7 Core KPIs to Track for Wedding Planner Success

Tracking Growth Rates

• Measure Quarter-over-Quarter (QoQ) growth for total revenue.
• Measure QoQ growth for each service segment separately.
• If overall growth lags, check if Partial bookings are growing too fast.
• Use a 12-month rolling average to smooth seasonal spikes.

Calculate Contribution Per Service

• Contribution Margin equals total revenue minus all variable costs associated with delivering that service.
• Variable costs include direct labor hours, vendor commissions paid out, and specific client materials.
• Full Planning packages might have a lower CM ratio, say 55%, due to extensive coordination time.
• Hourly Consultations often show a higher CM ratio, perhaps 80%, because direct delivery costs are minimal.

Spotting Labor Waste

• Low utilization means you’re paying full-time wages for part-time client work; that’s overhead, not COGS.
• If utilization is low, focus on streamlining sales or administrative tasks to free up planner time.
• Underpricing is masked if you don’t track utilization; you might think you’re booked solid when you’re defintely undercharging.
• Use this data to adjust package pricing for the next fiscal year, ensuring rates cover $125/hour fully loaded labor costs.

Watch Your Acquisition Spend

• A $600 CAC means you need high-value, reliable clients to justify the marketing spend.
• Since wedding planning is often a one-time service, focus on maximizing initial package revenue.
• You must track conversion rates from initial lead to signed contract precisely.
• If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises before you even book the date.

Disadvantages

• Can mask problems if high-fee clients are replaced by low-fee ones.
• Ignores the operational cost difference between service types.
• Seasonal booking patterns can create misleading monthly fluctuations.

Industry Benchmarks

For premium wedding planners serving high-income markets, ARPC typically falls between $7,500 and $25,000, depending on geographic location and service depth. You must benchmark against planners offering similar levels of vendor curation and stress reduction to busy professionals. This number confirms if your value proposition translates into premium fees.

Disadvantages

• It completely ignores fixed operating expenses like office rent and software subscriptions.
• Can be skewed by how you classify direct planner labor versus administrative labor.
• A high percentage doesn't guarantee overall business success if client volume is too low.

Industry Benchmarks

For high-touch professional services like wedding planning, margins should generally exceed 60%, often reaching 75% or higher if you manage vendor relationships well. If your direct costs are too high, it signals you aren't capturing enough value from your expertise or that your package pricing is too low for the scope of work required.

Disadvantages

• Can encourage staff to log unnecessary hours just to hit the target.
• Ignores the complexity or value of the billable task performed.
• If capacity isn't defined well, the target becomes meaningless.

Industry Benchmarks

For professional service firms like yours, the industry standard target for Billable Utilization Rate is 75%. If your planners are consistently below 70%, you are likely overstaffed relative to your current client volume. Top-tier planning firms often push this metric toward 80%, but that requires extremely tight process management.

Disadvantages

• Ignores client retention or lifetime value (LTV).
• Can fluctuate wildly if lead volume is inconsistent.
• Doesn't capture the time lag between spending and booking.

Industry Benchmarks

For high-touch, high-ticket services targeting busy professionals, CAC must be low relative to the service fee. Your target of $\mathbf{\$600}$ or less by $\mathbf{2026}$ is aggressive but achievable given your $\mathbf{\$12,545}$ ARPC target. If your CAC exceeds $\mathbf{10\%}$ of your ARPC, you’re probably overspending, unless you have exceptional margins.

Disadvantages

• Ignores fixed overhead costs like office rent or marketing spend recovery.
• Can be misleading if billable hours don't perfectly capture all necessary client preparation work.
• Doesn't capture the long-term value derived from high-net-worth client relationships.

Industry Benchmarks

For specialized, high-touch consulting services aimed at busy professionals earning over $150,000 combined income, experienced planners often target an Effective Hourly Rate between $125 and $175. Hitting your minimum target of $100/hour means you are covering direct service costs well, but you need to watch if high-value clients are demanding significantly more time than lower-tier clients.

Disadvantages

• Ignores future revenue spikes from large client bookings.
• The burn rate can change fast if you hire staff unexpectedly.
• It doesn't account for the time lag in securing new capital.

Industry Benchmarks

For high-touch service firms like this wedding planner, 6 to 12 months is the standard safety zone for runway. If you’re pre-revenue or scaling fast, you need the higher end, maybe 14 months, because client onboarding and deposit timing can be unpredictable. You need runway that covers the time until your next major client payment clears.

Disadvantages

• Focusing only on the date can lead to cutting necessary growth spending.
• It ignores the actual size of the profit margin achieved at that point.
• It doesn't account for necessary capital expenditures post-breakeven.

Industry Benchmarks

For high-touch service businesses like wedding planning, the breakeven timeline varies based on initial setup costs and client acquisition speed. While some lean consulting models might hit breakeven in 4–6 months, businesses requiring significant upfront marketing or technology build-out often target 10 to 14 months. Hitting the 8-month target suggests excellent early cost control and strong initial Average Revenue Per Client (ARPC).