Jump to Youtube Video

Making the Most of Your Wedding Off-Season

Hello, Wedding Pros! It’s me, Brandee Gaar, and if you’re a faithful listener or student inside Wedding Pro CEO, you know I’m all about maximizing every season in your business. When engagement season hits—that rush from November through March—I’m usually shouting from the rooftops: Sell, sell, sell!

But recently, I had an incredible conversation with our WPCEO Marketing Coach and amazing musician, Erica Jankowski, that gave me pause. She reminded me that not every wedding business owner falls into the same booking funnel and that our timelines for sales and strategy should look different.

For many of you—the entertainers, videographers, specialty vendors, and even some planners in different markets—your peak booking window might not be right now. Instead, this time is your golden opportunity to prime your business for massive growth later in the year.

If you are a vendor who experiences a slower start to the booking season than your peers, tune in tight. Here are the five fire strategies Erica and I agree on to make the most of your wedding off-season.

Let’s go!!!

5 Fire Strategies for Strategic Off-Season Success

1. Understand Your Unique Booking Timeline

Before you start any marketing efforts, you have to know when your ideal client is actually ready to book your specific service. Planners, venues, and photographers often book first, but if you’re a vendor who is typically selected later—like hair/makeup, musicians, or videographers—your prime booking window is often the spring. You need to leverage this knowledge.

As Erica points out:

“I know that a lot of my counterparts who are photographers, planners, venues, you all are kind of the first vendors who typically are booked on a wedding, whereas myself, as a musician, I think hair and makeup artists, videographers, sometimes we are later on in that process.”

Action Item: Stop stressing about low inquiry volume right now and instead, create a clear calendar that highlights when your specific sales window begins.

2. Schedule Your Major Business Overhauls in the “Gap”

One of the biggest mistakes I see wedding business owners make is trying to revamp their website or switch their CRM when they should be selling. If your current season is slower, this is the perfect time for strategic, back-end work. But please, plan ahead! These projects take much longer than you think.

Erica has the perfect reality check for us:

“Oftentimes people are like, oh, I can get my website done in a month. Okay, I’m just gonna say it right now. Like it would be safer to plan for about four months, six months out.”

Action Item: Look at your calendar, find the 4-6 month “gap” of time where you are not actively selling or delivering services, and block out time for your new website, CRM integration, or branding project.

3. Prioritize Strategic Vendor Nurturing on Social Media

Right now, key referral sources (like planners and venues) are in the middle of their engagement season frenzy. This is when they are making referral lists! Your off-season is the time to stay top-of-mind by engaging with the partners who work with your dream client. Be strategic with your time—you don’t need to engage with every single vendor.

As Erica advises:

“You really want to be strategic and make that list of who are the venues, the planners, the photographers that I know are working with my ideal client.”

Action Item: Dedicate 15 minutes a day to leaving thoughtful comments and sharing the content of your top 10-20 referral sources.

4. Leverage the Goodwill of Vendor Google Reviews

This might be the most brilliant, actionable idea in the whole episode. You want to generate goodwill and stay top-of-mind with planners and venues during their busiest season? Leave them a five-star Google review right now! When they’re compiling their vendor referrals list, your name will pop into their head.

This builds massive trust with potential clients, too:

“If you can talk about why you as a vendor, love working with a certain planner and how it affects the client and leave that on a Google Review… it’s also such goodwill to be like, oh, that’s so nice that that vendor took the time to do that.”

Action Item: Block time this week to write and post 5-10 strategic Google reviews for the planners and venues you admire most.

5. Launch or Revamp Your Vendor Newsletter

While every other business is fighting to get into an engaged couple’s inbox, you should be building deep connections with other vendors. A vendor-focused newsletter is one of the least saturated and most effective ways to share stories and establish your expertise as a wedding business owner.

As Erica confirms:

“this is one of, in my opinion, the best and least saturated ways in our network to be able to stay top of mind with the vendors that you love…”

Action Item: Start collecting emails and plan content that includes: telling stories about shared past weddings, highlighting new aspects of your service, and letting them know what networking events you’ll be at.

---

Before You Go

Erica and I both agree: The difference between a good year and a great year comes down to how you plan and use your off-season. Stop letting the traditional wedding business calendar dictate when you work on your business!

The time to find your core constraint and pull your biggest lever is now. If you’re ready to define your ideal booking flow, find your true “gap” time, and create a roadmap to scale your business, we want to help.

Click below to book a free Gap Assessment with our team at Wedding Pro CEO!

👉 weddingproceo.com/application

Connect with the Pros:

• Follow the Podcast: @weddingproceo
• Follow Erica Jankowski (Our Marketing Coach): @Erica_Jankowski_
• Follow Erica’s Musician Page: @AlohaEricaMusic

---

FAQ

Q1: Why should my off-season marketing be different from my peak season marketing?

During your slower months, your energy should shift from transactional sales (client inquiries) to strategic planning and relationship building (vendor referrals). This ensures your systems, branding, and referral network are robust and ready to handle the increased volume when your specific booking season hits.

Q2: Who is this strategic off-season planning most important for?

This strategy is vital for any wedding business owner who notices their peak bookings happen after the initial rush of engagement season. This includes, but is not limited to, musicians, videographers, hair/makeup artists, specialty rentals, and stationers.

Q3: When should I start planning a major overhaul like a new website?

Immediately. As Erica noted, major overhauls can take four to six months of strategic focus. You should start the research, partner selection, and initial planning during your slow season so that the project doesn’t interfere with your peak selling or wedding execution months.

Check out the video version of the podcast below. 👇
Subscribe, comment and share to support the channel.

💌For business inquiries: sayhello@weddingproceo.com

Heads up, CEO! Some of the links I share may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase—at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools and resources I actually use and love, and that I believe will help you grow a profitable, sustainable business you’re obsessed with.