Why You Shouldn't Discount Your Wedding Services

(And what to do instead!)

Who doesn’t love a good promotion? It’s a fool-proof way to convince couples to book you for their wedding, right? Not so fast.

Although in theory, it seems pretty straight forward - discount my price, attract more couples, book more weddings - discounting and promotions could lead to more trouble in the long run.

Below are my key thoughts on why you shouldn’t discount and a different way to offer a “deal” to couples:

Margins & Profit

Unless you pre-planned your intentions to run a discount or promotion, you may not have enough margin in your pricing to truly afford to offer one. You most likely did your market research and positioned yourself to be competitive in the community you serve, but if you haven’t itemized the costs associated with doing business you could be cutting yourself short by offering a discount.

Your Time & Talent

You may be new to your craft or the wedding industry, or you may be a seasoned veteran with years of experience, training and education under your belt. Regardless of where you fall on the experience spectrum, I view most wedding pros as artists - constantly perfecting their craft and not just anyone can step in and do what you do! There is value in that. Your experience, skill and training is a badge of honor that I personally would never discount (and creates doubt in the couples’ minds of why you were charging a higher price to begin with).

How to offer a “deal” to Couples

My above points aside, there are creative ways to offer a “deal” or “promotion” without cutting yourself short. Offer additional products as complimentary add-ons during certain times of the year or as necessary if you feel you need to sweeten the deal for a couple. An example could be RAW Footage of their wedding video, additional photo edits, or maybe even additional decor elements within a package. The key to this method is to ensure the cost to you is low/none or the additional work involved is marginal.

Even though I’m a fan of using a little creativity to offer deals & promotions to couples, I still urge you to use the tactic sparingly. I’m a firm believer that the skill you possess as a wedding pro is valuable and you should always focus on the couples who see that value and don’t try to discount you or question it. But a little of something never hurts, right?