Do You Need a wedding Planner?
A wedding planner might sound like an expensive luxury, but hiring a wedding planner to help out with your wedding arrangements is becoming more and more common. For many couples having the extra help makes a lot of sense.
Although a wedding planner will charge a fee, often they can actually save you money. Planners can often get discounts and special deals with suppliers that they work with regularly. Having experience with a large number of suppliers also allows them to spot good values and know when a more expensive supplier is worth the cost.
A good wedding planner should help you to set a realistic budget and should be committed to working within it. A wedding planner that pushes you to make choices you can’t afford is one you don’t want to work with. They should listen carefully to your vision for your wedding and their aim should be to make that happen within your budget. Look for a wedding planner that charges a flat fee rather than a percentage of your wedding costs.
One of the main advantages of hiring a wedding planner is that it can dramatically reduce the stress involved in planning a wedding. Your wedding should be the happiest day of your life but many brides find that by the time they get to the wedding they’re so exhausted from making all the arrangements they can’t fully enjoy it. It can also reduce the stress of other important guests like friends and family allowing them to enjoy the day rather than helping with tasks. If you can draw on the experience of a wedding planner, it will save you making time consuming and costly mistakes, and if something does go wrong you can relax in the knowledge that there is someone on hand to fix it for you.
A wedding planner can be particularly useful when you:
- Work long hours and have little spare time - A wedding planner can meet with suppliers during the day when you are at work and create short lists for you to choose from.
- Are getting married far from where you live - A wedding planner’s local knowledge will be invaluable and hiring them can save you a fortune on travelling to your destination to make arrangements and meet with suppliers..
- Don’t feel comfortable negotiating - Most wedding suppliers will expect you to negotiate a little on price and a wedding supplier should be experienced at getting you a good deal.
A wedding planner might not be the right choice for you if:
- You have plenty of time - Planning a wedding can be fun if you have unlimited time and if you’re actually looking forward to researching and visiting suppliers.
- You like to control the details - Hiring a wedding planner might mean you don’t have absolute control over every detail of your day and some brides aren’t comfortable with that.
- You want a hands-on approach - Do-It-Yourself or very personalised weddings are increasingly popular and if you want to avoid traditional wedding suppliers a wedding planner might not be as useful to you.
When couples are deciding whether or not to hire a wedding planner they often only consider the cost. Actually the savings you make with supplier discounts and other wedding planning expenses usually more than cover the cost of a wedding planner so this shouldn’t be your main concern. Instead think about how much time you have to dedicate to wedding arrangements, how comfortable you would be negotiating with suppliers, and how involved you want to be in planning the minute details of your big day.