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Ep. 181 - What Today’s Couples Really Want: Data-Driven Strategies with Tom Chelednik of WeddingPro
65 Plays1 month ago
💡 Episode Overview:
In this episode of Get a “HECK YES”!, Carissa Woo is joined by Tom Chelednik, a seasoned leader in the wedding industry with over 17 years of experience. As the Director of Vendor Engagement for The Knot and WeddingPro, Tom travels across the country, connecting with wedding pros and staying ahead of the latest trends.
Tom dives deep into WeddingPro’s Real Wedding Study, the largest and most comprehensive wedding data report in the U.S., capturing insights from nearly 17,000 couples.
🎯 What You’ll Learn:
- Today’s Couples, Unpacked: Understand modern couples' budgets, guest counts, wedding styles, and how they use planning tools.
- Crack the Gen Z Code: Discover how to build authentic connections with the next generation of couples based on their values and planning behavior.
- Strategic Marketing Tips: Learn how to apply data-backed insights to your own marketing and client experience strategy.
- Tom’s Favorite Sales Technique: How to get a “HECK YES!” by connecting your offer directly to what couples actually care about—using real data.
🛠️ Resources & Freebie:
Want the Real Wedding Study Summary?
👉 Scan the QR code (shared during the episode) for immediate access to the key findings and takeaways from this powerful report.
🌟 Woo Factor:
Tom stands out by engaging with over 80,000 wedding professionals every year—learning, sharing, and elevating the industry from coast to coast.
🔗 Connect with Tom:
- Website: weddingpro.com
- Instagram: @weddingpro | @tom_chelednik
Connect with Carissa https://www.instagram.com/carissawoo
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Transcript
Introduction to AI in Wedding Industry Course
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Will Wednesdays! do you guys want to start making passive income? It is very necessary in this day and age. I have a challenge for you. Turn your expertise in the wedding industry and turn it into a digital product.
00:00:14
Speaker
You will have your funnel and product ready to be sold in less than 24 hours if you go through this course. It's only $27. Hop on it. It's called the AI 24-hour challenge. It's in the show notes.
Meet Tom Chelinek: Wedding Industry Veteran
00:00:28
Speaker
So today's guest is Tom Chelinek. Director of Vendor Engagements at Wedding Pro. He has over 17 years of experience in wedding sales, marketing, and venue operations.
00:00:39
Speaker
He knows exactly what it's like to be a wedding pro and what it takes to thrive. In this episode, Tom shares insights from the Wedding Pro's Real Wedding Study, the largest of its kind, with data from 17,000 couples nationwide.
00:00:55
Speaker
We today are diving into spending habits wedding trends, and strategies to connect with today's couples, especially Gen Z. So if you're ready for actionable, data-driven marketing tips to stay competitive in a constantly evolving industry, this one is for you.
00:01:17
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host Carissa and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all.
00:01:27
Speaker
I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream
Carissa's Journey in the Wedding Industry
00:01:37
Speaker
clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:45
Speaker
Time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey.
00:01:58
Speaker
I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon.
00:02:08
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays! We are live today with Tom Chelinek from The Knot Wedding Pro, WeddingWire, and this is his second time on. We've become good friends over the past year We see each other at a lot of WIPO events.
00:02:23
Speaker
So I'm glad to have you on today, Tom. We are going to talk about 2025, the real wedding study, the biggest study um pretty much in the United States, right, for couples, and so excited.
00:02:36
Speaker
Absolutely. Thank you for having me on. You're the best for inviting me back again. And I love the friendship that we have developed over the past year or so. So you're so smart. So thank you for thank you for inviting me on.
00:02:50
Speaker
Thank you. I received that.
Tom's Career Evolution and Passion for The Knot
00:02:52
Speaker
good I am smart. It's good to be received. Thank you, Tom. Okay, so let's bring it back to um Tom back in the day. Tell me where you grew up, where you're from, and any stories that shaped you to who you are today.
00:03:08
Speaker
oh cool. um I grew up in Pennsylvania, in rural Pennsylvania in the mountains, and um pretty big family. I went to college in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
00:03:22
Speaker
After that, I bounced around a bunch of different jobs. But what really led me to this job is those of you who are as old as I am, I used to sell yellow page advertising in the phone book way back, way back in the thing when there was actually a phone book out there. But, you know, you you think through that in a phone book was great um experience because you talk from everybody um about their advertising from an accountant to a zoologist and everybody in between.
00:03:48
Speaker
So you got to meet a lot of really interesting people. But then the phone book started to die. And I put my resume out there and a headhunter found me and they said, you need to try interview for this job at the knot. I'm like, okay.
00:04:00
Speaker
And I had two interviews and i didn't even know what the knot was. I was like this person who like, you know, like, oh, du I don't know what this is. And I thought, well, this sounds like a really cool job. Fast forward. You know, now what it? I've been at the Knot for 15 years. i had a little two year break and i I ran some wedding venues because I wanted to see what it was like to be on that side of the business.
From Yellow Pages to AI: Evolution in Advertising
00:04:20
Speaker
um And I've been back to the Knot for three years doing direct vendor engagement. So I'm out there meeting people like you and learning from people like you. Yeah, it's such like a time warp, right? To think only 15 years ago, it was Yellow Pages.
00:04:34
Speaker
i know. I mean, I grew up with Yellow Pages, but i don't really remember it too much. um I remember what it looked like, but I don't remember really using it. I think I was too young for that.
