Fortunately, I am very administrative and detail-oriented - a must for any consultant. I found I really, truly enjoyed making all the plans and seeing how my and my future husband\'s ideas fell into place. It was fun! Most brides I talk with can\'t understand how it can be "fun" to do all that planning. It takes so much time and energy, not to mention the stress.

After my wedding went smoother than I ever could have imagined, I decided I really did enjoy doing this and wanted to help others have their own smooth wedding. I first started by being a Wedding Coordinator for my local church. Eventually, friends enlisted my help in planning their own weddings. After a couple of years helping my friends for nothing or for very little, I decided it was time to do this professionally.

I began pouring through bridal magazines and buying books on how to plan weddings. In looking at ads for other consultants, I found they were members of different professional associations. Some of these are : The Association of Bridal Consultants http://www.bridalassn.com/, Weddings Beautiful http://www.weddingsbeautiful.com/ and June Weddings http://www.junewedding.com/, to name a few. They each offer a home study program to become a consultant. Prices vary, so you will want to choose the one that best fits your needs and budget. If your budget allows, you may choose to become a member with more than one association. Benefits can vary on being a member of more than one association, so be sure to check each one of them out to see what each offers.

After you have gone through the home study program and get your certificate, you will next want to start making contacts with local vendors to introduce yourself and start getting your name out there. One way to do this is join an association of wedding professionals, such as The Association of Wedding Professionals (AWP.) This association conducts monthly dinner meetings in the metropolitan DC area. Being a member of an association such as AWP is a great networking opportunity that allows you to find and talk with a variety of different vendors (e.g., photographers, florists, bakers, etc.) in the wedding industry, whereas the associations for bridal consultants consist only of bridal consultants and some corporate vendors. Connecting your name with a professional association provides credence to your business because; all members must adhere to a code of ethics. Prospective clients know they can trust you and your services as well as the vendors you recommend.

Another good place to start is to hook up with current consultants and see if you can assist them with one of their weddings - free of charge. Assisting in this manner will give you a real feel for the business and will help you determine whether this is the career for you.

A great benefit of having this type of business is you are your own boss; you set your own hours and you decide how many weddings you want to do every year, whether it be every weekend or only a few a year.

Finally, an excellent wedding consultant will have the following skills:

· administrative, organized, and detail-oriented
· objective
· a good eye for style, taste and creativity
· a good sense of humor (for the times when things don\'t go quite as planned)

I hope this article will help you in deciding if wedding consulting is for you.

Patti Wilson is owner of Smooth Weddings LLC in Germantown Maryland.  For more information on her company you can visit them on the web at http://www.smoothweddings.com/