Why Credentials Matter More Than Ever

Weddings don't come with a second chance — and yet too many planners are still showing up underprepared, overpromising, and hoping it all works out. In this episode, CWP Society Founder and CEO Laurie Hartwell and Senior Educator Krisy Thomas pull back the curtain on what's really at stake when planners skip the education and go straight to the business card.

This isn't about gatekeeping or status. It's about protection — for couples trusting us with one of the most significant days of their lives, for the vendors we work alongside, and for the reputation of this profession as a whole.

Together, Laurie and Krisy get specific about where things break down: timelines sent days before the event, vendors left scrambling without critical information, "luxury" labels built on confidence rather than skill, and advice circulating on social media that sounds polished but causes real harm. They also map out what doing it right actually looks like — proactive communication, collaborative timelines, calm crisis management, and a standard of preparation that doesn't cut corners.

You'll hear why venues start building walls after just one bad experience, why shadowing alone can't teach the invisible prep that makes a wedding day run, and why clients today are asking harder questions — and deserve clearer, more credible answers.

Experience matters. But education multiplies it. And in a market that's moving faster than ever, the planners who lead with credentials aren't just protecting their business — they're protecting every couple who trusts them.

If you're serious about showing up prepared, earning the trust of every vendor in the room, and raising the bar for planners everywhere — this conversation is your new baseline.

Subscribe, share this episode with a planner who needs to hear it, and leave a review letting us know the one standard you believe should be non-negotiable in this industry.

Ready to take the next step? Visit cwpsociety.com. 

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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 0:20

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 with the CWP Society, and today's conversation is going to be a little different. We're going to talk about something that's uncomfortable, but to me, this is an absolutely necessary conversation for us to have. And I am joined by the CWP Society's founder and CEO, the fabulous Lori Hartwell, to dig into this topic with me. So here is what we are addressing: what's happening to the clients in our industry right now, the real damage being done by unprepared, unprofessional planners and coordinators. And why that damage doesn't just affect one couple. In fact, it affects every single one of us. We hear the stories all the time. Planners and coordinators who show up on the wedding day completely unprepared for what they're walking into. Planners and coordinators who overpromise during the sales process and then massively undeliver during the planning process. Couples who realize too late that their planner or coordinator doesn't have the relationships, the systems, or the crisis management skills to actually lead their wedding day. And every single time that happens, it doesn't just hurt that one couple, it hurts all of us in this industry. It destroys the trust in the wedding planning industry. It gives weight to that narrative that wedding planners are not worth the investment. And in fact, it makes it harder for every professional planner and coordinator out there to prove their value. So today, Lori and I are going to talk about why credentials aren't just about us, they're about protecting the people who trust us most with the most important day of their lives. One of our educators referred to her certification as being a client protector. And that's exactly the lens that we're taking today. So if you have ever been told that certification doesn't matter or that you don't need it, I really want you to lean in and listen. Because this conversation is more about the letters behind your name. It's about the responsibility that we carry, the trust that we're given, and what we owe to couples who believe in us. So Lori, I'm glad you're here for this conversation because we talk about this on a regular basis. So I'm glad that we're having this on the podcast, talk about it kind of in the masses with more people. So I'm excited for us to get into it.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Me too. I feel like this is such an important conversation because this is something I'm seeing a lot in forums being talked about. Yeah. So I'm I'm here and I'm ready for it. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

