What Gave Me The Push

Feeling that quiet pull to level up — but not sure what to change?

That restless sense that you're capable of more is worth listening to. In this episode, Krisy Thomas, is joined by Christina Collins, Master Certified Wedding Planner, and Tracy Dapp, a seasoned Certified Wedding Planner, who nearly walked away from years in the industry,  before finding her way back through certification and community. Together, they dig into what it really looks like to turn that instinct into repeatable excellence — through structure, training, and the support of people who get it.

Christina opens up about how COVID exposed the gaps in the wedding industry and led her to make a deliberate shift from venue coordination to full planning. Instead of just grinding harder, she pursued advanced training that changed how she shows up under pressure — separating the contractual from the emotional, advocating confidently with vendors, and walking into every event as the calm that steadies the whole team.

Tracy shares an honest look at burnout, imposter syndrome, and the decision to invest in herself when it would have been easier to quit. Renewed systems and hard-won confidence gave her the clarity to fire a misaligned client — and the documentation and vendor relationships to do it on solid ground.

Throughout the conversation, we unpack the difference between reacting and responding — and why responding always starts with stillness and better questions. You'll walk away with practical perspective on using contracts as protection, documenting your work, reducing client decision fatigue, and building vendor partnerships grounded in trust rather than kickbacks.

At the heart of all of it: couples hand us their family dynamics, meaningful budgets, and memories that can't be redone. That's not a responsibility to grow into casually. Education and experience aren't rivals — they're partners that raise both your floor and your ceiling.

