FAQs about State of the Industry

Over 1,000 people have watched or listened to the State of the Industry panel I hosted a couple weeks ago. We’ve had a ton of good feedback from wedding pros.  - Everyone said how refreshing it was to hear us talking about real numbers, rather than just what’s going on with a few businesses.  - Many of you shared how comforting it was to know that you’re not the only one feeling a slowdown.  - Some of you reached out in surprise that so many were so slow. - A few wanted more specifics on why this was happening - and what you can do about it. I’m pushing our regularly schedule programming back a week to do this episode, which will be like an FAQ follow-up for the State of the Industry panel. It’s also a peek into the kinds of conversations I’m having with my clients. Here’s a tale of two consultations from this week:  One client came to me because bookings were down. He felt maybe it was because the industry as a whole was feeling a decline. I’m glad he called, because an hour later, we’d identified a bunch of changes made to the proposal that needed to be tweaked, and packages and pricing that weren't communicating the value necessary to justify the higher prices.  Later that day, I had a planning and design client reach out to me saying she just filled her 2024 calendar at $20k+ fees for the first time ever. Why are some doing amazingly well? And others are on the struggle bus? The numbers show weddings are a little down, we might be in an engagement, spending is down and so are guest counts. But I don’t believe that’s a reason - and certainly not an excuse - for bookings being off by 50%. Or even 20%.  The macro-changes in the market are important to pay attention to. But as I’ll share, the cause of your success or concerns is likely what YOU have done - or not done - with your business. The best part about that is you can impact a different outcome by doing different activities. Tune in to find out what those are.