How to Prep for Time Off (Without Pausing Your Wedding Business)
Time off: Two words that ironically instill both excitement and anxiety in wedding pros. You would love nothing more than to take time off, but the thought of putting your wedding business on pause kills you. We know these thoughts immediately start running through your mind the second you even think about taking time off:
What if my dream lead comes in while I’m away?
What if my couples need something time-sensitive?
How on earth am I going to catch up when I’m back in the office?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from running a wedding business, it’s that time off is essential. And we don’t mean the kind of time off where you’re constantly checking your phone or working at night. We mean the unplugged, high-quality time where you’re fully present with your family.
We all know that burnout is so real in this industry, so taking time off is critical to the long-term sustainability of your wedding business. As wedding virtual assistants, we consistently encourage our friendors to take time off to pour into themselves, just like they pour their hearts into their couples and work.
We hold down the fort while they’re away, answering leads, creating timelines, following up on workflow checkpoints with booked clients and more. Basically, with us on their team, it’s business as usual, even if they’re on vacation, off the grid!
If you don’t yet have a wedding virtual assistant though, how do you prep for time off without pausing your wedding business or having to work on vacay? Follow the tips in this guide, cultivated from our own 10+ year wedding career, and then get ready to book your next trip!
1. Shout it from the rooftops
We’re starting out with the most important prep step: Communicate your out-of-office dates early and often. Clients and vendor partners will feel taken care of if you take intentional measures to ensure they know of your vacation dates in advance. They’ll feel just as prepared for your time off as you will, which is the ultimate way to have peace of mind while you’re away.
What does this look like?
Put an “Upcoming OOO Dates” alert at the bottom of your email signature as soon as you finalize the dates
Notify all clients and vendor partners who you regularly communicate with in an email at least a week in advance
Turn on your official out-of-office auto-responder a day before you actually leave
Whether you take a long weekend or a full week off, your clients and partners will appreciate your diligence in communication, which, in turn, makes them trust you even more!
2. Double check automations, especially for leads
Having a strong automated workflow is a key piece of any wedding business’ day-to-day, but is especially significant when prepping for time off. Before you leave, make sure your automations are all functioning properly with the most up-to-date email templates and form attachments (we’re all guilty of updating individual emails/forms instead of the master templates!).
Double check that emails that are set to automatically send without manual approval are free of placeholders, have the correct smart fields, and make sense within the context of each client’s current conversation.
For lead email templates, we recommend adding in verbiage about your time off, so these couples know what to expect from the get-go. It could say something like:
“Thank you SO much for reaching out to me! It means the world that you’re interested in working together!
Just a heads-up that I’m currently on vacation with my family from [Insert OOO dates here], but I would love nothing more than for you to schedule a call with me, so we can chat when I get back!
In the meantime, feel free to check out my Services Guide (attached) and some kind words from my previous couples (include link to testimonials).”
Giving leads an action step gets them engaged with your wedding business right away, even if you’re out-of-office, and ensures that you have the opportunity to speak with them when you return. Including your Services Guide also gives the client the info they’re looking for off the bat and is another way to keep their interest and engagement levels high until you get back.
This is also your reminder to update your scheduling link, so nobody can book a call with you during your time off!
3. Proactively work ahead
This is the part where you get as much pre-work done as possible, so you’re not hit with missed deadlines and a huge pile of overdue work the second you return from vacation. Nothing zaps your feeling of rejuvenation faster!
Whether that means creating timelines and layouts (even preliminary ones!), sending client forms earlier than usual (the perfect homework for them while you’re away!), or scheduling check-in or final client calls, your future self will thank you for easing the workload later on!
We advise working ahead for checkpoints and deadlines that are due a week or two after your return to the office. There will inevitably be some catch-up work to do after vacation, but taking care of as much as you can in advance will help prevent some of the overwhelm later.
4. Pre-schedule social media posts
Similarly, go ahead and pre-schedule your social media posts, so you don’t have to worry about it on vacation! You may choose to stick to your usual posting schedule and schedule these posts in advance, or if you’re short on time, you could simply prep one IG story or post to notify your audience of your OOO dates.
Remember, preparing for your time off means taking care of your clients, but it also means taking care of you! Your mental wellbeing and inner peace are critical in building the sustainable wedding business you desire.
5. Plan for a full day “catch-up” buffer
OOO hack: Tell everyone you’re getting back from the office a day later than you actually are! This gives you a full day buffer to catch up when you get back without all the additional calls and emails that inevitably come with your first day back. You’ll get to catch up in peace and quiet, which will result in increased efficiency and decreased stress.
To protect the peace of this buffer day, just make sure to schedule your emails to send the following day when you officially return to the office!
How to Take Time Off Without Pausing Your Wedding Business
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that having a wedding virtual assistant is the ultimate hack to taking time off without pausing your wedding business. Having our team in your corner makes all of the above prep steps completely unnecessary!
Your wedding virtual assistant serves as a second “you” in your wedding business, which means you can take time off while everything operates as normal. We handle your emails, manage your client workflow, create and edit timelines, communicate with other vendors, manage your social media posts, and more to ensure that your business’ backend runs like a well-oiled machine.
Ready to Meet Your Wedding Virtual Assistants?
Hi, we’re Jessica Hetu and Co, a team of virtual assistants for wedding creatives! We are on a mission to help wedding pros avoid burnout and have the freedom to focus on what matters most, no matter what that looks like for you.
Whether you’re striving to grow your wedding business, have more flexibility in your lifestyle or simply prioritize the work you love to do, we’re here to help! Uniquely equipped with 10+ years of wedding industry experience, we take your biggest business burdens off your plate, including client care, blogging, social media, and email newsletter creation.
We ultimately marry our industry experience with our hearts for service to be a second “you” in your business!
