AACWP Certification

Are you considering a career as a wedding planner? If your answer is yes, you have arrived at the right place! AACWP is the one of the premier organizations for training and certifying professional planners. Brides and vendors in the industry look for professional planners, and they know the first thing to ensure competency is training and certification. There are many programs, but only AACWP offers you an excellent curriculum, a mentor experience, continuing education, and fellowship with other professional planners. Here’s how it works:
AACWP has three designations for its members: Trained Wedding Planner, Certified Wedding Planner and Certified Master Wedding Planner. To get started towards these designations, prospective members begin by completing either AACWP’s training courses or another AACWP Board recognized wedding planner training course. This is the first step towards a successful career as a professional planner.

Training Course

AACWP’s training courses provide in depth training and information combined from the experience of professional planners. Instructors are not only AACWP members, but professional planners from the DFW area. Guest speakers are chosen from among the top industry vendors. The course materials are reviewed continually and updated to assure the attendees receive the most current information on wedding planning, how to build a business and trends in the industry.

Next Scheduled Training Course:

August 2-5, 2010, 9am – 5pm

Hilton Garden Inn Dallas/Richardson

1001 West George Bush Turnpike

Richardson, TX 75080

(972) 792-9393

Payment for the complete course includes:
* Continental Breakfast, Lunch and Snack
* Training Materials to include Course Binder, Handouts and Exercises
* Examination after each course
* Free Admission to AACWP member meeting immediately following class
* 2 Mentorships for those eligible to progress to Certified Wedding Planner

Course One: “Defining Today’s Wedding Planner”. Our instructors will explore the role of today’s planner, defining the skills you will need and discussing the level of services offered by professional planners. You will learn how to interview potential clients and what role your certification and even your confidence level plays in the sales process. We will cover essential social etiquette rules and trends for you to know how to advise your clients on sticky matters. And finally, we will demonstrate how to develop and implement a service contract.

With Course Two, “Fundamentals of a Wedding Planning Business”, our guest CPA will walk you through the fundamentals of starting your own business. We will cover marketing and promoting your services, and how to package and price your services. Having a database of truly talented and trusted vendors is the biggest resource a planner can have, and we will show you how to carefully choose your vendors, build a contact list and how to manage this resource. Top vendors in their field will visit the class and share their expertise. And last, but certainly not least, you will learn about common wedding day emergencies and how to prepare yourself and build your own emergency kit.

Course Three, “Wedding Details and Cultures”, brings you to the crucial task of planning the ceremony. You will hear from a top vendor on religious and cultural ceremony traditions that impact the ceremony, along with basic ceremony structures. We will review in detail wedding and invitation etiquette since these are tied directly to the ceremony. And lastly, but most importantly, we talk about the hard lessons learned as a wedding planner.

Finally, Course Four covers “Directing the Wedding Ceremony and Reception”. You will see what planning documents are crucial for keeping plans straight, such as budget and time lines. Our instructors will walk you through the rehearsal and how to direct your clients and their loved ones through the moments you have worked so hard with them to plan. Again, you’ll be visited by guest vendors to help talk about reception coordination and how to make it all a flawless team effort.

To receive a certificate of completion, you must complete each course and the examination at the end of each day. You can choose which days to take. To advance to Trained Wedding Planner or Certified Wedding Planner, you are required to take all four days.

Registration Information

Each course day is $350. An advance reservation discount will be available to students who register and submit payment prior to 11:59pm on July 2, 2010.
A discounted rate is offered to any company sending more than one employee to the training courses. Please contact info@aacwp.org for more information.
All registrations received after July 19, 2010, including the refresher course, will incur a $100 additional processing fee.
To register, click here.

For more information on how to obtain the Trained Wedding Planner, Certified Wedding Planner and Certified Master Wedding Planner Designations, click here.