Wedding Business Marketing In’s and Out’s for 2025
If you want to promote your wedding and event business, staying ahead of the curve with the latest marketing tools and strategies is essential. Whether you’re a wedding photographer, planner, designer, videographer, florist, stationery or graphic artist, DJ, rental company, or another professional serving the wedding and event space, I have some tips to help you promote your business, and generate leads and get inquiries - even during the busiest times of the year. More specifically, I’m sharing my wedding business marketing in’s and out’s for 2025. This is what’s working, what’s not and I’m so excited to share!
If you’re looking for unique and creative ways to promote your wedding business in 2025, you’re in the right spot. If you’re on the hunt for the best marketing tools and strategies that will actually work this year, you’re also in the right spot. And, if you’re searching for real expert tips on generating leads and inquiries into your wedding or event business from someone who knows what it’s like to run a successful business for the last 20 years in the wedding and event space, you’re definitely in the right spot. I’m sharing it all today and I hope that you come away with a few really great and really practical wedding marketing tips that you can apply right away in your business.
Here’s your ultimate guide to what will work for 2025, when it comes to promoting your business and getting that steady stream of new clients into your business. I’m also sharing my thoughts on what may have worked in 2024, but is no longer on trend and not sustainable as we headed into the new year. Because, let’s face it in the wedding and event business, we are always on the hook to bring in new business and we can’t afford to stop putting our services out there and doing what we can to stay top-of-mind with new clients. We have to work in and on our business all at the same time!
Photo credit: Amy Anaiz
Out: Marketing Strategies That Won’t Work in 2025
The following approaches to promoting a wedding or event business may have been effective in 2024, to get leads and capture new business, but they’re losing their edge in 2025. Everything from being overly inspirational to trying too hard to be creative to obsessing over metrics that don’t matter to judging clients for not being as informed as we think they should be are all so out this year. And, of course, I couldn’t leave you empty-handed, so be sure to read to the end as I share the marketing strategies that are “in” for 2025.
As you plan your marketing calendars for the year and think about new strategies, avoid these outdated marketing strategies (that if we’re being honest never really worked in the first place!):
1. Trying Too Hard to Be Inspiring or Creative
Constantly striving for perfection or creating overly curated content can come across as inauthentic to potential clients who are engaged and looking to hire wedding professionals. Engaged couples are looking for relatable, genuine professionals they can trust. Inspiration is everywhere on the Internet and on social media, and if couples can’t find what they are looking for, they can just turn to A.I. to create exactly what they want. Gone are the days of wedding vendors looking too desperate or too fake by trying to be more creative than their competitors. You’re more than enough just as inspirational as you are.
2. Hyper-Curating Content
Obsessing over a perfectly polished online presence, whether it’s on your website or social media, is less important than authenticity to potential clients. Clients and customers who are looking to hire professionals and vendors to help make their dream wedding a reality are looking for honest content. They value real moments over flawless aesthetics.
3. Obsessing Over Engagement Metrics
Metrics on your website or social media such as engagements, likes, and comments don’t always translate into bookings. Focus on quality connections instead of chasing vanity metrics. In the year ahead the only question that you should be asking yourself before you post or share content is, “Does this help my potential clients?” Instead of asking, “Will this content get engagement?”
4. Judging Clients for Not Knowing
Today’s clients may not know industry jargon, trends, costs, or logistics when it comes to planning a wedding, and that’s OK. Instead of judging or being condescending, educate them with patience and understanding. This is the first time that they have likely planned a wedding or become engaged, so instead of treating them with disdain, consider that they are an expert in another field that you don’t know about - just like they don’t know about weddings. It is your job to educate your potential clients about the costs of weddings, how your services work and more, not judge them and expect that they should have all of the answers.
5. Comparing Your Business to Competitors or Influencers
Comparing yourself to others in the wedding industry can be discouraging and counterproductive. Focus on your unique strengths and offerings. Social media doesn’t always give the full picture of a person or a business, so be mindful of what you’re seeing and be sure not to compare your business to anyone else’s business. Remember that those peers, competitors or influencers in the wedding and event space that you see on social media or at industry events have completely different business, priorities and goals than you. The only thing that you need to compare yourself to is yourself.
