The Calm Is the Service

Most couples think they're hiring a wedding planner/coordinator for timelines, vendor coordination, and flawless logistics. And yes — we deliver all of that. But the deeper truth is that they're hiring us for permission to be fully present on one of the most important days of their lives. When something goes sideways, our calm becomes their peace of mind. That steadiness isn't a bonus. It's the service.

Krisy Thomas, Senior Educator with The CWP Society, sits down with Master Certified Wedding Planner Brittney Poole of Forever Moments to dig into a mindset shift that changes everything about how we show up: confidence isn't just something we build for ourselves — it's something we provide for our clients. From the nerves of a wedding morning to the moment the room looks to you for the next move, couples take their emotional cues from our pace, our presence, and our energy. And performing confidence without the foundation to back it up eventually cracks under pressure.

Together they talk about what emotional safety actually looks like in practice, how preparation builds real confidence under pressure, and why systems, education, and professional structure lead to better decisions when it counts. We also get honest about the consultation process — how trust is built less by over-explaining your services and more by listening well, asking the right questions, and leading with clear professional judgment.

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Transcript

What Couples Really Buy

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Think about what a couple is actually buying when they hire you as their wedding planner or coordinator. On paper, it's coordination, it's logistics, timelines, and vendor communication, and making sure the florals arrive before the photographer does. And yes, all of this is real, and of course, it all absolutely matters. But I want you to think a little deeper than the deliverables. Because when a couple sits across from you in a consultation and decides to say yes, what they're really purchasing is permission. Permission to be fully present on the most important day of their lives. Permission to stop carrying the weight of it all. They're handing you something that cannot be replaced if it goes wrong. And they're trusting that you will protect it. That's not just a logistical transaction, that's an emotional transfer. And here's what most planners and coordinators don't realize about what that actually means. So when you walk into a vendor meeting and the couple is nervous, when something unexpected happens during the ceremony and everyone in the room instinctively looks at you. When the timeline falls apart and your couple doesn't quite know it yet, in all of those moments, your steadiness is not a bonus feature of your service, it is the service. So today we're talking about what it means to understand confidence not as something you build for yourself, as something you bring for them, for your couples, and the shift that happens when you start seeing it that way.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

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

SPEAKER_01 1:44

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 Christy Thomas, senior educator here at the CWP Society, and I'm so glad that you were here today. I want to start with

Confidence As A Client Service

SPEAKER_01 2:00

a reframe, and I want to give you a second to really sit with it because I think it changes something important. Most of us, when we talk about confidence in this industry, are talking about it as a personal thing. Maybe it's something that we're working on, something we're trying to feel more consistently at, and something that we hope comes across in our consultations. We frame it as a question we're asking about ourselves. Am I competent enough? Do I project confidence? How do I build more of it? And I understand why we're asking these questions because these questions feel honest, they feel humble, and they feel like the right thing you should be asking yourself. But I want to offer you a different question entirely. What if confidence isn't something you build for yourself? It's something you provide for your client. Because when you flip the frame, everything changes because it's no longer about how you feel, it's about what you're giving. And that turns confidence into a professional responsibility. One that belongs in the same conversations as your contracts, your timelines, and your client communication because it's just as essential.

Wedding Day Calm Sets The Tone

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Let me paint a picture for you. It's the morning of the wedding. Your couple has been planning this day for a year and a half. They have poured time, money, and emotion into every detail, and now it's here. And somewhere around the time the wedding party is getting ready and the mother of the bride is crying happy tears, the forest is running 20 minutes behind. Your couple is going to feel something. Maybe a flutter of nerves, maybe a moment where the enormity of the day suddenly hits them and they realize there's nothing left to control because it's actually happening. And in that moment, they're going to look at you. And I don't mean that, you know, literally, but energetically, they're going to look at you. They're going to take their emotional cue from your face, from your presence, your pace. If you're rattled, they would feel it, even if you don't say a word. If you are calm, if you are steady, if you move through the room like someone who has it handled, they will feel that too. And in doing so, they're going to excale. And they are going to be present in their wedding day because someone is holding it all together. That transfer, the moment where your steadiness becomes their freedom. That is the real deliverable. And it doesn't really show up in any package description, does it? But every couple you've ever served who walked away saying, I didn't have to worry about a thing, that was it. That was you doing that. Now, here's what makes this more than just an inspirational idea.

