How to organize a wedding agency. Wedding as a business: how to organize a wedding agency. Premises and staff
After the end of the wedding ceremony and the bustle, after all the gifts were unpacked and the donated finances were recalculated, I, out of old habit, started calculating the costs. It should be stipulated that it all started in 2007, respectively, to prices and costs today it is worth applying a double coefficient when planning to engage in wedding events.
So, I had an idea in my head, 2000 in my hands and a wild desire to start my own business. An experienced lawyer's consultation on the required documents and licenses, followed by the preparation of a package of documents, cost $ 100. Now I have become authorized to provide information and mediation services.
Idea.
Organizing my own wedding and being a simple housewife at the time, I realized how troublesome it is to organize everything myself. After submitting an application to the registry offices of our city, the bride and groom are given a memo containing a list of the main things that are necessary for the ceremony. I didn't know the rest. The idea was formed by itself. After all, there are a great many young brides like me in the city, many of them work and do not have time to solve all the organizational issues.
There was not a single agency in the city that could offer everything the newlyweds needed in their office. The basis of the service was that the guys who applied to the agency received a personal manager, as well as catalogs with photographs of registry offices, wedding cars, wedding dress salons, makeup artists, musicians, operators, restaurants, presenters and everything else that could be photographed and provide customers with a visual sample.
The idea is risky. After all, everyone is used to organizing weddings the old fashioned way. Cost of services for clients. In order to attract the first customers, I decided to initially provide services for free. That is, when contacting the agency and receiving complete information about all possible ways to organize and hold a wedding in our city, clients do not pay for these services. Nevertheless, the price list contained several items that clients could order from the agency, which will be discussed below.
While it seemed to me that my idea would die, and not having time to take the first steps on the way to my dream. I must note that when I started my business, I did not pursue special goals of enrichment. Most likely, I needed self-realization and self-affirmation. And if the business could bring me income, then the pleasure would be received doubly. My first stage costs and sources of coverage. Initially, it was decided to work without an office, that is, to make appointments for clients at their home, in a cafe, in any convenient place. This was a compulsory measure in a tight budget.
Start.
At the time, a conveniently located downtown office cost about $ 300 a month, excluding utilities. Since she herself could not cope, she invited an assistant and part-time her best friend to work. The main costs went to creating beautifully designed catalogs. Initially, these were ordinary photo albums with photographs, most of which had to be done on our own.
The budget did not allow finding a professional photographer, as well as creating a catalog in the printing house. Perhaps it looked ridiculous and ridiculous, but our zeal was stronger than doubt. The first stage of developing my own business demanded from me an additional investment from the budget of $ 250 to create albums and $ 150 monthly to pay for the services of my assistant. The remaining budget after creating the catalog and paying the advance payment should have been enough for 10 months. But it was not enough.
Where did we make money? The cost of our services was invested in the cost of the services of the performers. That is, a couple who ordered a car at $ 15 per hour for 10 hours (a standard wedding day) paid $ 150, of which 10% went to our budget. Percentage for each client is the main condition for placement in our catalogs. We understood that an untreated agency that was just entering the wedding services market would not be able to attract clients for paid placement.
Later, the idea arose about DIY jewelry making for wedding cars... The benefit is that each piece of jewelry requires a one-time investment, and its rental covers the costs the first time. Purchase of flowers and materials for jewelry - $ 200. Office. The first meetings with potential clients turned out to be a fiasco. The office has become a priority need. Meetings in cafes, at clients' homes and at ours were simply unbearable due to the many distractions.
We found the best option - to share the office with another company. Found an ad that part of the office is for rent. After inspecting the downtown area and agreeing to the $ 180 price tag, we were eventually able to start working normally. A little chronology markup should be done here. Exactly 6 weeks have passed from registration and start of activities to the moment of office withdrawal. During this time, the budget was reduced to $ 1,120, while the next salary for my assistant was already approaching. For 6 weeks of activity, our income was about $ 90. So, at the agency's box office, there were 1210 dollars.
