March 4, 2025 • 10 mins
If you had to start your wedding business from zero today—no clients, no reputation, no audience—how would you get booked FAST? Most wedding pros waste years figuring it out, but I’m handing you the roadmap in this episode.
The truth is, success isn’t just about talent—it’s about strategy.
If you’re tired of feeling overworked, underpaid, and wondering where your next booking is coming from, this is the episode you can’t afford to miss.
Hit play now and get the exact blueprint to start (or restart) a wildly profitable wedding business!
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Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast. If you find these strategies helpful, make sure to share this episode with your fellow wedding pros. And remember, in the world of weddings, it's all about building genuine relationships and showcasing your best work. Until next time, keep shining, CEOs!
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Have a question you’d like Brandee to answer? Ask here: http://bit.ly/3ZoqPmz
=========================
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brandee Gaar (00:00):
If I lost everything today, my business,
my reputation, my audience,and I had to start from zero
in the wedding industry,here's exactly what I would
do to get booked fast.
Most wedding pros waste yearstrying to figure this out, but
I'm handing it to you rightnow in the next few minutes.
Hey there, CEO, you'relistening to the Wedding Pro
CEO podcast, the podcast tohelp you grow and scale your
(00:22):
profitable wedding business.
I'm your host, Brandee Gaar.
And over the last 17 years,I've grown one of the largest
planning firms in Orlando,Florida, and grossed more
than 6 million in revenue.
But if I lost it all today and Ihad to start over, there's a few
things I know that I would doright away to start seeing those
bookings start flooding in.
(00:42):
So first things first, we'vegot to make sure that we create
the best offer out there.
Now, in the wedding industry,you're probably like, Okay,
what do you mean I haveto create the best offer?
Literally, we all dothe same things, and I
would agree with you.
However, the marketingchallenge that I see so many
brand new wedding pros makingis that they are so vanilla.
When in reality, what peopleare looking for is rocky
(01:04):
road, mint chocolate chip,Like, how are you unique?
And how do you directlyserve what your ideal
clients are looking for?
What I see so often from brandnew wedding pros is they create
their marketing to just say,like, we help you plan flawless
details or, you know, wecapture your love story on film.
And it's like, well, No kidding.
(01:26):
Isn't that like your job?
You know, like you'rea photographer.
Aren't you supposed tocapture my love story
or you're a planner?
Aren't you supposed to makesure that all my details
are going flawlessly?
But what is it thatyou specifically do?
What makes you unique?
What kind of clients do youspecifically serve and what
problems do you solve uniquely?
You've got to standout in the marketplace.
(01:46):
You've got to make peoplethink, Ooh, wait a second.
I want to know more.
For example, instead ofsaying, we offer stress
free wedding planning.
Boring.
So does everyone.
Hopefully.
That's a wedding planner.
Instead, I want you to saysomething like, we offer stress
free planning for discerningcouples that actually stays on
budget without the nightmareof doing it all alone.
(02:07):
Do you see the difference inhelping people to understand
they care about their budget?
They're discerning.
They understandthat they need help.
They don't want to doit all alone and they
want to be stress free.
But it's much differentthan just saying, we offer
stress free wedding planning.
I want you to speakdirectly to the couples
that you're looking for.
There's a couple of studentsinside of my program that
(02:27):
really master this and I lovereading their marketing because
they really focus on Clientsthat are specifically in
different venues or locations.
For instance, one of theplanners that's inside of my
program She really focuses onPrivate estate weddings that
are often very very difficultto manage because they have a
lot of logistical challengesAnd so she speaks directly to
(02:49):
how they work with couples thatare in challenging locations
So that they don't have toworry about the details and
it's like yes That is who sheserves and for those couples.
They like know okay She'sour girl because that's
what she does, right?
So that's what I want fromyou, especially right at the
beginning I want you to speakdirectly to the people that you
serve What makes you the best?
(03:11):
What makes you different thanthe other people in your market?
Speak to that client.
Okay, the second thing Iwould do is I would become a
master of short form content.
And this is absolutely a nonnegotiable at this point because
short form content is kingwhen it comes to marketing.
And what I mean bythat is I want you to
master being on camera.
(03:31):
Talking on your stories,Reels, TikToks, now these
videos can also be usedon LinkedIn and Pinterest.
They can be used absolutelyeverywhere and they are the
key to getting people toknow, like, and trust you.
The reality is wedding proslove to hide behind the
camera and just show thepretty details of their work.
but the wedding pros who areactually killing it are the ones
(03:53):
who are showing their face andshowing who they are showing
the personality of their brand.