00:04:46
Speaker
You sort of think of like AI now, right? Like um your kids, my grandkids, they're not going to know what life is like without AI. You know, when I got into the knot many, many years ago, obviously we're an online product, but you had to explain to people what a website was.
00:05:05
Speaker
You know, you had to expect 2007, 2008, you know, people didn't have websites. People didn't know what the Internet was. And now we're like back to full circle. We seem this next great thing of of AI. So interesting.
00:05:18
Speaker
Yeah. Keep flexible. Yeah, totally. So what was it like growing up? Sorry, I'm going back to young Juan, but um how many people were in your family and like, what were you like as a? I had one older brother and, you know, probably 15 cousins. We all lived within five miles of each other.
00:05:36
Speaker
We all rode our dirt bikes and our bikes. And, you know, you had to you had to come in when the sun went down. Basically, my parents shoved us out the door in the morning and said, we'll see at night. So it was a great, wonderful life.
00:05:48
Speaker
It was yeah very, very blessed, very lucky. Oh, and then what is like your life look like now? Like, where do you live and your family? And what's like a daily, daily life in your um in your world?
00:06:00
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for asking. um So now I live in South Florida, about 40 minutes above West Palm Beach. I have two kids. They're both grown and gone. i have three granddaughters that are the love of my life. They are being a grandparent is life's reward for sure.
00:06:16
Speaker
um And ah luckily, they're only about 10 minutes from me. um I have the best job at the k not. I, you know, I get to travel the country and and learn from you all and and speak in small groups, big groups.
00:06:29
Speaker
I probably work way too much. but It's just because I love what I do. And I just love to help people. I like to take the information that you share with me of what's working, what's not working and share that with other wedding pros to help help grow their business.
00:06:41
Speaker
I know that sounds really lame on a podcast, but that's truly just who I am. and At this point, I'm really not looking to build a career. I've done the career. I've built the resume, titles
AI in Wedding Planning and Marketing Evolution
00:06:51
Speaker
and all that doesn't matter.
00:06:52
Speaker
I need to make money. Don't get me wrong. But luckily, I think I have the best job at the time for sure. Yeah, you do. I can see that passion in you like since the first time we met last year at the WIPA event, which feels like forever ago. but you just like um And even after the podcast, like you took the time to sit down with people and do one-on-ones. And you took the time to go to lunch with people for couple hours.
00:07:17
Speaker
And even after you spoke at the last event, like you just were at the ah bonfire, just chatting people love, just like really engaged with people. So I think people can see your passion for sure. Right. Thank you. Thank you. And reach out to me. Shoot me an email if I can help, regardless if you're advertising or not advertising.
00:07:34
Speaker
I'm here to help. but if I can help you, I'll find smart people like Carissa that could help you more than I can. So thank you. OK, let's talk about like how the knot has evolved in the past. I don't know, 15 years.
00:07:46
Speaker
um What was it like? um The key differentiators back then or to now? And what sets you apart from other platforms? Well, you have to think way back when, when I first started and you were in the wedding business, you didn't have a lot of places to get your name out there, right?
00:08:04
Speaker
It was the knot. um You did bridal shows, which they're still around, obviously. um You really couldn't afford to do newspaper, radio or TV because it's so expensive or billboards at $5,000 a month.
00:08:17
Speaker
But now, you know fast forward to where we are today, the average couple is reaching out ah ah four to eight different wedding planners or photographers every time they're um sending an inquiry and they're looking at you in four different places before they decide to send
Insights from the Real Wedding Study
00:08:35
Speaker
you an inquiry. Yeah.
00:08:36
Speaker
Well, it's got a lot more complicated, right? There's a lot more balls that wedding pros have to manage just in in in in their marketing. You know, where the knot was then compared to where it is now with all our AI tools that we have for um that we're introducing just for our wedding pros alone, such as um a, we take all your five-star reviews and we use use AI to summarize them and put the top and put that the top of your reviews. We have something called a smart photo um AI tool that will look at the logarithms in your category, in your market, look at all your photos and it'll pick for you, what should be your main image, your photo that's most likely to get clicks.
00:09:19
Speaker
And so much more on the couple side that we're doing with AI and tools, like our budgeting tools and things like that for our couples. i mean, it's transforming. I'm very excited what this next year brings and and the future as technology keeps evolving. So, yeah, yeah. The same though, right? Like, yeah, I mean, it's interesting, too, because um we now have daughters of their mothers. who The mothers plan their wedding on the night.
00:09:46
Speaker
And now the daughters plan the night. So like it's this it's become a rite of passage, part of that 22 million unique visits a month. you know like ah People are still planning on the knot.
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the knot's here to stay. um I was just going to say that um your name, my whenever someone says, oh, I sent you of contact information to my friend, but I'm so sorry they didn't book you. I'm like, no, no, it's so good. like I just want people to like hear my name 10 times because that person might tell a friend that they're bridesmaids and you know they want to keep hearing Carissa with photography. And then you know someone's going to book me eventually if they're like, okay, her reputation's good. Yeah.
00:10:28
Speaker
I hear you. That's marketing, getting your name out there over and over again. Yeah. Let's talk about um how you evolved with AI. Like, is that part of your role role with vendor engagement or is that someone else?
00:10:42
Speaker
And then is it kind of um helping people get more leads or just talk more about it? Because I'm all about AI. I think it's two sided, right? we have the technology on the AI we're using on the not fork for couples, right?
00:10:59
Speaker
um On the real wedding study, we asked the question, um which was really surprising. We asked the question, how are you using AI um to plan your wedding? And which was very interesting to me is 90% of them say they're really not using it at this point.