Renting an office wasn't the only cost. We needed an office (they got by with the cheapest supplies, spending about $ 15). The undoubted blow to the budget was the display racks for our products, the production of which we moved from home to office. The solution was the rental of second-hand commercial equipment. He was also found through the net. Since the racks were, frankly, not new, they cost $ 20 a month to rent. It cost $ 100 to create business cards and flyers for promoters. It was decided not to make large editions, because at any moment everything could change.
Marketing.
While we were just fine-tuning our business and taking the first uncertain steps in the market, we already attracted several clients who ordered some wedding services from us, but the goal was not achieved. The main calculation and stake were made on complex orders. Each average wedding cost between $ 4,000 and $ 8,000. taking into account all the nuances and little things. And that was our goal. Every day our agency had to be visited by exactly the number of clients, so that our conviction and charm were enough for at least one of them to stay and order a complex wedding.
Unfortunately, there is no SEO promotion for real world agencies. Our target audience was young couples who had just applied to the registry office. We went there to distribute our leaflets. Considering the costs of starting a business, as well as our modest income ($ 90 of income could not cover our $ 995 expenses in 6 weeks), we decided to avoid another column of expenses - promoters. Moreover, no one, except us, could accurately convey the complexity of the services provided. And if the promoter had a goal to work out the number of business cards and leaflets, then we worked with every couple that we managed to approach, sometimes splitting up to handle a larger audience.
We understood that a simple distribution of leaflets could not interest the client so much that he visited our office. Applications to the registry office were accepted on Tuesdays and Thursdays - these were our days of hard labor. There are 6 registry offices in our city, and after visiting one and not seeing the proper audience there, we drove across the city to another registry office, hoping to meet our client. The work did not pass without leaving a trace. Hard work with clients, money for travel and organization of our activities at the registry offices ate up our budget day after day. After 8 weeks, the income was $ 150 (over the entire period, there was a significant decrease compared to the previous month, when we earned $ 90).
We understood the need for staff. One person had to be in the office and meet customers, answer calls and work on jewelry, materials for which were purchased, and there was a sorely lack of time for production. One more person was needed to work at the registry offices, but not a promoter, but our employee who knows his job. As the business developed little by little, with some of our car rental partners, we switched to special conditions of cooperation.
We needed our first client. Real. And we found him.
A young couple was already heading towards the exit from the central registry office, when I handed them our flyers and business cards and saw a sparkle in their eyes. We did not discuss the details of our services on the spot, but went to the office. After offering tea to clients, I calculated an approximate wedding budget, which was delayed by $ 7,000. The amount seemed large, and we started looking for ways to cut the budget. When the amount was reduced to the limit of $ 6,000, the guys happily asked who to pay money to. At that moment, I realized that I was doing everything right.
Our first decent income of $ 600 was our first small achievement, which was used to further develop the business. The goal was income of $ 4,000 over the next month. A modest balance of our budget, which at that time was just over $ 500, and the new flow of money allowed us to hire two more employees. Creative girls brought their own ideas, which allowed our business to reach a qualitatively new level.
Our agency has opened such directions as creating handmade invitations in an individual style, handmade ring cushions, hand-painted and finishing wedding glasses. At the moment, the business is successfully developing in the city. We were the first in the wedding market to provide everything in a complex. We are followed by our copies, which also make their way through wedding thorns.
The agency is currently generating net income of $ 10,000 per month.
Advantages of a wedding destination. People meet, people fall in love, get married. This line from a famous song explains well what the main advantage of this direction is. We do not refuse to organize even the most modest weddings, the income from which will barely cover our expenses. Now we can afford it.
A new and promising business for Russia is the organization of weddings. Young people believe that their marriage should be memorable and unique. Therefore, whenever possible, they seek help in organizing a wedding celebration. In this article, we will consider the creation of a wedding agency that organizes a holiday. We will display all the main points (expenses, income, target audience, business marketing) in the business plan. In this article, we will consider a business plan for a wedding agency with calculations.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Starting a Wedding Agency
The wedding business is gaining momentum, since most of it requires little costs to open it (in fact, you need an event manager, sales marketer), and the margins (profitability) of the business is huge, since wedding budgets are usually not small.
Here are the advantages and disadvantages of the business. The main target audience of the wedding agency is people with an active lifestyle who want to live brightly and beautifully.