And since we're talking about forums, since you mentioned it, I wanted to talk about kind of what we are seeing and hearing in these forums. What are clients kind of going through right now when they're dealing with and hiring unprepared planners? They didn't even realize they were hiring an unprepared planner.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yeah, I mean, clients in this day and age, because you know, just think about how technology has come so far. Because of that, anybody can create a website. And that means that it's going to be really, really hard for any client to be able to determine who has been around for a while, who has is experienced, who knows what they're doing versus someone who is guessing or winging it or just opened their business five minutes ago. I mean, it's just really, really hard. So what we're seeing is that clients, because they have no idea who these people are, because there's no verifiable credentials, they are picking someone. And then these planners are just not really providing a wonderful experience. And when planners are winging it and they are guessing through the client journey, the wedding planning process, it ends up making all of the experienced wedding planners look bad. Yeah. Because nobody's able to tell the difference when there is not some sort of badge or credential next to their name. So planners are showing up on wedding day without proper timelines. But even worse than that, they're not even setting these vendors up with, you know, in advance, saying, hey, you know, I just I reviewed your contract. I have a couple of questions. Can you verify this? I have a rough draft of the timeline. Can you look it over? They're not even having conversations. I find that inexperienced planners are not reaching out to the wedding professionals in advance. So that's a that's a pretty big one because the wedding day is a day where there are no do-overs. And when there's no do-overs, that means that if a planner is coming to the wedding unprepared, like you just mentioned, it can actually ruin their day. Yeah. And that's just it's a very, very sad state of affairs. So I I mean it kind of breaks my heart. I'm sure you've seen it too.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Oh, absolutely. I've seen it. And it does break my heart. And again, it's it's one of those things where, and I mentioned it, where it doesn't just impact the couple. Obviously, it impacting the couple is what really breaks my heart because again, we can't redo this wedding day. We can't start over if things get messed up. There is no take to. So that breaks my heart, but then it breaks my heart for those other people and wedding professionals that they hired who are coming into this thinking, okay, great. They have a planner. I can trust them to lead the day, to do their job, which in turn allows me to do my job. And it doesn't. I have had some of my favorite photographers call me after a wedding and say, you know, this was a wedding planner who wasn't certified. I can tell that they were just kind of winging things. I didn't even know they were there. You know, I didn't even know that the couple hired a coordinator. So I showed up. And then when I showed up and was trying to work with them, they kind of bulldozed me and took over and they were hard to work with or difficult to work with. And it just made my job so much harder. I think people forget that as coordinators and planners, we are the lead for that day. So it's a big impact on how everyone else is feeling as well. So it's a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

I can actually tell in the forums which planners and coordinators desperately need some assistance and some education because they're asking questions that are basics. They're like foundational level stuff. Whereas, you know, I just feel like we need to do a better job as wedding planners and coordinators who are experienced to guide the newer planners and coordinators to education. Because a lot of times I'm seeing and hearing something different. I'm hearing and seeing, oh, just shadow someone. That is not helping anyone, certainly not helping our industry. And it is most definitely not helping the client that they are uh preparing this wedding for. But you're right. Uh, these poor wedding professionals, they are saying all the time, this person just showed up. I had no idea who this person was. I didn't even know that there was a planner. Well, what does that tell me? That tells me that that planner or coordinator did not reach out in advance. That's a huge part of our job. We have to make sure that we are on the same page with everybody. We're the uh, you know, conductor of the entire event. And a conductor needs to know what every single piece of the orchestra is supposed to be doing, why and when. And you don't know that if you're not reaching out to people.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Yeah. And now it kind of makes me think of this, Lori, when you talk about these are usually people who who are just not reaching out to wedding press before the big day. So if you just got your education from shadowing someone on a wedding day, you wouldn't know that that planner or coordinator reached out to the vendors ahead of time. You just saw what they executed on the wedding day and thought, okay, this is all I need to do to make sure that my wedding career, my wedding planning career success, is just execute a great wedding day. What did it take to execute that wedding day? You're not going to know that by just shadowing someone on a wedding day.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

No.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

You're not going to know those basics and those foundational things that you had just mentioned.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Well, mainly because any wedding planner who is being shadowed is really busy. You have your own things to do that day. It is not a training day. You cannot train on site because that day is too important to the couple that hired that planner. We don't have time to explain why we're getting these linens and why they are the size that they are, where to put them on, why why it's important to do it at this time, uh, how to manage all of the wedding professional. We don't have time for that. No, we're executing. Right. We're in we're in the middle of it. And there's not any downtime on wedding days for us to just sit down and go, all right, so you saw what we did today. And I would like to explain, no, we didn't, it's too late by that time. So another thing that I find that new planners are talking about kind of in forums is they are saying, all of these things went wrong. How do I prevent this? Why did I? It's like, okay, again, if you had the proper education, you would know how to deal with a, you know, each type of crisis that could potentially come up. And having that, those management skills on how to help and manage these different, I don't know, fires, let's call them that pop up on wedding day. You got to know how to do that and know how to do it in an excellent manner so that you are not destroying the rich reputations of every other wedding planner in your area. So it's just important that we, as planners and coordinators, or any aspiring planners or coordinators, care enough about their potential client, these sweet engaged couples who are praying that this beautiful day that they have invested a ton of money in, okay, into one day, a single day, they've invested so much money in that it goes smoothly and that it's beautiful. They're praying for that. But if a wedding coordinator is going into it, I guess in more of a naive way, of I'm sure it's all going to be great, you have to know it never goes smoothly. That's why we're there is to prevent these the you know fires from coming up, but also to be there to put those little fires out that we had no control over, you know, leading up to that event day. So having someone in the background as an advocate for the couple is going to be vital. But if you're the advocate and you have no idea what you're looking for, advocating for, or or you have no idea how to put the fires out, you're not, you don't have the right tools, things can go very, very wrong.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

