Every Wednesday I talk about a specific topic in my Wedding Planning Success Lounge on Periscope – Make sure you follow me @SabrinaCadini for valuable tips and advice like today’s post.

A wedding questionnaire is an excellent tool for us wedding professionals to gather information about our wonderful couples. It helps you get a better idea of what your couple envisions, expects and looks for at their wedding. You will then use this information to create their budget, vision board, recommend the ideal location and the most appropriate vendors, and much more.

I always send the wedding questionnaire to the couple after they confirm my services, sign my agreement and we are ready to meet for our design consultation. I also ask them to return the completed questionnaire a few days before the meeting, so I have the time to read their answers and be prepared with ideas and suggestions.

A lot of questions in the questionnaire have nothing to do with the actual wedding planning or vision however, they will help you understand better what bride and groom like / do / feel on a daily basis. As you know, today’s weddings are all about personalization, couples want their wedding to incorporate details about their personal lives. So, go deep and get to know them more personally when you work with them. That way, you can make sure that their wedding is truly about them. Guests will love to be part of such a personal celebration, and they will remember the wedding forever.

I use an event management software called Planning Pod to manage all of my weddings, and that’s where I have this questionnaire saved as a survey form. When a couple confirms my services and signs the agreement, I send them the questionnaire online that they can easily fill out. Once the form is completed, I can access the results from their event file.

If you don’t have an event management software like Planning Pod or similar, you can create a .pdf document and e-mail it to your couple as an attachment. They can fill it out in Adobe Reader by selecting the “Fill & Sign” option, save it and send it back to you.

Below are the categories with some of the questions that will help you get to know your couple better, and it will be a great exercise for them to figure out what they really want at their wedding as well. If they can’t answer the questions before the meeting, just go over the list when you meet.

Contact Information

Include bride and groom’s names and date of the questionnaire. If you plan same-sex weddings always make sure to use inclusive language (bride / bride or groom / groom, or partner / partner)

Relationship

This is where you want to focus on where they met, what attracted to each other, where their first date took place, what they like to do together, why it is important for them to get married. This information can help you select the locations for their engagement session, for instance.

Family

Don’t forget about this important aspect: family dynamics and issues should be shared with you since the beginning. It’s also a good time to talk about family / cultural traditions.

Beliefs

Always ask about their religions and traditions so you can plan for the ceremony (try to incorporate elements from their heritage, this will make the wedding more personal).

Setting

Ask the couple when they would like to get married (season, time of the day) and where.

Personal

This is all about them: do they work or study? Do they have children or pets? They might be included in the ceremony or in the reception. Where do they get their coffee in the morning? What is their favorite music, and what do they like to read? Where do they eat? What about travel?

Design & Style

Ask about their favorite and least favorite foods, colors, flowers, etc. Don’t forget to ask if there is anything that they would like to avoid at their own wedding or absolutely incorporate, their expectations about the atmosphere and what guests should experience or remember.

Rating

At the end of the questionnaire, I ask them to rate each wedding category from 1 to 10: location, invitations, attire, photo and video, food, flowers, cake, music, guests in town, honeymoon, and so on. This will help you determine the budget: their priorities (rated highest) will be the ones where more money will go.

TAKE ACTION

Think about the details that you will need to know from your couple and create a comprehensive list today.

BUY

No time to create a questionnaire? I hear you… It took me about 6-8 months to put together a fool-proof list and today I’m happy to share it with you! Buy my entirely brandable Wedding Questionnaire below. It includes the entire list of questions that you can just copy and paste to create your own branded document and a formatted questionnaire sample. 

Sabrina Cadini

Holistic Precision Life Coach, Brain Wellness Coach, and Life-Work Balance Strategist helping busy professionals and high achievers live and work better by prioritizing themselves. I use different modalities (epigenetics, neuroscience, chronobiology, and positive psychology) to implement effective lifestyle changes.