We open a wedding salon: registration with the tax office
To legalize a business, you must register with the tax office at your place of residence. In our opinion, the most optimal form would be the registration of an individual entrepreneur, since it presupposes a minimum form of reporting to the tax authorities. Consider the advantages of registering an individual entrepreneur and LLC in the table below.
| Business organization form | Benefits of using | Registration documents |
| SP ( individual entrepreneur) | This form of business organization is used to create a wedding agency or agency network with up to 50 people. |
|
| OOO ( limited liability company) | This form of business organization is used for a wedding agency if you plan to hire employees, scale the company and attract external financing (loans). |
According to the law, the authorized capital of an LLC cannot be less than 10,000 rubles! |
In the tax reporting of a wedding agency, you can use BSO (strict reporting form) instead of KKM (cash register) / article 2, paragraph 2 of Federal Law No. 54-FZ of 05/22/2003
SSR can be used when we provide services to the public (as in our example). BSO is not used when selling goods.
OKVED codes when registering a wedding agency:
92.3 - Other entertainment and entertainment activities.
92.7 - Other activities related to the organization of recreation and entertainment.
74.81 - Activities in the field of photography (including wedding photography).
74.84 - Provision of other services.
93.05 - Provision of other personal services.
How to create a successful wedding agency (the case of Sasha Dergousova)
In the video lesson, Sasha Dergousova talks about how to open a wedding agency from scratch without connections, capital, how to attract partners, the structure of the agency, the role of the team and the leader.
Wedding agency business plan: project marketing
Market Review
In Moscow, many event companies offer assistance in holding weddings as additional services. As a rule, such companies are mainly engaged in corporate events, children's celebrations, and organizing parties. They will be your main competitors.
In the Moscow region, there are no more than 100 specialized agencies dealing only with organizing weddings.
Over the past years, the number of marriages in Russia has been growing every year. It can be concluded that the demand for organizing a wedding is constantly growing.
Summer is the most active period of marriage, September is the most active month. The leader in terms of the number of marriages is the Northern Administrative District, followed by the Southern and Central Administrative District. The capacity of the wedding services market is increasing every year, now it is more than 250 billion rubles. People spend more on weddings.
Target audience of the business
In order to develop and implement any type of commercial activity, the basic concept of the project is first determined, which will distinguish it from similar proposals and help meet the needs of the target group. To define the concept, a specific segment of specialization is selected. In other words, to differentiate yourself from other wedding agencies you need to choose your narrower niche in this business.
Our target audience is newlyweds, mainly between the ages of 25 and 34. They prefer not traditional weddings, but stylization for certain eras or famous historical characters.
Agency services
After determining the target audience, we will form a proposal for the main list of services provided by the agency. Standard services include:
- registration of the wedding venue;
- development and distribution of custom-made wedding invitations;
- registration of wedding transport;
- photo and video filming of weddings;
- decoration of wedding boutonnieres, bouquets, etc .;
- outside registration;
- organization of a wedding;
- services of professional makeup artists, hairdressers, stylists;
- musical accompaniment;
- selection of a wedding cake, its preparation and delivery;
- selection of restaurants, decoration, selection of dishes according to the individual wishes of the customer;
- selection of professional hosts for weddings;
- organization of honeymoon travel.
Potential risks of the project
A certain risk when launching a project will be the seasonality of services and their novelty. The target consumer needs to be given maximum information that organizing a wedding will not do without the help of professional specialists. To reduce the risk of seasonality, you can, for example, popularize other periods for weddings. In winter, you can also arrange an unforgettable wedding celebration.
It is more economically profitable to work with clients on a prepaid basis, this will reduce the risk of rejection of an order for organizing a wedding. In addition, ordering a limousine, artists and other preparatory services requires an advance payment.
Organizational Business Plan
As a rule, if you are starting a business from scratch, then there is no need to organize your own office, since this is only additional costs. Better to focus on finding customers through different marketing channels. If you are planning to scale your business, then one of the options may be to open your own office to work with clients (we repeat, when you have already established marketing to attract them).
The set of equipment for an office is standard: you will need office furniture, a telephone, computers, a scanner, a printer, and demonstration equipment.
Staff
The agency needs applicants with experience in hosting weddings, sociable and attractive. List of required personnel:
- account managers (acting as project leaders);
- director;
- accountant.
