What makes an incredible wedding day timeline? When we first set out to create a wedding planning software, we quickly learned that it takes a lot of heart and hard work. And thanks to some of the industry’s kindest and caring pros, we’re celebrating 13 years of Timeline Genius. 

We’re also celebrating 200 episodes of Wedding Industry Insider. That’s right: the 13th birthday of our company aligned serendipitously with the 200th episode of our podcast, and we knew we needed to do something big for it all. 

For many successful wedding planners, Timeline Genius is a part of their daily workflow. It’s where they settle in to do planning. It’s where they set their teams up for productive work. It’s where they map out wedding days that reflect their expertise. 

And many of them tune into the Wedding Industry Insider Podcast. It’s here where we break down the business side of wedding planning with full-length interviews and actionable advice. Experts join us every episode to talk about the grind and grit it takes to have a career in weddings. 

These are interviews for wedding pros who are ready to take notes, who want to learn from people who have reached their goals. Success leaves clues, and we’re mapping out the paths that wedding insiders have taken toward their successes. 

And if you’re new to the podcast, you’ve just discovered a treasure trove of industry-leading education. Take a look through our catalog and find a theme that fits where you are in your business journey. We’ve got episodes about marketing, branding, technology and systems, productivity and balance. You can hear about how wedding planners build additional income streams and how they’ve grown their teams. 

This week, we’re reflecting on all of it. Thirteen years of Timeline Genius. 200 episodes of Wedding Industry Insider. Thousands of wedding planners who have found encouragement, productivity, balance, and community through it all. 

And such an important week called for some important guests. So we called in some of the people who made it all possible. This week, we have five brand new interviews from some of our most treasured podcast guests and most influential supporters.

Here’s who is joining us this week for exciting updates, thoughtful reflection, and encouragement for all planners who are working toward their own milestones:

Brooke Richie-Babbage: a social impact strategist and coach who had the idea to help wedding planners strengthen their work through technology. 

Brigid Horne-Nestor: the owner of I-Do Weddings & Events, who gave Eddie the idea for a timeline software for wedding planners. Nora Sheils: co-founder of Rock Paper Coin and owner of Bridal Bliss. She was an early advisor as we developed Timeline Genius, and she was our first annual subscriber. 

Laurie Hartwell: founder & CEO of the Certified Wedding Planner Society, which helps us reach wedding planners with education and certification courses. Laurie provides fantastic feedback for Timeline Genius features and works to create a better wedding industry for all wedding planners. 

Terrica: wedding business strategist and educator who partners with Timeline Genius for free masterclasses, educational events, and inspirational support. 

When Eddie Babbage first set out to start a new company, he was looking for a way to help. And his wife, who had recently taken on most of their wedding planning, pointed him in a specific direction. 

Go help wedding planners. 

Now, Brooke Richie-Babbage is joining us to tell the entire story as someone who was in the thick of it all: feeling the weight of the risk, riding the waves of entrepreneurship, and feeling the joy of solving problems. 

It’s fun to hear Eddie and Brooke talk about their marriage and how it was shaped alongside tech startups, big investments, and a desire to help people. 

Thirteen years ago, Brigid Horne-Nestor sat down with Eddie hoping he’d be able to make software that supported her as a wedding planner. And just before they ended their meeting, Brigid chimed in with a quick addition that laid the groundwork for Timeline Genius: 

What about something that solved the time-consuming and complicated nature of wedding timelines? 

They’re telling the full story during their interview, and showcasing how 13 years can transform a business alongside our lives. 

Brigid also reveals something that surprised her about the early days of Timeline Genius, and gives her take on seeing wedding day timelines as property. What you hear might change the way you look at “competitors” in the industry. 

Nora Sheils invested her time, money, and energy in Timeline Genius before the company even had a name. As our first annual subscriber, Nora saw the promise of the company, and the potential of her own company if she spent less time building timelines and more time building her business. 

