Education, Student Ambassador, Your Event Career

3 Reasons You SHOULDN’T Get an Event Planning Certification

Not sure whether you should invest the time, money, and effort to get a professional event planning certification? QC Event School’s Student Ambassador, Afton Romrell, is here to discuss 3 scenarios where a certification won’t be necessary. Afton is the co-founder of Eventfully Sweet. She is also a graduate of QC’s Event & Wedding Planning and Event Decor programs.

Do You NEED an Event Planning Certification?

Today, I want to settle this age-old debate once and for all. As you may or may not know, one does not technically “need” a professional certification in order to work as a wedding or event planner. So, what a lot of people wind up thinking is: if it’s not absolutely required, why bother getting it at all? Is it truly necessary?

The answer depends on your business goals! If you like planning events as a hobby and don’t intend to make a career out of it, then no, you don’t need one. But what if you do want to make a career out of it? Well, I guess that depends on whether or not you care about increasing your client pool and earning a larger salary. If neither of these things are priorities for you, then we totally recommend skipping professional certification.

With that, here are 3 reasons why I think you shouldn’t earn an event planning certification…

3 Reasons NOT to Get Your Event Planning Certification

1. You’re not interested in making more money.

If you only like organizing events for close family members and friends, and enjoy doing it for free, maybe earning an event planning certification isn’t for you!

“But wait,” you might now be saying, “I DO want to earn some money off of this!”

If that’s the case, then I strongly urge you to consider whether your love of weddings and events is more of a hobby – or if you actually want to turn this into a legitimate career. If you choose the latter, then the truth is, you’re going to need professional training. A LOT of clients don’t want to pay a “professional” planner that doesn’t have any schooling, qualifications, or prior experience. Without any of these things under your belt, you have no way of guaranteeing your client that you can accomplish their vision. And trust me, that won’t bode well for the majority of prospective customers.

The more schooling and experience you have, the more people will trust you. As a result, they will be more willing to pay you for your services. Moreover, by having a proper certification, you’ll also potentially be able to set your rates higher than other planners in your area who don’t have your qualifications!

2. You don’t want your event planning career to work out long-term.

Maybe you think you like planning events, but another career is calling out to you – and you can’t decide which one to pursue. In all likelihood, getting an event planning certification won’t be worth it for you if all you want to do is plan your own wedding. Similarly, you might not be completely invested in being a professional planner and/or don’t foresee this career working in the long run. If that’s the case, I’d recommend taking the time to think long and hard about this before you commit to professional certification training.

Now, what if you ARE someone who wants to have a thriving, full-time career as an event/wedding planner? Then you need to honestly ask yourself: if you DON’T have any professional training, how are you going to know how to prolong your business, increase your clientele, and market yourself in a strategic way? The fact is, certification training will teach you how to manage multiple clients at once, stay up-to-date with modern planning methods, show you how to launch (and run) a successful business, and so much more!

Those without proper training tend to throw in the towel once things get too challenging. A lack of education might not guarantee a lack of success, but it’s definitely a big contributor. But if you get an event planning certification, you’ll be prepared for a LIFE-LONG career in this industry!

3. You hate school.

Why would you keep going to school if you hate it? I’ll admit, I wouldn’t. Sure, QC Event School offers has self-paced courses, one-on-one tutoring, and guarantees an event planning certification upon graduation… But it’s, you know, school. So, I guess it all boils down to: do you love the world of event planning or not? If you do, then you’ll see the value in professional training – even if you aren’t the biggest fan of school. However, if your passion for planning isn’t strong enough to overpower your distaste for school, it might be worth it to ask yourself whether or not this is truly the right field for you.

Enrolling in an event planning course and getting properly trained guarantees a great opportunity for you. It’ll increase your chances for success and best set you up to thrive in the real world. Simply put: event planning school is a staple step for anyone who wants to make a legitimate career out of their passion!

In All Seriousness…

I’ll be totally upfront: even I had reservations on whether or not to earn my event planning certification. For a while, I wasn’t totally convinced that it’d be worth my effort (or my money). However, once I learned the true importance of a certification and discovered QC Event School, these were a few of the things that helped me make the decision to enroll:

• QC Event School has an A + ranking with the BBB! Furthermore, all of their courses and certifications are approved both internationally and by ILEA!
• All of QC’s tutors are leading industry experts!
• QC Event School provides real-world learning, hands-on assignments, affordable payment plans, and monthly promotional offers!

Overall, I am very grateful that I got my event planning certifications through QC Event School. I wouldn’t have been brave enough to start up my own business, and I certainly wouldn’t know all the helpful tips and tricks I know now. If you want to be a professional planner, I highly recommend taking at least one certification course with this school. I promise you won’t regret it!

Thanks for reading, everyone. Got any other reasons why getting a professional certification is actually super beneficial? Drop them in the comments below. I’d also love to connect with you directly on QC’s Virtual Classroom on Facebook… so, I hope to see you there! 🙂

Earn your event planning certification in as little as 3-6 months by enrolling with QC Event School today!

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