Preparation Creates Real Steadiness

SPEAKER_01 4:38

The kind of calm, the quality of presence, to me is not necessarily just a personality trait that you either have or you don't have. I don't think it's that at all. It's not something that some planners are born with and some others are just going to have to fake. It is something that does have to be built. And the way that it gets built is through preparation, real preparation. The kind that means when something goes sideways, you're not managing your own reaction and the problem at the same time. Because you've already thought through the scenarios. You already know the principles behind the decisions you'll have to make. So when the moment arrives, you're not starting from scratch under pressure because you already know where you stand. Here's the truth you cannot give your client something you don't actually have. You cannot project steadiness if you aren't standing in it. You can't perform it, and some planners do for a while, but it takes an enormous energy to perform confidence. And it tends to crack in the exact moments when your couple needs it most. The planners who generally deliver that experience, the ones who clients walk away saying they felt completely taken care of, those planners are not performing. They're operating from somewhere real. And I want to take this a step further because I think it extends well beyond the wedding day. Think about your consultation. A prospective client is sitting across from you, and whether they're saying it out loud or not, they are making a very specific assessment. Not just of your portfolio, of your pricing. They are trying to answer one question. Can I trust this person with my wedding day? The answer they arrive at has almost nothing to do with the words you say, but it comes from the way that you hold the conversation. Whether you seem certain of your value, whether you answer those hard questions without hesitating, whether you bring them information and perspective they didn't come in with, or whether you mostly reflected their ideas back to them, hoping that they'll like you. When you understand that your confidence is a service, that your clarity and your steadiness is a part of what they came for, you stop performing for the room and you start leading it. That is a completely different experience for the couple on the other side of the table. And it's also a completely different result for your business. I want to be clear about what I'm not saying. I'm not saying you have to be stoic. I'm not saying you can't be warm or playful or emotionally present with your couples. Those things are gifts. But what I'm saying is underneath all of that, there needs to be something solid, something your couple can lean on without knowing what they're even leaning on. Build that something and build it for real, not just for the performance, because it is the work. And it is worthy work because every couple who gets to be fully present at their own wedding because their planner or coordinator had the foundation, that's the whole point. That is what this career is for. And that's that shift that I'm talking about.

Brittany On Peace Of Mind

SPEAKER_01 7:41

And the beautiful thing about today is I have someone here for us to talk about this, to see what it actually looks like. So today we have Brittany Poole, who is no stranger to the podcast. And she is a master certified wedding planner and owner of Forever Moments based in Virginia. She brings both the professional foundation and the real world experience to speak about what it means to show up for your clients in this way. Brittany, welcome back to the podcast. I'm so excited that you're here.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Thank you, Chrissy. I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Oh, absolutely. So, Brittany, let's get right to it. You know, when you think about the couples that you serve, and I not, you know, what you do for them logistically, but what you actually give them emotionally for the wedding day. How do you describe that part of your work? And and has the way that you think about that, has it changed over the course of your career?

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Yeah, I believe in terms of emotion, what I really want to give to my couples is peace. There's a line of lyrics from a song that I love and that it has continued to stick with me for years, which is the song Chicken Fried by the Zach Brown band. And the line says, there is no dollar sign on peace of mind. That has just stuck with me for a long time because couples can spend as little or as much money as they please on a wedding. But what really matters is the joy of spending time with their loved ones and being present in those moments. And I would say early in my career, I think I viewed my planner role more through the lens of execution, where I wanted everything to be done perfectly, on time, seamless. Before I truly learned really what it meant to be a planner, I just thought that couples, you know, hired coordinators for that. And while I know those things are still important and I deeply care about those things, over time I've realized that the greatest value I can provide is emotional safety and stability. And I reassure my couples that if anything is stressing them out or if something unexpected happens, they don't need to carry that alone. In fact, that's what the role of a wedding planner is for, to help them every step of the way and take that burden from them.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

