There are so many planners who tell me they feel lost, stuck, or unsure if they’re “doing it right.”

So let me simplify it for you: If I were starting a wedding planning business in 2026 — knowing everything I know now — here’s exactly where I’d begin.

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Welcome back to The Planner’s Edit. I’m Desirée Adams — wedding planner, designer, business owner, creative strategist, and your guide to building a more intentional, elevated, and fulfilling business in this industry we love.

In our last episode, we talked about the outdated wedding trends planners are ready to retire, and how letting go of what no longer serves us opens space for more intentional, elevated design.

But today, I want to shift the focus from what’s not working… to what actually does. Because I hear from so many planners — especially early-stage planners — who feel overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure about what really matters when you’re trying to build a sustainable, successful planning business.

So in this episode, we’re simplifying it.

If I were starting a wedding planning business in 2026, here’s exactly what I would do. The steps, the foundations, and the mindset that would make the biggest difference from day one.

Let’s dive in.

1: CREATE A BUSINESS PLAN. 

When most planners start their businesses, they begin with the fun parts — logos, branding, the perfect Instagram handle, planning their first styled shoot. These are all great to have, yes. But if I were starting my planning business in 2026, the very first thing I would do is something much less glamorous and far more impactful:

I would write a real business plan.

Not just a vision board and vague goals.
But a clear, grounded, strategic roadmap that supports both the business I want and the life I want.

Without a plan, it’s far too easy to build a business that looks good on the outside but doesn’t feel sustainable on the inside.

Let’s break this down.

Define What Kind of Business You’re Actually Building

Most planners start without making this decision — and that’s exactly why they end up overwhelmed, overbooked, and underpaid.

When defining the type of business you want, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Am I building a high-volume business or a high-touch business?
Because the decisions you make, the systems you build, and the workload you expect all change depending on your business model.

2. Who is my business actually for?
And this isn’t just “couples getting married.”
Who are your people?
What do they value?
What problems are they desperate to solve?
What aesthetic or experience are they drawn to?

3. And lastly, What kind of life do you want this business to support?
Do you want 40 weddings a year?
Or 10 deeply fulfilling ones?
Do you want to travel?

Planners often skip these questions and just hit the ground running. But choosing your business model before you really start building it eliminates so much confusion, and prevents years of burnout.

Understand Your Numbers (Before They Control You)

Your pricing isn’t just a number. It’s a strategy.

You need to know:

• How much it costs to run your business
• How much you need to earn to cover your personal life
• How many clients you can realistically handle
• What your profit margin needs to be to make this sustainable

This is where so many planners get stuck. They price based on “what other planners charge” or what they think people will pay. But 2026 couples are more educated, more selective, and more willing to invest in expertise when you position yourself correctly.

If I were starting now, my pricing would be based on data and clarity — not guesswork.

Clarify Your Services (and Stop Offering Everything)

Most planners launch with 6, 8, 10 different services — partial planning, full planning, coordination, design add-ons, day-of, month-of, hybrid packages… the list goes on.

If I were starting now, I’d do the opposite.

I’d offer less, but I’d do it better.

Because clarity sells. Confusion does not.

I’d focus on one signature offer — the one I want to be known for — and build my brand, my systems, and my messaging around that.

Know Your “Why” — Because Business Starts Here

If I were starting a wedding planning business in 2026, I wouldn’t skip this core emotional foundation.

When determining your why, ask yourself:

• Why do you want to be a planner?
• What part of this work lights you up?
• What do you want your clients to feel when they work with you?
• What are you unwilling to compromise on?

Your “why” becomes the backbone of your brand voice, your customer experience, your boundaries, your messaging, your client red flags — everything.

When your why is strong, your decisions get easier.

Once your foundation is in place, the next step is surrounding yourself with the right people.

A strategic business plan gives you direction. But the thing that gives you momentum is your people — the mentors, peers, and community who help you stay focused, supported, and aligned.

2: FIND MY PEOPLE (CREATE A COMMUNITY, FIND A MENTOR/COACH)

If I were starting a wedding planning business in 2026, I would not try to build it alone. Not for a single minute. Because the fastest way to grow, the fastest way to gain clarity, and the fastest way to stay grounded is to anchor yourself in a community that understands what you’re building.

Let’s walk through what this could look like.

Find a Mentor Who Has Built the Business You Want

Listen, you can absolutely build a business through trial and error… but it will take years.

Or you can learn from someone who has already made the mistakes, learned the lessons, and built the systems you eventually want to have.

If I were starting today, I would look for a mentor who:

• understands the level of business I want to build
• shares my values and design sensibilities
• has experience with the type of clients I want to work with
• can help me skip years of guesswork

You don’t need a mentor for “motivation.” You need a mentor for strategy — someone who can look at your decisions and say, “Here’s the path that will get you there faster and cleaner.”

And the right mentor gives you something hours of searching on Google never will: context, insight, accountability, and an outside perspective when you’re too close to your own business to see clearly.

Building a Supportive Peer Community

Find the peers and planners who are in the thick of it with you, who understand the wins and losses, the hard clients, the long weekends, the creative breakthroughs.

A strong peer community gives you:

• support when you’re overwhelmed
• collaboration opportunities
• referrals
• a place to learn what’s happening in the industry
• proof that you are not alone

But here’s what’s important: This should not be a comparison-driven, competitive space. It should be collaborative and encouraging. A place where you can ask questions without fear of judgment.

If I were starting a wedding planning business in 2026, I would intentionally seek out other planners who want to grow, who value design, and who approach this career like a craft — not just a side hobby.

Those are the people who will elevate you.

And don’t just stop at planners.

