Stand Out By Breaking the Stereotype

We all know that we hate to believe a stereotype about a people group, but then again, how did it become a stereotype if it isn't common? There are personality traits and behaviors that do typically follow a Wedding Planner/Coordinator.  From my perspective, they are not positive and can make people not want to work with you.  I think it is a good move to your long-term success to try to break those stereotypes as people relate to you. Do you know what the stereotype of a Wedding Planner/Coordinator is?

So what are the common stereotypes and if you possess those traits how do you break them?

#1 Being Bossy

Many other business owners don't like to work with Wedding Coordinators because they are pushy, try to go beyond the rules, and boss people around. You are in charge of running the schedule supervision the activities and it is your job to make sure things get done, but let's clarify a few things. First, you don't own the Venue and if you are not kind and easy to work with at the Venue, the Venue Manager or Owner has every right to kick you off the property and ban you from coming back.  On the reverse side, you can be kind and easy to work with, follow the rules and be on their recommended vendor list. 

#2 Likes to spend other people's money

When a couple trusts you with a budget and you make suggestions to go over budget, it can cause extra stress on the couple. They may give into you pressuring them, but again they won't be likely to recommend you even if your suggestions did make their wedding better.  They will most likely tell other people that you caused added stress that caused them anxiety.  So here again, you will not get a referral.  If you help them come up with ideas to stay on budget, they will tell all their friends how helpful you were to keep them on budget. 

#3 Wants to be the center of attention

When a Wedding Coordinator struts around the room to get attention, they need to stop to ask themselves is it the attention they want.  Think about the times you may have witnessed something similar.  Did you have any positive comments?  Normally people like to make fun of that type of attitude, which I am guessing was not the type of attention they were looking for.  So, that being the case, again, if someone was interested in getting the contact information of the planner because they liked how the wedding turned out, this may totally change their mind.

#4 Creates drama

For some reason, people who like to cause drama are drawn to this type of career choice.  The fact is a wedding is the last place there needs to be more drama.  Keeping the bride, the bridal party, and everyone else calm is a good trait to have as a wedding planner.  Creating more drama is likely to cause more upset and possibly a bad review. These personality types need to remember, this is not their day.  The day is designed for the couple and they need to leave their drama-seeking nature at home.

#5 Vendors don't like working with Wedding Coordinators

TYpically vendors do not like working with Wedding Coordinators and now that we have uncovered a few reasons, I am sure you can see why.  Often Wedding Coordinators like to boss everyone around and have the attitude, they all need to do what the Coordinator says. Most Vendors do what they do for a living and most of them pretty successfully every week without the expert direction of the Wedding Coordinator and can become resentful when the Coordinator approaches them with an unfriendly demand.  Even though they don't have the authority to kick you off the property, the Wedding and Event Industry is a tight-knit, clicky group, and trust me, the way you treated the vendors will get around, and soon, no one will want to work with you. You may at first think so what?  But when couples meet with their vendors they ask for recommendations and once that client trusts their opinion, the client may not call you based on their comments.

So, what do you do if you have all those traits?  Remember that you are in this business to win and even though you may have those traits, they will not serve you well long term.  You need to work hard at either changing those attributes or at least keeping them out of the workplace.

Conclusion

I am a believer and advocate of being a lifelong learner of self.  I am always examining myself to see what I need to do to change.  I don't believe in excepting myself as I am as an excuse to continue bad behavior, we are human and make mistakes, but we don't have to stay the way we are. Telling yourself or others, this is just the way I am, in my opinion, is just an excuse to not behave well.  If you are this way, trust me it really is not going to get you what you are looking for. Be nice, be kind, be someone others want to be around. 

If you struggle with how to change, consider taking one of our workshops on personality studies, or start them yourself today. We recommend The color code, Myers Briggs, or DISC tests.