To reduce salary costs, at first the owner of the agency can act as a director himself (subject to the availability of time and the necessary qualifications).
Advertising and promotion
With a narrow specialization of the project, you will have to choose the appropriate means of advertising and promotion. To attract potential customers, you can use the following options (there are many more):
- placement of advertisements in specialized publications that advertise the organization of holidays, weddings and event events (not tied to the administrative district, because the offer may be liked by a consumer from other districts of Moscow and the environs);
- development of a corporate website with its further promotion using Yandex.Direct ( in our opinion, the most optimal option for a start, as well as the ratio of cost and efficiency);
- You can negotiate cooperation with salons of accessories and wedding dresses, restaurants, transport companies for car rental.
Financial plan
The business plan should contain the basic economic calculations: income and costs, project payback, the possibility of its development.
Initial costs
- purchase of furniture, demonstration equipment, office equipment - 150,000 rubles;
- development of a corporate website - 30,000 rubles;
- registration of documents (IP) - 10,000 rubles.
Total initial costs - 180,000 rubles.
Monthly costs
- office rent - 20,000 rubles;
- advertising (includes website promotion and optimization) - 30,000 rubles;
- staff salary - 40,000 rubles;
Total monthly costs - 90,000 rubles.
Payback periods and revenue
We do not calculate the average price of a service, since it depends directly on the list of services for a specific individual project. Average monthly revenue will be 400,000-500,000 rubles / month. With a profitability of 30-40%, the payback period of the project will be 6-7 months.
To increase the profit for the project, we increase the intensity of advertising activities. We are expanding our territorial coverage by advertising services in other districts of the Moscow region.
Assessment of business attractiveness by website magazine
| Business profitability |   (4.0 out of 5) |
Business attractiveness
|
| Payback of the project | (4.0 out of 5) |
|
| Ease of business creation |  (3.5 out of 5) |
|
| Starting a wedding organization business (wedding salon) is a profitable and quick-payback business. High rental costs for premises and staff can be avoided. The main factor for business success is advertising, which you need to focus on 80% of your time. It is she who will determine the viability of your business. Of the shortcomings, it is worth noting the seasonality of weddings. There are many of them in the summer, and a sharp decline in the winter. For beginners entrepreneurs are well suited to start through a ready-made franchise, a packaged business solution in which all the main indicators of a business model are already collected. | ||
Meet Violetta Chernoshchechkina, a graduate of Yekaterinburg University, holder of an economics degree and a talented wedding planner. It all started very trite - a small blog, a pleasant hobby, which in just two years has grown into a real wedding agency.
Barter business
Violetta received a classical education - no one expected any creative professions in her family, so art history and design were postponed until later, and the first specialty was mastered in economics. For ten years, Violetta worked at various factories and enterprises and did not even dream of her own wedding agency.
It all started with one single wedding, which Violetta and her friend helped to make for a young couple. The wedding turned out to be spectacular, unusual and very beautiful, so the results of the work were posted on the blog and shown to the entire Runet. Many people liked the wedding, so a whole flurry of letters and calls fell on the girls, in which people asked to make a similar holiday for themselves.
At first, the girls were not going to work in this direction, but gradually they began to organize celebration after celebration, and the results of the work continued to be posted on the network. After some time, Violetta's friend went to America, and the blog ceased to exist. But Violetta took a chance and decided to start: without experience of creating her own business, without capital investments, exclusively earning her skills and knowledge.
In creating the website, Violetta was helped by one of her bridesmaids, for whom Violetta organized a wedding; the first professional photographs were obtained through the same barter.
Team and competitors
The wedding business is a rather small niche in which it is quite possible to know all your competitors by sight. True, Violetta says that she cannot even call her “wedding” acquaintances competitors. Each product has its own merchant, and each bride has her own views on the upcoming celebration and her own wedding organizer.
Of course, each company stands at its own certain level, therefore, the rapidly developing company "Vpudre" constantly changes its benchmarks:
Violetta has already outgrown her “competitors of last year” and has now reached the level of those agencies that have been working in the wedding business for more than 10-15 years.