I love two things about that. That song, I love that line. There's no dollar sign on peace of mind. Hey, I may use that during a consultation because that literally speaks to what we do as wedding planners and coordinators. But I also love that you refer to your greatest value that you provide is that emotional safety and stability. I I love that so much. And it's funny because I mentioned this before in the podcast, I do get real mama bear with my couples. And I feel the need to protect them. And I feel like that describes what I'm trying to protect. I'm trying to protect their emotions, I'm trying to make sure that they are stable. So I love the way that you word that. I may also use that again during my consultations because the way I say I'm I get mama bear, I want to protect you, but me being able to actually point out what I'm protecting outside of the integrity of their wedding, I'm trying to protect them emotionally. I'm trying to allow them to be fully present, like you mentioned, and to have that peace of mind that ultimately I want them to have. So I love that you worded it that way, Brittany.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Yeah, me too. I definitely feel like a mama bear who has to protect all my couples.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Exactly.

Staying Grounded When Things Go Wrong

SPEAKER_01 11:03

You know, there are moments in what we do as wedding planners and coordinators where a couple is taking their emotional cue from us. And often it's they sometimes don't even realize that they're doing it. Can you walk me through what that actually looks like in practice for you? Maybe what are you doing? What are you not doing in those moments where they're trying to pick up on us emotionally?

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I just mentioned that if something unexpected happens, but really every wedding professional knows that it's more of a when something unexpected happens. You know, there are times where something is going to go wrong behind the scenes. It could be minor, you know, just someone needs a band-aid. But sometimes, you know, more major things happen behind the scenes, like transportation being delayed, weather changes, a vendor being behind schedule. You know, my couple may not even know it yet, but in those moments, I need to be so intentional about how um I'm showing up and how I'm projecting my energy. And I mentioned in the last podcast episode I was on, but you know, some of the most extreme examples I've dealt with, my team and I have even had to call 911. And we as planners can't just rush into the room or in that situation looking frantic. You know, people are reading our body language before we've even had a chance to open our mouth. And it's so important to stay calm, confident, and focused on solving the issue at hand. And by doing so, we can keep the couple and anyone else involved grounded in those moments so that we can uh smoothly pivot those events and keep the wedding day uh uh back on track.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Yeah. Our our the way that we carry ourselves is so important. And I think sometimes what happens to Brittany with planners is we often focus on that hopefully on the wedding day itself, which is what that should definitely be a focus. I think, Brittany, sometimes where planners and coordinators forget about is during the planning process, too. How we're showing up when things go wrong during the planning process, how we are handling anything that pops up, vendor conflicts, things like that. It's it does also extend beyond the wedding day, but the wedding day itself is also so important because it's not just who's in front of you, like during the planning process, that's being mindful of it, where the it's just the vendor and the couple, it's everyone in the entire room. So the entire vendor team, all of the wedding guests, all of the wedding party, everyone has their eyes on you. So if you are putting out that energy of being frantic and panicked and not in control, you're the top to me, the way I look at it, you're the top of the pyramid. So if you start crumbling, everyone else around you is going to start crumbling. So it is so super mindful to be assured of yourself and how you're coming across. And I mentioned that at the top of this podcast. And that means being prepared, that means knowing, having all of your ducks in a row. As much as this job is very much emotional based, and that's important, we can't forget the logistics side of things too, because they all kind of weave together in ensuring we've got our timelines on track, we've got our communication on track, because it all just it just ensures that we are feeling calm, cool, and collected when those things do go wrong. And like you said, it's not a matter of if things are going to go to go wrong.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah, it reminds me of when my sister got married and I was her, I was her wedding planner, but I let my team take over as a coordination so that way I could literally be present in the moment. And I was, and I remember sitting at dinner and I thought, God, it has been the perfect wedding day. And then my wedding planner brain kicked on, and I was like, No, it hasn't, because that doesn't exist, something's gone wrong. And I looked at my girls and I was like, what's happened today? Because it I feel like it's been perfect, but I know it hasn't been. And they're like, that's exactly why we're here. So that when you think it's gone perfect, even though there's been some things, they're like, there's no need for you to know what's gone wrong today. That's exactly why we're here.