Surround Yourself With Vendors Who Inspire You

Some of the strongest relationships you’ll build are with vendors who:

• share your values
• elevate your design
• provide an incredible experience
• and ultimately refer the right clients back to you

If I were starting today, I would:

• connect with photographers whose aesthetic matches mine
• learn from florists who understand design deeply
• collaborate with venues that align with the kind of weddings I want
• build relationships with caterers who care about hospitality

Surround yourself with people who inspire your creativity, not drain it.

Because when you have strong vendor relationships, everything becomes easier.

Your weddings and client experience improve.
You get more referrals.
Your business grows more organically.

When you’re building a business, you will have moments of doubt, confusion, frustration, and burnout. That’s totally normal.

But the planners who make it in this industry are the ones who don’t isolate themselves.
They have support, guidance, community, and people to lean on.

If I were starting a wedding planning business in 2026, I would gather my people early and intentionally — because community gives you confidence when you haven’t built your own yet.

3: DOCUMENT MY PROCESSES AND CREATE SYSTEMS

Once you have clarity and community, the final step is building the thing that makes your business work — the systems and processes that keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes.

Because a business can grow without systems, but it cannot scale without them.

Systemize Your Client Experience

Your clients should feel guided every step of the way — not left wondering what happens next.

If I were starting today, I would intentionally map out:

• What happens the moment a client inquires
• How they are onboarded
• What they receive and when
• How often I communicate
• When I send check-ins, questionnaires, and updates
• How I present design, proposals, and deadlines

Every step should feel clear, predictable, and polished.

Why? Because predictability creates trust.

When a client feels held by your process, they trust your expertise more. They relax, defer, and let you lead. Plus, this will dramatically reduce the number of “just checking in!” emails you’ll get from your couples.

A polished client experience isn’t a luxury. It’s a business strategy.

Document Your Workflow (Not Just Your Tasks)

Most planners use checklists. But checklists aren’t systems.

If I were starting now, I would document my workflow — the order of operations that happens behind the scenes, from the first inquiry to the final wedding day breakdown.

Your workflow should answer:

• What do I do first?
• What depends on what?
• What needs to be approved before we move forward?
• What templates or documents do I need?
• What should be automated?

This becomes your playbook. It also becomes the thing that saves you hours every single week, because you’re not reinventing the wheel for every new client.

Your workflow should be so clear that Future You (the you who is tired, sick, overwhelmed, or deep in busy season) could open your system and know exactly what needs to happen next.

Build Templates for EVERYTHING

If I were starting in 2026, I would not wait years to develop templates.
I would build them immediately and for things like:

• inquiry responses
• onboarding welcome guides
• planning checklists
• design questionnaires
• timeline drafts
• rental orders
• proposal structures
• walkthrough sheets
• rehearsal plans
• Literally everything you do

Templates don’t make your process inflexible — they make it repeatable. And repeatability is what creates sanity.

The more templates you create, the more professional your business becomes and the more consistent your client experience feels.

Automate the Things That Don’t Need Your Brain

You do not need to personally send every confirmation email, every payment reminder, every onboarding step, or every timeline update.

If I were starting now, I’d choose a CRM (yes, a real CRM — not just a Google Drive folder) and I’d automate every task that didn’t require my direct creative input.

Automation doesn’t replace you. It supports you, so you can spend more time designing, consulting, creating, and strategizing, and less time chasing down paperwork or manually sending reminders.

2026 couples expect efficiency. Your systems should deliver that.

Protect Your Creativity

A lot of planners think systems will make their business feel rigid. But that is far from the truth.

They:

• free up mental space
• reduce decision fatigue
• eliminate repetitive tasks
• give you time to design
• make room for innovation
• help prevent burnout

If I were starting from scratch, I would build systems early — before I had the clients, before I had the big weddings, before I was drowning.

Because systems aren’t something you create once you’re overwhelmed. Systems are what keep you from becoming overwhelmed in the first place.

When you have your plan, your people, and your systems, something incredible happens: your business stops feeling chaotic and starts feeling intentional.

You stop guessing and you start leading.

And that is exactly the foundation I’d build, if I were starting a wedding planning business in 2026.

Before we close, I want to leave you with this: building a planning business in 2026 isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing the things that give you clarity, support, and structure. The things that keep you aligned with the kind of planner you want to be, instead of the one you feel pressured to be.

When you know your business model, when you surround yourself with the right people, and when you build systems that support your creativity, you stop operating from chaos and start operating from intention.

And when your business is grounded in intention, everything gets easier, from the clients you attract and the boundaries you set, to the confidence you feel and the work you create.

If anything in today’s episode resonated with you, or if you’re in the thick of building your business and want help getting clarity on your next steps, I would love to connect. Come share your thoughts with me over on Instagram @plannersedit.

Let’s Build the Business That Supports the Life You Want

If listening today made you realize you want more clarity in your business, more support, or simply a cleaner path toward becoming the planner you know you can be, I’d love to help you get there.

My mentorship and coaching program Full-Service Foundations opens in December, with limited spots for January 2026. I created this program because our industry needs more planners who feel confident offering high-touch, full-service experiences, and fewer planners stuck in the cycle of low pricing, high volume, and burnout.

Inside the program, I walk you step by step through building your own full-service planning + design package, refining your process, and creating a business model that supports the life you want. If you’re ready to stop taking every client who inquires, raise your standards, elevate your services, and work with couples who value your expertise, I would love to work with you.

You can join the waitlist now at desireeadams.co/education.

Thank you, as always, for listening to The Planner’s Edit.

If you enjoyed today’s episode, please follow the show and leave a quick review — it helps other planners and creatives find us.

Until next time, I’m Desirée Adams — and this is The Planner’s Edit.