If you're feeling the itch, don't wait for "later." Choose to be seen, evaluated, and equipped.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to the Wedding Planner Society podcast, brought to you by the CWP Society.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Welcome to the Wedding Planner Society Podcast, brought to you by the CWP Society, the world's premier wedding planner certification program and membership. I am Chrissy Thomas, Senior Educator here at the CWP Society, and I am so incredibly glad that you guys are tuning in. Now I want to start today by talking about a feeling, not a strategy, not a framework, just a feeling that I think most of us have had at some point in our career as wedding planners. It's that quiet, low-grade awareness that something needs to shift, that you're capable of more than currently what's in front of you. Maybe that you're working hard. You can even be booking really well, maybe even getting recognized. And yet there's a sense that you haven't quite stepped into the version of yourself that you're working toward. I call it the itch. And I think that if you've been in this industry for any real length of time, you know exactly what I mean. And I want to start off by saying the itch is not the same as burnout. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Burnout says, I am done. The itch says, I'm not done, but something has to change. And the difference between planners and coordinators who act on that feeling and planners and coordinators who don't usually comes down to one thing whether they can identify what's actually driving it. Because here's what I've learned, and this took me longer to understand, and I'd like to admit, but that itch is almost never about working more. It's usually about working differently. It's about realizing that hustle without direction eventually just becomes exhaustion, but with better branding. And when I talk to planners about this, about that moment when something clicked and they decide to make a real investment in their professional development, there's a pattern. Almost every single time the push wasn't gradual. It wasn't a slow accumulation of logic, but it was a specific moment. It could have been a conversation that stung just a little. A situation that they weren't fully prepared for like they had hoped. Maybe it was a fellow wedding planner or coordinator getting an opportunity that they wanted. Or it could have even been a client interaction that made them realize they were operating on instinct alone, and instinct isn't always enough. I want to be clear here. These moments are not what I consider failures. To me, they're most about these important kinds of data points that your career will ever give you. And you have to have these data points, and I want you guys to be willing to even look at them. The players that I have the most deep respect for are not the ones who avoided those moments. They were the ones who let those moments teach them something. And on top of that, they did something about it. Now here's the part I want to spend a few minutes on because I think it gets missed. There's a difference between reacting to a hard moment and responding to it. Reacting looks like something goes sideways, you scramble, you patch it, you move on, and you just hope it doesn't happen again. But responding, now responding looks like, okay, something goes sideways, and you ask yourself, what could have made me better for that moment? Responding requires a little more stillness, a little more willingness to sit in that discomfort of the question instead of rushing past it. But to be fully transparent, guys, that's where the real growth lives. You know, I think about this in terms of what I call the gap between what you know and what you've learned. What you know comes from doing, it comes from the events and weddings you've planned, the vendors you've worked with, the fires you've had to put out. And that knowledge is real and it is truly valuable. But what you've learned is what's been tested, structured, and built into how you actually operate. And that's the difference. This is what separates a good run of luck from a sustainable career. Now, the planners who are still in this work 15, 20, 30 years from now, are not the ones who have figured everything out on their own. They're the ones who are humble enough to seek out structure when it would have been easier just to keep going. The decision to stop coasting on what you already know and actually invest in what you don't. That's the push. And it looks different for everyone, which is exactly why I want to have today's conversation. And I am joined by two planners who each had their own moment that moved them. Christina Collins is a master certified wedding planner and someone who's made the investment not just once, but at the highest level available in this industry. And Tracy Daff is a certified wedding planner whose decision to pursue her credential is something I think a lot of you are going to hear yourself in. Christina, Tracy, welcome. I am genuinely glad that you both are here. But before we get started, can you tell us a little bit more about yourselves? And Tracy, I will start with you.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Hello, Chrissy. It is so good to be here and thank you for having me. Absolutely. As you mentioned, I am Tracy Dabb. I am the owner and certified wedding planner of Inked Events. We are located in New Hampshire. We are a full-service wedding and event planning company. We bring ideas to life by turning creative concepts into seamless, unforgettable experiences. We manage the details behind the scenes from planning and coordination to execution, ensuring every event runs smoothly, looks incredible, and delivers exactly what our clients envision.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Absolutely. And for those of you who are listeners of this podcast, you might be like, wait a minute, Tracy's name sounds familiar, her voice sounds familiar. Tracy has been a guest on our podcast before, so she is not a newbie here, but we're so glad to have you back, Tracy. Thanks for having me again. And then we have Miss Christina Collins, who this is her first time on the podcast. So everyone give her a wonderful warm welcome. Christina, I'm so excited that you were here.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Hi, Chrissy. Thank you. I'm so honored to be here. A little nervous, but I'm excited. Don't be nervous, our listeners won't bite. Um, well, I'm Christina Collins. I'm the owner of Southern Tier Event Planning, also known as Stup Events, located in Western New York, just a small town. I am a master certified wedding planner and a certified designs consultant through the Certified Wedding Planner Society. I am also a certified wedding planner. I am also industry advancement director, and I'm excited to be here today to share my story.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Well, I'm excited that you guys are here. And I spent some little bit of time talking about what I call and what I refer to as the itch. And it's that feeling that something needs to shift before you can actually name what that shift could be. And I'm curious whether either either one of you have described it that way before when you made your decision or whether it felt like something differently entirely. Christina, I'll start with you. Before you pursued certification, and you mentioned you've got a lot of different certifications, which is wonderful. Was there a version of that feeling present for you? And what did it look like at that time?

