As we approach June, the ringing of wedding bells is in the air—or maybe that sound you hear is the cha-ching of dollars and cents coming your way. And while June is the biggest month for weddings and honeymoons, this is a huge business year-round—over $85 billion was spent and 2 million couples were married last year.
A big chunk of that revenue goes toward travel and travel-related expenses: destination weddings (including site visits), honeymoons, guests flying in for traditional weddings at home, bachelor and bachelorette party weekends. This is one of those rare occasions in life where everything has to be exactly right, so people are less likely to rely on an online resource. They will be looking for a travel agent, and that could be you.
There’s often a lot of stress involved in wedding planning, particularly in the travel details, and your role is to reduce that. That means taking on the load so that your clients can worry about the millions of other things on their list. With a destination wedding or a honeymoon, you are planning a once-in-a-lifetime event (theoretically once, anyway) and there’s no margin for error. So before going after that segment of the business, make sure it’s business that you can handle.
As home-based agent Michelle Mangio of Magical Escapes told us, “The primary role [of a travel agent] is to make the couple’s wedding and honeymoon dreams come true – and do it in such a way that the couple never has to sweat the details. They need someone to take the time around their schedule to really listen.”
Check out our new Destination Weddings & Honeymoons section for the latest stories, tips, destination coverage and more, including a look at how social media is changing the playing field and columns from Wedding Guru Jacqueline Johnson.