00:11:14
Speaker
However, the 10% that are using AI, they're using it for speech writing, vowel writing, thank yous and things like that. We certainly believe and know that next time this study comes out, that number is probably going to get, probably numbers can continue to grow.
00:11:30
Speaker
Also on the couples also on the couple side, we have this budgeting tool. um the the um for for couples to figure out like what should their budget be late based on their needs. So you can go on and and if you haven't done it, you should really go in and try to do it. It's it's the not um budget tool where sign in and you can say, and there's a bunch of photos and you pick all the photos that like resonate the type of wedding that you want.
00:11:55
Speaker
What type of, how many do you need a photographer, a videographer? Like what what are the categories or vendors that you're looking for? How many people do you want? And then it spits out, the budget for that market. That's a really cool AI feature, right? Like the national average for wedding from the rule wedding study was $33,000. everybody's like, Oh, only $33,000. Chris is can't get married for $33,000 in California.
00:12:17
Speaker
get married for thirty three thousand dollars in in california um But again, that's a national average. I hear it's too low. And then some markets, people come to me, this last call that I just had, that's too expensive. Nobody spends $33,000 here.
00:12:30
Speaker
But I used this budgeting tool this morning for myself in my local area. And it came out that my wedding would be $45,000, which is spot on I mean, exactly So AI tools like that for the couples and then continuing in using AI as we move forward into 2025 and 2026 for vendors too.
Adapting to Gen Z Preferences in Weddings
00:12:51
Speaker
I think wedding exactly $33,000.
00:12:53
Speaker
wow i think my wedding was exactly thirty three thousand to I wonder what it would be. okay um Tell me about like maybe not yet the 2025 real wedding study, but in like a nutshell, like what do you think the trends are like today or like the words that describe the weddings um from maybe – the past like year and this year.
00:13:22
Speaker
Okay. So um we asked 50 questions within this study and it's, that and it's, and they're not, and it's, it's not just checking a box. They're writing paragraph after paragraph about their wedding. And one of the questions, how do you describe your wedding?
00:13:37
Speaker
And um for years and years and years and years and years, I mean, we've been doing a study for 16 years. The number one descriptor was the word fun, right? Fun wedding. Last year, however, when the study came out before this one,
00:13:49
Speaker
the number one descriptor was romantic. And I'm like, finally, something different other than fun, right? The study came out this year and we're back to fun, but romantic people close second. So a fun, um romantic wedding is really the the two main descriptors of their we ah of couples' weddings now.
00:14:08
Speaker
Why is that important? Because you want to show that in your photos, in your videos, in your blogs, in your website, et cetera, et cetera. You want to connect with them. Oh, I love that. I guess that's good for me because I am more like the fun type instead of like the demure, like Vogue. So yeah, I guess it's um a good demographic to be in.
00:14:27
Speaker
Okay. i wanted to ask um one more question before we go into hot topic, but it's not pertained to maybe you, but you talk to so many wedding pros year after year, but like, how do you think,
00:14:41
Speaker
A wedding pro could get their best. Heck yes. Like, are there any techniques that you would say that stand out to you? I mean, I think it's I'm confident that a combination of everything. You can't just do one thing and expect the world to come to you. Right. Like it's a combination. You've got to be where the couples are. Number one.
00:15:01
Speaker
How do you get a heck? Yes. You've got to actually show up to where the couples are. Like I said earlier, the average couple is looking at four at you four different places. and And if you're in those four or five or six different places, you want to make sure that you're relevant to those and you're actually posting and you're for instance, you're on the not wedding wire. If your storefront's up to date, you have photos, et cetera, et cetera.
00:15:19
Speaker
So how to get a heck yes, you get a lead, you they find you, you get a lead no matter where it comes from. You have to follow up. You have to connect with these couples. It's not, it's not just sending one email or two emails. It's seven emails in 30 days. It's, you know, calling and texting. i think Chris and I, we talked about that. Like, you know, if you have a lead with a phone number, call it, text it, send the emails. You paid for those leads.
00:15:44
Speaker
But the real thing is to get a heck yes to on top of all those other things is you want to connect with them. Right. So we know that um ah stress is a big thing when planning a wedding, especially for this generation.
00:15:59
Speaker
Talk about show them, paint the picture, how you relieve their stress. Show them how you you work with them from the beginning all the way through all the way to the end and afterwards, how you're going to take that stress away.
00:16:10
Speaker
You've got to connect with them at ah at their level. I could talk about that. That's a whole other podcast. No, that's a really good answer. well But you've got to be where they're at. You've got to make sure you're it's totally updated on things and you and you and you and you're using relevant information, stuff from the Real Wedding Study, stuff from Gen Z, all that free education that's out there to be able to connect and be relevant while building trust and rapport with these couples.
00:16:34
Speaker
Even before they send you a lead, you got to do all that now. Competition is different than That's really, really, really good answer. I love that. Okay, let's go into hot topic. um What is your hot topic today, Tom? And why is it so near and dear to your heart?
00:16:50
Speaker
I'm excited to share with you all about our first Get A Heck Yes sponsor, 17 Hats. I've been using this CRM company for over a decade and I've been referring them to all my frienders for all this time.
00:17:04
Speaker
I always know when I'm going to get paid and most importantly, I get paid. So here is a question. What is holding you back? What's keeping you from finding success as a small business person?
00:17:16
Speaker
It's not passion. The fact that you're listening to my podcast shows that you're eager to learn and get better. Know what holds you back is all the chaos of business, paperwork, mailed invoices, and no systems to handle it all.
