AI is not just a buzzword. It is a structural shift that can also permanently change your work as a wedding supplier. Thanks to artificial intelligence, you can automate repetitive tasks, communicate more efficiently and generate creative output faster, without compromising on authenticity. In other words: AI works for you and with you.
What are the typical bottlenecks for wedding professionals?
We asked suppliers from different categories. The most common challenges:
- No structure in quotes, invoices, and customer files;
- Too little time to follow up on all emails and post on social media;
- Unnecessary time loss in repetitive tasks such as confirming availability or answering standard questions;
- Late follow-up of requests due to lack of overview;
- Keeping track of everything in Excel or in your head, which is error-prone and energy-consuming.
If you recognize yourself in this, know that you don't have to solve it alone. The right tools can really save you time, stress, and money.
11 top AI hacks & tools: work efficiently with technology that suits you
1. Fathom: automatic notes and summaries of your client conversations
Do you regularly conduct introductory meetings and/or other conversations with couples online? Then Fathom is a game changer. This tool automatically records, transcribes, summarizes, and creates action items from your online calls with Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom.
- During your call, you don't have to take any notes yourself, and you can even ‘highlight’ certain things that are said.
- After each call, you will receive an email with a summary and the action points following the conversation.
- In Fathom itself, you can find all your calls and notes, and you can ask the built-in AI questions about all your conversations or conversations with a specific couple, to easily find things or gain insights. For example: “What was said about the seating arrangement?”, “What is important to this couple?” or “What convinces couples to work with me in particular?”
- Fathom works perfectly in multiple languages, including Dutch, French, and English.
AI in Fathom lightens your workload before, during and after your calls:
- Automatically generates transcripts, action points and summaries.
- Recognises important fragments and makes them retrievable.
- Allows you to ask AI questions across conversations (‘What are common requests at weddings?’).
- Works as a memory assistant that never forgets a single detail.
TIP: Try Fathom Premium free for one month by signing up via this link: https://fathom.video/invite/qjKBTg
TIP 2: After your conversation, paste your transcript or summary into ChatGPT to instantly turn it into a follow-up email. This allows you to quickly send couples a summary email after your call with your and their next steps.
2. ChatGPT: save time in all areas
No time to write emails or social media posts from scratch every time? AI tools such as ChatGPT, Jasper, Gemini, or Perplexity help you complete tasks faster. Think of:
- Standard answers to frequently asked questions;
- First draft of your price proposal, intake form, or PowerPoint presentation;
- Answers to emails;
- Bio and posts for your Instagram or other social profiles;
- A start for your blog articles;
- A content annual plan or strategic ideas for growing your business;
- A summary of a training course or conversation;
- Technical questions for anything you don't know right away, for example: “How do I change my email signature?”, “How do I create a workflow in Hubspot?” or “Which CRM is best for my business?”
- ...
Don't use AI to replace you, but to help you on your way, with your own style as the final filter.
ChatGPT AI is your fast sparring partner for creative and administrative tasks:
- Understands context, tone of voice and previous input within a single chat.
- Generates texts tailored to your brand or customers.
- Helps automate workflows through integrations with tools such as Canva, Fathom or Later.
- Learns from your prompts and gets stronger as you work more specifically.
TIP: Clearly specify your tone of voice, writing style, and other instructions in your profile settings. Work with folders and chats for similar tasks or assignments, providing a clear prompt each time.
3. Teamleader: CRM, quotes, and invoices without Excel chaos
With Teamleader, you can manage your entire customer journey: from request to invoice. No more double administration, no more Excel spreadsheets to keep track of manually.
- You can see who has booked when, what has already been discussed, and which payments are still outstanding.
- All information about couples and your history is automatically tracked.
- What's more, you can also have Teamleader automatically send standard reminder emails to couples.
Would you rather use a tool that is specifically designed for your services? Then there are also alternatives such as Booqable (rental software for small and medium-sized rental companies) or Fotostudio.io (CRM specifically for photographers).
AI in Teamleader saves you time on administration through predictive insights and smart reminders:
- Smart predictions of payment dates and follow-up moments.
- Automatic categorisation of leads and tasks based on previous patterns.
- Smart suggestions for follow-up emails or quotations.
4. HubSpot (freemium): automate emails
HubSpot offers a free CRM with smart features such as automatic email flows and reminders. Think of:
- A friendly follow-up if you haven't received a response after 7 days;
- A confirmation email with practical information after your introductory meeting;
- A birthday email or thank you note after the wedding.