We hope this mini interview gets you excited for the potential you can unlock if you stop losing hours to wedding timelines. After all, Nora has grown her wedding planning company by leaps and bounds AND she co-founded Rock Paper Coin, another beloved wedding technology company that helps wedding planners work better. 

Remember: You can get 60% off a Rock Paper Coin subscription with the promo code TG

You know all the new features Timeline Genius releases? Those ideas come from wedding planners who speak up and share their wildest wishes with us. And many of them came from Laurie Hartwell. 

Laurie joins us from the Certified Wedding Planner Society to talk about how she helps planners master the skills and systems to grow their businesses. 

We’re so grateful for all of Laurie’s support over the years and appreciate the ways she strengthens the entire industry. 

We’ve interviewed 200 wedding pros for our podcast, and certain pieces of advice endure through the years. Embrace your unique self; find your community; we’re all better when our industry is better. 

And Terrica embodies all of this with abundance, as a wedding planner, as a wedding educator, as an entrepreneur, as a Timeline Genius supporter, and as a friend. 

You’ll want to stick around for Terrica’s interview, because she’s sharing her key to success, which just may be the key to our success at Timeline Genius too. 

“We talk so much in our industry about networking and finding your ideal client,” Terrica says. “Find your ideal collaborator, your ideal partner, your ideal circle, because that is going to bring you so much more peace and money and support and just strength than all of those other things will.”

To hear our full interviews with Brooke, Brigid, Nora, Laurie, and Terrica, you can press the play button above. And be sure to subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen!

We want to say a special thank you to these wonderful pros for sharing these insights with our Timeline Genius community. And thank you to everyone who has joined us for an interview on Wedding Industry Insider. 

Timeline Genius was built out of a desire to serve others and solve problems through technology. Our hope is that you’ll find ways to help others, solve problems, and find abundance in your career as a wedding planner.

The post WII 200 – Timeline Insiders and the Wedding Planning Software that Changed Everything appeared first on Timeline Genius Blog.

She takes 8pm phone calls, turns away vendors with slow response times, and earns five figures per wedding. Here's how Vanessa Domenech grew her business.

In this episode:

How a career as a belly dancer and Bollywood-style dancer prepared Vanessa for the world of event planning

Try Timeline Genius free at timelinegenius.com/insider

Joe Rogers built his business planning weddings for gay couples who had no template to follow. Then a call from a straight bride shifted everything.

During this great interview, Joe shares what it was like to come out as gay while starting his wedding planning business. He also talks about shifting his ideal client persona to include straight couples. Then, we get into advertising, and Joe reveals a controversial decision that he's standing by (even if he can't say for sure that it paid off).

All this and more on this week's brand new interview.

We're rebroadcasting one of our earliest and most popular interviews. David Tutera talks about sales and pricing, burnout and failure, and how he found so much success as a wedding planner. During his sit-down with Eddie, David is so grounded and honest, and his advice is timeless. Listen in to hear David Tutera's full story. 

Chelsea Brooke started her wedding planning business with 3 followers and no events to showcase. Here's the roadmap she took to success.

Wedding planners: How can you work creatively and serve your clients when the day-to-day operations take up all your time and energy? Katie Hendricks of Masterfully Managed shares step-by-step systems that free up time and get you back to the work you love.

Wedding content creators: a valuable vendor, or just another person to manage? As wedding planners, we know that the demand for content creators is growing. But how do you work them into your planning flow, and how do you find ones that elevate weddings?

Today’s Wedding Industry Insider is all about wedding content creators. This is an episode we’ve been so excited about, especially since we realized that content creators aren’t a passing wedding trend. They are here to stay, and they can make a big impact on how couples remember their wedding day. 

What does that mean for wedding planners? We’re not only making space for these pros, we’re learning how to sell their services. Today’s interview is the perfect launching point. 

Our guest this week is Reagan Teel, the founder and lead creator of Unveiled Content Co. She’s breaking down the biggest selling points of content creation and revealing the biggest ways your wedding planning business can benefit from this modern-day service. 

