Is Your Wedding Inquiry Process Driving Clients Away?

Are you making it harder than it needs to be for couples to book you?

If your wedding inquiry process is just a contact form and a “let’s hop on a call” reply, you might be pushing great clients away without even realizing it. I recently experienced this myself while looking for a new bookkeeper. I was ready to hire someone, but the process I was met with no pricing, no service info, and just endless requests to schedule calls left me overwhelmed and frustrated. It reminded me exactly of what engaged couples face when they inquire with multiple wedding vendors.

In this episode, we’re diving into what your wedding inquiry process might be missing and how you can make it easier for potential clients to say yes. I’ll walk you through what I wish had been available to me, and how you can apply those same lessons to create a more effective, conversion-focused experience for your own leads.

If you’ve ever wondered why inquiries ghost you or why you’re not getting bookings from people who seemed interested, this episode will show you how to fix it.

Tune in now to find out if your wedding inquiry process is helping or hurting your bookings.

In this episode we’ll cover:

• Why your wedding inquiry process might be confusing or frustrating for potential clients
• How a lack of clear pricing or package info can turn leads away before a call ever happens
• What today’s couples actually want to see before they’re willing to get on a consultation
• How to remove friction and make it easier for people to say yes to working with you
• Why showing your pricing in context can increase qualified inquiries and build trust
• How to follow up in a way that adds value instead of just asking “are you ready yet?”
• Smart ways to use tools like Loom, voice DMs, or Voxer to stand out and connect personally
• What to include on your website and in your inquiry responses to book more clients faster

Is Your Wedding Inquiry Process Driving Clients Away?

0:00:00 – Heidi Thompson
Is your wedding inquiry process actually driving clients away?

0:00:18 – Intro
That’s what we’re talking about in this episode. This is the Evolve Your Wedding Business Podcast. Here is your host, Heidi Thompson.

0:00:39 – Heidi Thompson
Hey there and welcome to the podcast. I’m your host, Heidi Thompson, and I help wedding professionals of all different kinds make their marketing easier so they can book more of the weddings with the people that they love to work with and build a business that gives them freedom and flexibility. And today we’re talking about a really key part of that process of booking more weddings. We’re talking about something that might be costing you bookings without you even realizing it, and that is your wedding inquiry process. Have you ever thought about what it’s like to inquire with you, what it’s like to be on the other side?

I recently had an experience that really made me realize just how frustrating it can be when businesses make it difficult to hire them, and unfortunately, that’s what a lot of wedding pros are doing without even realizing it. If you’ve ever wondered why your inquiries don’t convert, or why couples ghost you or why you’re getting fewer bookings than you’d like, this episode is for you. We’re going to break down exactly how to optimize your wedding inquiry process so it works for you and not against you. So let’s get into it.

I recently needed to hire a new bookkeeper. Not a super fun experience to have to go through, all of a sudden, my previous bookkeeper wasn’t able to continue working and I was like, oh, now I have to go find someone new. So I was in that position. I wanted to find someone that I could really rely on, someone who’s going to be great to work with. And I know someone who trains bookkeepers, so she has a resource where, if you fill out this form, she will connect you to the students that she’s trained and I thought, great, this is perfect. I’ll get some great recommendations and I’ll find the right fit.

But instead I was flooded with very generic emails from different bookkeepers, all of which saying some version of I’d love to help, let’s hop on a call or let’s set up time to talk or book a discovery call with me and we can chat. But that was the problem.

At that point, I didn’t have enough information to know if I even wanted to get on a call. There was no pricing, there was no breakdown of services, no details on how they worked. I would have to have had get on like 27 calls, I think I finally added up just to figure out who was going to be a good fit and then make a decision after that. I did not have time for that. Nobody has time for 27 different calls.

And guess what? As a result, I ended up not working with any of them. Instead, I hired a bookkeeper who had clear information on their website. I could see their pricing, how they worked, who they were the best fit for what they offered and, honestly, I may have spent more deciding to work with them than I would have with someone else, but they made the decision so much easier for me. They didn’t make me jump through a bunch of hoops, and this is what happens to wedding pros all the time.

Think about your own wedding inquiry process. Are you making it difficult? Are you making it difficult, probably without realizing it, for couples to take the next step?

Because that’s exactly what happens on platforms like WeddingWire and The Knot, a couple sends an inquiry or sends an inquiry to multiple people like these platforms encourage, and then suddenly, like me with the bookkeepers, they’re bombarded with generic responses, follow-up emails asking to book a call and no real information to help them even determine is this the right fit or not.

So the question you need to ask yourself is how can you show them you’re a fit before they ever have to get on a call? Because if the only way they can learn about your services is by hopping on a call with you, you’re definitely losing bookings.

Your website should do the job of qualifying leads for you, and part of that is pricing. I personally think your website should have your pricing, and I say in context of what you offer. So I don’t mean just dropping a price list on your website like it’s a restaurant menu. I mean creating a service page that builds value and desire, and this is something we talk about in my membership, The Wedding Business Collective, where we have a training with Ashlyn Carter about this specifically. If you can’t give a concrete price because there are just too many variables, give a range. If your pricing really depends on customization. Say something like stationary for 100 guests typically ranges between X to Y depending on custom details.