00:17:30
Speaker
That's where 17 Hats comes in. 17 Hats is a better way to manage your small business. It's an all-in-one platform that streamlines everything from lead capture to client communication to click-and-you're-done automated invoices.
00:17:46
Speaker
17 hats paves the way for success you deserve by giving you back hours in your day find what success looks like for you with 17 hats get started for free at 17hats.com and use my code heck yes and it's going to give you guys 50 off your first annual membership how amazing is that Yeah, the ah hot topic is our our real wedding study.
00:18:13
Speaker
um So we, for 16 years, we have been doing the largest wedding study in the nation. This year, it was 17,000 U.S. couples from 2020 newly weds all the way to couples getting married in 2025.
00:18:28
Speaker
And we ask them 50 questions and they write paragraph after paragraph. And then we take that information, slice it, dice it, and break it on at a national level and then to a local level.
00:18:39
Speaker
where then we share that with our wedding pros so that they can make educated decisions on not only like aesthetic trends and colors and things like that, but like where are couples thinking? What's important to them?
00:18:50
Speaker
So they can adjust their business to connect um to this, you know, this 2025 couples in 2026 weddings. Wow. Were you like on the visionary side of that when it actually started or was it already kind of like there when you got the job?
00:19:07
Speaker
I think we did. I'm confident we when I first started, I think we had one year of a real wedding study. and But from what it's from where that was 16 years ago to where it is now is just totally different. I mean, the questions we asked were much more thoughtful.
00:19:25
Speaker
full about the questions we're asking, how we can help wedding pros with this particular answers. Because the numbers are the numbers. We don't make them up. You know, somebody liked the numbers, somebody don't like the numbers, whatever. The the numbers are the the numbers are numbers there.
00:19:36
Speaker
The other thing just with technology also, it makes a lot easier to go through that data now And, you know, probably using AI to slice and dice some of that information to to to to summarize that.
00:19:47
Speaker
So much different. I have an interesting question. Like, well, we won't talk about like this year yet, but in the past, was there any aha moments for you where you saw these um these these answers and were like blown away or like very um surprised?
00:20:06
Speaker
um not in the too distant past, right? Like last year's real wedding study, um the economy reared its head for the first time ever.
00:20:16
Speaker
Not surprising, but it's still like, oh, wow, that is real. You know what i mean? It's like gets you to a moment like, wow, that is that is a real thing. The economy is affecting all of us in our lives, but it's it's ah it's affecting weddings too.
00:20:30
Speaker
You know, it's also interesting to see the... not aha moments, but I'm a data geek. I like to, I like to, you know, in 2000, you know, 18, they were the average number guests and weddings, 131. What is it now?
00:20:44
Speaker
You know what i mean? I like to see that numbers going up and down. and And what are those, what are those reasons they're going up and down? But yeah, that's so interesting. Yeah. I mean, when you're looking at a timeline of 16 years, like you do gather a lot of data. Okay. Let's talk about,
00:21:00
Speaker
2025 key takeaways. We're going to talk about Gen Z, Zers versus millennials. We're going to want to talk about things I probably don't even know.
00:21:11
Speaker
So you take it away, Tom. Yeah. I think some of the major insights are big picture stuff, eye-opening things where the need for celebration has never been more essential.
00:21:23
Speaker
right People still want to celebrate. Yeah. i I'm going to geek out on some numbers here because I love numbers. And plus, I memorize them. 84% of couples say they're looking forward to their wedding day more than anything else this year.
00:21:35
Speaker
And that's really cool, especially current you know with given the current you know macroeconomic and socio-political landscape that we're in. They're still looking for that for that forward to their wedding.
00:21:46
Speaker
More than three quarters or 77% of couples believe weddings remain as important as ever. So what the wedding business is big. Remember, the wedding business is $100 billion dollars a year business in the US s alone.
00:21:59
Speaker
And, you know, 96% couples say they, hey, they're just grateful that they're going to get their families together. Right. So those are some major insights. So, you know, weddings are still big, you know, um and people are still getting married and they still have money to get married.
00:22:15
Speaker
Personalization continues to be the top factor of today's couples when planning their weddings. So, you know, 62% even say that amongst couples that are beginning the wedding planning their journey, 55% report feeling pressure to plan a special or highly unique proposal too.
00:22:34
Speaker
So they want a personalized wedding. Why is that important to wedding pros? Because you should be talking about viewing a personalized wedding. You should be talking about the things that unique things that you can do for them.
00:22:45
Speaker
Why is it important to know that you know people are hiring photographers and planners and venues and florists to do these unique engagements? Because that's a revenue stream for you all, right? Like, do you have an engagement package, Carissa?
00:23:00
Speaker
If you don't, you should. Are you blogging about engagements? You know, I know photographers that ah plan engagements also. Not only they shoot them, they plan And getting that couple in the beginning, you're more likely to book them for the wedding.
00:23:14
Speaker
I mean, there's so much data there, but personalization really is one of the big, big takeaways, um you know, for, for, for this year's, for this year's. Let's go, let's go deeper into personalization. So say like you gather, like people are writing novels to you and saying like personalization is so important.
00:23:33
Speaker
Are they like being specific in personalization um as far as like hiring their wedding planner or like photographer? Like what does that really mean to them?
00:23:43
Speaker
It's it's unique. I'm bringing ethnic and culture items within their web cultural traditions within their wedding, um especially Gen Z is doing this more where they're bringing going more into the religious um realm of weddings before what is old is new again.