And it that kind of reminds me of when it's more experienced planners who were telling these new planners, you just kind of learn as you go. I learned more from a wedding day than any other certification. It blows my mind because in my head, I'm like, yes, all every single wedding you learn something different. But wouldn't you rather them learn instead of making mistakes, potentially ruining someone's wedding day, wouldn't you rather them have the tools and the resources needed? So when these things did pop up, they weren't doing it or making the fire even bigger than what they, you know. That I feel like happens quite often when you're in doubt, you're trying to pour water over a fire, and oh no, actually, this was a bucket of gasoline because I wasn't equipped with the tools and knowledge to know how to handle this fire.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

And it ruins the couple's day and they don't get do-overs, and that is going to be the memory for that couple for the rest of their lives. How fair is that? That is an unfair ask of a couple to to take on, is oh, just shadow someone and then just learn as you go. That is not something fair to do to a couple, so we need to care more about our our potential clients.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Yeah, exactly. And I do want us to talk about Lori, the ripple effect of this, because I know we're talking now about how much it impacts the couple, but it also impacts everything else. And we briefly talked about how it impacts the venue, the vendors. What I've seen from firsthand experience, and when I walk into, let's say, a venue space where I can see that that guard is up, their wall is up, they're hesitant to want to work with me because I'm a wedding planner. And I almost have to win them over. And when I finally kind of get down to the why do you not want to work with me? It's look, I've worked with some really bad wedding coordinators and I've been burned. And having you guys on more on property seems more of a risk than just not having a coordinator at all.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

That's a terrible effect. It it this is huge, actually. This is what the biggest thing is happening in the industry right now. I'm finding that, and it's not just venues, it's other wedding professionals as well. But let's talk about venues here for a second. If we, as planners and coordinators who who genuinely care about our craft and our couples and elevating the industry as a whole, we need to make sure that we nurture and take better care of the ones that are just now entering our industry. We need to make sure that we are raising them up better and giving them the tools and the right guidance and making sure that they are not, you know, I guess ruining or making big enough mistakes that do create that ripple effect to where we are now in all of us, no matter how great we are, are now in the same category in a vendor's mind than you know, as someone who is messing up all the time. And not because they're not messing up because they're trying to mess up. These newer planners are messing up because they're not giving the given the right tools. Yeah. And they're not, they're not given the right advice to make sure that they are educated and you know, just informed and filling their knowledge gap so that they can prevent themselves from making some of the most common mistakes that we do see newer planners make. So, yeah, the ripple effect is huge. Yeah. And I want to make sure that couples, you know, of course, are asking the right questions, but I also want to make sure that newer planners find an organization or some education that will help nurture them to become great and to be amazing and maybe even become better than some of the people that have a ton of experience uh but don't have the education. I love seeing that. That gets me really excited.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

And I do want to talk about that. I want to talk about the experienced planners who don't have the education because they are actually, in turn, also they're riding this ripple effect wave as well. This just happened a few weeks ago. One of my favorite photographers had reached out and said, Hey, I am dealing with this planner who is, quote, a luxury planner. And she sent me their Instagram page. They've got 20,000 followers, so they're a big deal planner. And she said, She's not communicating with me. I don't know what time rehearsal starts. I sent over my timeline eight weeks ago, but I haven't received the master timeline yet. I'm I don't know what else to do at this point. And I was like, Okay, well, maybe at this point, let's go do it. Have you called her? Have you texted her? And she finally responded back to her text message and was like, Yeah, I'll get it to you as soon as possible. The Thursday before the wedding that was taking place on Saturday is when she received this. The final timeline, the final timeline.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

