Marketing Uncategorized

Marketing Basics for Wedding Pros

“Your marketing works as a beacon and a filter, attracting your ideal audience and dream clients while encouraging everyone else to self-select out.”  

Don Mamone, Photographer and co-owner of The Mamones LLC

Showing up genuinely and consistently in the right places builds a digital trail of credibility to pair with offline efforts and referrals. Let’s explore the marketing necessities every pro should consider when building their business. 

What marketing is and isn’t

First, it’s essential to define what marketing actually is and differentiate it from other critical business activities.

That’s why it’s crucial when creating your marketing plan, campaigns and other efforts to not worry about the selling part, Mamone added. 

“It’s really important to remember that marketing and sales are not the same thing,” Mamone said. “Marketing is creating messaging that gets the attention of your ideal audience—the people you want to work with and for.  Sales is presenting refined offers that perfectly align with your dream clients’ wants and needs.”  

That’s why it’s crucial when creating your marketing plan, campaigns and other efforts to not worry about the selling part, Mamone added. 

“Focus on telling people who you are, what you do, how you do it and why you are uniquely qualified.”

The basic marketing funnel 

The easiest way to think about your marketing strategy when you’re in the early stages of your business is via a marketing funnel. Almost every business, across every industry, follows some version of this approach to attract and retain clients. It goes a little something like this:

• Awareness: Get people’s attention and focus on what makes your brand tick.
• Consideration: Foster relationships, show your expertise and drive more inquiries.
• Conversion: Help couples confidently choose a vendor.
• Loyalty: Stay in touch with former clients so they come back to you for future events. 

At each marketing stage, you want to be in the proper channels with the right content to lead prospective couples to choose you for their wedding. But a nuance exists here that has less to do with the type of wedding pro you are than with who you are. 

“I think the marketing channels will differ by personality type more than by industry category,” Mamone said.  “A certain channel or marketing effort may be comfortable and perfectly suited for an extroverted person, but would terrify someone more of an introvert. Leaning into your strengths and not worrying about what you ‘should’ do is a great way to create consistent and sustainable marketing efforts that work.”

Your marketing starter kit for wedding businesses

“A new professional needs to earn authority and credibility,” Mamone said. “Those are earned by showing your audience and clients that you are a legitimate business that they can trust and have confidence in.”

Here is a breakdown of the main foundational marketing channels newer pros should consider. 

Website and email

Mamone recommends “A well-designed website with information, images and social proof and an email tied to that same domain (rather than a Gmail email address).” 

A website can be basic—even a single long-scrolling page—so long as it includes all the main information couples need when researching vendors. It can also be cost-effective, as WordPress offers free templates to get you up and running. All pros should include on their websites:

• A bio or About You: What inspired you to start your business? What are your core values? What sets you apart? What do you want to be known for?
• Services and pricing: Leave no room for vagueness or confusion for couples during the research phase. According to the 2025 Real Weddings Vendor Report, 78% of couples say pricing is the number one factor when deciding which vendors to contact. For more on how to communicate your pricing, read Pricing Transparency: What Wins More Couples?
• How to contact you: Include ALL ways to get in touch, including email, social media and phone/SMS if you offer that option.
• Reviews/testimonials: Reviews are among the most significant ways to build credibility as a pro. Here’s more information on what couples look for in reviews.
• Portfolio: Sometimes, seeing is believing. And if couples find visual proof of your incredible work on your website, you’re likely to garner an inquiry in your inbox. Read more on How to Create a Wedding Portfolio.

Also, don’t forget to make sure your site is mobile-friendly!

All pros also need an email address for their website so that prospective couples can contact them. As you build your business and your email database, you can also consider doing a monthly email or newsletter recapping your recent wedding work if you’d like (and with your couples’ consent). This is a way to continually share fresh content with current, past and future couples to show that you are active and relevant. 

Instagram

Mamone recommends “social media that can serve as a portfolio of your work, introduce your team and share testimonials from previous clients.” And there is really no better channel for that than Instagram. Afterall, it’s a top channel couples use to get inspiration for their big day.

To get started, ensure the wording is straightforward and strategic, given the platform’s limited character count. Link to your website and include any other contact details. Create a couple of posts highlighting you and your work before you start sharing your profile more widely, and make sure to follow other pros and wedding influencers. One of the biggest tips is to post regularly—daily or a few times a week—because consistency fosters follower engagement and growth. 

Paid advertising

Not all marketing requires money, but sometimes you do have to invest a little extra to boost your efforts. That’s where paid ads come in. And the truth about paid advertising is that you can control the budget and target specific audiences so you don’t waste your money or spend more than you have.

Advertising generates traffic and visibility quickly, which is ideal for pros just growing their presence. It allows you to target specific demographics, ensuring your content reaches those most likely to be interested in your services. Platforms like Google, Meta (and its other properties, like Instagram) or WeddingPro all support paid ads and are good places to start. 

Search

Having a website and email are table stakes. But to be findable on those properties, you need to prioritize search. Implementing effective organic search engine optimization (SEO) ensures your website ranks highly in search results when couples are looking for wedding planning services. 

While paid search is also an option, you can work toward raising your website search rankings organically with the right keywords. Simply conduct keyword research to identify the terms your potential clients are searching for, and optimize your website content accordingly.  Ensure these keywords also factor into your website’s meta descriptions. 

Vendor marketplaces

Marketplaces support each part of the marketing funnel. For instance, The Knot and WeddingWire run national and regional marketing campaigns to deliver both visibility and high-intent leads to your business. Storefronts on WeddingPro serve as an extension of your website, providing information on you, your services, couple reviews and how to contact you. 

Obviously, pros just starting don’t possess a sizable marketing budget. That means they must be more prescriptive about which channels they invest in, prioritizing low-cost, high-impact ones. That’s why Mamone suggests considering a marketing budget as a percentage of cash on hand, cash flow or net revenue, and making decisions based on scale.  

A note on budgets

“When you are new, it can be scary to spend too much, but effective marketing is a downpayment on future revenue,” they said. “You can’t afford not to do something.  If you are brand new and don’t have much to spend, then it’s all about creativity and getting attention.” 

Mamone also reminds pros that weddings are a service-based business rooted in connection. 

“Social media and digital marketing are a part of your plan, but do not underestimate the value, impact and return of relationship marketing,” they said.

On that front, some quick, cost-effective marketing and networking ideas include:

• Attend industry events.
• Schedule one-on-one coffee chats.
• Host a post-wedding “Zoom room” debrief for all the people at the event, “so you can get to know one another, celebrate the wins and learn from the things you could have done better as a professional team of associates.” 
• Be a leader and BE BOLD. “Fortune favors the bold,” Mamone said.

They added that, “A presence in the industry and community is also very important, so I highly recommend you get involved in a way that is authentic to you. Join industry associations, join committees and boards, create mentorships and other ways to teach and grow those in the industry that are coming up behind you.”

Marketing helps you establish your brand in front of the couples you want to attract most. It lays the foundation for promoting your business and sets the stage for other marketing channels and tactics down the line. Mamone has some final words of advice for pros just starting out. 

Win at wedding marketing basics

“Be loud, be authentic and be unapologetic. Creative, disruptive marketing will always get attention, and that is exactly what you want. For some, it will be the message they have been waiting for.”

Don Mamone, Photographer and Co-Owner

“Be loud, be authentic and be unapologetic,” they said. “Creative, disruptive marketing will always get attention, and that is exactly what you want. For some, it will be the message they have been waiting for, and for others, it’s just noise.”

For more on wedding business marketing, check out How to Design a Winning Marketing Mix to Score More Clients.

Photo: Nate Shepard Photography