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah, uh I would absolutely call it an itch. So at the time I was working as a venue coordinator. That's when COVID hit. I was moved to a per event contract. And during those months, I saw something very clearly. The couples who had booked at our venue needed more support than ever. I wasn't just helping them with floor plans and food and beverage anymore. I was walking them through much more of the planning process from things like when to send their save the dates to vendor selection to even things like vendor disappearance. We saw a lot of vendors ghosting at the time, not out of malice, but because they were also struggling. They didn't have the frameworks in place. Uh, the rules on events were changing weekly. Our couples were terrified. So I remember getting calls where brides would, you know, be in the midst of planning their food and beverage and just start breaking down and crying. And they just wanted it to be over. And the joy of planning was gone, and it was stressful, not exciting. And that honestly, it broke my heart.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Um, but like what's interesting is I just remember talking with my husband, and he's like, You're wearing a lot of hats, you're being involved in a lot of the planning that you're not really technically being supposed to be involved in. And that season, I didn't feel drained, I felt energized. I loved being that steady voice for my couples. I loved bringing the calm and the clarity back into their planning journey. I loved being that bridge between overwhelmed couples and overwhelmed vendors. So that we're that year showed me something about myself. My passion wasn't just for managing a venue. It was being that solid foundation for my couples. It was raising the bar, it was being a part of the entire planning process, not just a piece of it. Yeah. And at the time, I felt like I knew a lot about events and weddings, but I could definitely see gaps in the industry, whether that would be a DJ showing up that in sweatpants where you know I had no part of the vendor selection, or whether it'd be in consist, obviously the inconsistencies in professionalism, the communication standards with vendors, um, planner education. And I didn't want to accidentally contribute to that just by operating on instinct. So I knew that I was capable of operating at a higher standard. I wanted to learn everything I could to be the best planner I could be for my clients and for my frienders is a word I use a lot. My frienders.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Gosh, um, I'm so glad that you shared that story and what led you here. I love it because of two things. It was almost like you were made to be in this industry. The fact that you, as just a venue manager, someone who was just helping with the floor plants and their food and beverage, your gut and your instinct was let me provide a little bit more. Because 2020 was definitely an emotional landscape and a landscape just in general that no one had ever, you know, faced before. It was, it was a lot. And I can imagine that during, I know during that process, there are a lot of emotions, there are a lot of things, and you could have easily been like, not my circus, not my problem. Just tell me how many yes you need for this wedding, you know, based off of our law. You can only have this many, the end. And you could have just provided the service that you needed to provide as the venue manager, but instead you felt the need to do more. And even like your husband said, you were probably wearing 15 different hats and definitely not getting paid for those different hats. But I love that that just showcased to me, A, what an incredible person you were, the incredible person that you are, but B, you were meant to do this. This is something that you were meant to do. And it's funny because Lori and I had conversations about our planners who were going through our currently revamped master program. And a lot of the planners going through this program, they have enough self-awareness to realize I don't recognize emotional cues. I am not emotionally self-aware. You clearly are very emotional self-aware because you recognize those cues from your couples, but it's something that is needed. You can't really be a rock star wedding planner unless you can have that emotional intelligence because our job is emotional. It just is. You know, as much as we like to think every single wedding is the same, it's not. These are different, these are different personalities. These are people who are going through something that they've never gone through before that should be exciting and fun. But when you add in, you know, a global pandemic, I can imagine the you know the emotional turmoil that everyone was facing and you being that steady person there helped them, but it opened up the doors to show you what your future could look like. That itch was, you know what, I could I could do more and I could do better. And the second thing I love about your story, Christina, is you had the experience in you work at a venue. So that means that you have probably you've seen a lot, you know, catering managers, who you that y'all go through a lot and you see a lot. Your job is incredibly stressful, but you still felt the need to want to learn more. And I love that because you know, in our industry, especially, people assume well, if I've got this many years of experience, what I know everything. I don't need a certification to tell me what I what I already know. You didn't see it that way. You you even acknowledged the fact there were some gaps that I was missing. Um, the fact that you were self-aware and just know I there were some gaps and I need to fill these gaps versus uh I'll figure these gaps out on my own, I'll test these gaps out with the wedding and see if it works and use my couple as a guinea pig. You didn't do that. So I hope that resonates with people. That the fact that even though you had years of experience working in the VU, you still realize I don't know everything. So I hope people realize that. Thank you for sharing that story. Tracy, what about you? Does any of that resonate where you were, or did you experience that itch a little bit differently?

SPEAKER_03 13:32

I I I did, and and it resonated like Christina's story totally. Like I remember 2020 and the pandemic. It it was a time for all of us, and to be that steadiness with our clients. And you know, I had some clients that I had to reschedule multiple times, and multiple times. Yeah, you know, I had one one client, I literally had to schedule them seven times. It was because they were right in the beginning of it. Yeah. So yes, I I I definitely had that that that itch and that I saw the gaps. Yeah. And shortly after, you know, before before finding the CWP Society, I had lost my passion of being in business and how I felt about it, and literally was considering closing shop, you know, and and that that hurt a little, you know, that that made me like, you know, you talk about in the master program, which I'm so excited to start this week, by the way. Um about the you know, diving deeper. Well, I'm gonna be diving, you know, real deep and and have been because even in my own business, I have felt that I've been in it a long time and I certainly don't know everything. So I want to get to that next level. Yeah. And you know, when I found the CWP, I was like, ah, you know, and and I'm so so grateful for you know you and Lori and everything that you bring, you know, to us on a weekly basis and in the certifications.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Oh, good. That means a lot to me. And I your story I think will resonate with a lot of people because you, like you said, you've been in this industry for a while. Remind me, Tracy, how long you've been in this industry. Uh, I'm going on 16 years. 16 years in this industry. And I do want to touch on the fact that you mentioned your burnouts and that you were at the point of like, I no longer want to do this in a job that you're good at and a job that you're clearly passionate about. This industry does get you to that point, Tracy. I've been exactly where you are, where it's like, why am I doing this? Is was there a specific moment, or was it that particular particular season that finally moved you from thinking about making that jump to becoming a CWP Society member? Was that was it that burnout that led you to be like something's got to give?