And when she and and that took her on Thursday morning text and said, Hey, you never sent me the timeline. Last week, like you promised, I really need it to give to my assistant, my second shooter. Can you please give me that? And she replied back with her, Wow, relax. Oh dear, oh dear. So, of course, my my photographer and text me and said, Am I overreacting? Because right now I'm I'm upset. And she got so upset to the point she was like, Well, at this point, I will never communicate with a planner that I don't know again. Oh, and I thought, in my head, I thought, I understand that she's feeling burned and that she's like, nope, no more communicating with the planner. I'm only going to communicate with my couple who hired me. And I thought, gosh, this is messing up for the planners who she does hopefully work with, who are certified, who are great and educated.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Now that's going to be a roadblock they have to jump over, is trying to win her over because she's been burned by this really experienced luxury wedding planner. Now, all wedding planners who she doesn't know, she's putting that guard up and saying, nope, only communicating with a couple. That's that ripple effect.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

That actually breaks my heart. And but I hate to say that I see this a lot. Uh, but it it hurts. And this is why I do what I do. This is why you do what you do as far as educating and mentoring wedding planners. Communication is going to be one of the most important aspects of our career. We have to communicate. We need to communicate well. A lot of people who are winging it, no matter how much experience they have, they are kind of flying by the seat of their pants. I kind of call these people, you know, uh, someone who acts like an octopus on roller skates. Just because there's no uh workflows or frameworks uh, you know, in place, no systems in place, they are just kind of flying by the seat of their pants, and it really shows. And this is, you know, if we kind of go back to what you just said that the photographer, when they reached out, like, hey, you said that you were going to give this to me by such and I still haven't received it, and now it's Thursday before the wedding. This and and the whole, oh, relax, hold on, hold on. That is an inappropriate way to respond, first of all, to anyone. Okay. Secondly, it is inappropriate to say that when you're the one who's been dropping the ball. So, again, we have got to be better. We need to start putting ourselves in other people's shoes so that we can try to see and understand what their perspective is. Our job as wedding planners, because like I said, we're the conductor of this orchestra, right? We need to have an understanding of what the woodwinds need, uh, what the you know, brass needs. We have to have an understanding of every single musician and instrument, what it sounds like, what the ebb and flow is, what the volume is going to be. We need to understand what every single one of those people's vibe is. We also need to understand the piece of music that we're looking at. Okay. And if you're not even sure what the piece of music is, that's the timeline, by the way. The you know, if you don't even understand that until a few days before the wedding, you're doing something wrong. I don't care how much experience you have, you're doing something wrong. That a rough draft should go out eight weeks in advance. Your final draft should be going out two weeks out at the latest. And please make sure, and this is this is a message for every single planner on the planet. Please make sure that you are communicating with each and every single one of the hired wedding professionals prior to making any movement on that final draft. You need to make sure that you're talking to people, collaborate with others. You are not working this wedding by yourself, you're working this wedding with 15 to 25 other wedding professionals who have their own agenda. If you don't know what their agenda is, how in the world do you know what you're supposed to be doing, why and when and how? That bothers me. Communication is everything here.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Exactly. And again, like you mentioned, it's it's how you communicate with these people. And I it's funny because when I think about our certification program, because I've lived it, I've breathed it. It was the reason why I'm here today, is because I gained my certification. We teach so much more than just how to create a timeline, how to execute a wedding day. Because what we do, it's so much more than just checklists and timelines. Because we are dealing with so many different people and so many different personality types, because people are looking to us for how we are going to react. We have to know how to almost how to be a decent human being, how to be a good leader. And I think when she sent me that wow, relax, and I thought I immediately got offended. That's not how, again, that's not how you talk to anyone. So this whole mindset of, well, I'm the planner, you just need to calm down. I got it. And what she admits she had said something along those lines, too, of like, I got it, don't worry about it. And I was like, but the trust has been burned now. So, no, the photographer doesn't know that you got it actually, because you you haven't provided her anything.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Well, the truth is there was no trust there to begin with because we've never worked with this person before, and you were supposed to be building trust and then and then proving that we're trustworthy and then never burning that down. That's our role as a coordinator. And here's the other thing we're we're our job is rated the third most stressful job in the world. There's a reason for that. So if you are taking an already stressful situation and you're making it even more stressful, not only for yourself, but every single person in your orbit, that means that this may not be a job for you. That's I just want to make sure I'm clear about that. And I know that's hard for people to hear. But if you are an octopus on roller skates, you do not communicate clearly, you get you're really harsh with people, you're snapping back, you think that this is all about you. If you do not see yourself as a team player and the team leader, and you can't lead a team and not tell the team anything. You cannot, how are you leading anything if you're not communicating with the entire dream team of wedding pros? Everybody is hired, they all have a job to do, and you're scaring them to death by not communicating properly. That is not what a great leader does. A great leader inspires and kind of makes everybody feel relaxed and at ease when we are moving forward into a very big day where, again, there are no do-overs. And anybody that takes this job seriously, and I hope that everybody with the same title does, should care about that most. That should be paramount in our lives and it should be what drives everything that we do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

