If you’re a wedding professional who loves what you do and wants to continue doing it, then you need clients. And to get clients, you need potential couples to inquire with you and then actually book you—which is the exact process that frustrates many wedding professionals who find themselves ghosted or watching dream couples go in different directions when they were sure they’d be hired.
Today, we’re pulling back the curtain on the entire contact-to-contract process with Jillian Pohlman of Jillian Marie Events. As a wedding planner based in Colorado, Jillian has a uniquely insightful seat in the wedding industry. She gets real-time feedback from her couples about the vendors they’re interviewing and considering, and she witnesses how all kinds of vendors operate—what’s actually working, what serves couples well, and just as much, what isn’t working.
Jillian also offers coaching for wedding professionals, and one thing we both love is helping to elevate the wedding industry by being transparent about business practices. Her signature coaching service, “Contact to Contract,” covers everything from the moment you get an inquiry all the way to booking that new client. This conversation applies across the board to all vendor categories and almost all price points, speaking from experience with weddings ranging in $70,000 to $350,000+ budgets (with some nuances between vendors that we’ll note along the way).
Table of Contents
- Part 1: Contact Form and Initial Response
- Part 2: Consultation Call (coming soon)
- Part 3: Consult Follow-Up and Booking (coming soon)
Part 1: Contact Form and Initial Response
What questions should vendors be asking on their contact form?
Keep your form quick—30 seconds or less. Your contact form should ask only the absolute necessary information:
- Name
- Phone number
- Message
That’s it. If you want to add optional fields for event date and location, that’s fine! Those details can be helpful going into the consultation call, but resist the urge to ask more.
Many contact forms try to replace the consultation call by asking questions like “Tell me your vision for your day” or “What’s most important to you?” or “Tell me about you and your partner.” While this information is important, it belongs in a conversation with the potential couple, not collected on a form.
The hot topic: Should you ask about budget on the inquiry form?
No. Jillian does not recommend asking about budget on the contact form for several reasons:
- Clients may feel uncomfortable. When filling out a form, couples might worry: “If I put $10,000, will they charge me $10,000 when they might usually charge less?” It gives them pause about being transparent.
- Most couples have no idea what things cost. If someone has never planned a wedding or hired a professional photographer, they literally don’t know if photography costs $2,000 or $8,000. They might answer based on what ChatGPT told them was average, not what they can actually afford or what matches the quality they want.
- People need to be educated. It’s our job as vendors to educate couples on realistic budgets, and we can’t do that through a form field.
If you must know someone’s budget before having a conversation, you’re screening people out before you even get a chance to help them or to make a valuable connection that could lead to referrals.
What should happen after a contact form is submitted?
Confirm receipt immediately. Your contact form should display a clear message confirming their submission has been received.
About automated emails: Jillian strongly dislikes automated emails (and she’s not alone). However, an acceptable use of automation is a brief confirmation: “I received your message and will get back to you within [timeframe].” This gives couples reassurance without feeling like a robot is serving them.
Send a personal response—fast. After the automated confirmation (if you use one), send a personalized email response. It doesn’t matter if you use a template, but it needs to sound personal and human, not like a generic response.
How fast should you respond? No more than 24 hours, but ideally much sooner. If you see the inquiry come in and can respond right away, do it. Why? Because responsive communication is the number one sign of a quality wedding professional. This is your very first opportunity to show that potential client what working with you will be like.
What should be in that initial personalized email?
Keep it short—Jillian recommends using just four sentences:
- A warm greeting. “Congratulations on your engagement/upcoming wedding!”
- Thank them. “Thank you so much for reaching out.”
- Express interest. “I’d love to jump on a call to get to know you and [your partner/your vision for your big day/how I can support you].”
- Make it easy. “Will you please propose a few days and times that work for you?”
That’s it. Your goal is to get a call scheduled, not to provide your entire portfolio, pricing, or life story in this email.
But what about standing out and building personal connection? Stop overcomplicating it. If they mentioned something specific in their message (like their venue), acknowledge it naturally: “The Broadmoor is fantastic—I love that venue!” But don’t try really, really hard to sound unique or clever. Just be human.
Think: what would you want if you submitted an inquiry form? That’s what your email response should be. Don’t use ChatGPT to write your response. Let it feel natural, like a friend just reached out to you. People will either like your authentic voice or they won’t, and if they don’t, they’re not the right for you client anyway.
Should you send galleries or portfolios in this initial email?
No. Here’s why:
Links can go to spam. And more importantly, if someone has reached out to you, they’ve already been on your website and looked at your work. They’ve found something that made them want to inquire. You don’t need to re-prove yourself at this stage or overwhelm them with a lengthy email they don’t need.
Don’t make them do more work. If you send a long email or PDF asking them to “please read this before you decide if you want a call with me,” many people (including Jillian as a wedding planner) will abandon the process. They don’t want to do more work, they want you to do the work for them. They want you to ask the questions, then give them personalized responses.
Save the detailed galleries or resources for after you’ve talked and you know what will resonate with them specifically. After discussing their wedding at their particular venue, then you can send a gallery from that venue because it’s relevant and helpful.
Should you send pricing in this initial email?
Don’t send it yet. If you send pricing before having a conversation, and you are out of their budget, you’ve lost your chance to have an open conversation about their needs, how you can best work together, or to refer them to one of your partners who would be a better fit.
“Not everyone can afford you, and that’s okay,” Jillian says. “But I will always take 30 minutes to talk with a potential client just to find out that I am way out of their budget.” Why?
- You can be helpful. Educating couples, even ones who can’t afford you, is a valuable and service-focused approach that may pay off in other ways.
