Blog Entrepreneurship HR Management

When to Make Your First Hire as a Wedding Vendor

How do you know when it’s time to go from solopreneur to boss? In this guide, you’ll learn how to recognize when to make your first hire and how to build a team that helps your wedding business thrive—all from seasoned wedding vendors who’ve been where you are. 

Why would I need to hire someone? 

“I could see the forecast of my business as clearly as the weather: meetings stacking up, deliverables increasing, and production scaling. I knew if I didn’t bring someone on, train them, and get them acclimated before I desperately needed the help, all my momentum would collapse under the weight of burnout.”

Terrica, WeddingPro Educator, speaker and coach

Let’s break down reasons why hiring support might be on your radar:

• Managing the scope and scale of weddings: Weddings involve numerous tasks that one person might struggle to handle efficiently. If you have booked several larger weddings, you could take some pressure off by hiring a happy helper. 
• Large guest counts: Taking care of a big crowd? That’s a lot of serving, coordinating, and troubleshooting—perfect reasons to bring someone on board.
• Different skill sets: Sometimes you need expertise you just can’t fake. Whether it’s a second photographer, a sous chef or an assistant, adding specialists to your team can fill in gaps in your service offering.
• Physical labor: Set up and breakdown take time. Some decorations, equipment and infrastructure can be heavy too. It’s much easier with helping hands! 
• Coordination: Juggling timelines, supplies and on-site logistics is no small feat. A team effort ensures nothing slips through the cracks.
• Admin tasks: Do you need help with marketing, accounting and responding to emails are all essential parts of running your business. But they also pull you away from the creative execution that attracted you to the wedding industry in the first place.
• You want to keep growing: If your business is on an upward trajectory, you might find yourself saying “no” to couples because you simply can’t get to the work. Hiring support for your business can prevent leaving money on the table.

How do you know when it’s time to hire?

“I couldn’t take a day off without everything piling up.”

Robyn Miranda, Wedgewood Weddings 

Robyn Miranda from Wedgewood Weddings knew it was time to look for help when the joy of taking a break got overshadowed by the upfront work needed to avoid work piling up.

Terrica, owner of Cocktails & Details, found herself in a similar situation and felt it was an absolute necessity to hire help, even though she had a few concerns, including “can I afford this?” 

“I realized I couldn’t afford not to hire. She was the best investment I could’ve made—and within a few months, the team grew by two more associates. That decision changed everything.”

Terrica, WeddingPro Educator, speaker and coach

Here are a few key signs that you can look out for when you’re thinking about hiring, such as: 

1. Being consistently overwhelmed and working excessive hours: If you’re constantly working late, skipping breaks and feeling stressed just to keep up with the daily tasks, it’s a clear sign you might need another person to help you out. 
2. Turning down business opportunities: If you’re having to say “no” to potential clients or projects due to a lack of time or capacity, you might be limiting your growth potential. This was one of the first signs Robyn noticed. While it would be nice to be able to do everything at once, it simply is not possible. 
3. Client satisfaction is declining: Are you receiving some comments about response times, missed deadlines, or the quality of your service? Are you struggling to provide the level of personalized attention that wedding clients expect? Then, you might be ready to take the next step and expand your biz. Robyn noticed that clients’ feedback was starting to slip, especially in response times. She knew it wasn’t realistic to deliver a high standard of service without help. 
4. You want to stop doing it all yourself: A lot of vendors get into the business for love of the craft, whether that be photography or makeup artistry. Perhaps you want to focus more on what you love and less on daily tasks like taking calls and answering emails. After hiring, Terrica shared that each person had their strengths and she built the workflow around that— “It created a seamless experience not just for us, but for our clients and collaborators too.”

Pro tip: Turning away business isn’t just lost income—it can affect your reputation. A new hire could help you say “yes” more often and build a name as a reliable vendor.

Will expanding my team pay off? 

Before you decide to expand, you’ll want to know how it will benefit your business. The biggest benefit for Robyn was that she could focus on higher-level planning and growth while the new hire handled day-to-day sales and event execution. With an extra pair of hands, she found “response times improved, bookings increased, and I finally could run the business instead of just keeping up with it.” 