And it kind of this to wrap this story up with this particular photographer about that ripple effect, it it hurt me when she, her immediate reaction was, I am just, if I don't know the planner, I'm not communicating with them. Because she is so pro-planner, where it's in her contract that she was like, if you want me to be your photographer, basically, you have to have a professional coordinator. I'm I didn't even talk to her, like maybe you should switch that up and say certified at this point, because at least that way you know they had that baseline and that foundation. And it was, she was, I was just blown away because when I looked her up on social and I saw her website and I saw that she created all these beautiful weddings and that she kind of had this reputation for being this high-end wedding planner. I was so excited to work with her and quickly got let down. And it makes me think about couples too. When they see again, like you mentioned earlier, Lori, everyone can have a beautiful website, everyone can create a beautiful social media feed. What makes them qualified to take care of you?

SPEAKER_01 23:29

That's it. We we always put the best version of ourselves out there for everybody to see. That's not always the real story. I mean, my goodness, it we like you said, I've seen so many gorgeous websites, but then I know the stories behind those people, those same people I have heard the stories about. Whether it doesn't matter who they are in the wedding industry and what category they fall into, like there is this amazing DJ uh website, but the DJ themselves, uh, not great. Terrible, terrible, terrible. So we need to make sure that we look beyond that and we need to help couples feel comfortable with who they're choosing. And the only way that any couple can, I don't know, have a peace of mind, maybe about their wedding day when they are hiring a planner or coordinator is to ensure that this one person who's in charge of everything has knowledge, uh, has verifiable credentials. Because anybody can say I'm experienced. Anyone can lie and say I've been planning events for 10 years. Anybody can say that. But how do we know that even if you had been doing it for 10, 15 years, how do we know you've been doing it right? How do I know that you are working in best practices? How do I know that you have everybody's best interest at heart? How do I know that I'm gonna like you? How do I know anything? We don't. And so the only thing that we can really try to at least build on, I think to me, the the foundation should be the starting place of education and credentials. That that should be where we all start now after that. Okay, so the three planners that I'm gonna be interviewing, they all are certified and certified, by the way, through a proper company, not one of these flyby nights,$25. That's adorable. No, that's 20 minute certification in 20 minutes. You'll be a wedding party. Right? Please, uh, you know, our certification is 32 and a half hours long, and it includes weekly workshops for the rest of your life. That's the kind of education I'm talking about. So, you know, you can you can have all of that, and but now I want to see how each person, I how do I relate to them? Like, do I like their personality? But at least I know that we're all everybody that I'm interviewing has the same level of understanding. That's what needs to be the foundation of everything we do.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

And I think that kind of ties into what we're talking about today is why now credentials matter the most. And it is because we want to create that level playing field of education. And we've kind of briefly talked about it, but I want us to kind of talk more into what one of our educators, Crystal Daly, had said during one of our recent workshops, how she viewed and she tells couples this during her consultations that her certification is actually their protection. And I love the way that she worded that because I feel the exact same way. But let's talk about what that actually means in practice and what that means for our couples.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Another thing that she said that I loved, by the way, was experience and education are not rivals. That that's just she always drops some great nuggets. I love all of her stuff. But, you know, we as planners uh and coordinators need to make sure that what we're bringing to the table is not just confidence, but knowledge that backs up that confidence. We need to make sure that we are providing our couples with some accountability. Without education and without an organization, you don't have accountability. Uh, we need to make sure that we are providing couples with a great journey. We can't provide that great journey if we don't have workflows, frameworks, or systems in place. So, I mean, that maybe could be where we start. You have a, you know?

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Because to me, it's it's also when you say to education experience are are not rivals, which is I I always joke with Chris. I'm like, put it on coffee month because it's so true. I think there's this misconception, and there is, I might say I think there is this misconception of, well, I've got 15 years of experience, what more do I need to prove?