SPEAKER_03 15:52

It was that. And I I believe uh uh one of my colleagues was uh uh industry advancement director. And I think I saw her posts about your weekly workshops and and whatnot. So I had a conversation with her about it, and you know, was like totally hooked on it. And I was like, okay, I'm gonna dive a little deeper. And I attended one of your the monthly workshops for you know our pros. And I let's be real, I was totally hooked. Hook, line, and sinker. You know, and there was just absolutely no hesitation whatsoever when you know I wanted to learn more and dive deeper. So I started with the you know, the executive certification. Uh, I've taken it twice because I because I took the original and we just had the the refresh of the relaunch. Um, I took the um certified design consultant. I just completed my timeline genius certification, so I'm very excited about that. And as I mentioned, I am very excited to start the master program this week.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Oh, good, good, good. Christina, I know you mentioned that your push was going through COVID and realizing that you needed to learn more. Was it, did you get through like a full year of weddings, like helping out your venue, or were you in the middle of it when you decided to gain your certification? What did that process look like of you even like going from that venue to you now building your business?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Yeah. So I actually got well, so I turned on a contract only basis. So instead of working full-time, I was doing per events basis. Um so we kind of had the conversation like, look, this is a little scary. We're a smaller venue, so we don't have the events coming in. We're not really sure what the future is going to hold. We we love having you, we want events, right? We're just not sure. And so that was a really scary time for me. I was, you know, I took a few days and I was like, what do I really love about my job? Like, what can I capitalize on here? And that's when obviously I found I really wanted to be a part of the larger picture. I started seeking what that would look like. I actually um connected with Sam Nelson, who is a fellow master certified wedding planner of she's the owner of Electaville Events, and she became one of my sweet besties. I learned all about the Certified Wedding Planner Society, all the certifications that was offered, not only the education, but the community, like the the community of members. And obviously, you and Lori are amazing with your the wealth of knowledge that you both have, but the community and the knowledge that that brings as well. Like you not only have obviously other planners and their past mistakes that you could learn from that they're so vulnerable and share with you, but you also have like their wins too, like that you can kind of look towards of okay, I can I see my fellow C A V P did that, I can do the same, like something to almost like a motivator as well. Yeah, and they speak your language, right? Like I remember getting out of a consultation call, and I would tell my husband, like, my this bride wants her brother to be the DJ. And my husband's sitting there, like, well, why can't he be? And I'm like, Well, um, because there's a lot of people he's gonna want to talk to, he's not going to stay at his DJ booth. Like there that's a lot, the bro, the brother has a lot to do. So he wants staying out.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

We can we can we can totally relate to you and understand you. I'm glad that you did mention that. And because I I do kind of want to go to back to Trace when we talked about burnout, because I I briefly mentioned that I had been there too. And for Tracy, it kind of seemed like like your burnout cure was getting more information, figuring out how to make your business better. My kind of burnout cure was that community and knowing, like you said, Christina, that we speak each other's language. Not only that, but that we're not alone. And I I think probably a lot of probably newer planners are probably listening to us, Tracy, like burnout, how like this industry is so much fun. I love what I do, and both of us we this industry is a lot of fun. We are so passionate about what we do, but it can take a toll on you. And I don't think anyone understands that unless you're in the industry. And it's not just having a community where you can they they understand your language, you can vent to they can understand the struggles, but also having a safe community. I think that's where it's different. And Tracy, I know you've been a part of a lot of different wedding planning communities. And I I do think that's what makes your story so fascinating too, Tracy, because you came into CWP already educated. You actually came into CWP with over a decade of experience, and yet you still felt like something was missing. You know, what was that missing feeling for you? And what made you realize that you what you were doing, you know, wasn't enough for where you wanted to go? Obviously, you knew you didn't want to be stuck in that position you were in of that burnout feeling. But what did that what did that look like for you in detail?