Systems And Education Beat Winging It

SPEAKER_01 14:59

You know, earlier I've made the argument that that kind of presence that you mentioned, Britney, that it isn't a personality trait, that it is built through preparation. You know, based on your experience, what does that preparation actually look like? And and what have you put in place that allows you to show up that way, even when the day doesn't want to cooperate with you?

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah, I completely agree with everything you just mentioned, Chrissy. And with that perspective, you know, preparation is what creates confidence under pressure. And specifically for me, preparation starts before I've even booked the couple. You know, having those detailed checklists, timelines, floor plans, reliable vendors, you know, they're just a few of the many things that I'm presenting to my couple when explaining the role of the wedding planner so that they can see the value in what I offer before moving forward. And because I've prepared the back end of my business with all my templates, workflows, I'm not reinventing the wheel. I'm creating, you know, these little customizations for all of my couples to personalize their experience based on their wedding needs. And that preparation also, you know, comes from experience and education. You know, specifically, we were talking about how, you know, the Certified Wedding Planner Society has taught me how to think critically in high pressure situations instead of reacting emotionally. And through that education, I can now show up to the wedding day feeling confident that all of the knowledge I've learned are just different tools in my tool belt to help me if any situation arises.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

That's so incredibly important, Brittany. I love that you said that, you know, how you've prepared the back end of your business and just making sure all of your ducks are in a row, even before a client sits in front of you. And I think that's so important. And I think unfortunately, that's something that a lot of planners and coordinators, especially entering this industry, are not quite doing yet. And it's because oftentimes it's not their fault. Oftentimes they're getting the bad advice of just go shadow someone so that way you can learn how to run a business or get a free client and that way you can learn from their wedding day. And my mouth drops every single time. So I'm like, you're essentially you're shadowing someone only really gives you what happens on the wedding day. It doesn't show you the back end of how that planner or coordinator got to the wedding day. And then by you just taking a free client, you're basically learning on the go with their wedding. And to me, that's not fair to that couple because that's that's a day that they unfortunately cannot do over. So if you are learning and you learn something the hard way, who does that impact? That obviously that impacts you and your business, but it does ultimately impact our couple in a day that they unfortunately cannot do over. You can learn from that mistake and then then book another client and have another wedding, but they can't redo their wedding day. So knowing and having all the tools that you need in your toolbox that you mentioned in your tool belt is going to be essential to know what you're doing. And I think, like you said, to also make sure that you have that steady and that you have that confidence because you know what you're doing, basically.

Consultations That Build Instant Trust

SPEAKER_01 18:06

You know, we talked about how confidence shows up in consultations and it shows up in the way that you hold the conversation, not necessarily just the information you share. Is there something that you do differently now in your consultations, maybe that you didn't do earlier in your career? Something that changed in how you led that conversation with your potential couples?

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Yeah, definitely. I would say earlier in my career, I think I approached consultations, you know, really just trying to prove myself to every single couple. I wanted every couple to like me and book me. And I was just over-explaining everything. I, you know, I thought more information and being as detailed as I can would create trust with couples. But, you know, over time I've learned that it's not only important to give detailed information pertaining to my services, but I need to be intentional in how both I speak and listen. And you know, there's an important book that I stuck with me while I was, you know, getting my education as a teacher, which was The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And one of those habits was seek to understand, then to be understood. And I think that is so critical to the planning process and specifically for consultations, because we need to listen to better understand what the couple is looking for and what they're prioritizing on the wedding day. And that's why I've changed my process in that I now spend the first half of that consultation asking all these guided questions. And so by having that conversation, you know, I can then incorporate that into intentional selling points of my services. You know, for example, I always ask my couples what are some stress points they anticipate having uh throughout the planning process? And many of them say they don't know what they don't know. It's their most of them, it's their first time planning a wedding. And this is exactly, you know, what you were saying, Chrissy, and how couples are really looking to us for that professional guidance in our leadership and in looking for that confidence. And so when couples say something along those lines, I'm explaining to them, you know, we have a custom detailed checklist, you know, along with my monthly check-ins, that is guiding them through the planning process. And that my couples give a lot of positive feedback that this reassures them that they're in capable hands with me as their planner.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

