I've been paying close attention to the language better-paying couples use to describe the suppliers they love for more than half a decade.

"We changed the date of our wedding to have them."

"They were exactly what we are looking for."

"S/he was the only one we looked at."

When you create a signature wedding experience that gets couples fizzing with excitement the moment they discover it, price is no longer the #1 buying trigger, emotion is.

Has that ever happened to you, where you got so emotionally attached to something you just had to have it; even though a cheaper option was available? You bought it because the emotional pull outweighed its cost.

Better-paying brides and grooms behave in the same way.

When you can clearly articulate the professionalism, excitement and reliability your business delivers, you'll heighten the emotional connection couples feel for you, reaching the tipping point where you're no longer expensive; you're essential to the success...

Mental toughness is required

This post is more intense than the lighter ones I've shared in previous weeks, so you may want to study it, then have a break for 20 minutes or so, then come back and go over it again.

The infographic shows the price curve many wedding professionals travel along (self-included), from start-up (being underpaid) to maturity (getting paid what you are worth).

The Red Xs mark the price points where sufficient bookings are made at the asking price.

Breakdown

Point A - Typically at start-up, suppliers operate along the lower Price-Driven Mindset Curve. An eagerness to get booked results in suppliers accepting low to medium paying weddings. Suppliers set costs at this level, for one of three reasons:

1) The desire to be priced competitively so as not to be ruled out by the price-sensitive couples they inadvertently attract.

2) The fear that brides and grooms will view the supplier as too expensive if they charged their worth.

3) A lack of...

Two weeks ago, I promised to reveal the winning formula for a wedding website that converts, here it is:

If your site tries to appeal to all, instead of to your ideal couple, you will inadvertently attract price shoppers and repel the higher paying couples you want to book, locking you in an awful 'Catch 22' cycle. To break-out, there is no better starting place than this quote:

So what THINKING did you use when you began to inadvertently appeal to price shoppers?

Let's Begin With Design

Let us say you deliver a 5/5 service, but your poorly designed website wrongly implies its only 3/5. The ambiguity in your message will result in your target audience side-stepping you because of a failure to resonate with their needs, however price shoppers may get in touch because your 'look and feel' may appeal to them.

Your Website Will Underperform If:

1. Your landing page headline does not match the message to the ideal couple you ...

Discover how to  to maximise the return on you wedding fair investment in just 3 minutes and 46 seconds.

The reality is the barriers to entry for many wedding industries are practically non existent today, for example anyone with a digital camera and some software can become a wedding photographer.

Gone are the days where a shopfront premises are required or specialist dark room skills. Digital has removed the friction, or put another way, digital has removed many of the expert skills and heavy investment required from a bygone era. Digital has made becoming a photographer so much easier. And this is why the market is flooded. It’s happening world-wide. In short, digital has let the genie out of the bottle, and it’s never going back in.

If you are a videographer, cake maker, stationer, make-up artist, hairdresser, musician, DJ, toastmaster (and this list is by no means extensive)… cases for concern can be made for your industry as well.

So how do you cope in the new world where weekend warriors and coffee shop wannabes enter your market and compete with inferior...

Join me in Dubai this October for my talk on the secrets to getting booked by your ideal brides and grooms.

Do you have a wedding marketing question you'd love answered? I often get asked similar questions in different ways. I'll share the most popular here. Check back for updates periodically:

Hi Terry, I currently average 45 plus weddings per year, though its a lot, I contribute it to my pricing being competitive for the quality I provide. My sales last year was upward of $180k.

The biggest frustration in this business right now specially in my city (Florida) is the weekend warriors. Digital has made it easier for someone to pickup a camera , shoot a ton of photos, edit and filter the heck out of the photos and they are getting paid even more than what I charge. As a full time photographer for over 20 years with a brick and mortar location in a well established wedding area, I see more and more go to the coffee shop photographers, taking a bite of our business here for the true professionals.

Churches here have also put stronger restrictions on shooting as these not...