As a coordinator myself, I know firsthand how beneficial document templates can be. These important documents are pre-written and designed templates that you can use again and again in your wedding planning business!
One of the most important parts of being a wedding planner or coordinator is not just being detail-oriented, but being consistent. From consistent branding to having a consistent process, it is what will set you apart from the other planners and coordinators in your market!
Document templates not only increase your productivity and save you a lot of time, but they allow less room for error and give you confidence that nothing is missed. Creating these important documents eliminates the risk of sending incorrect information or failing to include essential components!
From day one of my business, I sought out to create custom templates that allowed me to easily plug and play, one client at a time. And it’s been a game changer to say the least.
As a coach for wedding planners, I always encourage my clients to create templates for all of the processes in their business. If you are using something more than twice in your business, it needs to be documented and have a template!
Templates Are So Important
There are so many reasons why having documented templates is important! One of the biggest points is that they save you time. You no longer have to spend hours upon hours trying to re-create the wheel for every new client. Instead, you can use the same documents or systems again and again – allowing you to finally have everything set in place!
Additionally, having document templates will increase your productivity, leave less room for error and ultimately elevate the client experience! When you work with your planning couples, it’s important to minimize mistakes or errors in the planning process. If you have many of these items documented, you can ensure nothing slips through the cracks, allowing you to really showcase your expertise and increase your client’s satisfaction!
Important Documents To Have In Your Wedding Planning Business
Document templates can ensure that everything is formatted the same across the board. This way your branding is consistent, your copy is consistent, and it will save you hours on documents you create for every client you work with! You will no longer have to make dozens of new templates once you have one that works.
Here are 12 important documents I highly recommend creating templates for in your wedding planning business:
01. Contracts
Every service you offer should have a contract, and a contract template at that. I personally use Honeybook as my CRM system, which also includes contract templates! With Honeybook, you can easily send contracts for electronic signature, send invoices, questionnaires and so much more!
02. Timelines
Timelines are the cornerstone of your planning process. Having a professional and detailed vendor timeline not only ensures a stress-free experience for your client but it will also impress your vendor team! My Vendor Timeline Templates include 9 templates I personally have created and executed, as well as my step by step workflow to developing and finalizing a client’s vendor timeline.
03. Ceremony Processionals
The logistics of the wedding ceremony can be complicated! But as a planner or coordinator, you need something straightforward and easy to read to get everyone lined up and the ceremony started promptly. Implementing a standard ceremony process will impress your clients, and save you time!
That is why I created Ceremony Processional Templates and why they would be a great addition to your document library. You get 6 templates for different scenarios and my best advice for determining who should walk when to ensure your client’s ceremony procession runs as smoothly as possible.
04. Mood Boards + Design Templates
When planning a wedding, there are a lot of design details that go into it. From color palettes to textures to rentals. And our couples normally want to really be able to visualize it all! That is why having mood boards and design templates pre-made can be very helpful. You can have one for the color palette, one for rentals, one for the ceremony inspiration, and another for the reception. This way you can just click and drag images in, and present them to your client!
A great tool for this is Canva! I love how easy it is to create templates for all sorts of things for my business – and it can be especially handy for those mood boards and design templates!
05. Vendor List Templates
One of the most important templates in my library is the Vendor List Template. There can be a lot of moving pieces and a multitude of vendors involved in every wedding. So it’s important to keep their contact info and details all in one place! My Vendor List Template is easy to customize to fit whatever planning platforms you use, like Google Sheets or Excel.
I created this template as a way to not only ensure I receive all the contact information I need for the major vendors involved in a client’s wedding day, but it also elevates the client experience by providing a valuable tool for them to use throughout the wedding planning process.
06. Onsite Details
The wedding day details are of utmost importance, and so is making sure said details are organized and easy to follow when it’s crunch time! It should be top priority that you and your team enter every wedding day with a game plan outlined. That is why I created my Game Day Playbook (AKA: Onsite Details) that my team and I come armed with every wedding day. It is the lifeline of my business and the one thing that I absolutely could not do without. Grab The Game Day Playbook today – it’s fully customizable, ready to use, and will set you and your team up for success so that your client’s big day goes exactly as planned!
07. Client Checklists
There are a lot of details and things your couples need to do during the planning process. For each package, make sure you have a checklist template, with timeline and due dates. This way your clients have a handy checklist they can refer back to as needed.
08. Pricing Guide or Price List
Your pricing guide should be branded and showcase your unique business. This can easily be a pre-made PDF you send over, complete with your different packages and service offerings, a little about you and your team, a few photos of your best work and even a couple testimonials sprinkled in.
This may be one of the first impressions a potential client has of your brand, so you’ll want to be sure it represents your business well and showcases what you have to offer. There is no reason to make this every time – have one made and ready to go!
09. Welcome Guide
When a couple books you, what is the next step? Having a welcome guide not only introduces your couples to your business, but can also answer any FAQ they have, and outline what they can expect next.
10. Questionnaires
While emails are often the preferred method of communication, things can get lost easily! So a great option is to have a pre-made questionnaire ready to send to gather important details. One can be a Welcome Questionnaire, where you gather information about the couple, how they met, and their vision for the wedding. Another great feature of Honeybook is their questionnaires – you can easily make templates that you send, and gather all the information in one spot!
11. Preferred Vendor List
Whether you do full planning, partial planning or wedding management, you should have a preferred vendor list so you can quickly and easily refer your favorite vendors! You can have lists with your favorite venues, photographers, florists, bridal shops, and more.
For your full-service or partial planning clients, this may look like an Google sheets doc that itemizes out different costs and specifics for your favorite vendors that you can quickly refer to when sourcing options for your clients to choose from based on their budget, aesthetic or personality. For your wedding management clients however, this may look more like a PDF or hidden link on your website listing out your favorites by vendor type that clients can refer to throughout the planning process when selecting their vendors.
12. Rental List
For those that offer a variety of décor items for their clients to rent (think table numbers, chargers, signage and card boxes), create a document or hidden link on your website that lists out the dimensions, quantity and price for each item you rent. Doing so will allow clients to easily see what all you have available and if it will meet their needs.
Offering rental items is a great way to add an additional revenue stream to your business, while also saving your clients a lot of time and money had they sourced and bought the items themselves. Win-win!
Pro Tip: For templates you often update (like contracts, timelines, ceremony processions, and onsite details), I always suggest highlighting line items that are TBD or unknown. Use those highlights as a reminder of what still needs to be decided and remove highlights as they are determined.
Creating the documents you need in your wedding planning business
Creating these important documents may take time on the front end, but you’ll ultimately save even MORE time (and errors) in the long run once you implement them. All of these documents are important in the planning process and in running a successful business.
BONUS TIP: Your document library should also consist of email templates! Many of the emails you write can be templated out, saving you HOURS and creating consistency when sending out emails to both your couples and their vendors. Additionally, you can also create email templates for your document templates. So when you send your vendor list template, you can have an email template ready to go (with the PDF linked!).
To make this even easier, make sure to check out my 43 Email Template Bundle! This includes the most important emails you need, from client communication to vendor emails! Save time and elevate your client experience with these important documents!
Xo,
Jess
