5 Reasons to Work with a Wedding Planner
A wedding planner is much more than a person who holds a clipboard and wears a headset. Planning a wedding requires lots of preparation, some negotiation and plenty of decision-making. Here are the main reasons to hire a wedding planner to help you achieve your vision of the perfect wedding.
1. Working with a Good Wedding Planner Complements Your Personal Style
Your wedding is a celebration that should reflect both your and your spouse’s personalities. Working with a good wedding planner allows that personal side to shine through. One exercise that Christine Janda Design + Events likes to take with clients is using pictures as an inspiration – but not limiting those images to the couple’s Pinterest board.
“We don’t just turn to Pinterest, a direct source for specific inspiration but also current trends that might not perfectly match that couples’ style and can feel like every other wedding that year,” according to Christine. “I want couples to bring me photos of things they love, interior design, artists’ work, colors and patterns, outfits, and only ONE wedding photo, so we aren’t focused on the trendy and I can get to the heart of their personal style.”
2. A Wedding Planner Knows Who’s Who in the World of Weddings
A wedding planner will build relationships with every type of vendor you’ll need to throw the perfect wedding, whether that list includes florists, photographers, makeup artists, designers or DJs. They should be able to spare you the hassle of searching the web for hours on end and simply connect you with a resource you can trust to get the job done.
“The relationships I have forged have started organically and grown over the years,” says Desiree Dent of Dejanae Events. “ I have thoroughly researched the vendors on my team which affords me the skills to suggest the best vendor not only for my clients, but also for their budget and style of wedding,” according to Desiree.
Shannon of Shannon Gail Events shares this insight about her approach to vetting professionals in the wedding business: “We compile a curated list of our top choices for the couple, ultimately allowing them to make a much more educated decision,” according to Shannon. “We feel that the personal relationship and trust between vendor and client is integral, so we work hard to refer the individual who is not necessarily our personal favorite, but the best fit for the client.”
3. Working with a Wedding Planner Allows You to Live Your Life
Planning a wedding can seem like a full-time job because…well, it is! And if you’ve already got a job and full social life to occupy your time, it’s normal to feel as if planning a whole wedding on your own is a monumental task. Working with a wedding planner safeguards your personal and professional time, allowing you to leave the details to a qualified professional and focus on what’s going to make your wedding day truly special.
Wedding planners are also a huge creative resource. They collaborate with you and help turn your vision of a perfect celebration into reality. And it also means you don’t have to worry about cutting corners on your vision because you were pressed for time.
4. A Wedding Planner is a Savvy Negotiator
Wedding planners know the cost of services for your wedding, and a good wedding planner will know when a vendor is quoting a cost that’s too high. Another advantage of working with a wedding planner is that they should know the local market and have relationships with vendors in the area.
Remember, if you work with a wedding planner, they’re probably not doing it for the first time. Let them lean on their experience to get you the best price and make the most of your budget. Don’t think that you need to overspend to plan the perfect celebration – a wedding planner knows that they’re earning their salary by making you satisfied, not by running up a huge bill.
5. Need a Mediator? A Wedding Planner Can Diffuse Tense Situations
Emotions can run high at weddings. It’s a gathering with many family members, and many expectations to go along with it. But having a wedding planner by your side during such an emotionally charged process can be a huge advantage. If a certain relative has strong opinions on something, say for example the seating arrangement, then a wedding planner can step in as a neutral third party and mediate the situation. And it’s always a huge relief if you can say, “Well, according to the expert we should do it this way…”
Photo: Amee Mazzenga Photography | Event Design + Planning: Christine Janda Design + Events