If you’re dreaming of planning destination weddings in the Caribbean or expanding your planning business to new locations around the globe in 2017, you have an incredible opportunity to pick up best practices from Lindsay Landman of New York-based Lindsay Landman Events, who produces high-caliber, innovative events across the globe and was recently named one of the Top Wedding Planners in the World by Vogue.
Starting Dec. 6, Lindsay is teaching the first comprehensive 5-week online Destination Wedding Planning Course at the Event Leadership Institute. In Lindsay’s course you will learn how to manage intensive travel logistics, incorporate local culture into décor, entertainment and food & beverage, navigate legalities and infrastructure challenges, communicate effectively with vendors long-distance, perfect time management, all while staying on budget and keeping your clients and their guests happy. Lindsay will also share videos from the most popular wedding destinations: Mexico, Italy and Hawaii.
One of the main questions Lindsay gets from planners looking to start booking destination weddings is how to best vet vendors in another location, whether it’s across the country or internationally. Here are a couple of useful tips she shares with Caribbean Bride.
How to vet international vendors
The main key to success in becoming a destination planner is investing in education and building your network globally. Don’t make the mistake of relying only on yourself, your team and the internet. Instead, invest in going to national and international conferences to meet vendors and venue managers from around the globe because they will be your best resource on the ground. Never be afraid of asking for help. When I’m researching a new destination, I reach out to other vendors and planners I’ve met who are based in that location because I know they can give me the best vendor recommendations, which helps me in the vetting process.
The next most important part of vetting new vendors is providing them with extraordinarily detailed information about your needs and your process. Instead of just looking at their work, look at how well they’re responding to your specific needs and process because that’s a constant that is not going to change no matter where you are.
Want more tips and best practices from one of the world’s top planners? Check out the full course description here.