SPEAKER_03 21:05

I still felt like an imposter. I suffered from imposter syndrome like for real. And I just I felt the certification that I received early in my career didn't prepare me for now. So over the years I've had to piece my education. And then when I found the CWP, I felt very stagnant in my business and wanted to take it to the next level, and I didn't know how to do it. So when I found the CWP, you all gave me that that oomph, that push that here's here's the platform that's gonna get me to that next level.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

Tell me, Kristen, how long have you so you started in 2020? So now we're in 2026. Has there ever been a moment in your career where you felt any type of hesitation, any type of not being enough? And if so, like Was there anything that made you kind of get out of that? Or is that something even that you've even had to struggle with yet?

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Yeah, I there was definitely fear. I uh not fear of failing the test itself, but maybe the fear of being seen. I had already survived one of the hardest seasons of the industry has ever faced. I had stepped up for my couples, I had built something from scratch after losing my position. But there was part of me that thought, like, maybe that's enough. Maybe I've proven myself. But deep down I knew surviving a crisis and building a business isn't the same thing as being formally trained at the highest level. Pursuing certification meant choosing to be evaluated. It meant saying, don't just look at my results, look at my process. That's vulnerable. But I think what pushed me is that hesitation, remembering how I felt during COVID, like watching couples suffer suffer because those systems weren't in place. I never want to be that weak link in someone else's once-in-a-lifetime event. I, if there were gaps, I wanted to find them and fix them. And that mindset changed everything.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Thank you for sharing that, Christina, because it's funny. I remember when I gained my certification, gosh, that was well over a decade, a decade ago. That was forever ago. But I remember Lori, she said something that's kind of resonated with what she just said, where some people don't have a fear of failure. They have a fear of success. And sometimes that fear paralyzes them because they're like, okay, I'm I'm doing good. I'm doing well enough. And they think that's that's and that and they're fine with that. But there's that itch of like, but I know I could be better. I know I could be even more than what I initially hoped and dreamed. But sometimes, like you said, that that fear of, okay, well, this is gonna put me more out in the open. This is going to put me to probably have to look at have someone look at my work and critique it and tell me what I'm doing wrong. And I'm already doing really good, so it's fine. And that can sometimes paralyze you and keep you from getting into that level of excellence and that level that is not only going to benefit you and your business, but it's really going to benefit our couples. So I'm glad that you shared that because some people generally do have that fear of succeeding at a level, like you said, that fear of being seen, that that literally gives me chills because I can guarantee there's someone who's like, gosh, I feel I that's exactly what I'm feel, but I don't know how to explain it. And I love that you've even though you had that fear, you didn't let it paralyze you from continuing to grow and you found a really safe, comfy space here at the CWP Society. So thank you for sharing that. Yeah, and I want us to shift into the after because I think we spend a lot of energy talking about the decision and not enough time about what it actually produces. And it's not the resume version, it's not the letters after your name. I mean that internal shift. Maybe it's the way that you walk into a client meeting or a venue conversation, or it could be the moment that something goes sideways and you have to put that fire out. Christina, I want to ask you first, what changed within your business that maybe you didn't expect to change?

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Yeah, I would say the biggest shift was the confidence that I felt. So before certification, I was confident because I had handled hard things. After certification, I was confident because I understood why I handled them the way that I did. Right. So it was I learned more about myself. I learned now when something goes sideways, I'm not just reacting from experience. I'm responding from training. I evaluate risk, I think through communication flow, I know what's contractual versus emotional versus logistical. And because of that, I'm calmer. And when the planner is calm, the entire vendor team settles, the couple settles. It also changes how I advocate for my clients. I'm clearer with my expectations, I'm stronger in vendor conversations when needed. Um, and vendors actually appreciate that because they know that I speak their language too. I'm protecting them. One thing that should be on our coffee mug is certification is protection, right? Your certification is protection for your clients. And I say that with vendors too, when they don't have contracts in place, like, well, we've never had any couples bail on us last minute. I'm like, you really, really should have something that protects you and the client. And I advocate for both sides. So I think it just more intentional, less reaction.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

