Bridal Consultant Job Description & Career Opportunities

A bridal consultant is an individual whose profession is involved in helping a couple plan a wedding. A bridal consultant, which is often referred to as a wedding planner, has a wide variety of responsibilities with the wedding planning process. A general bridal consultant, which helps with all aspects of the wedding planning, will help a couple find a venue location, put together a guest list, choose a wedding band, select a caterer, and assist in any other realm that their clients sees fit. Most importantly, a bridal consultant is responsible for turning the couple’s wedding vision into a reality while keeping the couple’s budget in mind throughout the entire process.

Most brides feel more comfortable hiring a bridal consultant with experience and training from a reputable school. Check out the programs below which offer free information:

    Professional Bridal Consultant Program by Ashworth College
    Certified Wedding Planner by Penn Foster Career School
    Wedding Consulting/Event Planning Certificate by US Career Institute

Job Responsibilities

Many bridal consultants run their own small businesses where they help in all aspects of the planning process. However, other bridal consultants may work for a larger wedding planning organization and work on a team dedicated to planning the wedding. Bridal consultants working for one of these organizations may specialize in one aspect of the wedding planning process.

Since running a profitable bridal consulting agency is dependent on building a strong base of prospective clients and vendors, a bridal consultant will need to be involved in the sales aspect of the business as well. This could include marketing to prospective clients, or working with vendors to negotiate on price.
Training and Education Requirements

Formal education requirements are minimal for bridal consultants as many are hired with no more than a high school diploma. However, there are several education paths that a prospective bridal consultant could choose to follow that will improve their skill set for the position and increase their chances of obtaining a job. One of the most popular educational paths for bridal consultants is event planning. This educational path, which can be completed at either a community college or traditional four year college, will give a bridal consultant a broad understanding of all the aspects that go into planning a large event. Since sales and marketing is a large aspect of bridal consulting, choosing to obtain a degree in either marketing or advertising could be beneficial for a bridal consultant that hopes to own their own business.

In general, the majority of education and training needed to be a bridal consultant is completed on the job. Most bridal consulting agencies will put their new consultants through an internal training program designed to integrate them slowly into the business.