00:24:01
Speaker
So Gen Z is is doing more bridal bouquet tosses than millennials. Gen Z, you know, um ah theyre their signages signage is huge.
00:24:13
Speaker
um Games. People are bringing games into their weddings. I was on a call last week and the planner was saying yes. like we People wanted Monopoly.
00:24:24
Speaker
And, you know, Django is relatively normal and cornholes are ultimately, you know, but but I there's a um ah rental place out in California that I visited when I was visiting you and they have video games in their rental places. Who's doing videos? He goes, these are out every weekend.
00:24:41
Speaker
Wow. Every weekend there's people doing video games. So something unique into that with that aspect of it too. so Have you heard of, is it Cahoots? Yes, Cahoots. Yeah. So is that the one where can play the trivia games?
00:24:56
Speaker
Yes. yeah Yeah. So that's been really popular the past year So everyone's like... Part of it is what old is new again for this generation, but also they're bringing their own twist to ah to twist to everything.
00:25:09
Speaker
So just ask those questions. yeah You know, what are the top three things you want to see at your ceremony, your reception? What, what, and what are the unique things that you've seen at other weddings that you'd want to do here? Or what are the things you don't want at your weddings? Connecting with those couples in the front end, you know, um it gives you a better chance of booking them in the back end.
00:25:29
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just trying to wrap my head around everything. I just think of like when I go to um Urban Outfitters, like all the stuff that was popular when I was in high school is like popular now, like baggy jeans and like, well, crop tops and, you know, Converse and vintage cameras. And it kind of like goes like full circle. So I'm trying to think of like how it kind of pertains to weddings. um Have you, when you talk, you talked to a lot of wedding pros and what are some of the conversations that you have been having recently of maybe um challenges or even triumphs? um What's like the conversation now going on? your head
00:26:13
Speaker
The biggest thing that I consistently see, and I've been seeing this, that you know, even two years ago is anytime we're in a generational shift and we're in a generational shift. Last year, there were 32% of Gen Z getting married. This year studies show about 50%.
00:26:29
Speaker
So last year, really, and the year before, wedding pros should have been starting to change their business to um connect with Gen Z more than more a little bit at a time. Right.
00:26:43
Speaker
So this year we're thinking 50% of Gen Z. Right. So where I'm seeing one of the struggles is the fact that people aren't changing. Right. If you could pros aren't changing quick enough to connect,
00:26:55
Speaker
um There's so much free education out there in Gen Z and what they like, what they don't like. you know Gen Z, for instance, they like modern tradition keepers where millennials, you know um they're extending their celebrations more than Gen Z's are, meaning they're doing more after parts. You need to understand the generations.
00:27:12
Speaker
If you could freeze, Carissa, if you could freeze your business today and all the policies, pricing, procedures, products, website, and transport yourself two years in advance and look back at your business, you and you're still successful two years from now, you've had some transformational change in your business to be able to connect with this next generation.
Role of Content and Technology in Modern Weddings
00:27:33
Speaker
And that comes in the realm of, again, products. Pricing, packages, where you're marketing, how you' how you're responding leads, where you're responding to leads, your website look and feel. So people are behind the gun here. They haven't made that change.
00:27:47
Speaker
um And, you know, if things aren't going well, maybe that's because you need to make some make some changes to connect. So that's part of the big, one of the biggest things I see that people are struggling with. the people that have made changes, because what worked eight months ago isn't working anymore.
00:28:07
Speaker
They had a great engagement in booking season. They truly did. Compared to the people that, you know, well, it worked last year. It's not working anymore. Oh, interesting. I mean, that was going to be my next question, but you pretty much answered it.
00:28:18
Speaker
um We could go deeper into that. But I want to ask you like, is there any transformational things that wedding pros have to do pertaining to content? um I know you said to speak to their stress levels, maybe give like advice on how to alleviate their stress.
00:28:34
Speaker
um But anything else that you've seen that's been working for people and not working? Photographers, I am so thrilled to announce my new sponsors Aftershoot, an AI editing company.
00:28:47
Speaker
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00:29:05
Speaker
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00:29:27
Speaker
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00:29:48
Speaker
Oh yeah. Back to the podcast. Well, back to the texting and texting any leads and, and, and, and leaving messages. It's an interesting that the leads that are coming from the not letting wire.
00:30:00
Speaker
There's no rhyme or reason to this, but I'm seeing more people giving phone numbers than ever before. And so have our clients. But yet so many wedding pros are afraid to call and text. Right. So but if you have a phone number, if it came from your website or Instagram or something, wherever it came from, make sure you're calling and texting, connecting with them, meaning like know the trends.
00:30:19
Speaker
Right. Like we know part of this study, for instance, you know, greens are the most popular color. So white and dark green are the most popular colors, light and dark blue are second. So let's connect with those couples within content, with your photos, within your videos.
00:30:35
Speaker
We know that Gen Z is consuming more video than any other generation before its time. So you should have video on your site, some evergreen videos, some talking about the process and, you know, the stress level.
00:30:48
Speaker
But even when you get a lead, you should be taking your phone, Carissa, and saying, Hey, I'm Carissa. Thanks so much. Right. And attaching that lead, attaching that video into your lead. yeah But there's so tons of study out there on trends and things like that. You just need to be relative. And that's part of your content.
00:31:04
Speaker
But it's not just in your lead replies. It's not just in your website. It needs to be in your social media. It needs to be in your blogs. It needs to be every everywhere so that you become relevant. Yeah, that's interesting. I mean, I have.
