What do they do and do we need one?
Very few brides-to-be are experienced in organising an event as large and important as a wedding.
Planning a wedding can be a full time job! The average bride spends 250 hours organizing her wedding – that’s equal to 6 full-time working weeks! Few couples have the time in their schedules to successfully plan, manage, and execute such an event effectively. And sadly, many couples don’t realise or acknowledge this until it is too late, when parts of their dream wedding have already fallen apart leaving behind huge disappointments.
Your Wedding Planner can do as much or as little as you like. From discussing a budget to organising flowers, cake, hair and makeup and every other detail that goes into planning a wedding, you choose what you would like a helping hand with. Wedding planners have an abundance of creative ideas and insider’s know-how. They have connections with the best suppliers in town and have learned to become polished negotiators to get you the best deal and value for your budget. They can manage the overall event and ensure that everything goes exactly as planned right from the initial stage to the closing stage. They can assist you in making the right selection and choosing the perfect wedding vendors and venue, and also help maintain a balance in what is happening, when it is happening, who is doing it, all the while keeping a strict watch that everything remains within your budget. Importantly, a wedding planner will help you set a realistic wedding budget, based on how much you have to spend, and in most cases, a wedding planner will save you money.
But wedding planners aren’t just for the disorganized and time-poor. They’re also ideal for those who have it all organised and just want to sit back and relax in the run-up to the big day. Some brides employ a planner to step in the week of the wedding so that the bride can spend time with her friends and family and have some stress-free time to herself. The planner will meet with all of the suppliers/vendors to confirm arrangements, and then contact them again the day before the wedding. The planner will also co-ordinate and liaise with the parties on the day to ensure the smooth running of the wedding.
So, how do you measure the cost of hiring a wedding planner? Having someone to organise the most stressful day of your life is a service you’d do well to consider but, as with all good services, it comes at a price. However, most good wedding planners will offer you an initial consultation free of charge. The main purpose of this meeting is to discuss the range of services the planner offers and for the bride to determine if she feels comfortable and wants to avail of the service.
Once you decide to proceed with their service is when the costs are incurred. Travel expenses and the time spent planning your wedding are both taken into account, the costs – like the functions of the wedding planner – depend largely on what the bridal couple wants.
Hiring a wedding planner might seem like an extravagant extra, but it could be the best investment you make. Most charge a flat fee, rather than accepting commissions from the vendors. This ensures that your wedding planner is working for YOU and not the suppliers. The best thing about charging this way is that you’ll know from the start exactly what your wedding planner will cost. Complete wedding co-ordination – where the planner organises practically everything – is generally measured by taking a percentage of the overall cost of the wedding, often with a minimum charge. Some wedding planners charge 10% of the overall cost for example. Partial co-ordination is often based on packages offered at set prices.
