A successful engagement season - the countdown is on!

It’s a well known fact that the busiest time for venue enquiries is from Christmas Eve through to Valentine’s Day. That’s 52 days to be precise! All these romantic proposals are happening thick and fast, with the two top dates being Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

According to the Bridebook UK Wedding Report 2022, one third of couples who got engaged in 2021, had popped the question between December and February. So with that in mind, it’s only a few weeks away. It’s time to get ready for the 2022 Engagement Season!

While the majority of us are revelling in Christmas spirits, popping yet another bottle of Champagne or making a little more room for one last turkey bap, for those in the Wedding Industry, it’s a slightly different story. Now is your busiest period for enquiries and it’s time to capitalise on the festive season of love!

But what does that mean in real terms? I hear you ask.

OK, Let’s break it down into manageable chunks…

ONLINE VISIBILITY

Exactly how visible is your venue? Couples will be diving head-first into wedding planning online, so this is where you need to be showing up and showing off your venue. Here’s some key areas to look at;

1. Update your website with fresh imagery and make sure your copy is reading as it should. Go through each page with a fine-tooth comb and check for spelling, grammar and any out-of-date inaccuracies while you’re there.

2. You’ve just finished a busy wedding season, so collate all those lovely testimonials and make good use of them. Share them on your socials, weave them into your website and in any printed material such as packages and your brochure, if you have one.

3. Post consistently on social media, not only with beautiful images of your venue, but with helpful advice to your newly engaged couple to position yourself as an expert in all things wedding!

4. Update any listing directories with new imagery and check that the information is as accurate as possible. It’s a good idea to check telephone numbers, email addresses and website links are all still relevant too.

BROCHURE & PACKAGES

Is your brochure in need of a refresh? Do your packages offer what couples are looking for?

You’ll no doubt be very familiar with who your ideal client is by now, but it’s worth checking that your literature is still speaking the right language to the right people.

It’s fairly easy these days to use an online design tool to create a beautiful brochure or pricing guide. Lots of them even have templates for you to use, so it’s super easy to slot in those gorgeous new images, freshen up that copy and …et voila! a new brochure is born.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY

How easy is it to make an enquiry with you? Will you or your team be available over the festive period to book in viewings?

The early bird catches the worm and that’s so true for any business, especially in the wedding industry. There are a multitude of ways to accomplish this without giving up lots of precious family-time.

Automate your enquiry responses. An easy one to achieve yet not always the best way forward. An Out-Of-Office can seem mildly off-putting to any eager couple, but done correctly your O-O-O can provide a world of information, with links to brochures, pricing, social media and more. Get creative, show your personality in your wording and help them get to know you a little better whilst driving them to your website for other materials to help them in the interim. Top TIp: tell them when they can expect to hear from you next.

Assign members of your team to reply to enquiries. This option is good for larger sales teams who can afford to spread the load. Assigning a different team member to a couple of hours each day of the holidays will have those enquiries responded to in super quick fashion.

If you have a business mobile for handling calls or text messages, this can also be utilised for those who prefer a quick whatsapp. Highlight this service in your O-O-O and it might just start some meaningful and rewarding conversations.

Your brochure and pricing should be instantly viewable. Don’t make your couples jump through hoops just to get to the good stuff.

PERFECTING THE WEDDING SHOW-ROUND

Once your couple have swooned over your socials, seen your pricing and viewed your brochure, you’ll need to knock their socks off when they come to view your venue.

Prepare to amaze them. Give them time to explain what they’re looking for and most importantly…listen. You’ll pick up some great pointers which you can refer to in your viewing.

If there’s something particular they love about your venue, then focus lots of attention on it.

Did you pick up on any anxieties or worries? You can use these to your advantage. Let me give you an example…

Person 1 has said they don’t particularly like being the centre of attention. (OK, that’s pretty challenging on a wedding day) So instead, come up with solutions to help them feel more at ease. Perhaps…

Suggest a seating layout that has a shorter aisle

Suggest they do away with the top table for dinner and have a round table for socialising instead.

Suggest they don’t have to do a first dance.

See what I mean? It’s easy to help them feel immediately more comfortable. They’ll like your ideas, they’ll trust you…and because of that, they’ll probably go on to book you!

People buy People. Become their new wedding friend!

For more tips on venue show-rounds, see ‘5 ways to smash your wedding showround’

SPREADING THE WORD

Now that you’ve ticked all the boxes above, it’s time to think about how to increase your leads into the business.

Some questions to ask of your business;

Where are most of your leads coming from? You should be keeping a record of each lead and where it came from. Analyse this data to see your top three most popular channels.

Is there anything that can be done to increase leads from those top three?

Where are you currently advertising?

Are they generating a good ROI?

During Engagement season, you may wish to consider some further promotional activity such as;

Instagram/Facebook advertising

Google Ads

Print media

Wedding Open Days

Venue Spotlight opportunities on listings & directories

Best of luck for Engagement Season, you’ve got this! Make sure you download my handy checklist to get you through this busy time.

And if you still need some help in getting ready for Engagement Season, then I’d love to hear from you. My name is Olivia Riddiford from Host Venue Consultancy and I offer 1:1 sessions for venues just like you who need a little extra help in some areas of their wedding venue business.

During the last 10 years, I’ve worked for several diverse venues within multiple roles. In 2010 I was head-hunted to manage Old Down Estate - a venue that was brand new to the wedding scene. I set the venue up from scratch bringing the business over £8million+ worth of revenue within 5 years.

I’d love to see how I could help you. You can send me a message HERE