How can you sell your clients on content creation if you don’t know how it works? Reagan shares how images and videos are captured, delivered, and packaged. This is huge for you to know, because understanding the logistics and pricing of content creation can prevent you from hiring inexperienced “pros” who may oversell and underdeliver. 

We’ll go on and give away the spoiler for this one: NO, content creators are not a replacement for professional photographers or videographers. But there’s more to it than that. Reagan explains why the right vendor team influences the types of bookings she takes, and how she structures her pricing as a content creator. 

Eddie asks Reagan an insightful question: what does she love about her favorite wedding planners? And she’s got lots of great answers. Hear the question that wowed her as a bride, and the small detail that wows her as a vendor. 

And that wow-worthy small detail? It’s all about making social media marketing easy, and Timeline Genius gets you there faster with true polish. 

Reagan shares all her content with all her vendors, so you can include it in your wedding planner content strategy. But here’s the catch: if she’s hired by the couple, that’s who she’s capturing content for. So don’t expect the content creator to shadow you as you work, but you can look forward to some exciting content to share. 

Interested in content creation that’s all about your wedding planning business? Most content creators (including Unveiled Content Co.) also offer packages for wedding pros, so you can hire someone to shadow you throughout the wedding, making exclusive content just for your business. 

Reagan has found major growth in a competitive market, and she’s sharing the challenges and leaps of faith that brought her here. Listen until the end to discover the encouragement she shares with fellow wedding pros who are putting in the hard work. 

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To hear our full interview with Reagan, you can press the play button above. And be sure to subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen!

We want to say a special thank you to Reagan for sharing these insights with our Timeline Genius community.

Reagan is proof that new pros can find success in saturated markets, even without a roadmap. We hope you take her advice and run with it.

The post WII 194 – Content Creation: Everything Wedding Planners Need to Know (with Reagan Teel) appeared first on Timeline Genius Blog.

Are you finally finding your groove as a wedding planner? Maybe you’ve taken the leap into full-time planning, or you’re finally reaching some of your early goals. Or maybe you’re at a turning point in your life where you need your career to evolve with you. 

This week’s Wedding Industry Insider podcast is for every wedding planner who is thinking, “What’s next?” 

What is your next level? How can you realize even more growth without getting burnt out? How can you make your business work in your next season of life? 

This week our guest is Sam Sheehy, the founder of The Perfect Match Weddings. Sam’s joining us for a grounded and honest conversation about growth as a wedding planner, and how it feels to build a business in this dynamic industry. 

From the mother-of-the-bride who asked why her prices were so cheap to the big change Sam made to percentage-based pricing, Sam’s walking through her journey as a wedding planner and how she moved her business with her through life changes, like leaving her PR career, planning her own wedding, and becoming a mom. 

Keep reading for a sneak peak of some of our favorite moments this week!

Starting a wedding planning business during Covid sounds like the easiest way to sink your career. But Sam found her niche during this time and created a business that worked for the times… and still endures today.

Sam’s story is a reminder that the timing you can’t control can actually become your biggest advantage.

When Sam began preparing for motherhood, she knew her 24/7 dedication to work wouldn’t hold up. So she had a choice: reshape her business or let it fall to the side as a hobby. Now, Sam thrives thanks to a business that can run without her hands-on care. She enjoys being home with her baby while doing the work she loves. Sam’s going to tell us how she pulled it off (and some of the challenges she faced along the way).

Sam enjoyed a full maternity leave while her team handled the day-to-day of the business. Inquiries get automated responses while she’s at Disneyland with her family. And her wedding planning business still serves clients with warmth and operate in Sam’s signature style. It’s a balance you can achieve too, if you get the right systems and programs in place.

One of the hardest things for wedding planners to learn is that saying no is actually a service to your clients. Sam shares how she learned to set boundaries, charge what she’s worth, and be honest with couples when something won’t work… and why that honesty is what builds the best client relationships.

Do you want happy clients? Set them up for success by laying out expectations early, creating clear contracts, and being clear about your role.