Since this video is all aboutwhat I would do if I was brand
new in the market or I had tostart completely over from zero,
I'm going to be super honest andtell you that I would be posting
three to five short form videosper week with my face in it.
And I know that thatmight sound like Holy
(04:13):
Potato Sticks, Brandee.
But if you were to batch themall at the beginning of the
week, and you're just literallyanswering questions that your
clients have, helping them tounderstand and navigate the
planning journey that they'regoing through, you would
easily have so much content.
You just sit down, like I'mdoing right now on YouTube.
You can see me if you'rewatching this on YouTube.
I'm literally just talkingto the camera and pretending
(04:33):
that my ideal customer isright behind the lens, and
I'm just talking directly toyou and solving a problem.
That's what you're going todo in your short form content.
And if I was starting fromzero, I would be posting
at least three to fivetimes a week, short form on
both Instagram and TikTok.
And the third thing that I woulddo if I was starting completely
from zero is I would beobsessive about my sales funnel.
(04:57):
And listen, I'm 17 yearsin and I'm still obsessive
about my sales funnel.
I literally look atour sales numbers for
blush every single week.
I look at how manyinquiries came in.
I look at how many ofthose did a consult.
I look at how many of thoseconsults went to booking and
where we are in the process.
How long are theytaking to book?
Are the inquiries that we'regetting quality inquiries?
Are they at venues thatwe want to work in and
(05:18):
that we like to work in?
I want to know all of it.
I'm obsessive aboutmy sales funnel now,
and I always will be.
But if I was first startingout, I think this is a
really huge piece of thepuzzle that gets missed is
you're only focusing on howmany Bookings that you got.
In reality, if you'refocused on every piece of
the sales funnel, you'llstart to quickly understand
where you need to apply morepressure in your business,
(05:40):
where you need to reallyfocus to continue to scale.
And that's the nameof the game, right?
We don't just want tobook a few weddings.
We want to book alot of weddings.
We want to build amulti six figure empire.
And to do that, you have tounderstand how each section of
your sales funnel is performing.
So you want to understand whenyou're doing certain marketing,
Is it bringing in more leads?
(06:01):
Right?
If you're posting three tofive times a week, is that
starting to turn out leads?
If you go to a networkingevent, are you starting to
see more referrals come in?
As you're networking withdifferent venues, are you
starting to see referralscome in from that venue?
What can you do differentlyto see more leads come in?
Once you start seeing thoseleads come in, are those leads
actually going to consult?
Do you need to work onyour follow up process?
(06:22):
Is your pricing off base?
How are you getting more ofthose people to book a consult?
And then once they doget to that consult,
are you closing them?
Are you selling them?
Are they takingtoo long to book?
Are they ghosting you?
Are they giving you allkinds of various reasons why
they're not ready to book?
That's going to bea conversion issue.
And I would be completely andtotally obsessed with this.
(06:44):
I would be watching my salesnumbers every single week I
would want to know where mysales funnel is dropping off.
And that would be somethingthat would be a non
negotiable in my business.
Every single week I wouldhave time set aside to
review my sales funnel.
And listen, if you're listeningto this and you're 15 years into
your business and you're like,wow, I literally have never.
Really obsessed aboutmy sales funnel.
(07:06):
Now's the time, CEO.
I want you to know every singlestep of your sales funnel off
the top of your head, becausehere's the thing without sales,
you don't have a business.
So becoming obsessive aboutyour sales funnel is a reality,
whether you're just starting outor you're 17 years in business.
Okay.
So let's recap what Iwould do if I was starting
(07:26):
completely from zero inthe wedding industry.
Number one, I would be rockyroad, mint chocolate chip.
I would be anything but vanilla.
And I would stand outwith exactly who I was
speaking to in my marketing.
Number two, I would floodthe algorithm with short form
content so that I got noticedfrom so many engaged couples
who were ready to book with me.
(07:47):
And number three, I would becompletely obsessed with my
sales funnel so that I canunderstand how to optimize
it at every single stage.
So those bookingsstart to scale.
If you actually start to applyall three of these, you're
going to see your weddingbusiness start to book,
book, book without having todiscount your services and
without wondering where yournext leads are coming from.
hey, CEO, if you're seriousabout scaling fast and
(08:08):
you're listening to this andyou're like, I want this,
like, I want to be ableto scale my business fast.
I want to invite you to my freetraining where I break down
exactly how to 2x double yourwedding bookings within 30 days.
Thousands of weddingpros have watched this
free training and doubledtheir bookings right away.
I get messages all the time thatare like, Brandee, I used it.
