Wedding Planners are becoming more and more popular with couples today. Their busy and hectic lives require a professional to help plan their Special Day. This article gives you a small insight into what and how a personal Wedding Planner can do to save you time and money, and make your Engagement period stress-free and your Wedding Day potentially flawless.
What is a Wedding Planner?
Essentially, a Wedding Planner is a professional whose expertise and contacts can turn your wedding desires and dreams, into reality. He or she is the synchronization for your event; the one who will locate the venues and vendors you require; who will negotiate contracts, mediate and manage the various companies involved in your day, and ensure that everything runs like clock work, bringing all Vendors harmoniously together—on the same day, the same time, the same place. Planning weddings is indeed great fun. However, as with any other job in this world, it is not all plain sailing. A wedding, with the expectation that it will be a day to eclipse all others, can take an unbelievable amount of time and effort, to say nothing of the stress and worry! There are ups and downs, periods of great joy and times of immense stress and pressure. Weddings are events that are dreamt about - some brides have imagined walking down the isle in a white dress and a tiara for 30 years or more! It is certainly a challenge unlike any others you may have come across before. And, when you add both work and a hectic, pre-wedding social life to the equation, often the feat seems monumental. It is an honor not to be taken lightly.
Why use a Wedding Planner?
With so much to do and relatively little time to do it, employing a professional wedding consultant is increasingly seen as a sensible way of ensuring a stress-free engagement and potentially flawless wedding. It is a huge industry providing couples with a valuable service during a period in their lives when stress and worry should be banished and time is of the essence. Slowly but surely couples are coming to the realization that a Wedding Planner is not a luxury reserved for the rich and famous. Nowadays a good Planner is just as familiar with organizing a small and intimate family gathering of 12 as an extravagant party of 1,200. Using their expert knowledge of the industry together with extensive databases and links to venues/vendors, the Planners will have the foundations on which to build a perfect wedding. Unless otherwise instructed, their priorities lie solely with the couple, their wedding objectives and the all-important double budget — the Wedding Financial Budget and the Time Table Budget. And when you find the right Wedding Planner whom you trust and feel comfortable with, you can be sure that these elements will be managed wisely.
Wedding Planner Skills
Wedding Planners are expected to be versatile, knowledgeable and resourceful. It is their job to assist both the bride and groom in the run up to the Big Day. On the day itself, it is the Bride who is “Queen”, and the personal Wedding Planners are there to personally assist. Wedding Planners will endure most of the daily chores, plan and manage the event from behind the scenes, thereby giving couples valuable time to relax and enjoy their engagement and look forward to their dream wedding. One should be able to rely on them for support as advisors, coordinators, supervisors, mediators, managers and financial advisors.
The Planning Process
As with most wedding consultants, at An Affair To Remember, I will usually start by sitting down with the couple in order to learn exactly how they envision their Wedding Day developing, from the moment they wake in the morning to the time they depart the party amid an explosion of fireworks at the end of the night. I love to hear their story and dreams about how they want their special Wedding Day to be, and then I will make it a reality. Although I often see the Groom shying away from the initial planning process, I always try to encourage his input. It is vital to try to get him ‘on board’ as early as possible, for you can be sure that 2-3 months down the road - when all the major decisions have been decided upon - he will begin to show an interest and realize that maybe this wedding “extravaganza” isn’t as dull as he had at first expected! [Regret is a terrible thing and something that we only learn about with hindsight.] Once the all-important Wedding Plan has been devised, it is the Planner’s responsibility to get the ball rolling and start locating reliable and suitable venues and vendors. This can be a daunting task but with access to reliable, top quality venues and vendors in the industry, I will be able to provide you with the assistance you require. At this time, it is imperative that constant communication be maintained between the Personal Wedding Planner and the Couple. Although the Planners locate the relevant venues/vendors and offer knowledgeable guidance and advice, the choice as to which venues/vendors to use will be decided by the couple.
Once all the plans have been made, the budgets met and the timelines finalized, the Wedding Planner will help to coordinate the Wedding Rehearsal and then assist on the Wedding Day to make sure the needs of the Bride, Groom and Wedding Party are met.
“Can I Justify the Added Expense of a Wedding Planner?”
Believe it or not, a Wedding Planner can actually save you money and valuable time, if you so require! They definitely will be able to get you the most value for your dollar. Sometimes they are able to negotiate special discounts with certain venues and vendors that are then passed on to you. Alternatively, if a discount is not attainable, they can lead you to a venue/vendor that offers a reliable, high quality service at a competitive price. At An Affair To Remember, I have made business relationships that have the potential of saving you money. In addition, I am also very resourceful and possess the knowledge and expertise of where and how to save money for high quality services, products, etc.
As your personal Wedding Planner, I will provide you with a free Consultation, to discuss your Wedding plans, desires and dreams, as well as creating a preliminary budget for us to work with if you decide to give me the honor of being your personal Wedding Planner.
We will discuss details such as
• the absolute maximum you are prepared to pay for the whole wedding;
• the absolute maximum you are prepared to invest in a specific venue or vendor – $400 for a cake for instance; and
• A lesser amount that you would be happy to pay for a specific venue or vendor – you have set a $400 cake budget, but would be very content to spend $250 if possible for a cake of similar quality and to your complete satisfaction.
This essentially provides me with a valuable target to aim for. It is not unheard of for couples to set the maximum budget at $25,000 and the actual budget to reach a little over $20,000 – including the fee for a personal Wedding Planner!
Wedding Planner Fees
Price structures are set according to the couple’s needs and since every wedding is unique, it is often the case that so too are the Wedding Planner’s fees. At An Affair To Remember, I will be very happy to discuss this with you personally.
Conclusion
To summarize, Wedding Planners exist to assist you in your endeavor to organize your special Wedding Day. Whatever it is that you require - no matter how small and insignificant or extravagant and unique it may be – it is the responsibility of the Wedding Planner to help to make your Wedding Day happen exactly the way you want it. Anything and everything is indeed possible. After all, it is the most import Day of Your Life – the day you marry the Love of Your Life – Always and Forever!
They can save you money; they do save you time and effort. And stress… what stress!
