Why Your Wedding Business Attracts Price-Shopping Couples (And How To Change It)

In this episode we’ll cover:

• Why your wedding business price shopping problem isn’t really about your pricing and what’s actually driving it
• The subtle marketing mistakes that make you look just like every other vendor
• How to start attracting price-shopping couples who value what you do instead of comparing you by cost
• What to say on your website and in your emails to stop competing on price
• How to position your services so you become the obvious choice for your ideal clients
• Simple ways to shift your marketing and start booking better clients who are excited to work with you

Why Your Wedding Business Attracts Price-Shopping Couples (And How To Change It)

0:00:00 – Heidi Thompson
Want to know why your wedding business attracts price-shopping couples and how you can change it? This episode is for you.

0:00:08 – Intro
In a world where wedding professionals are struggling to market and grow their businesses, one podcast brings together top experts and actionable strategies to help you build the wedding business of your dreams. This is the Evolve your Wedding Business Podcast. Here is your host, Heidi Thompson.

0:00:39 – Heidi Thompson
Hey there, my friend. Welcome to the podcast. I am your host, Heidi Thompson, and I am all about helping wedding pros book more weddings with couples they really want to work with, and price shopping is a thing that always comes up. Do you ever feel like the only couples you get inquiries from are the ones that are just looking for the cheapest option? Maybe you pour your heart and your soul into your work and you know you’re good at what you do, but when couples reach out, it really feels like all they care about is price. So you kind of end up second guessing yourself “Are my prices too high? Should I offer discounts just to get the booking? Will I ever be able to charge what I’m really worth?”. That is exhausting, it’s discouraging and it’s not actually the real problem, because price is rarely the deciding factor when a couple chooses their wedding vendors. Price shoppers are a symptom. The real problem is blending in, and today I’m going to walk you through why this happens, how to spot it in your own wedding business and what you can do to attract couples who value you for more than just your lowest price.

There is this mythos of price shoppers in the wedding industry, and most wedding pros assume that if they’re attracting what we call price shoppers, something must be wrong with their pricing. That’s why they’re asking about it. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard a wedding professional say I keep getting undercut by people charging less, or couples just can’t seem to afford me. But here’s what the data shows. The wedding report asked couples if price was the deciding factor when they hired a vendor. 80% of them said no. So if 80% of couples say price is not the single deciding factor, why does it feel like every couple you hear from only cares about cost? Well, it comes down to this If your marketing sounds just like every other vendor, if your marketing sounds just like every other vendor, couples just do not know how else to compare you. So of course they compare on price. Think of it like shopping for apples at the grocery store. If every apple looks the same, you’re probably just going to grab the cheapest bag. But if one variety of apple is sweeter or crisper or better for baking, all of a sudden that decision isn’t just about cost anymore. This is what’s happening in your wedding business. If couples cannot see why you are different, you’re just another apple on the shelf and the cheapest one looks good enough. So let’s break this down.

Why does blending in attract price shoppers? So first we have generic marketing. If your website says something like creating dream weddings that are stress-free, that I could copy and paste onto any wedding professional’s website. That I’ve seen on hundreds, if not thousands, of other wedding vendors’ websites. There’s nothing there that sets you apart. Couples are reading that language on every wedding vendor website and it’s all blending in.

If couples can’t tell who you’re for and who you’re not for, who you’re the perfect fit for and who you’re not the perfect fit for, you get inquiries from everyone, and everyone includes couples who were never really that excited about you in the first place. They just wanted to find the cheapest option. Then you have client language. The words you use in your marketing may sound polished, they may sound professional to you, but if they’re not the words that your ideal clients actually use, you’re going to miss the mark.

They will not relate to them. They feel like jargon. That disconnect makes it harder for couples to feel a connection to you. So again they fall back to comparing on price. They don’t understand what your jargon means that you use, that we use in the industry and a confused mind doesn’t buy. They’re just going to default to price because you’ve given them nothing else to compare you on. Another way people really get trapped into this is by positioning themselves in the wrong category.

So if you are describing yourself the same way that every photographer, every planner, every DJ, every videographer does, couples are going to assume you’re interchangeable, because your marketing is telling them that you’re interchangeable, and if you are interchangeable, the cheapest option wins. Keep this in mind. Your couples have 20 tabs open with you and your competitors, and if they cannot quickly click between them and see the difference between all of you and why they should choose you from that pool, they’re going to go for the cheapest price, and you would too. That’s what happens when there’s nothing else to compare.

So let me tell you about a planner I work with who shifted her messaging. She was a member of the Wedding Business Collective and she was getting some of her ideal clients, but she was struggling to bring in more of them, and she was using the same generic language that everybody else was using to market herself, to talk about why someone should buy from her. Stress-free weddings, dream weddings, all of these phrases that we’ve seen a million times, to the point where they don’t even mean anything anymore. But when she stopped and looked at her best clients and used my clone your best clients process, she realized they actually didn’t care that much about making things stress-free.