And right away Ibooked the next client.
(08:28):
And I absolutelylove hearing that.
The link's in thedescription below.
It's absolutely free.
It's about 15 minutes long andI'm going to break down Step by
step exactly how to double yourwedding bookings within 30 days.
And Hey, listen, CEO, Iabsolutely am so honored to
be here in your ears everysingle week and to get to
pour into your business.
So thank you somuch for being here.
And I'll see you next time.
If I lost everything today, my business,
my reputation, my audience,and I had to start from zero
in the wedding industry,here's exactly what I would
do to get booked fast.
Most wedding pros waste yearstrying to figure this out, but
I'm handing it to you rightnow in the next few minutes.
Hey there, CEO, you'relistening to the Wedding Pro
CEO podcast, the podcast tohelp you grow and scale your
(00:22):
profitable wedding business.
I'm your host, Brandee Gaar.
And over the last 17 years,I've grown one of the largest
planning firms in Orlando,Florida, and grossed more
than 6 million in revenue.
But if I lost it all today and Ihad to start over, there's a few
things I know that I would doright away to start seeing those
bookings start flooding in.
(00:42):
So first things first, we'vegot to make sure that we create
the best offer out there.
Now, in the wedding industry,you're probably like, Okay,
what do you mean I haveto create the best offer?
Literally, we all dothe same things, and I
would agree with you.
However, the marketingchallenge that I see so many
brand new wedding pros makingis that they are so vanilla.
When in reality, what peopleare looking for is rocky
(01:04):
road, mint chocolate chip,Like, how are you unique?
And how do you directlyserve what your ideal
clients are looking for?
What I see so often from brandnew wedding pros is they create
their marketing to just say,like, we help you plan flawless
details or, you know, wecapture your love story on film.
And it's like, well, No kidding.
(01:26):
Isn't that like your job?
You know, like you'rea photographer.
Aren't you supposed tocapture my love story
or you're a planner?
Aren't you supposed to makesure that all my details
are going flawlessly?
But what is it thatyou specifically do?
What makes you unique?
What kind of clients do youspecifically serve and what
problems do you solve uniquely?
You've got to standout in the marketplace.
(01:46):
You've got to make peoplethink, Ooh, wait a second.
I want to know more.
For example, instead ofsaying, we offer stress
free wedding planning.
Boring.
So does everyone.
Hopefully.
That's a wedding planner.
Instead, I want you to saysomething like, we offer stress
free planning for discerningcouples that actually stays on
budget without the nightmareof doing it all alone.
(02:07):
Do you see the difference inhelping people to understand
they care about their budget?
They're discerning.
They understandthat they need help.
They don't want to doit all alone and they
want to be stress free.
But it's much differentthan just saying, we offer
stress free wedding planning.
I want you to speakdirectly to the couples
that you're looking for.
There's a couple of studentsinside of my program that
(02:27):
really master this and I lovereading their marketing because
they really focus on Clientsthat are specifically in
different venues or locations.
For instance, one of theplanners that's inside of my
program She really focuses onPrivate estate weddings that
are often very very difficultto manage because they have a
lot of logistical challengesAnd so she speaks directly to
(02:49):
how they work with couples thatare in challenging locations
So that they don't have toworry about the details and
it's like yes That is who sheserves and for those couples.
They like know okay She'sour girl because that's
what she does, right?
So that's what I want fromyou, especially right at the
beginning I want you to speakdirectly to the people that you
serve What makes you the best?
(03:11):
What makes you different thanthe other people in your market?
Speak to that client.
Okay, the second thing Iwould do is I would become a
master of short form content.
And this is absolutely a nonnegotiable at this point because
short form content is kingwhen it comes to marketing.
And what I mean bythat is I want you to
master being on camera.
(03:31):
Talking on your stories,Reels, TikToks, now these
videos can also be usedon LinkedIn and Pinterest.
They can be used absolutelyeverywhere and they are the
key to getting people toknow, like, and trust you.
The reality is wedding proslove to hide behind the
camera and just show thepretty details of their work.
but the wedding pros who areactually killing it are the ones
(03:53):
who are showing their face andshowing who they are showing
the personality of their brand.
Since this video is all aboutwhat I would do if I was brand
new in the market or I had tostart completely over from zero,
I'm going to be super honest andtell you that I would be posting
three to five short form videosper week with my face in it.
And I know that thatmight sound like Holy
(04:13):
Potato Sticks, Brandee.
But if you were to batch themall at the beginning of the
week, and you're just literallyanswering questions that your
clients have, helping them tounderstand and navigate the
planning journey that they'regoing through, you would
easily have so much content.