Where to get money to start your own business? This is the problem that 95% of aspiring entrepreneurs face! In the article, we have revealed the most relevant ways to get start-up capital for an entrepreneur. We also recommend that you carefully study the results of our experiment in exchange earnings:
Regularly, Violetta is faced with the fact that her employees are trying to lure new, newly opened companies for organizing celebrations. But she was lucky with the employees - none of them had yet accepted an invitation to work behind the boss's back. Now the Vpudre team employs seven people: designers and organizers, decorators and printers, as well as permanent photographers, videographers, make-up artists, who have been tested not only by time, but also by human relations.
Violetta says that for her, human relations still remain in the foreground, so those who go to work as if to hard labor and sit "from call to call" in the team do not take root and do not stay in projects. The problem of recruiting, as always, remains relevant - it is necessary to calculate from the total number of people who will catch the agency's wave, will be able to work in a team and take root in the business.
How ideas are born
Ideas surround and await the organizer of weddings at almost every step - publics on VKontakte and Instagram, various groups and fashion trends - all this allows you to form your own idea of beauty. Naturally, it is important to be able to listen and hear the client, who may not even know exactly what they want, but will gladly share their hobbies and fantasies with the organizer, and the designer and decorator can try to make a suitable concept or idea out of these ideas.
But not only the general styles and trends in the organization of celebrations are changing, but also the approaches to the distribution of funds. If three or four years ago the newlyweds "with a scratch" laid out 7000-8000 rubles for flowers and floral decorations at the celebration, now many couples are ready to spend an order of magnitude larger amounts, because they like the result.
Violetta estimates the cost of an average beautiful, cheerful and comfortable wedding for 40 people at about 600,000 - 700,000 rubles. - this is a wedding without frills, but also beautiful and high quality.
About the franchise
Violetta is not yet ready to sell her corporate identity through a franchise - the main problem of this business option is the inability to monitor 100% of the performers' return. Violetta is used to controlling all the steps in the preparation of a project on her own and is not ready to draw up a set of rules and a verification scheme that would give a consistently good result. In Yekaterinburg, the Vpudre agency works not only for advertising, but also for word of mouth - at weddings, the same faces appear at a party. People turn to Violetta because they are confident that for their money they will receive a stable excellent result.
The organizer takes care of everything
Like everything related to marriage, Violetta's business is strictly seasonal: in the summer months registrations take place every week, but in winter
you have to organize no more than two weddings a month. Each preparation for the ceremony begins with the acquaintance of the wedding organizer with the bride and groom, at this acquaintance they learn about what is offered by the "wedding master" for their celebration, what you need to pay attention to, what you should spend money on, and where can you save money, etc.
Then the newlyweds receive an approximate list of services and a price list for them, think over their decision and, if they agree, sign a contract with the company. After that, all the problems completely fall on the shoulders of the organizers. Of course, all the details are discussed with the bride and groom, but they don't have to run or hassle anymore, they can close their eyes and relax - at the moment "X" their wedding will be ready in the best possible way, this "Vpudre" guarantees!
Opening a wedding agency is a promising business direction. This niche in our market is still relatively free. This type of business does not require a license to provide services and falls under the simplified taxation system. It is not at all necessary to spend money on salaries and staff maintenance; it is enough to have a good base with contacts of professionals. Read about the steps to be taken to open a wedding agency in this material.
Start by researching the market in your city:- Find out if you have competitors. Go through their sites, see what they offer their customers. Think about how you can be better and what.
- Define your target audience. You can do large-scale weddings or provide individual services in the wedding business. What will be in great demand? If you plan to work with young couples, then their budget will be limited. And vice versa, grown-up clients are more likely to order a turnkey wedding.
- Assistance in the selection of clothes for the bride and groom;
- Search and rent of a banquet hall;
- Selection of cars for the wedding procession;
- Photo and video filming;
- Providing presenter services, searching for artists, DJs and musical accompaniment;
- Registration of cars, hall, printing of invitations;
- Florist, make-up artist, stylist and hairdresser services;
- Organization of a bachelorette party, bachelor party, weddings and off-site registration.
Organization of weddings is a responsible event. Therefore, remember that your loyal friend is a clearly drawn up plan. Your future reputation will depend on how you conduct the very first wedding. Don't forget to be in a good mood.