I don’t love starting at, but I would rather see starting at than nothing. Some wedding pros use average pricing. Or say something like most of our couples spend around X amount with us. This qualifies your leads for you. So the people reaching out are already aligned with what you offer and your prices. They already know that it’s going to be worth it for them to take the next step and set up a call.

Now, remember, most couples are price checking, not price shopping. It’s a big difference between those things. They’re not necessarily looking for the cheapest option. They just want to make sure that you’re within their budget before they fall in love with your work and set up a call and talk to you for 30 minutes and spend their time investing in you when they just can’t even afford you. So by keeping your pricing vague or hidden, you’re pushing them to look elsewhere. You’re doing exactly what those bookkeepers did to me. I felt overwhelmed, I felt frustrated, I felt annoyed, I felt just generally shitty, and it was a really bad experience.

Another mistake I see wedding pros make is in the follow-up. Their follow-ups are just a kind of are you ready to book a call? Yet your follow-up emails should add value, not just ask if they’re still interested.

So let me give you a couple ideas here. Try sharing a client case study. Tell the story of someone like them, or someone who is likely like them, who had an amazing experience. Answer a common objection, like if you get a lot of people who maybe don’t think an engagement session is worth it. You could talk about why they’re an absolute game changer and how they improve your wedding photos overall.

You could send a behind the scenes video of you to build trust. You could share testimonials so they can see social proof. You can teach them something, share some advice or helpful content. You don’t have to send long emails, just make sure each one helps them feel more confident in hiring you. They get to know you. They get to know your expertise.

Instead of what the vast majority of people did and what I wouldn’t even say the majority of these bookkeepers did, most of them didn’t follow up. The ones that did sent me that okay, are you ready to book a call? No, I still don’t know what you offer. I still don’t know the pricing. I still don’t know if you’re a good fit.

No, I’m not ready to take that next step. If they would have followed up with something next step, if they would have followed up with something that showed me how they worked with someone else and what that experience was like kind of that case study, sort of email I might have been more enticed. But I would have still wanted to know is this even in my price range? Otherwise, we are just wasting each other’s time. Otherwise, we are just wasting each other’s time.

I am actually genuinely surprised that more wedding pros don’t use any sort of asynchronous communication. What I mean is things like voice DMs on Instagram or Facebook, Loom videos, Voxer messages. These are really easy ways to add a personal touch without forcing a call. So if someone has a question for you or you can ask them if they have questions for you, you can send them a quick voice note answering that question. That allows you to talk to each other without being on a call.

You could even send a quick voice note thanking them for inquiring and highlighting what makes you different and why you think you’re a good fit. You could record a Loom video walking them through your services and which one you think is going to be the fit for them, based on what they’ve told you so far. You can use Voxer so they can ask questions without needing to schedule a call.

These are all ways to use asynchronous communication, which we’re becoming more and more accustomed to and wanting to make use of, because we’re all on different schedules. We’re all on different timelines. In many cases, especially if you’re a destination planner, we’re in different time zones, so asynchronous communication makes it so that you can communicate without having to be on a call. Now, that doesn’t mean you don’t eventually get on a call, but it can allow you to answer those first couple questions and allow them to see that you are a fit.

So then they want to set up that call, and that small shift can really make you stand out and help couples feel like they know you before they even get to meet you. So what can you learn from this terrible bookkeeper experience that I had that really just annoyed me so much and I was like this is how it feels. This is how couples feel. Well, ultimately, couples want clarity and confidence before they book you. If they have to jump through hoops to get basic information from you, if they have to email back and forth just to get pricing, if they have to get on a call to see if you’re even in their budget, they will most likely move on to someone else who makes the process easier.

So take a step back and audit your wedding inquiry process today. Ask yourself is your pricing clear? Are your follow-ups adding value and are you making it easy for couples to take the next step, or are you trying to force them into a step that maybe they’re not ready for yet? And maybe by adding a step in between, you could turn more of those inquiries into bookings.

The wedding pros who book the most clients aren’t necessarily the cheapest or even the best marketers. They’re the ones that make it easy to say yes. We all want to work with people that make it easy for us to work with them.

And after listening to this, I would love to hear from you what is one thing you’re going to change about your wedding inquiry process. After listening to this, send me a DM on Instagram at @evolveyouorweddingbusiness and let me know. And if you want to learn how to burnout proof your business while booking more of the right clients, you can grab my free audio training over at evolveyourweddingbusinesscom.com/6pillars. That’s the number six and the word pillars. Thank you so much for tuning in and I’ll speak to you soon.

Links & Resources:

The Wedding Business Collective
The New Rules of Booking Weddings: What Couples Want From Vendors Now With Adrienna McDermott
How She Fired WeddingWire & The Knot And Built Her Own Lead-Generating Machine With Katherine Hunter
Loom
Voxer

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