Human and efficient, because you set it up once (tip: with the help of ChatGPT), and then it runs automatically.
TIP: include a link to Calendly or Outlook Bookings with me in your emails, allowing couples to schedule their own appointment or meeting with you at times that suit you—saving you even more emails!
AI in HubSpot automates your communications and makes them smarter, so that no request is left unanswered:
- AI Email Writer: writes personalised follow-ups in your tone of voice.
- Predictive lead scoring: automatically calculates which leads are most promising.
- Conversational AI: chatbots answer intake questions or frequently asked questions.
- Content Assistant: writes blog posts or social captions in your brand style.
5. Canva Pro: quickly create professional visuals
Use Canva Pro to make quotes, mood boards, Instagram posts and stories, or even table plans and scripts visually appealing. Handy if you need a suitable layout quickly that also looks neat and professional.
- Use the “brand sets” to save your logo, colors, and fonts and apply them quickly.
- Reuse templates per client or event.
- Easily add text, images, and effects to your social content.
AI in Canva Pro combines design with content AI: create, edit and tailor to your branding faster:
- Magic Write: writes short texts, captions or headlines in your corporate style.
- Magic Edit / Magic Eraser: automatically edits images (add or remove objects).
- Brand Voice & Styles: AI adapts tone and style per brand set.
- Text-to-Image: generates visuals or mood boards based on a description.
6. Later: plan your social content without stress and with an overview
Social media are sometimes the first point of contact for couples and usually an important touchpoint with your work. However, we often hear that during busy periods, posting simply doesn't happen. Later.com is an intuitive tool that allows you to schedule your social posts on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and other platforms in advance.
- Drag and drop your photos or visuals created with Canva into the monthly overview.
- Add your captions, tags, and links in advance.
- You can see at a glance what is scheduled and when, and you can easily make adjustments.
- Your posts will automatically go online at the scheduled time.
- Analyze afterwards which posts are working.
- This way, you can prepare your posts at a fixed time, months in advance, and be at ease the rest of the time!
AI in Later is your personal social media planner with smart timing and analysis:
- Best Time to Post: automatically calculates when your followers are most active.
- Auto Caption Suggestions: writes captions based on your image.
- AI Analytics: learns which posts convert and makes recommendations for your content mix.
7. Google Forms or Typeform: smart, customized intake forms
No more back-and-forth emails and phone calls about what the couple is looking for. Create a smart form with Google Forms or Typeform that automatically collects the right information when a couple submits a request. For example, ask for this information:
- Wedding date and location;
- Number of guests;
- Budget indication;
- Style or atmosphere via sample photos;
- Other important information for you.
Let couples indicate what they want right away, and save time and gain insight.
AI in Forms automates intake processes and translates answers into actionable insights:
- Smart Form Suggestions: automatically recognises question types based on context.
- AI analysis of answers: summarises trends or sentiments.
- Conversational interface (at Typeform): forms feel like a chat.
8. Asana or Monday.com: follow up on projects in phases, without chaos
Do you work with many tasks, projects, and couples at the same time? Project management tools such as Asana, Monday.com, Notion, ClickUp, or Trello give you a visual overview of where each project stands:
- Easily add tasks and deadlines so that everything is followed up on time and moves forward.
- Keep track of your progress per project.
- Add notes, deadlines, and files per client.
- Share with team members or freelancers to collaborate efficiently.
This way, you avoid duplication of work or forgotten steps, especially in busy months.
With AI in project tools, you go from a to-do list to a smart assistant that understands your workflow:
- AI task creation: recognises actions in conversations or notes and automatically creates tasks.
- Priority prediction: determines what is urgent or important.
- Automatic status updates and project summaries.
- AI Workload insights: analyses your schedule and recommends rearrangements.
9. Loom: short videos for explanations or proposals
Instead of a long email with explanations, use Loom to quickly record a screen video in which you explain or show something. For example:
- Clarify a price proposal;
- Discuss an album layout;
- Show a script with explanations.
It feels more personal than an email, and you save time by not having to type everything out.
AI in Loom makes videos searchable and reusable without extra work:
- Auto-transcription and summarisation of videos.
- Key moments detection: recognises important fragments.
- AI title & description generator for faster publication.