I love that line, Brittany. See to understand than to be understood. That to me, that sums up the entire planning process. And it starts off with that consultation, which is why it's funny because I am terribly introverted. So at the beginning of my career, consultations scare me to death. Because here I am having to talk to a stranger and hey, try to sell my services. But I I did a shift in my process similar to you, Brittany, where it for me it was more about how can I be a part of this journey with them and how can I help ensure their wedding day is a reflection of their love story, which is why the first half of the consultation is one of my favorite parts because it allows me to get to know them a little bit better. It allows me to figure out their pain points. It's one of my favorite questions is you know, what are what are your biggest worries about the wedding planning process? What are your biggest concerns about the wedding day? That way I can figure out, okay, how can I be of assistance to that? How can I help them? And I carry that into the entire planning process. So I think I love that you mentioned that the couples are looking for a professional with confidence and leadership. And that goes beyond just that consultation. We have to remind ourselves of that during the planning process as well. When our couples may come to us with an idea that they're really excited about, but we know logistically this might not work. Making sure that we we share their in their excitement, but then we give them the advice that they need. And that's gonna ensure that we can pull things off in a way that it needs to be pulled off without messing up. Unintentionally, the rest of the wedding day, some it takes that guidance and it takes that leadership. So when a couple comes to you with a question like this, hey, don't just automatically be like, Well, that's stupid, we're not doing that. But you know, being able to guide and lead them to ensure that the choices they're making during the planning process is not going to derail the entire wedding day. And I think that's where some couple, or excuse me, some planners mess up is sometimes they're just automatically being like, Yes, yep, we can do that. Yep, we can do that. Knowing deep down logistically it's going to be challenging. I I have a lot of coaching calls while I tell my our planners, you have to remember they're asking you to help them. They're asking you to lead. And that doesn't mean you just being a yes person all the time. That means that you do have to guide them and you have to do so in a way with confidence and leadership because that's what they were looking for when they hired you. So keep that process going throughout the entire planning journey. I love that you mentioned that, Brittany.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Definitely.

Certification As A Promise Of Mastery

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Now, as someone who loves education, obviously, you briefly mentioned that you were a teacher in the past. At some point, you decided to become a master certified wedding planner. In doing so, what were you trying to give your clients by making that investment in yourselves and in yourself and your journey? What do you believe that your couples would receive because of this additional education?

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Yeah, for me, pursuing master certification was all about refining my skills, you know, my education. And, you know, we've been talking about leadership. You know, I want to serve them at the highest level possible. My couples are trusting me with one of the most meaningful days of their lives. And I strongly feel that my education is critical to nurturing that experience, you know, as you just said, throughout the planning process and on the wedding day and even providing post-wedding resources. Um, an example I always like to give is if you need to receive brain surgery, do you want to hire the doctor who got a C on their brain surgery class or the doctor who got an A? I would feel more confident about the abilities of the doctor who got an A, right? And this applies to most careers and in the wedding industry too. You know, in the standard grading system, A is mastery and C is average. And so when we as the wedding planners are looking at professionals in the field, sometimes we see you had mentioned some people just wake up and decide they want to be a wedding planner or a DJ. And in our previous podcast episode, we were talking about that sometimes people are winging it on the wedding day. Those are our C average people. We don't want to be winging it. We don't want to be panicking when a situation arises that we've never experienced. And by continuing that education, we're gonna be at that mastery level. It's not only for the betterment of our services, but it's one of the clearest ways we can communicate to our couples that we take this work seriously. I felt like, you know, if I it was not at a mastery level, I'm doing a disservice to both myself and my couples.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

What I love too, Brittany, about your entire journey as a master certified wedding planner. You actually just completed the refresher for the master because it's been it was completely updated and modified. I'm currently going through it as well from the original master. And I think that goes to show you that you were like you were like, I just want to be the absolute best version I can possibly be. And knowing that I have grown and my business has grown since the last time I gained my master's. Let me let me take this, let me apply it, let me grow, let me continue to learn. That to me just means it means so much. It just, I feel like with almost every single industry, there is always some type of continue education, continuing growth. Sometimes it's like yearly where you have to pass these tests every single year to stay in your field. That's not regulated in our industry, but you've made it almost your own regulation of yourself. Of every year or every few months, I need to invest in myself and my education. And this is how I do so. And I I appreciate that. And I think your couples unknowingly, they they may not realize it, but it's impacting them. And I'm sure in that impact, they're appreciating it as well.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

Thank you, Chrissy. Yeah, I definitely think you hit the nail on the head there.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yeah.

