First meetings with couples: a wedding planner's guide

Open first meetings when couples can both attend: weekday evenings and weekend mornings. Offer a short video call for couples who live far away and an in-person meeting for those nearby, as two separate services. Ask for the wedding date, the region, the approximate number of guests and the budget range in the booking note, so you can check your availability and prepare before you meet. Keep the meeting to about an hour, and send your proposal soon after.

A couple wants to meet you together, and when both partners work, weekday afternoons may suit your diary but not theirs. Open first-meeting slots in the evening, for example 18:30 and 19:30, and on Saturday mornings, when both partners are free. Keep Saturday afternoons and the rest of the weekend for the weddings themselves during the season.

On Book, create a slot once and repeat it on the weekdays you choose until an end date, so your evening slots are ready for the whole engagement season in a few minutes.

Create each format as its own service, with a description saying what happens and whether it's free. Destination weddings bring couples who live in another country: your page shows times in your business's time zone and displays its name, so they know which zone they're reading. Book doesn't create video links, so send yours after the booking.

Before booking, a couple wants to know whether you're a fit: the regions you cover, the kind of weddings you plan, the formulas you offer and a starting price. Put these in the first-meeting service description, in a few short lines. A couple planning a small countryside wedding sees at once whether you do that; one planning a 300-guest celebration abroad knows whether you travel.

If you speak several languages, say so too. For destination weddings, it can decide who gets the call. A clear description means the couples who book have already chosen you in principle, and the first meeting starts further along.

The booking form asks for first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note. Put these questions in the service description so couples answer them in the note. You receive an email for each new booking, with the note, which lets you check the date against your calendar before the meeting. If the date is already taken, call them before they prepare for nothing.

The first meeting is about listening, not selling. Let the couple tell their story: how they met, what kind of day they imagine, what matters to them and what worries them. Then explain how you work, what's included in each formula, and how you'd plan the months ahead. Show a few past weddings that match their style rather than your whole portfolio.

Keep it to an hour. If they want more, it's a good sign: offer a second meeting once they've read your proposal.

Send your proposal within a few days, while the meeting is fresh. If the couple needs time to decide and wants you to keep the date, agree how long you can hold it, and note it in your calendar, for example by booking the date yourself with the hold's end in the note. When they sign, the next meetings follow the planning calendar you agree together, and you can book them yourself from your calendar.

If a first meeting has to move, reschedule it from your bookings list and tell the couple yourself, since Book doesn't email them when a booking changes. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited bookings and services, no commission and no contract. It doesn't take deposits; keep your usual contract and payment process.