00:31:16
Speaker
a few Gen Z like assistants. And I feel like one of the big differences is like they have a lot of boundaries. um They will say no to many things.
00:31:29
Speaker
I would say like millennials are more just like, yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Type of thing. Are there any, um you talk to a lot of Gen Zers, you talk to people of all ages on the wedding pro spectrum, but are there any like differentiators that you see that as far as like personality?
00:31:48
Speaker
um You have to work harder to gain the trust for Gen Z than millennials and certainly, you know, Gen X. But once you gain their trust and you're helpful, they're loyal.
00:32:03
Speaker
They're much more loyal than other generations. But you need to work harder to do that, right? then They are very um much into... um charities and value. They want to know what you're doing good for the world. So share that.
00:32:18
Speaker
I grew up in a time where when you did a good deed, you didn't talk about that. You'd never talked about that. You didn't, you gave charity, but you didn't tell the world you talked to, you gave charity, but that was, I look back at that. That's foolish. Cause you want to get that message out there. Right. So if, if your charity is, you know, um, brides for breast cancer or whatever that may be, put that out there with them a little bit more.
00:32:43
Speaker
They're loyal, but you have to work harder to get their loyalty. Yeah. Are you saying maybe like mission-based companies are maybe, maybe they relate to more buy I think they have an advantage. They certainly I think they, I believe they have an advantage if they, they have a mission in their and they're, and they're, they're talking about their mission.
00:33:03
Speaker
I believe they, I absolutely believe they have the advantage. advantage Yeah, i I saw somewhere they said ah Princess Diana was like the OG influencer because she did like a lot of philanthropic work, um but she would have like camera crews come and newspapers and um call them up and say, get this on camera.
00:33:24
Speaker
but no yeah, absolutely. Yep. You were probably not even born when Lady Diana, when Princess Diana was around. Yeah. You were very young. Yes.
00:33:35
Speaker
Oh my
Effective Marketing Strategies for Wedding Professionals
00:33:36
Speaker
God. Okay. So Let's talk about more of this study and how it pertains to like wedding pros as a whole. Like, do give them the study and tell them like, kind of analyze it yourself? Or is it like, here are the top three things that the study will help you get more leads and be become more successful? Yeah.
00:34:00
Speaker
I mean, the study is just all encompassing. i'm going to give you a QR code that you know, that you can attach to this and you can download a summary of the study. um And that's not going to give you everything. It's not going to you by market and things like that. But the really the the big takeaways from the study is there's a there's quite a few things, actually. But, you know, guest experience is everything for these couples.
00:34:23
Speaker
Right. So you want to talk about guest experience and the importance of how you're going to help their guests have a wonderful time at their wedding and a unique time. We talked a little bit about personal we talked a little bit about personalization too.
00:34:38
Speaker
um ah Talking about vendors planning and timeline, right? Couples are thinking about their wedding well before they're engaged. I think that's important for everybody to know. 83% already set a ah wedding date prior to their even getting the engagement ring.
00:34:55
Speaker
they're on the knot, they're on the wedding wire, they're planning their favorite, they're planning, you know, saving vendors, you know, planning on who they're goingnna going to talk to before they even get the ring. I think that number is such a high number. it's It's a good idea maybe to think through this a little bit. How can you grab that audience?
00:35:13
Speaker
If they find your website and they haven't had the they haven't got the ring yet, wouldn't it be cool to have a little tab on your website before the ring? Just call it before the ring. And it's an f FAQ and it's questions and it's,
00:35:25
Speaker
it's it's a great little It's a great little introduction, right? Because you're talking to that that couple and 83% of them are looking, hopefully finding you and looking for you before they actually before they actually get the ring.
00:35:39
Speaker
The other thing is um the proposal the proposal situation, like grab onto that. Unique proposals continue to grow and that should be a revenue stream for you.
00:35:51
Speaker
um On average, a a couple is engaged 15 months. I know last year it was interesting. um There was a lot of like, hey, a couple reached out to me. I had a consultation for them. They ghosted me.
00:36:03
Speaker
And then four months later, they they they hired me and their wedding is in three weeks. You know what I mean? Yeah. were way up last year. like you know they were They were doing all this research beforehand and during, and then they're like they were they were shy of pulling the plug and and actually hiring somebody.
00:36:23
Speaker
What I'm hearing this year a little bit more is that's not happening as much, and they're booking it into 2027 at this point, I think is way too important. Yeah. I feel like for me, it's opposite. It's been before they would book out like a year and a half prior. um But now I've been booking like, Hey, I'm getting married in two months.
00:36:45
Speaker
So yeah my earn you're on that trend still of, you know, the the they've been, might they've been in MoneyGates for 12 months, but they didn't book their photographer for two months away, you know? And plus I just don't think they understand they, we can, all wedding professionals can put a wedding together pretty quick.
00:37:01
Speaker
Right. But they think, Oh, it's so easy. Right. It's not that easy to put a big big, big wedding professional together. So yeah, big wedding ah wedding together. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this whole conversation, but I think my main takeaway is how we are communicating to our couples, um, where they're at. So, um, just talking about like personalization, how they can make the guest experience grand, um, talking about these things that I feel like they're already thinking,
00:37:34
Speaker
is going to be really powerful in our sales call or um making content for them. getting he Yes. gen I want you to walk away with this generational shift. I know Carissa, you and i one off talked about it, but anybody that's listening to this, this generational shift is huge. 50% of your weddings taking place are going to be Gen Z. if you Even if you're not struggling, continue to evolve your business and test this is working, this isn't working. This package seems to be more relevant than this package.