6. Allowing Algorithms to Define Your Business
Algorithms change constantly and no one truly knows how they work. And if we spend time chasing the algorithm, we are doomed to disappointment. Instead, focus on building a robust marketing strategy that isn’t overly reliant on any platform’s algorithm. This past year - and this has been building for a few years - there was a huge focus on the algorithm of a platform, and allowing that to decide what we post and when we post. Going forward, algorithms and bots are no longer in charge of what we post. The only thing that will matter in 2025, is helping our ideal clients. That’s it. Not some bot algorithm that doesn’t care about us or our business.
7. Over-Leveraging One or Two Lead Sources
Diversify your marketing channels to avoid dependency on a single lead source. This ensures a steady flow of inquiries regardless of platform changes. Over the past few years, businesses in the wedding and event space have been narrowing down the places where they get leads from and this is a mistake. In the coming year, be sure to evaluate where your inquiries are coming from, be it social media, online, networking, or referrals, and make the effort to find a balance so that if one source goes away or changes suddenly, you’re not left scrambling. I always say that when one lead source is out of whack, the others pick up the slack!
8. Hiding Costs & Realities
Transparency on cost and logistics is key, especially in the wedding and event business. Couples appreciate upfront pricing and a clear understanding of what it takes to execute their wedding day vision. It is unhelpful when you aren’t clear about pricing and logistics. And nothing is more frustrating to a couple planning a wedding than when they feel like they are being price gouged or being taken advantage of just because it is a “wedding.” For those of us in the wedding and event industry, we know that it takes a lot of manpower and creativity to make the pretty weddings happen flawlessly, but you’re couples don’t always know this from just one picture they saw on social media. It is your job to be clear about pricing and explain the hows and whys of making a dream wedding happen.
9. Throwing Money at Ineffective Strategies
Invest strategically in marketing efforts that deliver measurable results instead of blindly spending on unproven tactics. In the wedding industry, we are all experts in other areas, such as photography, design, flower arranging, sewing, and more, we don’t always know the right marketing thing to do, and I totally understand this. But, there is a difference between delegating work and abdicating responsibility. And sometimes in an effort to get leads or generate more sales when we’re really frustrated, overwhelmed, confused or desperate, we just “throw money at the problem,” and hope that it will work by hiring expensive marketing “experts” or running over-priced ads that were never going to work in the first place.
In: Winning Strategies to Promote Your Wedding Business in 2025
If you’re thinking about the year ahead and what you’re doing consistently to keep up with marketing for your wedding or event business, you’ll appreciate my list of the best marketing strategies and tactics that will work this year. And will work to get more leads and more inquiries for your next clients who are planning and looking for your services.
Stay ahead of the competition with these new and improved marketing tactics that are trending for 2025:
1. Prioritizing Search & Making an Effort to Show Up
More and more couples who are planning a wedding are turning to search bars to find inspiration, ideas, and vendors to help them. Optimize your website and social media platforms for search engines (SEO) to appear in relevant searches like “how to find a wedding photographer” or “event planners near me.” Use targeted keywords, high-quality images, helpful content, valuable information, geo-tagging, and regular posts to boost visibility. You can’t show up in a search result if you don’t post and regularly share content!
2. Being the Expert Influencer of Your PeOPLE
Position yourself as a go-to expert in your specific niche or the area (region or city) where you work. Share tips, trends, and insights on your blog, social media, and email campaigns to build trust with your audience in your corner of the market. Keep in mind that influencers on social media are trying to influence their followers and help those who are interested in the content that they share. You need to do the same thing but for your potential clients. In this coming year, really spend some time to think about who your people are, and make sure that the content that you share is aimed at helping them. If you worry about influencing your people you will have success in marketing your wedding or event business this year.
3. Generating Your Own Definition of Success
Success looks different for everyone and every business in the wedding and event industry, no two businesses are alike. Define clear goals for your business, whether it’s booking a certain number of clients, increasing revenue, or achieving work-life balance, and tailor your strategies accordingly. Try your very hardest this year to stay out of comparison when it comes to other businesses because they have entirely different goals and motivations than you.
