Rebooting the Client Experience for Couples Who Had to Postpone

This certainly is a topic we never thought we’d be writing about but, here we are. The challenges we all face in 2020 are a first for all of us and we see you doing the best you can without experience to work off of (ourselves included). And, being that our couples often hire us because of our experience, working to ensure they are stress-free in a time of unpredictability and disappointment is hard—to say the least! But, with more than a few postponed weddings under our belts now, we wanted to share some of our tips to ensure you are reconnecting, reigniting the excitement, and reorganizing your plans to ensure that each of your couples feels calm and confident as well as that they still have something very exciting to look forward to!

Be an Excellent Listener

As a wedding planner, it is almost your job to listen so you can take your couple’s ideas and bring them to life. But, when stress levels are high and you are trying to keep them excited about their future wedding date, being an excellent and active listener is imperative! Be sure to remind them that you are there for them and reassure them you have their back. Most importantly? Empathize.

Pro-tip: A great way to do schedule your first meeting back it to set up a happy hour to just catch up and check in like any professional friend would. Be sure to keep things positive by asking what they are most excited about for their upcoming wedding.

Set New Expectations

It is always important to set clear expectations of your planning schedule but, when you are in the process of pausing and then rebooting things, it’s really important to set new expectations. This might be an uncomfortably conversation for some but, in the end, it will help your couple know exactly what they can expect during this time. If you are like me, you have either rescheduled weddings 2 or 3 times or have pushed your couples’ weddings out 6 months to a year past their original date, and that likely means you have had a little break in your planning. Without establishing new expectations, your couples can feel forgotten and uneasy since they might not hear from you as often. And, while it is perfectly okay to hit pause on planning things, it is important they have a clear understanding of why in order to set their mind at ease.

Pro-tip: A good idea is to map out the rest of the planning schedule with key fun meetings, deadlines, and planning breaks or when you are out and about one day and near their venue take a quick video of their ceremony site and send it to them to keep their spirits high! Extra credit if you share it on Instagram Stories and tag them to take care of that day’s post. 

Celebrate with a Kick off Call

Lastly, when you are ready to get your planning back into high gear, we really recommend making it special for your couples. You can do things like send them a little invitation that is celebratory for their “kick off call,” mail them a gift from Greetabl or maybe send them a bottle of champagne from our friends at One Hope before your call. Because, in the end, it is the little special things that really go along way.