap beneficial results for students.

Some colleges offering event management courses

Listed below are some of the renowned colleges offering event management course.

• EMDI Institute of Event Management - Karnataka
• National Institute of Event Management- Mumbai
• Amity Institute of Event Management- Delhi
• Event Management Development Institute-Mumbai
• National Academy of Event Management & Development (NAEMD)-Surat
• Virtual Voyage Institute Of Design, Media & Management-Indore

Money Matters

Since there is no fixed income or salary for a wedding planner, it all depends on the nature of the wedding. Either one can have a fixed amount of deal or some amount of commission from the total expenditure. A fresher can start with anything around Rs 10, 000 to 15,000 per month.

Source: Priyanka Wali (Shiksha Team)