Filter Stress Before It Burns You

SPEAKER_01 26:13

So, Brittany, is there a moment in your career when a couple maybe needed your steadiness and you weren't quite there yet?

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Yes, absolutely. And I believe most experienced planners, including myself, can look back and identify those moments where they were, you know, technically capable of handling those stressful moments, but internally they're still developing that confidence. You know, I want to have that poker face and that calm steadiness when I'm handling situations. But back then I didn't necessarily have that perfect face. And I could, I was showing that nervousness when I was solving those situations. I remember feeling the pressure to solve everything immediately and perfectly. And when those situations were arising, I was absorbing all that stress. I was not filtering it, I was not staying calm and providing those couples that leadership that they truly needed for their wedding day. What I was missing was not, you know, being careful or detailed oriented as I was navigating those situations. But the perspective of placing trust in myself and leading with that confidence so that I can take that pressure off of my couples as we go through the planning process in the wedding day. And, you know, I had just mentioned it, but you know, instead of winging it, you know, we were discussing in our previous podcast episode that, you know, when planners who don't have education, they end up winging it when they don't experience, uh, when they experience something they've never faced before. And that really risks the wedding day experience. You know, you should you said there's no do-overs. We need to stay clear-headed through that pressure and unexpected circumstances. And now that I'm more experienced and I've gotten my education, I've separated that panic from the urgency to successfully, you know, navigate those situations. And that confidence has created that steadiness. My couples needed to stay present on their wedding day so that they're not looking back. And the very first thing that comes to mind is something bad happened. We want them to be looking back with those fond memories first and foremost.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Two things about what you just said there. The first thing that you absorb the stress instead of filtering it. Oh, that hit me right in the chest, Brittany, because what happens when we which that's what we do sometimes as planners, we take on a lot of stress, but filtering it out. It's one thing to absorb it and to let it sit and build couple after couple after couple after couple. What happens when you do that, and when you don't fit filter that stress out, you end up severely burnt out in this industry. And you end up resenting the job that you love so much. And I can say this from full um, I was there. I was there. This was probably six, seven years ago, where I was beginning to hate my job. And Brittany, you know how much I love this job. Yes. And it was because I was absorbing all that stress from planning weddings for my couples and then also my personal life, and it wasn't coming out. I wasn't releasing it, I wasn't moving on from the problem. I was just simmering in it. And that can be that's a lot. That's a lot to take in. So I think that does take a lot of knowing how to handle the pressures of this job, knowing how to move on from the problem. Once it's solved and you figured it out, moving on from it, giving yourself that grace. But I love too that you mention your perspective of placing the trust back in yourself. That too is sometimes something that we have to constantly have in our head of like, I know what I'm doing. I am a master-certified wedding planner. I know what I'm doing, trust that I'm going to be able to deliver. And it's funny because as I'm taking less weddings, and that's very intentional of not being booked for 25, 30 weddings a year. But sometimes when it's a bit, there's a big gap in between my weddings. That the morning of a wedding, I'm a little more anxious. I'm like, okay, it's like riding a bike. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. So when I first get there, I am a little nervous because I'm like, okay, is everything going right? Are you doing, you know, you've done everything? And once the day gets going, and I, you know, keep pushing my little pedals, I'm like, okay, you got it. You are really good at this. You know, it's but but it's it's sometimes just reminding yourself of that confidence and that you know what you're doing. But if you don't have that feeling quite yet of like, I don't, I don't know what I'm doing, maybe that's does take some reflection of do I need education here? I think because we have our our certifications, we have that sense of reassurance and that okay, you know what you're doing because you've been taught this and you've been taught this well. I think some planners maybe don't have that feeling yet because they haven't quite seen the value of certification and education. So just if you're listening and you're like, I don't feel that way, Chrissy. I don't feel that confidence if I know what I'm doing. I invite you to learn to know what you're doing, and that's getting that certification

