How SWOT Analysis Is Useful In Wedding Planning

As a soon-to-be bride, you can’t wait for your wedding…

Or can you? Because when you’re planning it on your own, you desperately countdown the days while cursing under your breath because there’s still so much to do!

How can you possibly enjoy the big day when your to-do list is as long as your arms combined? You’ve battled with the idea of uninviting Aunt Meg and that uncle you’ve only met once just to make it a teensy bit smaller.

But instead of cutting corners that’ll actually give you more work do this one small thing. It’ll transform this whole planning process in less than a day.

No more nightmares about knocking the cake into the lap of your mother-in-law, who, by the way, still isn’t your biggest fan. No more waking up in a cold sweat because you may have forgotten to pick up the dress.

Get that inner sense peace while planning your wedding with SWOT analysis.

So what is this SWOT analysis thing really?

For starters, it’s an acronym. It stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Whenever someone uses SWOT – whether it’s business owners, analysts, or just an average person like you and me – they’re basically connecting those four categories to a specific topic.

You could add in fancy graphs or drawings, but when you’re planning a wedding, you don’t have even one extra moment for anything but the task at hand. So, just grab a laptop and get to work.

SWOT analysis is as quick as you need it to be. By the end of the analysis, you’ll fully understand four things:

• Where your efforts are most needed
• What you’re wasting time on
• Where you could save time or money
• What could compromise the happiness of the big day

This doesn’t happen just by thinking about SWOT. You will need to sit down and think through each section. Many types of people use SWOT analysis to gain clarity about their company, branding, and even themselves. But that clarity comes once you go through each section, bit by bit.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Starting with the strengths

In the case of wedding planning, the ‘S’ in SWOT analysis analyzes strengths. In the case of wedding planning, think of it more as the things you already have covered and don’t need any extra worrying about.

In this section, write down every single thing that’s already finished up. Include deposits and down payments. Think of everything, don’t skip even the tiniest detail, like having the right silverware ready for guests.

Even if these tasks aren’t 100 percent completed, write them down. Beside it, write down the next necessary steps so it can be crossed off your “need to do” list. But don’t add anything here that isn’t started. That’ll go into the next category.

When your list is completed, take a deep breath. These are the things that are either finished, being handled, or on their way. You can set this list aside for now and work on it each day.

But… now we have to step into the stressful category: weaknesses.

And now the weaknesses

This list is better known as the “everything is wrong and I don’t know what to do” list. It eats away at wedding planners because it’s a constant reminder of imperfections. People tend to focus only on what’s not finished, driving their stress levels up towards the sun. But it’s not just about what isn’t finished.

For SWOT analysis, think about these weaknesses as the things that’ll completely ruin your big day. Like spilling an entire bottle of wine on the wedding dress right before going up the aisle would be disastrous. Or forgetting to buy the food for the guests and it’s time to eat in an hour.

Write down the kind of things that’ll make this wedding absolutely impossible to enjoy. You want to create that list to develop a backup plan. And then maybe another pain… if that gives you peace of mind.

Like, let’s say there aren’t enough chairs for everyone. What’s the backup plan? Or the DJ loses your playlist… what could you do to be prepared?

Planning can give you a sense of peace. So, make a list of these disastrous scenarios followed by a plan to offset the damage.

Opportunities & Threats

Opportunities are easy

Opportunities can be easy to find when doing a SWOT analysis for wedding planning. You could find discounts, deals, and coupons. Like, maybe your bridesmaids can get a percentage off since you’re buying the dresses in bulk. Or maybe the venue you’re getting married at offers a package deal for music.

If you can essentially get two things for the price of one, why not? It can save you so much time. Now you don’t have to search for another store to get dresses or research bands for the reception.

But the main reason it’s an opportunity during this wedding plan phase? It reduces your stress! So, take a look at your list of strengths and weaknesses and see if there are any opportunities hidden there.

Threats shouldn’t be ignored

No clever wording here: threats are exactly what you think they are. They are the things that threaten the outcome of your wedding.

Your list of weaknesses can be a big help in this section since weaknesses can easily become threats. But you want to rate the threat. The higher the number, the worse the outcome will be. So if you have a level 9 threat, you can sit down and figure out a plan to either prevent it or mitigate the effect.

Once you get through this section, you’ve completed the final category of your SWOT analysis!

Now you’ll have a clearer idea about what’s already finished, what needs to be done, where you can save costs and expenses, and finally, what could be the Armageddon of your wedding day… if you don’t do something ASAP.

Photo by Orio Nguyen on Unsplash