I love that so much. And I, you're right. And because we talked about, I think this was actually last week's podcast episode. It was one of our podcast episodes. What because one of our certified educators had mentioned that her certification is client protection. But like you said, it's also vendor protection as well. And vendors who've experienced what it's like to work with a certified wedding planner who has that education and has that foundation, they know we want to take care of them. They know that we want to allow them to do their job. They also know our standards. They know our standards are high. They know that they're on their list, they're on our list for a reason. Not because we're getting a cut from it, not because we're getting kickbacks or any type of referral fee. They're on our list because they're good. And they almost kind of want to step up to their own game a little bit, knowing that, okay, you know, I've got Chrissy and Christina and Tracy. I'm on their vendor team. Like that almost will make them want to kind of put their shoulders back and their head up a little bit higher, knowing, well, they're a certified wedding planner. Like they are very particular, you know, particular and picky about who they put their star next to. And they it, like you said, it protects them too, knowing that we're putting them with the right client. We are making sure they're able to do their job. All the things that we learn through our certification program, they are getting. So I I'm glad that you you mentioned that. And it also kind of made me think of another little coffee mug phrase that Crystal Daly said that um education and experience go hand in hand. And that's both of y'all's story completely, that the two are not rivals. That that was her saying that education and experience are not rivals, they're partners, and both of y'all's stories really showcase that completely. So, Tracy, I do want to ask you when it comes to your internal shift, the change in how you show up in the room. Was there a moment that you pointed to or that you can point to where you thought, okay, I wouldn't have handled this the same way before my certification?

SPEAKER_03 28:24

Oh, yes. And that actually came up recently. Really? Yeah. So Christina, like, yeah, I'm gonna go there. Um, by this, you know, being part of the CWP and the certification, you've given me the confidence to stand up for myself, for who I am, what I do, and how I value myself. Because it came into play last month when I had to fire and fire a client and terminate the contract. Um, and then they came back asking for a full refund because one of them didn't think that I did anything for the last eight months. Um few years ago, I would have continued working with them, even though I would have been absolutely miserable because knowing I would never meet their expectations. However, I had the confidence and the knowledge to produce the documentation of the hours that I had spent working on their wedding, and I was able to walk away with in good faith. And you know, let my lawyer handle it. But anyway. Um, and then having, you know, we we go to our our our preferred vendors. Well, the vendors that I had booked for them, they they stuck by me. You know, they're like, Trace, you're you're gonna jump ship, we're right behind you. Wow, you know. Um, and yeah, it it would when you create that vendor team, um, yeah, it it it's it's like magic.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