Turn Training Into Daily Habits

SPEAKER_01 31:10

for sure.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

Yeah, and just something else I want to add, you know, you had just mentioned that, you know, I just finished the refresher and reflecting on that, something that really made a huge difference in how I went through, you know, building myself to become a better planner. Every at the end of every chapter of those certifications, you're doing both an assessment and homework of, okay, you know, you just learned all these things. Now you need to actually apply it to what you're doing. I'm not just listening and filtering out, okay, yeah, I'll get to that, you know, whenever I have time. No, before I can even move on, I need to apply this and explain how did I what did I learn from this? And not only that, but this the certified wedding planner society team get gave me personalized responses and feedback from every single assessment that I did so that I can go the extra mile. You know, you passed, but here are some things that, you know, I little tweaks that you can do to better yourself even more. Then that is really what sets the certified wedding planner program apart from other, you know, places. I we're getting that personalized attention to help better ourselves as we go through the education.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Yeah, I'm so glad that you mentioned that, Brittany, because uh one thing that Lori said, I think it was our most recent podcast episode, she said, if you're just looking to just get a certification just to have the badge and have the piece of paper, and that's it, then we CWP Society is not the program for you. But if you want to invest and learn and grow and to actually apply what you're being taught, then sign up. We we are the right, this is the family for you. We want you to be a part of it because it is so much more than just gaining the information and not doing anything with it, which is why the master program is it is more challenging because you it is going to be after each single chapter, there's gonna be an assessment. You have to submit assignments, you're gonna get some feedback that can be really helpful in you growing, and you have to be open to listen to that feedback, open to applying that feedback because ultimately at the end of the day, whether you're going through the executive or the master program, we want you to be the absolute best version you can be as a wedding planner. And I'm so glad that you mentioned that because it is it's it can be a huge wake-up call of things that you're doing wrong, things that she could be doing better, and ultimately all it does is benefit you and your business, but ultimately it's going to benefit your couples too.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

Yeah, exactly. And you know, sometimes we get uncomfortable, but that's exactly what we need to build that confidence in ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Yeah.

Mindset Shift And Limited Discount

SPEAKER_01 33:50

I love that, Brittany. So, Brittany, before we wrap up, for the planner who is listening right now, and they hear me say confidence is a service, and they think, okay, I want that, but I'm not sure I'm there yet. What would you actually tell them?

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Yeah, I would tell them that confidence is not something you magically wake up with one day. It's something you build through repetition, education, preparation. Those are all important things to remember because confidence doesn't mean, you know, being the loudest person in the room or talking the most. You know, it doesn't mean you're never nervous either. Some of the strongest planners I know are incredibly calm and quiet. You don't have to be extroverted. Those conf that confidence comes from knowing they can handle anything that arises. Really focusing less on appearing confident and becoming more prepared helps that confidence come out naturally in you. And continuing to sharpen those skills and growing, you know, through that education, through, you know, continuing learning all of the newest trends and uh everything in the wedding industry helps, you know, making sure that you can build your confidence in knowing that you can do this. Confidence is the certainty that your couples are feeling when they go to hire you and not necessarily have in their words when they're thinking and evaluating should I move forward with this planner? That is what they're thinking in the back of their head when they select you. It's one of the most important skills that a wedding planner should have and is something that you should continue building, not just uh a skill that some people have and some people don't.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Exactly. It's not, I love it. It's not just a skill that some people have, some people don't. This is this is something you have to work towards and that you have to build towards. So, Brittany, thank you so much. What I want listeners to take away from this conversation is not just inspiration, but a mindset shift. I want them to ask, you know, the question to me isn't how do I feel more confident? The question is, what am I giving my clients when I walk into the room? That shift in how you hold the question changes everything about how you prepare, how you show up, and ultimately what your couples walk away feeling. So I hope that's helped you today. Your couples are handling you something that is irreplaceable. So show up for it and show up for it well. Again, thank you so much, Brittany, for joining me. If you want to learn more about the CWP Society and our certification programs, as well as our memberships, visit CWP Society.com. Again, I'm Chrissy Thomas, and I'll see you on the next episode of the Wedding Planner Society podcast. Thanks again, Brittany.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

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.