Additionally, this year, wedding and event businesses will be most successful when they rely on themselves to generate their own leads. Networking and engaging with referrals is important, of course, but it isn’t the only thing, and last year there was a collective overreliance on other businesses to define our success. If we only rely on referrals or other businesses to send us bookings, then are not in control, and we have to rely on others for success - this is not sustainable.
4. Helping Potential Clients First
Provide value upfront with free resources like checklists, guides, or consultations, and use your social media and your website to educate your potential clients on how weddings work, the costs, and the services you provide. Showing you care about their needs builds trust and makes clients more likely to book your services.
In the past, wedding and event businesses were told to just wait to get potential clients on the phone and then they could close the deal, but today and tomorrow’s clients are pre-interviewing most businesses before they get on the phone. So that by the time they inquire with you, they are far down the funnel and a warm lead, it’s more of a formality than an actual interview. In 2025, wedding and event businesses must understand that helping is hiring and one of the best ways to get hired is to help potential clients first.
5. Sharing Accurate Information Online
Use your platform, website, and social media to share reliable, and helpful advice. Correct misconceptions and provide clarity on confusing topics and this will help to establish you as an expert. It is hard and overwhelming for couples planning a wedding, as this is likely the first time they have done something like this and spent this amount of money on one party. It is a lot of pressure and a lot of work. As a professional in the wedding industry, it is your responsibility to help educate today’s and tomorrow’s clients with helpful and accurate information online.
As stated in my tips before, couples are trying to research you and your business before they hire you, but if you aren’t sharing information, not just inspiration, they are unable to research you and find out more about the logistics of planning a wedding. This is not helpful and it won’t lead to more bookings in the coming year.
6. Investing in a Sustainable Content Ecosystem
If you want to be successful in marketing and promoting your business in 2025, you must create a consistent content strategy with evergreen resources like blog posts, videos, and email newsletters. Repurpose content across platforms to maximize your efforts. Since we are all experts in other areas, and don’t have time to sit around all day creating content, it is important that we are being efficient about the types of content that we are sharing and maximizing every effort. We can’t afford to have our marketing content live in a vacuum on each individual social media platform or our website. Instead, in order to be successful in 2025, we must understand that our content is all interconnected between our website and our platforms.
7. Meeting Clients Where They Are
Understand where your clients spend their time online and engage them there - wherever they are. For example, Gen Z couples may prefer TikTok, while millennials might look for inspiration on Pinterest, while others might be going to chatGPT or Google search. Today’s and tomorrow’s couples planning a wedding are on all the platforms using all the tools at their disposal to make their dream wedding come true - and find the vendors to help make it happen. With automation and scheduling tools, we can afford the time to be in as many places as possible consistently showing up where our potential clients are hanging out. Just like with some of the other tips that I shared for marketing your business in 2025, you can’t be found if you don’t post!
8. Controlling What You Can Control
Focus on aspects of your business within your control, like delivering exceptional client experiences, maintaining an updated website, consistently posting across social media platforms, and building a strong referral network without relying on one lead source of the other. In this online world of algorithms and fluctuating economies, it can feel really out of control to be a business owner serving the wedding and event space but realize that there is much that we can control. For example, we can control how often we post. We can control whether photos from a past event sit unopened in a gallery or not. We can control if we share helpful content that makes our potential client’s lives better. In order to be successful and generate your own leads in a way that doesn’t take over your life and allows you to service your clients, we need to focus on what we can’t control and leave the rest.
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By focusing on these “In” strategies and avoiding outdated “out” marketing tactics and inquiring capturing strategies, you can position your wedding or event business for success in 2025. Start implementing these tips today to see meaningful results in your lead generation and business growth.
If you’re a creative small business serving the wedding and event industry - such as a wedding planner, photographer, entertainer, DJ, rental company, florist, invitation designer, and more - and you need help with your online marketing, content creation, or your Pinterest account, please send me an email at info@juliannesmith.com or check out my done-for-you and training services for wedding pros. I’d love to work with you to maximize your creativity and the overwhelm and work with the clients that you want to work with!
For more tips and advice on the wedding industry, be sure to check out past blog posts and sign up for my weekly emails where I’ll send you all kinds of wedding business education nuggets in 100 words or less!