It really is. And I thank you for sharing that. I know that's a vulnerable story. I know as planners, when we go into this industry, we don't go into this industry thinking I'm ever gonna have to fire a client. We think it's all gonna be butterflies and roses, but we know that there are situations that sometimes we get put in where we can no longer deliver the services that you have hired me to. And if you don't have that confidence behind you, you like you said, Tracy, you end up just working that wedding and you end that that's that's the definition of burnout when you keep doing things that you know are driving you crazy and that you know are kind of questioning why am I doing this job? And on top of that, if you don't have the frameworks and the systems and the contracts that are going to protect you and allow you to get out of a situation that you know no longer need to be in. And I'll give an example because we may have some listeners are like, why would you need to fire a client? I in my 13, 14 plus year career, I have only had to fire two clients, but I've been in situations where I've had to leave on wedding night, um, where there was a situation where I no longer felt safe being in that environment due to a really intoxicated groomsman making really, really crass remarks toward me. And I no longer felt self-be safe being in a dark space with this man. And having the contract allowed me to be like, and I'm done. My work here is done because I'm no longer safe. And I think sometimes what happens as wedding planners and coordinators, and especially as business owners, we forget that we are our own HR person. And we're we we have to be able to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, we're gonna run into those situations. And if you don't have the systems, the tools, the frameworks, and obviously the contract and also that confidence behind you, you are gonna end up in a situation that you don't want to be in. And if you continue that pattern, you're also going to end up no longer being in this industry because that that burnout is gonna be like, and I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. So that just kind of both of y'all's stories just kind of remind me that certification is just so much more than just a piece of paper. I think there's a lot of people who are listening who may not understand that. I know there's a lot of people are listening who may not understand that. I know there's a lot of people in Facebook groups and forums when someone asks about a certification, they say you don't need it, you don't need it. Those people don't realize it's so much more than just that piece of paper. It's so much more than the letters behind your name. It's even so much more than the education that you're getting, it's the confidence that you're building. It's being able to have a business that protects you from these nasty situations that we can find ourselves in in such a beautiful industry. We can find ourselves in really ugly situations. And it also allows you to be in front of and have a group of people who can support you in that. It's so much more than just that piece of paper. And I just I really sometimes I want to shake those people that say, like, you don't need certification. I'm like, it's not just the education, they're gonna run into situations where they need our help, they need their foundation, that they need that confidence behind them. And just winging things is not gonna get you that confidence in yourself. It's just not, it's just not. And while we're on that topic, I do want to talk about our confidence, our positionings, and and all those things. But I think the more honest reason is that you know why it matters so much having that professional development is is the person, the couple sitting in front of us, the couple that is trusting us with something that cannot be redone. And Tracy, you've carried this responsibility for years, you know, well over a decade in this industry. So I'm curious, has the certification process changed the way you think about your couple or deepened that responsibility maybe in a way that you didn't expect?

SPEAKER_03 33:51

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I I've learned so much in the certifications that I've currently done um that I wish I knew back then. You know, it would have saved me, it would have saved me a whole lot of time and money because you know, the CWP provides so much, you know, and then you add the documentations and the templates that you provide. That's like gold right there, you know. And I had already had my systems in place, but now I'm making them even better because of everything that that the CWP provides us, and it's giving me even more confidence showing up to a consultation to show what I do, how I do it, and why I do it and how I got there. It shows how I'm it makes me different from you know somebody who's not certified.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:47

I'm coming in more polished, I'm coming in more confident, I'm coming in as a trusted partner, and we're gonna, you know, execute their wedding flawlessly. And we do.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Christina, what about you? You know, after becoming now a master certified wedding planner, how do you carry that responsibility weight now compared to maybe earlier in your career when you were just helping out with the venue?

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Yeah, I when couples seek out a wedding planner, I they they don't want someone to just manage their logistics, right? They want someone to they're trusting you with their family dynamics, their financial investment, their memories. So when they look for a wedding planner and they see that someone is certified, a certified wedding planner or master certified wedding planner, I think that that level that the planner took to complete that speaks to the couple in a way where a certification, where a planner who is not certified wouldn't, right? The fact that this planner took those next steps to become certified, the tools that the sweep society has provided me. And I've now build stronger contingency plans, I look at contracts more critically, I guide vendor selection more intentionally, I protect my couples from decision fatigue and from the unnecessary stress. And I feel the tools that the Sweep Society has given me, the support, the community. I feel like all of that has aided into how I operate my business now.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

I love the way that you worded that, that our couple is trusting us with their family dynamics, their investment. It just goes to show that it is so much more than just one day. It goes to show that they're trusting us with so much more than just executing and having a checklist and a really amazing timeline. They're trusting us with a lot of their fears. They're trusting us with, like you said, their family dynamics, their family trauma, their family situations, the things that they're keeping them up at night. They're trusting us to ensure that this day that they're hopeful to look back on every single anniversary, that they look back on it with happiness and joy, that is such a huge responsibility. And it it grinds my gears, guys. And we'll be honest, when I see experienced planners telling newer planners they don't need certification, knowing that's how much trust is being put in our hands, knowing that is the weight that we have to take on. And then by telling them, nope, you don't need education, it's almost like a slap in the face the couples of like anyone can plan your wedding. They just need to practice just shadow someone and just get a couple of weddings under your belt and they should be good. That is a slap in the face for all of those things that you mentioned, Christina, that they're trusting us with.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

