As a service-based wedding professional, it can sometimes be a tough decision whether or not to list prices on your website. On one hand, you don't want to scare the bride off before you even have a chance to speak with her. On other other, you don't want to be wasting your time with couples that can't afford you. Kind of seems like a double-edged sword, right?

Or is it?

With all the talk of a low-price economy, it's easy to think that brides can't afford you or are just comparing on price and that you'll do everyone a big favor by just putting your rates out there and letting the chips fall where they may. But I beg to differ. (This is definitely going to ruffle some feathers.)

When brides are first hunting down the right person to help them make all the details of their perfect wedding come together, sure, they might first be thinking about budget. Hey, we all do, it's human nature! But when it comes down to getting what they really really want, it's amazing how the money just appears. Seriously, think of how many brides you've worked with who swore up and down that they had a cap on their budget, but easily broke it when they didn't want to miss out on something big. I was guilty of this when I got married and I know for sure some of my past bridal customers were too.

When you choose to list your pricing on your website, you make a conscious decision not to work with these exact brides (which, incidentally are the majority). That is, brides that think they have one budget, but are actually willing to pay more when they see what they can have and how you can solve all their problems. Most of these brides are price-driven until you walk them through the vision that they deeply desire. If you list your prices on your website...before you help them see the ultimate vision...they'l leave and you'll never have a chance to make their wedding dream come true.

Now, if you're afraid that some brides won't even consider talking to you if they don't at least have a general price range available on your website, then it might be ok to let them know where your rates starts. This will give them a general ballpark of what is the minimum they can expect to invest. However, that approach is not my preferred and it is primarily for those who are not comfortable in the selling process. If you have no confidence in your own ability to communicate your value on your website and make yourself totally irresistible in your marketing, then this is the approach for you.

For those of you who are confident in creating a desire through your marketing message, you should heavily consider keeping prices off your website. This is especially true for wedding pros that serve high end brides.

So before you convince yourself that putting pricing on your website is the only way to get rid of those price-shoppers, first consider whether the issue is that they can't afford you or that you simply haven't been effective at giving them a vision they'll pay anything for.

How about you? What's your theory on sharing rates on your website? Leave your thoughts in our comment section below...