SPEAKER_01 27:46

And again, there's I think that's the wrong mindset.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Yeah, that's a mindset that's actually going to get you where your 15 years is only 15 years you have in your career. Because if you are not willing to grow and move forward with an industry that is constantly changing, and it's changing at a more rapid pace, I feel like now. And if you can't keep up, and if you don't want to be the best version of yourself or your couples who are getting married now compared to who you were 15 years ago, why are you in?

SPEAKER_01 28:21

What are you doing? Why are you even doing weddings if that's the case?

SPEAKER_02 28:25

And I I look at planners like you, Lori, who you've been in this industry for 30 plus years. I joke with you that you've planned George and Martha Washington's wedding. But if you were executing the same way that you did for George and Martha, how you would for the couples now, you there's just no way. They'd be like, What are you talking about? Like you, this is not how you should execute things. And then couples feel that they can feel when things aren't making sense. They're talking to their other engaged friends and they're looking at things. I'll even tell you, I've had wedding rehearsals where when I pass up my detailed, delicious master timeline and the more um curated wedding party timeline, I can hear whispers of, well, my wedding planner's not doing this. Does your wedding planner do this? No, my wedding planner didn't do this at all. They so they they can see the difference and they're talking about it and they can feel it. And couples, I'm seeing couples in these forums, they're asking questions of like my wedding planner's doing this. Does this make sense? I feel I feel behind. I feel like this doesn't make sense with the package I got, or they're talking amongst each other about this. And again, it's that ripple effect of we are unknowingly hurting our reputation in this industry because we don't have those frameworks and those tools and the systems in place to execute our job in a industry standard way. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

And and I don't understand why anybody would be willing to settle for that. Let me give you a quick example. If I am going to if I hold the title of wedding planner, wedding coordinator, and someone else is interested in holding that same title in my community, I'm gonna want to make sure that everything that they do does not reflect poorly on me. If they're screwing up a bunch of weddings, some people celebrate that, which bothers me. Like, oh, I just look better. No, they're actually ruining your reputation too. You just don't realize it. Because what's happening in vendors' heads are I can't trust wedding planners. I mean, you just said it yourself, the photographer, the venue, all of these people are saying, I don't trust planners now. Well, that's wise because you're not nurturing the people that are in your community. You do not need to have enemies as your competitors. It doesn't make any sense, first of all, because you can't take every single wedding in your community anyway. And so if you are booked up, wouldn't you want to be able to refer that business to another wedding planner? That's what I love most about the CWP society, is they are all referring to one another, and it's beautiful to me. To me, that is the high-level professionalism that I am always looking for and what I am super attracted to. But guy, going back to your other point of you know the 1776 weddings uh that I did, um I can I can even say to you, weddings five years ago are not the same weddings that we're doing today. Weddings three years ago, we are not communicating the same with those clients. We are not communicating the same with our wedding professionals that we did three years ago. Things are evolving and and it's evolving rapidly, so rapidly that I find that a lot of people are having trouble keeping up. We also need to understand that we are in an industry where couples are trying to get their information about their wedding from TikTok and Instagram. Well, here's the problem with that it's too easy to get uh bad information, okay, from these sources. Why? Because there are so many uh wedding planners who are not busy because they are doing things so poorly, they don't have the workflows and the frameworks and the systems in place, that they have so much time on their hands that they're putting a lot of TikTok videos together. Uh, but there a lot of them are giving very, very bad advice. So couples are now getting terrible advice from wedding planners who have no business giving that advice. And that is actually in turn hurting great wedding planners. So we as a whole need to just do better. And that's why this is a call to every single certified and master certified wedding planner out there. Do the TikToks, y'all. But don't give away all of our trade secrets because now that's gonna be violating planner code. What I want you to do is put awesome advice out there, which should be make sure that when you are planning your wedding, know this. It is a once-in-a-lifetime situation. There are no do-overs. Okay. You're never gonna be able to be like, well, we'll do it again, we'll do it better tomorrow. There is no wedding tomorrow. It's done. Once it's over, it's over. And that what that means is we need to make sure that you, couple, are hiring the great wedding professionals that are going to take your wedding day just as seriously as you are. We, as wedding planners, make sure that you're only hiring certified or master certified wedding planners and through, make sure that they were certified through a company who is reputable and not some fly-by-night kind of place that just hands out certificates like water. Okay, we need to make sure that these people that you're hiring are knowledgeable and are accountable and are a part of an amazing organization that is always going to be helping elevate the industry as a whole. Why do we do that? We do that because we want to produce great planners and great coordinators who are going to make sure that couples look back on their wedding day with happiness and joy and fondness. That's what our goal should be. And we can't do that if we're all fumbling around, tripping over our own shoes, falling into sinkholes because you don't have any frameworks and processes and systems and workflows in place. You can't do it, it's not possible. So we as certified and master certified planners need to put out TikToks that educate couples on who they should be hiring for their wedding planners.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Yeah. And I want since we're talking about TikTok before we wrap up, I do also want to talk about how I think we're wedding planners and coordinators who are not certified yet are also getting their education through TikTok as well. Okay. And that kind of goes to what you mentioned, making sure that you're getting your education from a reputable source who knows what the heck they're even teaching.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Can I just say something? I was just thinking, as you're talking, I'm like, okay, so let's say I wanted to, I needed to go see a doctor. Would I get, would I select my doctor based off of education they got from TikTok?

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Sure. I have watched every episode of Gray's Anatomy, Lori. I can take great care of you.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Sign me in no, thank you. No, thank you. So I this is kind of the problem, right? Is I want to make sure that we as an industry are not putting that out there, that we are not contributing to that. We need to make sure that all we're doing is educating couples on making sure that they're hiring knowledgeable, certified, and master certified wedding planners and to let them know that this is already a very stressful journey that they're about to go on. And that having a really wonderful guide that understands what it is that they're going through and knows all of the, I guess, the journey and be able to be their tour guide in a sense, uh, to kind of walk them through so that they can enjoy it to the fullest. That's what we need to be experiencing. That needs to be the TikTok. If you are a planner and you're just watching YouTube and trying to get piece together knowledge from TikTok, I want you to know right now you're getting all bad information. Stop it today. You're not doing yourself any favors. All you're doing is delaying your success. Why would you want to do that?

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Yep. I'm Mac drop right there. Why would you want to do that? And again, Lori, thank you for this conversation. I know this conversation is probably going to be hard to hear. I know people will probably be a little uncomfortable, especially if there's those experienced planners who be like, well, I I did just tell someone last week to just shadow me and that's all they needed. Oh, I'm setting them up for failure, and I'm not even realize I'm doing that. If this makes you feel uncomfortable, I'm sorry. It should. Because as wedding planners, experienced wedding planners, especially, we have a responsibility here to the couples that we serve, to each other as fellow wedding coordinators and planners, and also to the future of our industry. And when you're not providing them with information to get education and to get certification, you are not protecting them. You're we're not protecting couples from the planners who aren't prepared. We're not protecting the industry from continuing to lose the credibility that we have worked really hard to build. And we're not protecting the planners who are doing the work the right way and or who are being dragged down by the people who are not, unfortunately, educated and certified. So if you are listening right now and you've been sitting on the fence about certification, or you've been told, well, it doesn't matter, or if you've been waiting for the right time, I want to ask you something. Think about the last wedding day that you led. Think about the promises that you made to that couple. Think about what they were trusting you to do on the biggest, most emotionally charged day of their lives. Now ask yourselves, were you truly prepared to handle everything that could have gone wrong? Do you have the trainings, the systems, and the knowledge to lead through the chaos when things fall apart? So I want you guys to know that the industry is changing. Clients are asking harder questions. Vendors and venues are looking for planners who actually know what they're doing. And the planners who are overpromising and undelivering, they're not just failing their clients, they're making it harder for all of us. So you have a choice. You can be part of raising the standard for this industry, or you can be part of the problem. And I know that sounds harsh, but guys, it's the reality. Certification and certification through the CWP Society is how you prove to your clients, to your peers, to the entire industry that you're serious about protecting the people who trust you. It's how you prove that you've done the work, that you understand the responsibility, and that you're committed to showing up, not just to be present, but to be prepared. Again, this isn't just about adding the letter CWP behind your name for the sake of it. But this is about becoming the planner your clients deserve. The planners who don't just promise to manage their day, but who have the training and the knowledge to actually lead when it matters most. So stop waiting. Stop making excuses and stop telling yourself that you'll figure it out as you go. If you're serious about protecting your clients and about building a sustainable business and about being part of the solution in this industry, certification is your next step. Visit CWPsociety.com to learn more and enroll today because your clients deserve a planner who's prepared to protect them. Be that planner, guys. Thank you, Lori Hartwell, for being with me, and thank you for tuning in to the Wedding Planner Society podcast. We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

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$100 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 cwpssociety.com to learn more.