Vent: Copy-Cat "Wedding Planners"

Ok -- so I hope in advance the tone of this post does not come across too harshly. But I need to take a moment to vent.

The Wedding Planning industry is a very transient one. There are SO many companies that begin this way: a girl plans her own wedding, LOVED it, and sets-up shop as a wedding planner because it just sounds SO fun and she's SO good at it. (Or maybe she just rented Jennifer Lopez's The Wedding Planner and thinks this career would be perfect for her!)

Great! Fabulous! Good luck, and we hope it works out for ya. A year later, an internet search of her company turns up nothing. Nada. Zilch. She's worked with a few brides, and discovered that it's actually TONS of work, and makes you very little profit, if any, for the first several years of business.

So, I take it all in stride when the lastest listings on Decidio.com or Onewed.com or some other wedding directory turn up 10 new weddings planners in the Jacksonville area. Some I'm sure will blossom into awesome companies, others will fade away as quickly as they started. It's just the nature of the beast.

But imagine my irritation, when looking over the website of one of these newcomers, I find the product/service descriptions to be almost word-for-word matches of my own service descriptions on my website. Oh, a few words have been changed here and there, but in a direct, side-by-side comparison of the two sites, the copycat is pretty obvious.

On the one hand, I guess I should be pretty flattered that my company is seen as one of the standard-setters here in Jacksonville. On the other hand, it's irritating. Extremely.

I understand that everyone has to start somewhere. Because I, too, was a newcomer, three and a half years ago. But I didn't copy other planners' styles. I created my own look, my own package offerings, my own pricing. And, I joined a professional association, ABC, to hone my craft. I've attended workshops, seminars, and conferences to better myself and my business. And I'm continuing to strive for new heights with my business. I'm constantly evaluating, reworking, and updating to be sure that my service offerings are innovative and relevant. So it's frustrating when other planners aren't putting in their own effort, but are trying to latch on to someone else's bootstraps. (Don't know if that's a saying or not, but it made sense to me!!)

On the brighter side, if you are considering a career in wedding planning, a great way to "test-drive" that desire is through an internship!

Flaire Weddings and Events is currently open for applications to our Spring Intership Program. We will be accepting applications until December 15th, so if you're interested, you still have two weeks to get that application in!
See the details here.

Good luck -- we'd still love to hear from several more applicants!!