00:38:03
Speaker
Get those, get that, in for you know, figure that out here. Hopefully before engagement season of this year. Like all that stuff should be done by November 1st. So then December, January, February, March, April hits, you're ready to go for next
The Knot's Impact on the Wedding Industry
00:38:16
Speaker
year.
00:38:16
Speaker
Yeah. Have you heard about like, was curious, are content creators advertising on the knots yet? Because I know it's like getting kind of big, but I don't know if they're um that big enough.
00:38:31
Speaker
at At this point, we do not have a category for content creators. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I know they're charging like around 300 an hour. I've talked to people. So I was was wondering if like that world is getting bigger and bigger. yeah No, I, I feel personally it's getting bigger and bigger for sure.
00:38:49
Speaker
um Even my daughter, seven years ago, she got married seven years ago and she had a content creator. So really, you know, Lord only knows what I paid for that, but. wow in jacks Just kept a writing checks.
00:39:02
Speaker
And it's it's it's every market too, right? Like this social media influence that it has over people, especially this generation, it's going to continue to grow. I think that's a total revenue stream. I think, Krista, you have that, don't you?
00:39:14
Speaker
Content creating. Yeah, I actually do it kind of as a bonus, but um I tell them I'll give them like two little videos at the end of the night so they could post and Right. Yeah. So make them pay for it.
00:39:30
Speaker
I know. I know. I know. Hire somebody to do it and charge them $1,500. You know what I mean? And pay that person $500. You know what I mean? That's a revenue stream. Right. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah. 100%. agree with you there.
00:39:42
Speaker
Have you seen any like photographers crushing it um that have some sort of special proposal package um and they hype it up? but Like, are there any creative things that we've seen your um friends do that are kind of out of the box?
00:39:58
Speaker
So I don't, i don't love out of the box, but you know how they'll do a wedding shoots, like, you know, stage wedding shoots. I'm seeing more more stage proposal shoots,
Encouragement and Personal Insights from Tom
00:40:08
Speaker
right? Like makes sense, right? It makes, it makes, it makes total, makes total sense.
00:40:13
Speaker
I know photographers, like I said earlier, that are, are planning after parties. oh I know photographers that are planning engagements, session not just the session, but they're actually planning the engagement for them too.
00:40:27
Speaker
You know, in the world in which we live, um you need multiple revenue streams, right? And it makes sense. and the And the study, the Real Wedding Study and all the other study, those are two things that are continuing to rise.
00:40:39
Speaker
So where what are the revenue streams you could possibly do? The photographers I see that do do best across the country, they're just everywhere. You know what i mean? They have a great social media presence. Obviously, there on with us. They have a great website, they update, you know, they have good processes and policy process and procedures um in their business to follow up quickly and continue to follow up and connect.
00:41:05
Speaker
um And they also realize too, you know, where everybody wants the $100,000 wedding, right? Like you want the couple that wants to spend $25,000 on photography.
00:41:16
Speaker
The problem with that is there's this many weddings in California, There's this many weddings that only want to spend $25,000 in photography, but there's this many photographers that want that, right? Like you deserve the $25,000, but is that sustainable or do you need to hire um a junior photographer or not even a junior, hate to use the word junior, a photographer that's going to do one for $5,000. And all of a sudden you have, you're you're then then you're relevant to this many weddings rather than just this many weddings.
00:41:46
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got to think You gotta keep thinking, you gotta keep thinking revenue, ways of revenue. Wedding pros. I have a new and exciting opportunity for you to make passive income with digital products and courses and affiliate marketing.
00:42:02
Speaker
The space is booming right now and you have to take a look. Sky is truly the limit in the digital space and you can just stop trading your time for money and scale your business.
00:42:14
Speaker
And life just got a lot easier. Get your weekends back and comment at me at Carissa Wu, the word info, and I'll send you a free sneak peek guide on how to make passive income.
00:42:25
Speaker
And if you're ready to start making money from home while being there for the moments that matter, I can't wait to connect.
00:42:34
Speaker
Totally. Let's talk about the ethos of the knot. Like, I don't even know all the directories off the top of my head, but I'm sure there's a lot. Like, what is the ethos behind the knot compared to like others? And like, what do you guys stand for? And like, what are your key differentiators to like, make someone 500 month on you guys?
00:42:56
Speaker
Well, I mean, the the key to differentiators is as far as the numbers are, we have with the knot and then WeddingWire is a little bit behind us, but we obviously we're with the same company. um Between both sites, it's 22 million unique visits a month, right? It's over 4,000 on average downloads ah of our app every single day.
00:43:16
Speaker
Wow. We are the place where people, where couples, Pre-engaged and engaged are going to find inspiration, photos, all the tools, website, ah website creator, their local vendors, you know, and and things like that. There's nothing bigger or better than us as far as um ah the tools that we give we give to our couples.
00:43:39
Speaker
um as As far as the tools that we give to our wedding pros, we just keep improving them over and again. The Wedding pro Pro Playbook that just launched, it it takes you through your storefront say, hey, you haven't done this.
00:43:54
Speaker
And if you do do this, you're going to get X amount more possibility of leads. You know, where we're explaining the importance um and giving them the tools um to create a better storefront, you know, pricing them.
00:44:06
Speaker
ah calendars and things like that. So it keeps growing, you know, it just, it just keeps growing. So yeah. Brittany from Hyatt um Regency says she gets like all their bookings from the knot. So. And and and that's where I stayed when I was in California, right?