They were booking her because she helped them weave their cultural background these were South Asian weddings and their personality into their wedding day, so that their wedding wasn’t just like their cousin’s wedding, just like their sister’s wedding, just like their brother’s wedding, but it still had those parts of their cultural practices for weddings that they really loved. That’s what mattered to them most and, interestingly, that’s what already made her different, but she wasn’t talking about it in her marketing. People were already hiring her for this reason, but she wasn’t highlighting it. She was highlighting this stress-free dream wedding fluffy nonsense that we all tend to fall into, and when she changed her messaging and her marketing to highlight that this is really what she’s all about, her inquiries changed completely.

Not only did they skyrocket, but she started hearing from couples that were saying things like we already knew you were the planner for us the minute we found your website. Those couples weren’t price shopping. They were looking for someone who could give them the experience they wanted, and they saw her as the obvious hell yes choice. She put herself in her own category so she was no longer being compared to other wedding planners. That’s the brilliance of it. You have to step outside of that category and make yourself the go-to the hell yes choice for your best clients so they don’t want to work with anybody else.

This is the power of a perfect fit statement on a website. This is the statement that comes above the fold on your website. You know, when anyone just loads your website, what texts do they immediately see? What images do they immediately see? What I teach in the Wedding Business Collective is to create this perfect fit statement that describes exactly what you do, who you do it for and why you’re different and why that person should book you. It’s hard to get that into one line. We have an AI tool to help you figure that out for yourself, but I use this practice in my own business.

My perfect fit statement on my website is book more weddings with clients you love without working all the damn time. Now imagine if, instead of that text I just said wedding business coach. That’s vague, it’s generic. It attracts you, exactly what result you can expect from working with me and who I’m for If you are a wedding pro who is exhausted and wants to book more of the right clients without burning out and working 60, 80 hour weeks, that statement is going to feel like it was written just for you, because it was.

This is what your couples need to feel, too. When your marketing reflects exactly what they care about, the right clients lean in and the price shoppers naturally filter out. So how do you stop attracting price shoppers and start attracting clients who value you? Here are some first steps you can take. First, talk to your best clients. I just mentioned that clone your best clients process.

It’s something I’ve talked about extensively on the podcast. I wrote a bestselling book on the process. I talk about it in The Wedding Business Collective. But you’re going to talk to your best clients and find out why they chose you. Ask them what stood out. Ask them why they chose you instead of another photographer, planner, venue. Ask them what worried them before they booked and what reassured them. The answers that you will get from this are pure gold from your marketing, and you’ll be able to show them that you’re the right fit.

Then you want to use those words everywhere. Take the exact phrases your clients use and weave them into your website, copy your social media, your emails, your blog posts. When a couple sees their own words, their own feelings reflected back, they feel seen and understood. That builds trust faster than any polished tagline ever could faster than any polished tagline ever could. Then I want you to be clear about who you are not for and this one feels scary, but it’s powerful. If you are a photographer who loves bold, vibrant images, say that.

Don’t try to also appeal to couples who want light and airy images. Filtering people out means the right people lean in harder and you become even more attractive to your right person. Then I want you to show your value in stories and improve so. If you have testimonials that say things like she was amazing, those are nice, but they don’t sell. Testimonials that say she handled my 200 guest wedding and helped us blend our two cultures beautifully, those sell because they show the specific value that you bring to the table.

Then, like I said, you do not want to put yourself in the same category. Then, like I said, you do not want to put yourself in the same category. You have to create an apples to oranges comparison. So you want to position yourself so. You are no longer just another option in a sea of vendors. You put yourself in your own lane. You are no longer just another DJ. You are a DJ who reads the crowd and keeps the dance floor packed all night, and even grandma and grandpa are up dancing nonstop. You’re not just another florist. You’re a florist who specializes in lush, sustainable arrangements for eco-conscious couples.

Here’s the truth about price shoppers. If you feel stuck in the cycle of attracting price shoppers, hear me on this. It is not your pricing. This is a symptom. This is not the cause. The problem is not that you are too expensive. The problem is that couples genuinely do not see why you’re different. They just don’t see why they should choose you over someone else, and when they can’t do that, they compare on price. But when you stand out, you make it crystal clear who you are, who you’re for and why you’re different. Who you’re for and why you’re different. Price stops being the focus, because you have the perfect solution that they’re looking for.

Now, if you are like, okay, but show me how to put this in practice, I want to invite you to join me in the Stand Out and Get Booked Challenge. It’s happening October 20th through the 24th. It’s free. It’s five days and each day you will learn one step that you can take action on immediately to make sure you stand out, so you can cut down on ghosting, you can stop attracting price shoppers and you can start booking the couples who truly value you. So go over to evolveyourweddingbusiness.com/challenge to grab your free ticket.

Again, that’s happening October 20th through the 24th. It is free. I would love for you to come join us and I can help you figure this out for yourself. I see such a huge shift in businesses that figure this out, that learn how to stand out to their ideal clients. They start getting inquiries and bookings like crazy because people finally finally understand why they should book you instead of someone else.

So go get your free ticket at evolveyourweddingbusiness.com/challenge and I will see you there.

Links & Resources:

Get your free ticket to the Stand out & Get Booked Challenge!
The Wedding Business Collective – join for just $1
Episode 187: What To Do If Your Wedding Business Is Attracting Price Shoppers

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