- Referrals work both ways. The fastest way to get referrals is to give referrals. If you’re not a good fit, refer one of your partners who is. That partner will be grateful and they’ll likely return the favor. Even if someone doesn’t book you, you’re helping out your partners by recommending other vendors along the way and building your community.
What makes a couple respond and book a call versus ghost vendors after the first email?
Couples are more likely to ghost if:
- You send pricing immediately and they feel it’s not in their budget (without having a chance to understand the value or chat about custom package options)
- You make them work too hard to get to the call—sending links to sort through, long emails to digest, or portfolios to review before they can even schedule a call with you
- You send an obviously automated email—it doesn’t feel personal, so why should they prioritize responding to a vendor who doesn’t prioritize them?
If you respond quickly with a nice, normal, human email, most couples who are genuinely interested will respond and schedule that call.
How should vendors respond when a planner inquires on behalf of their client?
This is an important nuance. When a planner reaches out, here’s what to do:
Provide what they specifically ask for. If a planner asks about pricing, go ahead and give them your pricing. But don’t just send a proposal without gathering context.
Always request a 10-minute phone call. Most people will make time for 10 minutes, and this call is crucial for several reasons:
- You can gather details you need to create an accurate proposal
- You can build a relationship with that planner—especially if this is a planner you’ve been dying to work with
- You can have transparent conversations about budget, availability, and whether this opportunity might be one where you’d be flexible on pricing to work with them
- You can ask important questions: “Did the couple find me, or did you think of me? Why did you think I’d be a good fit?”
Please, planners: Stop just sending blind inquiry forms. Don’t just go online and send a contact form saying, “I have a couple getting married on this date. Can you send me a proposal?” That’s not fair to vendors. They have no information, no idea if you’re in budget, no idea how you’re selecting vendors. Build relationships with your vendor partners first and foremost!
And vendors: If a planner does reach out this way, use it as an opportunity to start building that relationship through a phone call.
Should vendors text or email potential clients when they inquire?
For the initial response: Stick to email. Texting right after an inquiry might feel a little invasive or too friendly too fast. Everybody’s comfortable with email for that first contact and you can move to texting later if they prefer.
After you’re working together: That’s different. Some vendors want all communication through their CRM to avoid missing anything, and that’s fair. But if you’re in a less transactional, more service-oriented category (like planning), consider being flexible about communication methods. Make yourself accessible—if texting works best for your client and they’ve opted into it, great.
One approach: Add an optional field on your contact form asking if they’d like to be texted with a place to opt in. That way, you’re not being invasive, and clients who prefer texting can tell you upfront.
How often should you follow up with leads if you haven’t heard back after your initial email?
Follow up once. That’s it.
If you’ve responded to their inquiry and haven’t heard back after a few days, send one follow-up just in case they missed the email. But after that email, if you still don’t hear back, let it go.
Don’t make it awkward. If they want to book you, they will book you. They know how to get in touch with you because they’ve done it once before. Following up repeatedly after leads have ghosted you just makes it uncomfortable for everyone.
The reality is that couples are exhausted. They’re having these emails and calls with vendors across all categories trying to find the right fit. Yes, it’s a courtesy to let vendors know they’ve chosen someone else, but it’s also exhausting to go back through all those conversations and deliver bad news to everyone.
Key Takeaways from Part 1
- Keep your contact form simple: Name, email, phone, message. That’s all you need.
- Don’t ask about budget on the form—have that conversation after you’ve educated them.
- Respond quickly with a personalized (but brief) email focused on scheduling a call.
- Don’t send portfolios, pricing, or proposals in your initial response—get the call scheduled first.
- Be human. Stop overcomplicating your emails. What would you want to receive?
- When planners inquire: Always ask for a 10-minute call to build the relationship and gather details.
- Follow up once if you don’t hear back, then let it go.
Remember: Responsive communication is the number one sign of a quality wedding professional. That initial email response is your first opportunity to show potential clients what working with you will be like.
Part 2: The Consultation Call
COMING SOON
Part 3: Consult Follow Up and Booking New Clients
COMING SOON
About Jillian Marie Events
Jillian Marie Events is a hospitality-driven Wedding and Event Planner based in CO (but always excited about destinations). She is a good fit for clients who want and value a high-level of service – and place emphasis on the guest experience. She is known for her ability to create a calm, stress-free environment throughout the planning process and day-of.
Want to connect with Jillian Marie Events?
Jillian loves coaching and helping others! As a result, she offers complimentary consultation calls for wedding professionals—these calls are not a sales pitch, but rather a genuine opportunity to connect adn talk business. Whether you have questions about anything covered in this conversation or want to dive deeper into your contact-to-contract process, reach out for a free Q&A session with Jillian. She gets to witness both sides of the industry as a planner and wants nothing more than to help wedding professionals succeed and couples to have the best experiences possible.
For couples planning their wedding, Jillian offers everything from guided planning to full-service “white glove” planning and everything in between. Her guided planning is different from traditional “day-of coordination”. Instead of only getting involved 30-45 days before your wedding (which doesn’t set anyone up for success), you get Jillian from day one of signing your contract, guiding you through the entire process.
She also offers complimentary hour-long consultation calls for newly engaged couples—even if you’re not ready to hire a planner. Instead of falling down the Google or ChatGPT rabbit hole trying to figure out basic information like “How much does a photographer cost?” or “What does a DJ cost?”, jump on a call with Jillian. She’ll get to know you and your vision, help you set a realistic budget, and provide vendor and venue recommendations all in that initial call. She just wants to be a helpful resource in the industry and if she’s not the right fit for you, she’ll refer you to one of her amazing planner partners who is.
- Website: jillianmarie.events
- Instagram: @jillianmarie.events
