A choice that comes up early on in the wedding planning process is whether you should hire a wedding planner. You may be reluctant because of the costs of hiring a planner. However, you will often find that they save you money in the long run. Their skills will cut down other costs and their fees won’t be a mystery to you. Before you hire them, they will go over their fees with you, as well as determine what services you want. It’s in their best interest to be open with you; you won’t get an invoice at the end of your wedding for an unexpected cost.
Wedding Planners Can Save You Money
Wedding planners know how to plan, what’s necessary to make an impact and what you can skip. They have worked on enough weddings that they know what won’t be missed if you’re trying to plan on a tight budget. They can be the voice of reason reminding you that you don’t need monogrammed napkins and that money may be better spent on treats for your cocktail hour.
Vendors also are more likely to give your planner a deal. Planners are essentially repeat business for wedding vendors: they want to work with them and they want to keep them happy so they bring more business to them in the future. Vendors may be willing to give a wedding planner a discount that you wouldn’t get by negotiating with them by yourself.
Even if they aren’t in a position to save you money, they’re likely to be able to save you a headache when it comes to negotiating vendor contracts. They’re also likely to know who problem vendors might be — people to avoid working with due to bad past experiences. They’re great at working out your contracts and making sure that you’re covered for various possibilities.
They Deal With What You Don’t Want To
Your wedding planner can handle whatever you don’t want to when it comes to planning your wedding. They can build your seating chart for you based on your specifications and coordinate with decorators on day of preparations. This lets you enjoy the fun parts of wedding planning like wedding cake designs and picking out invitations and saves you from worrying about contingency plans and other stressors.
Your wedding planner will also deal with day of duties so you can enjoy your wedding day. If it starts pouring rain while you’re enjoying brunch with your bridesmaids, your wedding planner will work with your venue to move everything to your alternate indoor location. This allows you to enjoy your day and trust that everything will be taken care of. Without a wedding planner, all of that will end up falling on you.
Who Can Get Away With Not Having A Wedding Planner?
Maybe after reading through all this, you’re still not sure you want to hire a wedding planner. Some people can definitely do well without hiring a planner. If you’re already used to planning large events or have someone helping you who has that experience, you can use your own knowledge of working with vendors to your advantage. If your wedding venue provides you with a day of coordinator and you’re comfortable with doing the rest of the planning yourself, you may be able to go without one.
The other option is if you’re having a small wedding. It may feel more like planning a large party rather than a formal event, which is more comfortable for a lot of people.
What do you think? Do you prefer to hire a wedding planner or would you rather tackle the tasks of your wedding yourself? Let us know in the comments!