Being
an event planner, I don’t want to sound too biased when writing this blogpost,
but I have heard so many horror stories lately
that I felt it was important to share during engagement season! Hiring a
wedding planner will not only save your sanity, but it will save your parents,
bridesmaids, fiancé, AND your wallet!
If
you want to hear it from someone well known in her field, take the
advice of Leila Khalil, wedding industry
expert and owner of Be Inspired PR! Her best advice to you is…
“You
get what you pay for! SO when you don’t pay for a friend who is helping you out
as your “day of stand in coordinator” OR you find one that is only a couple
hundred dollars…. guess what- it may not be that good of an outcome… There is a
huge difference between a venue coordinator and a legitimate wedding planner.”
She
also elaborates, answering many questions that brides may have:
What
is the difference between a “wedding planner” and “wedding coordinator”?
A wedding planner
and wedding
coordinator are essentially the same thing, the difference is
between the role of a “day-of coordinator” and a planner.
A
day-of
coordinator usually begins services close to wedding date.
Her role is to be in charge of the actual wedding by managing all the details
that the bride and groom have spent months planning to make sure that
everything comes together in the end exactly as the couple imagined. A
coordinator allows the couple, wedding party and guests to enjoy their special
day without the stress. Think of a “day-of coordinator” as a general contractor
or a symphony conductor.
A
wedding
planner goes beyond just the day-of the wedding. A planner
will work with the couple for up to a year before the big day helping with
everything from design, budget, stationary/invitations, finding and booking
vendors, and reviewing or negotiating contracts along with coordinating
everything the day of the wedding. A wedding planner is there to help reduce
stress by managing and organizing all the details from start to finish. This is
a great option for couples that want assurance that they are hiring reliable
vendors and getting the most for their budget or have demanding busy lifestyles
and schedules. A
wedding planner is there for YOU. It’s YOUR day and YOU deserve the best! A
planner will not make decisions for you or take away the fun of planning, but
she will be there to help you make informed decisions and to ensure that your
plan is executed accordingly.
{Why
Hire a Wedding Planner} I don’t need a wedding planner because….
…
I can’t afford a planner. It’s just not in my budget ~ Think
about the amount of money you allocate to feeding your guests, hiring the
photographer to take the perfect photos, picking a DJ that will get the party
started, yet couples tend to skimp when it comes to hiring a planner that will
orchestrate the whole day! It’s like having a car and all the passengers but no
driver (or GPS)! So why stop at hiring the planner. In reality a planner can
SAVE YOU MONEY & TIME! Planners have relationships with vendors and venues
since they work on many weddings not just one, so they can give you economies
of scale. They can also help you put together a realistic budget. In the end
the money and time saved might be greater than the cost of the planner, so you
basically got the planner for FREE!
…
I have family and friends who have volunteered to help me day-of. It should be
fine! ~ While this is a nice gesture, unless your family member is a
professional event planner, I’m pretty sure it won’t be fine. They are your
guests and should not be working on your wedding day. They will be so
preoccupied with socializing, drinking a little too much champagne, ooh’ing and
ahh’ing over how beautiful you look, taking hundreds of photos, and not focused
on the important details that make the event run smoothly. They will not be
informed on important decisions (i.e. telling the catering manager that
although the bar tab exceeds the budget, you insist the bride and groom said its
fine to keep it open, leaving the couple with a few thousand dollars more to
pay).
…
The venue coordinator & catering manager assured me that I don’t need to
hire a planner because they can handle it.
~ All I have to say is read the quote above. The bottom line:
venue coordinators are there because they are hired by the venue to maintain
and manage the venue only (i.e. food, rentals, staff, etc…). They work for the
venue and not for you. Their main goal is to ensure that the facility runs
smoothly. So if you arrive and all your flower arrangements are wrong and the
guests can’t figure out where they are supposed to sit, don’t look at the venue
coordinator to help you out because they won’t have any idea on what you
wanted.
…
Shouldn’t the vendors be able to manage themselves since they work weddings all
the time?~ According to feedback from vendors I have worked with, I have
heard more times than not, there is a huge difference between a wedding with a
planner vs. one without / with a venue coordinator. Not only are the finishing
touches and design usually better but also the flow of the event and
communication between the parties (i.e. the photographer will be ready for
photos and not out in the cocktail area when the DJ plays the song for the
Grand Entrance because the coordinator will have given both a warning).
Although it’s your day, think about the vendors you have hired. What will help
make both your lives and their lives easier? A wedding planner!
…
I read all the magazines and blogs. I have all the resources I need. I don’t
want a wedding planner to take away the fun of planning my wedding! ~
When you first get engaged, wedding planning is a novelty. You buy every
magazine and bookmark every blog out there to help plan your big day. However,
with hundreds of wedding blogs, magazines, photographers, videographers,
venues, etc… it can get overwhelming and stressful trying to narrow down
who/what is the best fit for your style, budget and needs. Once the wedding
comes the couple is so worn out with decisions that the process is no longer
fun. Wedding planners do this every day and will help bring you the resources
that best fit your needs so that you can ENJOY the planning process until the
end! They are educated and knowledgeable in all things wedding related from
etiquette to getting a marriage license– a huge, accessible resource!
…
My family & friends want to help me with the planning process
~ Except when your future mother-in-law has a completely different vision for
her son’s wedding and your brother insists that his heavy metal band play a
medley at your reception and your parents decide to invite all their friends as
if it was their party. Think “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”
You need a MEDIATOR. A planner is a good third-party mediator in tricky family
situations. It is impossible to please everyone; however, at least a planner
can give an unbiased opinion to help navigate problems.
Now
if that doesn’t convince you that you are making the right decision by hiring a
wedding planner, I don’t know what will…but you can start by calling a
professional wedding planner {preferably KristynJennifer Events} !!
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