To hear our full interview with Sam Sheehy, you can press the play button above, or check out the interview on YouTube below. And be sure to subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen!

We want to say a special thank you to Sam for sharing these insights with our Timeline Genius community.

Sam’s story is proof that the next level is within reach, as long as you’re ready to build thoughtfully. We hope you take her advice and run with it.

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The post WII 193 – What’s Your Next Level as a Wedding Planner? (with Sam Sheehy) appeared first on Timeline Genius Blog.

You can spot AI content from a mile away… and so can your potential clients. And as a wedding planner, authenticity and connection matter. But how can you create engaging content that doesn’t weigh down your workflow? 

The secret might be in one of the world’s oldest art forms: storytelling. 

This week on Wedding Industry Insider podcast, storytelling strategist Akua Konadu joins Eddie for a thoughtful conversation about embracing authenticity, standing out amid AI-generated noise, and safeguarding your productivity as a wedding pro. 

Whether you’re a master of storytelling or feel like you’re entering a whole new realm, you’ll love Akua’s honest advice and actionable steps you can take to use storytelling for your wedding planning business. Join us for this great episode and discover:

To hear our full interview with Akua Konadu, you can press the play button above. And be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen!

We want to say a special thank you to Akua for sharing these insights with our Timeline Genius community.

Please take this information, act on it, and carry on the journey toward fulfilling your dreams!

The post WII 192 – The Content Strategy AI Can Never Replace (with Akua Konadu) appeared first on Timeline Genius Blog.

Do you dream of taking your wedding planning career full-time? For wedding business owners, a “day job” can often seem like our lifeline, but it can also hold us back. Giving up a steady paycheck and relying solely on your wedding planning income… How do people take that leap?

If you’re juggling a day job and a growing wedding business, you’re likely wondering if you can “make it on your own.” This Week’s Wedding Industry Insider Podcast has steps you can take to ease the transition from full-time employment to full-time entrepreneurship. 

For Gavin Snyder, his journey to full-time wedding planning wasn’t a leap of faith. It was a series of steps. And in this week’s interview, he’s breaking down each step he took. 

This interview is brimming with wisdom and joy. Gavin is the owner of Gavin Snyder Events and Evergreen Floral Studio in Jackson, Mississippi. He truly loves being a wedding planner and is eager to share how he found success in his local market and beyond. 

Listen in and learn how Gavin slowly stepped away from outside employment as he grew his wedding planning business… and what he learned from those other jobs. We’ll also get Gavin’s advice for networking, gaining traction as a wedding educator, and opening a second business. 

Here are some of our favorite highlights from this week’s episode:

Can not knowing something actually boost your confidence?

Gavin talks about the value of admitting when you’re wrong. He’ll give you the right words to say to wedding planning clients, and how to make sure you’re always open to learning as a wedding pro. 

Everybody has to start somewhere, and low pricing could help get your first clients in the door. After all, in the beginning, you just want to do the work, and you’ve still got your day job supporting you. 

Gavin gives us encouragement for these early pricing models and how he eventually grew to charge enough to support him as a full-time career. 

Feel like everyone in your wedding network faces the same problems and doesn’t have any real solutions? Gavin shows us how to reach out to different regions and talk through ideas with industry pros. 

This is also the roadmap that Gavin took to become an industry-leading expert in the Southeast and beyond!

Wedding industry conferences aren’t cheap… so you want to make sure they’re worth your time and money. The right one can transform your wedding planning business, and Gavin’s got tips for getting it right. 

Learn why Gavin waited years before he went to his first conference, and why you may not be ready for this investment yet. 

You’ve got dreams, and Gavin wants you to go after them!

To hear our full interview with Gavin, you can press the play button above. And be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen!

We want to say a special thank you to Gavin for sharing these insights with our Timeline Genius community.

Please take this information, act on it, and carry on the journey toward fulfilling your dreams!

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The post WII 191 – Ready to Take Wedding Planning Full Time? Here’s How to Quit Your Day Job (with Gavin Snyder) appeared first on Timeline Genius Blog.