00:44:22
Speaker
That's the same Brittany. Yes. that or that Yeah. I mean, that place is stunning, right? yeah And she's doing big Indian weddings, you know, four five day wedding, four or five day weddings that are you know, a buyout of $150,000 in rooms, you know, so she does, she does really well. But the reason she does really well is because she uses the tools that the Notting Wedding Wire give her. She has fantastic follow-up.
00:44:48
Speaker
Yeah. She's Brittany, who is amazing in personality wise. You just talk to Brittany, you just want hug her, you know, give you, give you, give you, give you the money. So Yeah. Yes, but you can't just do one thing either.
00:45:00
Speaker
You know, don't just do the not wedding. You got to do you got to be everywhere where they're at. So yeah, I love it. that That's a great answer. Okay, so one more question before rapid fire questions, but speak to the heart of wedding pros. It doesn't have to be pertained to the not but just you've been in the business for so long. So have I but someone just feeling like they want to give up or they're they feel like everyone's doing well except them and they know this is their dream. What would you say to them today to get out of their heads and just make their dream come true?
00:45:32
Speaker
Okay, I'm a math guy, right? So i'm ah I'm a realist where we know that the wedding business is $100 billion. dollars You can even break that down into your state, into your city, you know, etc.
00:45:43
Speaker
There's plenty of money out there for weddings. You need to identify what you did, what you're doing. Is it working or is it working? Like, um For instance, if you figure out what your lead to booking percentage is, right? Like, and say it's only 2%.
00:45:59
Speaker
two percent Well, why the number is the number say it's only 2%. You need to increase that. That should take you down a path of what do I need to do better? Do I need to follow up more? Do I need to continue with content, but put better content? Should I be calling and texting?
00:46:14
Speaker
There's, you know, hire people out there too, to help you do the things that you're not great at. I'm going to give you a bonus. Ready? Yeah.
00:46:26
Speaker
There's a book out here called Who Not How. It's an amazing book by Dan Sullivan. You know, successful business people realize they don't know everything and they hire people or they ask for help.
00:46:39
Speaker
I sit on a few venue ah director board of directors. Why don't more wedding professionals bring their posse of people that are smarter than them?
00:46:51
Speaker
not saying I'm that smart, but smarter than to help them with their with their business. Don't give up on your dreams. There's plenty of business out there and there's plenty of free education and people that are willing willing to help you it Go by the numbers. you know like First, identify what's working and what's not working.
00:47:07
Speaker
I can go on. That's a whole other podcast. No, totally. Yeah, I'd love to have you back You're about to have your you know Yeah, it does go back to what's working and what's not. So that that was my key takeaway from our last WIPA event. Okay, rapid fire questions, Tom.
00:47:23
Speaker
What is your best traveling hack? Oh, wow. My best traveling hack. Best traveling hack.
00:47:35
Speaker
I don't want to put this publicly, but I'm a Delta. Like if I'm zone five, I'll board on zone three. They never they never look That's hilarious.
00:47:49
Speaker
I don't know. I'm just like, okay. Oh, the i figured what's the worst. It's going to say, Oh no, you're not zone three. Yeah. I've done it before. rarely ever check a bag. Cause I always throw to the overhead. And if you're zone six, forget it. You're not, you're never going to get, get on. Yeah. wal night I like that.
00:48:06
Speaker
um You're pretty extroverted and you travel a lot, but how do you decompress?
00:48:13
Speaker
um It's interesting because externally, I'm very much an extrovert, but I'm really more an introvert. I do. I'm an extrovert because it's just what the job is. yeah Right. And you're in sales. And I, I realized years and years ago when I got in sales, I got to like get out of my shell here.
00:48:29
Speaker
How I decompress is I go for a walk. I listen to my music or when I'm traveling and I'm traveling a lot, I just go to my room and silently read a book with no TV on or anything. that's how that's how I really decompress. So even after work today, I'll go into my room for like 10 minutes, my bedroom for 10 minutes is just decompressed. So I love that. made the Same, same, same.
00:48:53
Speaker
um You have like a wedding photo behind you old school, black and white. What do you, what does that mean to you? What do what weddings mean to you? So these are my parents' wedding photos.
00:49:06
Speaker
And um i always I always think, do I need to change that background? But my parents have been gone for a while. um Weddings mean to me is this, is love, love, love, and that created memories and treasured times and times and other people, children that, you know, the extension of that. So, you know, weddings is just a time of celebration. The wedding itself is very important.
00:49:31
Speaker
Don't get me wrong, but it's the love that between two people that what really gets me going with, with, with weddings. And hopefully, you know, you, you find that people, everybody in the world finds their person, whoever that may be.
00:49:45
Speaker
That's beautiful, Tom. And where can everyone find you and work with you? I'm everywhere. I'm Tom from the knot. Um, You can email me like where in the world is Tom?
00:49:57
Speaker
Yeah, seriously. You can email me. Chris, I think you can put mike you my email address. Of course, of course. can my email address at teachlednick at thenotww.com. Please follow us on Wedding Pro um on Instagram.
00:50:09
Speaker
And again, I'm here to help everybody, advertise or don't advertise. you know And if you're you're feeling like you're in a slump or you need some somebody to maybe hold you accountable or take a look at your business, I'm your guy.
00:50:23
Speaker
Yes, you are. I'll help you. Thank you, Tom. I appreciate you. Thank you. I appreciate you for the opportunity.
00:50:34
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine.
00:50:49
Speaker
See you next time, Wedding Pros.