Everyone who knows me knows that I have been waiting for my sister to get married for the last 10 years (pretty much). And so has my mother.

Now it is finally time, it is amazing at what experts we are and how many plans we have up our sleeves gleaned from watching other people do it. I’m seriously considering becoming a wedding planner so as not to get overly overexcited about Brooke’s big day…. And the more I think about it, the more I think there is a MASSIVE gap in the weddings market (Which is uber lucrative!)

So if you are a wedding venue, a wedding dress shop, a catering company, a cake company, in fact ANYONE who is about to make a fortune out of the happy couple, please take note of my top 3 tops:

Offer them a drink

When people arrive, offer them a drink of bubbly or sparkling grape juice. Not that I’m a huge drinker :) but this is a CELEBRATION people and I think you need to get into the wedding spirit from day one. Especially because it’s normally the bride and groom and close friends and family doing this. Make looking at your company an event in itself. If they choose you, they will pay you thousands, so give them a drink! (and maybe even a card). They WILL remember you and they want to know on their wedding you will be looking after them, so start as you mean to go on.

Be BRIMMING with ideas

There is an AWFUL lot of organising to do, especially if you want everything to be perfect and YOU are the expert so give the couple a break. If you are a wedding venue, SHOW them photos of different setups, different themes, cool little extras people have (like the champagne fountain). Otherwise, it gets a little overwhelming. And once again, you are there to look after the bride and groom. This is like their moment in ‘Pretty Woman’ where they go into the shop with masses of money and everyone falls head over heels to help them. Every girl I know wants just once to have that feeling and this is the time… And every groom I’ve ever known groans at the idea that the ring they just issued results in a year of organising for one event.

We have been to one wedding dress shop and each person has one assistant devoted to their wellbeing. Ours was so nice and fun and fantastic, we had a ball. I felt sorry for the other girl whos assistant was so not into it. The latter will probably result in a couple of thousand dollar LOSS for the company.

Be connected

Yes people want to organise the perfect wedding, but it’s often difficult to know which cars to hire and where to get the best wedding photographer… So if you sell dresses, maybe you should connect (really connect, not just hand out business cards) with photographers who have made your dresses look fabulous in photo albums for years after the event and show them to the bride… Same goes for the music, the cars, the cake and the flowers. Have some connections up your sleeve of other companies that compliment what you’re all about