You just sit down, like I'mdoing right now on YouTube.
You can see me if you'rewatching this on YouTube.
I'm literally just talkingto the camera and pretending
(04:33):
that my ideal customer isright behind the lens, and
I'm just talking directly toyou and solving a problem.
That's what you're going todo in your short form content.
And if I was starting fromzero, I would be posting
at least three to fivetimes a week, short form on
both Instagram and TikTok.
And the third thing that I woulddo if I was starting completely
from zero is I would beobsessive about my sales funnel.
(04:57):
And listen, I'm 17 yearsin and I'm still obsessive
about my sales funnel.
I literally look atour sales numbers for
blush every single week.
I look at how manyinquiries came in.
I look at how many ofthose did a consult.
I look at how many of thoseconsults went to booking and
where we are in the process.
How long are theytaking to book?
Are the inquiries that we'regetting quality inquiries?
Are they at venues thatwe want to work in and
(05:18):
that we like to work in?
I want to know all of it.
I'm obsessive aboutmy sales funnel now,
and I always will be.
But if I was first startingout, I think this is a
really huge piece of thepuzzle that gets missed is
you're only focusing on howmany Bookings that you got.
In reality, if you'refocused on every piece of
the sales funnel, you'llstart to quickly understand
where you need to apply morepressure in your business,
(05:40):
where you need to reallyfocus to continue to scale.
And that's the nameof the game, right?
We don't just want tobook a few weddings.
We want to book alot of weddings.
We want to build amulti six figure empire.
And to do that, you have tounderstand how each section of
your sales funnel is performing.
So you want to understand whenyou're doing certain marketing,
Is it bringing in more leads?
(06:01):
Right?
If you're posting three tofive times a week, is that
starting to turn out leads?
If you go to a networkingevent, are you starting to
see more referrals come in?
As you're networking withdifferent venues, are you
starting to see referralscome in from that venue?
What can you do differentlyto see more leads come in?
Once you start seeing thoseleads come in, are those leads
actually going to consult?
Do you need to work onyour follow up process?
(06:22):
Is your pricing off base?
How are you getting more ofthose people to book a consult?
And then once they doget to that consult,
are you closing them?
Are you selling them?
Are they takingtoo long to book?
Are they ghosting you?
Are they giving you allkinds of various reasons why
they're not ready to book?
That's going to bea conversion issue.
And I would be completely andtotally obsessed with this.
(06:44):
I would be watching my salesnumbers every single week I
would want to know where mysales funnel is dropping off.
And that would be somethingthat would be a non
negotiable in my business.
Every single week I wouldhave time set aside to
review my sales funnel.
And listen, if you're listeningto this and you're 15 years into
your business and you're like,wow, I literally have never.
Really obsessed aboutmy sales funnel.
(07:06):
Now's the time, CEO.
I want you to know every singlestep of your sales funnel off
the top of your head, becausehere's the thing without sales,
you don't have a business.
So becoming obsessive aboutyour sales funnel is a reality,
whether you're just starting outor you're 17 years in business.
Okay.
So let's recap what Iwould do if I was starting
(07:26):
completely from zero inthe wedding industry.
Number one, I would be rockyroad, mint chocolate chip.
I would be anything but vanilla.
And I would stand outwith exactly who I was
speaking to in my marketing.
Number two, I would floodthe algorithm with short form
content so that I got noticedfrom so many engaged couples
who were ready to book with me.
(07:47):
And number three, I would becompletely obsessed with my
sales funnel so that I canunderstand how to optimize
it at every single stage.
So those bookingsstart to scale.
If you actually start to applyall three of these, you're
going to see your weddingbusiness start to book,
book, book without having todiscount your services and
without wondering where yournext leads are coming from.
hey, CEO, if you're seriousabout scaling fast and
(08:08):
you're listening to this andyou're like, I want this,
like, I want to be ableto scale my business fast.
I want to invite you to my freetraining where I break down
exactly how to 2x double yourwedding bookings within 30 days.
Thousands of weddingpros have watched this
free training and doubledtheir bookings right away.
I get messages all the time thatare like, Brandee, I used it.
And right away Ibooked the next client.
(08:28):
And I absolutelylove hearing that.
The link's in thedescription below.
It's absolutely free.
It's about 15 minutes long andI'm going to break down Step by
step exactly how to double yourwedding bookings within 30 days.
And Hey, listen, CEO, Iabsolutely am so honored to
be here in your ears everysingle week and to get to
pour into your business.
So thank you somuch for being here.
And I'll see you next time.
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