Time to put your wedding venue business’ plans in place for the new year

Wedding season is nearly behind us and now it’s time to reflect and to plan ahead for next year’s engagement & wedding seasons.

Many venues I’ve spoken to in recent months have all been saying the same thing – bookings for 2023 and 2024 are down year-on-year or against projections.
A combination of leveling out post-covid and the cost-of-living crisis, is causing many couples to think long and hard about how, where & when to get married.

Smaller weddings, fewer guests, last minute bookings – its everywhere right now, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still attract prospective clients – but it does require that you rethink, review and upscale your wedding offer, to appeal to a different target market. 

Those couples are out there and they do want to get married – so how can you better appeal to them and draw them in?

My question to you is…

Is there a difference between the weddings you are currently attracting and the ones you actually need to appeal to, in order to be sufficiently profitable?
So many of my clients answer “yes” to this question, and if this applies to you too, its time to go back to basics and review your process right from the very beginning.

So step 1…

1. Who is your ideal client?

Who are you trying to attract? If the answer is ‘couples’ then stop!

I want you to think about who exactly is your preferred kinda couple? Can you describe them? What makes them tick? What are their hobbies? Where do they live? How old are they? What do they want? and of course… What is their budget?

You really need to know them.. .You need to be able to understand everything about them, know what they’re looking for and be really clear about what appeals to them. If you can’t describe your ideal client precisely, how can you talk directly to them, to win that booking?

Over the coming months I’ll be adding to this post and giving you a step by step guide to pinning down your strategy for attracting and securing your ideal client so stick with me here!

And if you need some help and support getting the ball rolling, you can always book an video chat with me here and I can help you get started.

Lee Dare Photography

Zoë Binning Ltd is Wales’ most recognised wedding venue business consultant, helping Welsh wedding venues increase conversions, drive profits and secure positive feedback.
Zoë is an advocate for developing sustainable, eco-friendly and ethical wedding practices within the industry and can provide advice and support to help your venue to become more sustainable and eco-friendly in its endeavours.
Discover more about Zoë’s wedding venue consultancy services here and book a consultation directly with Zoë here.

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