Increased capacity

A new employee can take on tasks that were previously overwhelming or time-consuming for you. This allows you to focus on higher-level strategic activities like growth, planning and innovation (or taking that well-deserved day off).

Enhanced customer experience

With additional support, you can provide better and faster service to your clients, which in turn positively impacts customer satisfaction. A new work bestie and happier clients? Who doesn’t want that?!

Business growth 

An extra person on board often translates to higher output, allowing you to explore new business opportunities and plan for the future more effectively. With more help, you may even decide to pursue more passions. Terrica shared, “Growth doesn’t mean saying yes to everything—it means building a team that allows you to say yes to the right things.”

Improved productivity

This goes without saying, really. By having someone to delegate tasks to, you will inevitably complete more work in less time, allowing you to meet customer demands more quickly. It’s also great to be able to divide and conquer tasks together as a team. 

Fresh perspectives

New employees bring fresh ideas, viewpoints, and experiences. Their input can inspire different solutions and improvements to your current workflows. A refresher is always welcome, isn’t it? 

Building a team culture

“You must be clear on your company’s values and your ‘why’…If they do not agree, they are not the right fit.”

Nayri Kalayjian of Lovella Bridal

Hiring your first employee is the foundation for building a strong and cohesive company culture. You can use this opportunity to define your values and the kind of environment you want to create. Once Terrica hired more people, she said, “It transformed everything” in her business. She and her team “worked like The Avengers.” We already knew wedding pros were superheroes, but imagine what you can do with the right “alliance.” 

Top 10 tips for a smooth hiring process

Looking back on her own experience, Robyn said she wishes she hadn’t waited so long to hire a person to help. Delaying the process slowed down the company’s growth and led to burnout and missed opportunities. If you’re feeling the same strain or know you have a particularly busy season ahead, it’s time to take action. 

Where to start in your hiring process? Let us do the hard work for you. Follow these basic steps for a seamless hiring process:      

1. Assess your needs: Think about what tasks take up the most time—whether it’s admin work, on-site help, or marketing. Also, what brings you joy? What do you want to spend more time on? 
2. Set a budget: According to Lindsay Longacre of LVL Weddings, “One of the biggest mistakes I made as a new business owner was jumping the gun to hire employees…nothing is worse than just doing it and realizing you can’t actually afford it.” Before you make the comittment, research market rates for similar roles in your area to decide on a salary or wage. 
3. Plan for additional costs: Consider taxes, benefits, training and any necessary equipment or software needed to get the job done. 
4. Create clear job descriptions: Outline responsibilities and be specific about duties like setting up décor, managing timelines or taking care of client communications.
5. Highlight your brand: Share your values, mission and what makes your business unique to attract like-minded candidates. 
6. Use multiple recruitment channels: Make use of your network and ask industry peers, vendors or past collaborators for recommendations.
7. Review applications thoroughly: Pay close attention to the applicant’s background and industry experience to determine if they would be a good fit for your business. Terrica paid close attention to people in service roles like servers or concierges because they are most likely to manage energy and have the ability to read a room. 
8. Conduct interviews: Ask questions to learn more about their problem-solving skills, creativity and passion for the wedding industry.
9. Check references: Check in with past employers or collaborators to confirm their work ethic and reliability. 
10. Onboard like a pro: Design a thorough onboarding process to introduce the new hire to your business, workflows and expectations. This could include training, shadowing and providing necessary resources.

Expanding your team and your horizon 

“The moment you are looking to grow…is a great time to think about the future in general.”

Troy Adams of Carolina DJ Professionals

Deciding to hire isn’t just about adding a name to your roster—it’s about building a stronger, more sustainable business. As Robyn and Terrica put it, hiring allowed them to focus on big-picture growth while their new team members handled day-to-day tasks. The results? Happier clients, more bookings and a lot less stress.

Whether you’re posting on job boards like Indeed, reaching out to your network, or asking your vendor besties to spread the word, the right addition to your team is out there. And once they’re in place? The sky’s the limit. You’ll have more time to focus on what you love most about your business while knowing the rest is in good hands.

Changing the structure of your business is also an excellent opportunity to examine other aspects of the business. Check out How to Build a Brand Couples Trust to give your biz a little prime-time makeover!