10. Zapier: streamline everything by connecting your tools
Zapier is a powerful (and partly free) connection app that lets your favorite tools talk to each other. Sound technical? In practice, it mainly means less manual work and fewer things to forget. A few examples:
- Is there a new Google Form coming in from a couple? Zapier automatically sends a confirmation email and adds the request to your CRM (such as HubSpot or Teamleader).
- Is there an introductory meeting in your calendar? Zapier adds the couple to your follow-up list or sends an automatically prepared intake form.
- Do you receive a new confirmed booking? Zapier automatically sends an email with practical information or sends a Slack notification to your team.
The power of Zapier lies in its simplicity: you set your “trigger” and “action” once, and from then on it happens automatically. Ideal for those who want to save a lot of small tasks that together take up a lot of time.
AI in Zapier connects your tools via smart AI suggestions, without any technical knowledge:
- AI Actions & Chatbots: build automations using natural language (‘When I receive a new request, send this message’).
- AI-powered Zap suggestions: detects which tools you use and suggests automations.
- AI-powered data parsing: understands unstructured data from emails or forms.
11. WPS Office or Toggl Track: tracking your time = peace of mind
Many suppliers work on a per-assignment basis but have no idea how much time they actually spend on a couple. A simple time tracker such as Toggl or WPS Time Pro shows you:
- Where your time is going;
- How profitable your quotes are;
- Where you can save on invisible work.
AI in time trackers makes time registration transparent and human without manual tracking:
- AI time tracking & categorisation: automatically recognises tasks based on activity.
- AI reports: summarises how you spend your time.
- Productivity insights: shows where your time is being wasted and provides suggestions.
AI in action: 5 scenarios that really save time
The real power of AI lies not in a single tool, but in how you combine them intelligently. Below are five example workflows that wedding suppliers are already using today.
1. From introductory call to follow-up email in 5 minutes
- Tools: Fathom + ChatGPT
- Use Fathom for your recording, transcription and action points. Then copy the summary into ChatGPT and have it automatically turn it into a follow-up email.
- Average time saved: 2 to 3 hours per week
2. From mood board to social posts in 1 hour
- Tools: Canva + Later + ChatGPT
- Let ChatGPT write captions based on your mood board in Canva, schedule your visuals in Later, and let AI determine when it's best to post.
- Average time saved: 2 to 4 hours per week
3. From request to invoice without any headaches
- Tools: Google Forms + Zapier + Teamleader
- A completed form automatically triggers a confirmation email, a new lead in Teamleader and, if necessary, an invoice template via Zapier.
- Average time saved: 3 hours per week
4. From brainstorm to blog article
- Tools: ChatGPT + Notion AI
- Work with ChatGPT to create a structure or outline, and let Notion AI complete and structure the text. All you have to do is fine-tune it.
- Average time saved: 2 to 3 hours per article
5. From Excel chaos to insight
- Tools: Asana + Toggl Track
- Use Asana to plan tasks and deadlines clearly, and Toggl Track to gain insight into how you spend your time. The AI recognises patterns and suggests improvements.
- Average time saved: 1 to 2 hours per week
5 habits of time-efficient suppliers
- Work in blocks, not in separate fragments. Schedule fixed times for administration or quote follow-up. This prevents you from doing everything ‘on the side’.
- Use templates and standard answers. Working it out once saves you dozens of repetitions. AI tools help you get started, you make it personal.
- Centralize your communication. Choose one professional channel for requests (e.g., your mailbox) and direct Instagram followers there. This will help you maintain an overview.
- Actively follow up on requests. Gain speed with an automatic reply email or standard email with a quote template. Enter every request into your system immediately, even if it's “for two years from now.” This way, you won't forget anyone.
- Dare to outsource or automate tasks. An accountant, virtual assistant, or smart (AI) tool is often cheaper than you think and frees up mental space.
Time is also an investment
As a self-employed person, you want freedom, and you often lose time by doing everything yourself. Tools such as Teamleader, Fathom, and ChatGPT don't replace your talent; they give you back time to use it to the fullest.
Don't think in terms of “extra work to learn how to use those tools,” but in terms of: how much profit would it be if I got back 5 hours a week, every week?
Are you wondering whether your work will still be authentic? The answer is: absolutely. AI does not replace you; it empowers you. You remain the creative force, the confidant and the expert that couples rely on. The tools only do the repetitive work, giving you more time for the genuine human contact that makes your work unique.
Reflection question: which administrative task causes you the most frustration today, and which tool could solve that? Ask ChatGPT, get inspired, try something new... and who knows, you might soon be working with more time, peace of mind, and better results.