When it comes to pricing your services as a wedding planner, you might think that you only have a few options. One of the biggest mistakes I see fellow wedding planners and coordinators make is including everything in a single package! They often offer too much for far too little. This can include unlimited hours on the day of the wedding for both partial and full wedding planning clients. Or worse? Offering unlimited hours on the day of for wedding management clients.
This is not just making you hit burnout faster, but it also means you lose out on money!
One of the best ways to solve this is by offering an A La Carte menu.
An A La Carte menu consists of add-ons that couples can select from to customize their package with you. It allows you to upsell additional items for your couples without feeling uncomfortable. I know that many wedding planners hate upsells, but today, I want to show you how adding A La Carte menu items to your planning services will not just help your bottom line but make your clients happier!
An A La Carte Menu Allows for Customization
As wedding planners, we often forget how much our clients simply don’t know about the planning process. While we have planned countless weddings, our couples have not! Our clients do not know what they need, or what package is going to work best for them. That is where you come in! It’s up to you to educate your couples and present opportunities for them to customize their package if and when appropriate.
When you offer A La Carte menu items, it allows for your couples to select a base package and customize it to bets fit their exact needs. No two weddings are the same – so your packages should not always be the same! For example, some clients might fit really well in your 8-hour package, whereas some clients may need a solid 12–15-hour day of your time.
But you should always be compensated for that time.
That is why I suggest adding on hours for additional time when necessary. This way you are being paid for your additional time at the wedding and not overextending yourself! Remember, you should always know how much time you’re spending on a wedding!
An A La Carte Menu helps to Avoid Confusion
How often do you expect your clients to remember everything that is included in their contract? Like that they can add on time or additional calls? That you have gorgeous rental items available exclusively to your clients? Or that they can have you assemble those welcome bags or favor boxes when they realize it’s the last thing they want to hassle with the week of their wedding?
Spoiler: they don’t remember!
Don’t be afraid to encourage clients to pick a specific add-on available to them if and when the opportunity presents itself.
To make this easier for clients, be sure to include A La Carte services in your pricing guide. Review it with your potential clients and review the optional A La Carte menu services that they can add on to customize their package at any time throughout the planning process. Get comfortable talking about this in that initial call – so it’s not a surprise when you suggest that a client adds on time as it gets closer!
Benefits of an A La Carte Menu by Package Type
There are a lot of ways that an A La Carte Menu can add to your already existing packages.
Wedding Management
This is for the client who enjoys the thought of planning their wedding themselves but needs some help finalizing details and logistics during those final few months leading up to the day. An A La Carte add on can include additional consultations where they get access to you a little further out than what might be included in their contract, additional day of hours for you to see through tear down of their event, or even renting décor items directly from you without having to purchase items themselves.
Partial Planning
For Partial Planning (or even Month of/Day of Coordination clients), have an A La Carte menu that lets your clients add on design services. This is where you come up with the overall concept and design aesthetic, and it can even include you helping them select the best vendors and décor details to complete this vision. This could be extremely appealing to a partial planning client who may be lost when it comes to their vision for the day!
Full Service
While most A La Carte services will be all-inclusive for these clients, things like additional consultations above and beyond what’s already included could be of interest to these clients. This can include things like rehearsal dinner planning or even attending additional vendor planning meetings.
A La Carte Menu Services to Offer
As you start to create your A La Carte menu, I want you to keep one major thing in mind: Only offer A La Carte options that you’re excited about. If you cannot fathom offering budget management for a wedding management client – don’t offer it as an add-on! This is about allowing clients to only add on items that you enjoy doing.
- Additional Consultations
- Additional Day of Hours
- Rehearsal Management
- Rehearsal Dinner Setup + Management
- Post Wedding Brunch Setup + Management
- Bridal Shower, Luncheon or Engagement Party Setup + Management
- Design Services
- Budget Development + Management
- Floorplan Creation
- Welcome Gift Assembly + Delivery
- Favor Assembly
- Hotel Block + Guest Accommodations
- RSVP + Guest List Management
- Exclusive Rental Items
- Holiday Fee
Working Together to Create your A La Carte Menu
If you are looking to add A La Carte services, but you’re unsure how to implement them into your current offerings, I offer 90-minute Strategy Calls where we’ll take a deep dive into your package offerings, pricing structure and the pain points you may be experiencing around them.
Together, we’ll create a plan of action and outline your updated services for moving forward!
An A La Carte menu can really help you not only increase your bottom line but create a better experience for your clients! They can choose the help they need, including some items that they may not have even realized they needed initially.
If you’re ready to develop an A La Carte menu of services, set up a free Discovery Call today where we can chat about strategically implementing one into your current offerings that doesn’t turn clients away!
Xo,
Jess