For sure. Because I think that they a lot of the out a lot of people who are outside the organization should look at this certified wedding planner society as maybe just a sort a wealth of knowledge, right? And and maybe they think because they've had all of this experience that they've seen it all, right? But what they're not getting is obviously the industry is changing, right? The certified wedding planner society is constantly on top of trends, right? Not just trends, but different, whether it be laws that change, right, or different items to include in our contract. Like I remember when I was putting in my contract, like I leave 45 minutes after the last formality. And then someone within our organization had an experience where they got taken advantage of, right? And there was a cake cutting that happened at 11:45 p.m. But within their contract, they had to stay, right? And so that experience that that planner had wasn't my own experience. I didn't learn that from somewhere, right? They, they, that transformed now my business because now I have that verbiage in my contract that protects me, right? And I didn't have to have that experience on my own. And so learning from those other planner mistakes, that is huge in its own. And that's not the only time that's helped, right? I have seeked constant like feedback for different like things I should use for my website, right? And that support or asking planners around the area, like it's that community, the the fact that you can speak people's language. It's more than the knowledge. The knowledge itself is huge, but it's the support, it's the community, it's the weekly workshops, right? It's the constant improvement that you do on yourself. I think that planners owe that to their couples to be the best planner that they can be all around, not that they they already know everything.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

Yep, absolutely. So, guys, one last thing before we hop off, and I want both of you on this one because I think your answers are going to be different. There's a planner listening right now who is talented, working hard, maybe experienced, and they've been thinking about taking this step for longer than they'd like to admit. Tracy, I'll start with you because you walked into this with years of real experience behind you, and you still chose to make this investment. What do you want this planner to hear?

SPEAKER_03 40:08

Do it. If I don't, if you don't hear anything else I say, yeah, just do it. It will be beyond worth the investment. I wish I had this level of education, both in the certifications and the weekly workshops when I first started out. As I mentioned earlier, it would have saved me a lot of time and money instead of trying to figure out how to do it on my own and honestly not knowing if I'm actually doing it correctly.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

And you know what Christina said, the community, the support, the workshops, the certification, there it's there. It's all there. And the community is priceless because they are there to support you, they're there to cheer you on, and they're to there to pick you up when you need it.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

Yeah, exactly. Christina, what about you? What would you tell that planner who's listening, who's like on the fence and is like, what? You've been hesitant. What would you tell that planner?

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Yeah. Uh a lot of planners are talented, a lot of planners can hustle, a lot of planners can figure it out. But this industry doesn't need more people figuring it out as they go. It needs professionals and structure doesn't limit you. It protects you, it protects your clients, it protects your vendors, it protects your reputation. If you're stalling, I would say ask yourself what you're actually afraid of. And then ask yourself who benefits if you step forward. Because I promise you, it's not just you.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

Oh, put that on a t-shirt, not just a front front and back. Yes, absolutely. Coffee mug. Oh, I love that. Guys, thank you both so much. Thank you both for being really vulnerable with us here today. Thank you for having this type of conversation. I really, really do think it's going to resonate with a lot of our listeners. So I want to leave you with this. Tracy came into her journey with the CWP Society with well over a decade of experience, credentials already behind her name and a business that was somewhat working. But she was honest enough to admit that those credentials weren't moving the needle the way that she needed them to. So she made a change. Christina didn't stop when she reached a milestone that most planners would have been satisfied with. Instead, she kept going. Both of them made a decision that wasn't about where they were, it was about where they wanted to be. So if you've heard yourself and either one of them today, that matters. Don't dismiss it. Don't file it away for later because let's be honest, later has a way of becoming never. And this work that we do as wedding planners and coordinators is too important to let that happen. To piggyback what Christina said, this industry needs planners who take their preparation as seriously as they take their clients. Planners who don't just show up, but show up ready. This is what certification through the CWP Society is built to produce. And it's what every couple you will ever serve deserves from you. So when you're ready to take that next step, we're ready for you. Visit CWPSociety.com to learn more and thank you guys for being here.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

And before you go, we have a little something just for our podcast listeners. If you are ready to elevate your career as a wedding planner or coordinator, you can use code podcast to receive$50 off the executive or master certification program. This code is valid until the next episode releases. So be sure to take advantage while it's available. This offer can't be combined with any other discounts. Visit CWP Society.com to learn more.