Planning your wedding is a unique and exciting time in your life, but as you start thinking about all the details, decisions, and research involved, it can quickly become overwhelming. With a full-time job or other commitments, finding time and energy to plan can be challenging. Couples often have besties or a family member who are willing to help. But what happens when his or her opinions become too much or the wedding weekend arrives and you want them to be with you and enjoy the day as a guest? This is where a wedding planner can step in and alleviate the stress, guide you through the decision-making process, and ensure that you and your loved ones can fully enjoy the day.
Wedding planners are industry experts who can offer invaluable resources to create a beautiful, and seamless event that reflects your style while respecting your budget and giving insight on how to maximize it. A planner allows you, and anyone else involved in the planning process, the chance to focus on the overall details and what most consider the “fun” parts of the planning process (menu tasting, design, etc.) while they handle the logistics and back and forth details with the vendors involved.
Many planning companies, like Celebrations by Brandi, offer multiple packages ranging from a 90-minute kickstarter phone call to month-of-coordination to full planning. Planning companies may have variations in what is included in their packages, as well as calling them different names, however, at the core of what all these packages include is ensuring the wedding day runs smoothly. Sounds simple, right? The reality is your planner will spend anywhere from 30-40 hours on a month of coordination package and 150+ hours for a full planning package -and around an average of 12 hours straight on your wedding day alone! Let’s briefly high-light the differences between a coordination package and a full-planning package, and what a planner might be responsible for in each of these offerings:
Month of Coordination:
- Examples:
- Starts helping you with the planning process around 6 weeks prior to the wedding
- Assists in communicating final details and logistics with vendors you selected
- Creates a comprehensive wedding day timeline to share with vendors as well as you and your wedding party
- Is onsite on the wedding day directing vendors and ensuring the timeline is being followed and the day runs smoothly
Full-Planning:
- Examples:
- Is with you from the beginning, sometimes even before you have selected a date and location
- Assists in establishing a vision and realistic budget
- Connects you with professional vendors to bring your vision to life and will review all contracts
- Communicates all details and logistics with vendors throughout the entire planning process
- Helps create a cohesive design based on your vision and budget
- Is there to guide you during the planning, providing etiquette guidance on aspects such as invitations, family situations, and wedding day flow
- Is onsite on the wedding day directing vendors and ensuring the timeline is being followed and the day runs smoothly
While planning packages offer many essential services for your wedding day plans, there are countless other tasks that planners do to ensure a stress-free and enjoyable experience for you and your loved ones. Some of these unknown services are
- Makes an extra boutonniere when one breaks
- Fashions a bustle out of safety pins and thread underneath your dress when yours breaks
- Wipes down your ceremony chairs after unexpected rain shower
- Carries your lipstick in our pocket so you have it when you need it
- Makes sure you get appetizers, dinner, and your favorite beverage in hand all night
- Magically gets all your personal items packed up and where they need to go post-event
- Makes sure that champagne toast is actually poured by the caterer before the DJ announces it’s time for toasts
- Stops the band from warming up/doing sound check during your ceremony (if reception is close by)
- Stops drunk guests or unplanned guests from getting on the mic to give a toast or speech
- Handles all big family/friend personalities and gives them jobs if you need space from them
Ultimately, a wedding planner is an essential investment that brings expertise, experience, and peace of mind to your special day. Trust your planner and know that they have your best interests at heart.
Realizing a planner sounds good right about now? We’d love to chat and answer any questions you might have about hiring a planner. Click here to schedule a call with us or Click here to send us a message
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