Why You Need A Wedding Planner
Every new engaged couple quickly learns how expensive weddings are.
The first thing couples book is the venue. They know they need a photographer, food, flowers, music. But what about a wedding planner?
Though wedding planners aren’t on the top of most couples’ shopping list, it should be. And here’s why.
1) How much is your time worth?
You probably don’t realize it yet. You have a year until the wedding right? That’s plenty of time!
But time will pass and the next thing you know, you’re getting married in 3 months. Did you book your flowers? Do you have the cake ready? How about the favours? The bridal party gifts? Make-up and Hair booked? Suit Rentals?
Planning a wedding is A LOT of work. A lot of newly engaged couples I speak to have no idea what’s in-store for them until they speak to someone who’s planned their own. These brides are stressed. Between a full-time job and social commitments, it’s hard to book in time to see vendors and take care of any DIY elements for your own wedding.
Let a wedding planner do it for you. They’re here to stress out for you and bring you options based on your tastes. Yes, they’re an extra item to add to the budget, but it’ll probably be one of the expenses you’re most thankful for in the end. This article in the Huffington Post is a good example of post-wedding regret.
2) Skip the boring stuff
With a wedding planner, you can assign them the boring stuff. Tasting cakes and picking flowers can be fun. But what about booking transportation or making seating plans? Seating plans alone takes a full day to create.
Wedding Planners are also likely able to find you better deals with their vendors. Let them take care of it for you so you can enjoy the fun stuff.
3) We work with good vendors
There are many stories to go along with this one.
A lot of the vendors we recommend are ones that we’ve previously worked with so we know that they are professional.
In one particular wedding that I attended (and did not help choose vendors), a photographer had taken a deposit from a couple (normally 50% for photographers) and then never showed up at the wedding. You’d think that you can fight cases like this. In this particular case, the “photographer” ran off with the money, deleted all traces of themselves on the internet, and was never seen again.
Let’s not even address the monetary loss there. The couple was left without professional photos for their wedding. Double whammy. Luckily all their friends took more photos to compensate, but man, did I feel for them.
4) You won’t know what you’re looking for until you start looking
Sounds complicated right? But it’s true.
I’m a wedding planner. I’ve also planned my own wedding. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted. I mean, I’ve seen so many venues. I’ve planned weddings. I should know everything I want, right?
This wasn’t the case. Whether the budget puts a damper on your wedding wants or you simply realize that the waterside is so much prettier to get married at than at a winery, I find most couples change their tastes during their planning.
Wedding Planners aren’t mind readers. But they’ll help you find what you want by taking you through a questionnaire to get to know you better. Then they’ll present places to you based on your responses. Let them help you find the perfect vendors.
5) What about that budget?
So you’re engaged! Life is about to get exciting! Let’s book that beautiful vintage hotel, invite all 500 people we know, have fireworks, order a massive floral backdrop and leave in a hot balloon ride!
Sounds great right? But who’s going to pay for all of that? And who’s going to keep track of expenditures?
With the average wedding spend over $30,000, almost half of couples have overspent their budget. This doesn’t even include the cost of the honeymoon.
Especially closer to the wedding date, it’s very easy to add things that you might not need. Let a wedding planner help you find the best vendors to fit your budget.
6) Uh oh, the cake never arrived. Now what?
Last minute emergencies come up. What happens if a vendor doesn’t show up? It’s your wedding day. Do you want to run around dealing with the company?
A personal story:
A couple were releasing doves at the end of their ceremony. The ceremony started. No doves.
Luckily the couple had wedding planners! Since we previously created a vendor contact list for the wedding, we were able to track down the company, the driver, provide directions to the driver, ran to the truck to retrieve the doves, and slip in the back of the ceremony to place them in their cages MINUTES before they were to be released. The bride and groom were informed afterwards with no disruption to the events of the wedding.
7) Did you book a venue?
A venue is easily the most difficult and time-consuming thing to find. This is the backdrop of your entire wedding after all.
Some venues are booked not months, but years in advance. And what if you don’t even want to get married in your area?
Venues are difficult to find for many reasons. What if they can’t accommodate your guest size? What if they don’t allow outside catering? What if having candles is important to you and they aren’t allowed?
If you’re planning on looking for a venue yourself, be ready to put in weeks worth of time to make phone calls and book visits JUST to get information to see if a venue is suitable.
8) You don’t have to worry about forgetting to pay a vendor
It’s no surprise how easily it is to forget something when your wedding to-do list is so long.
Good thing you have a wedding planner who knows your deadlines and to-dos like the back of their hand. They’ll keep track and remind you of things that need to be decided on or completed. This way nothing will turn up on the day of the wedding because of poor preparation.
9) We’re here for you
Between being a therapist, a friend, someone to hold your hand (and bouquet when you need it), we’re here to make sure you’re happy on your big day. Our job is to make sure your wedding is the best that it can be. We’re here to take out the stress. We’re here for you.
Here’s a recommended list of reading to help you prepare for your wedding: