A wedding planner; you may have heard of them before, but what do they actually do? Simply put, a wedding planner is someone who makes all the arrangements for your wedding! You may be wondering what you need a wedding planner for: well, planning a wedding isn’t always so easy!
To give you an idea of the tasks of a wedding planner, we will give you a sneak peek of a wedding planner’s schedule!
In short, a wedding planner can help you in a lot of ways, but why should you hire a wedding planner instead of taking care of everything yourself? Read more about what a wedding planner can do for you and your partner below!
Why hire a wedding planner?
Hiring a wedding planner, it sounds fun but why would you do it? You may have questions like; isn’t it a lot cheaper to handle everything myself? Shouldn’t I do it myself, since it’s my wedding? Or shouldn’t I just get help from a do-it-yourself wedding planner book?
It’s understandable if you have questions like this, but hiring a wedding planner can have a lot of advantages for your big day! Maybe you don’t know a lot about the wedding sector, and you’re in need of a creative point of view. A wedding planner can help you with fun ideas or unique aspects for your wedding day, so that your wedding will be completely different from your friends’ weddings!
Or maybe you already have a clear vision, but the two of you simply don’t have the time to make your dream wedding happen because of your busy jobs and maybe even little ones. In that case, a wedding planner can be an ideal solution; they can arrange everything so that you and your partner only have to say the word go and experience everything without any stress!
But what if there are too many different opinions? You would like a flowery style, your partner has a more modern vision, but your mother insists on having a classical wedding. How can you make sure that everyone will be satisfied without turning the wedding into a wild mix of different themes? A wedding planner can help in this case as well. They can give their neutral opinion and incorporate everyone’s wishes to make it a beautiful day that everyone will be satisfied and happy with!
A wedding in Italy?! That would be nice, but maybe not an easy thing to achieve. What are the rules for weddings in Italy? Where do I find a registrar there and how can I get my guests to the wedding location? Your wedding planner will be able to help you with all these questions, and make sure that everything is prepared perfectly for your dream wedding abroad! Is Italy a little too exciting for you and would you prefer to stay closer to home, but still have your wedding in another province? Your wedding planner can make it happen. They can arrange transportation for your guests and find out if your favourite bakery can ship the wedding cake to your location.
Something you may not have considered yet, but still very important: a best man or maid of honour! A lot of wedding planners are also the best man or maid of honour. Were you actually planning to give your best friend or sister the maid of honour role, but is she already busy as it is, or does she just not have the necessary knowledge to plan everything perfectly? The wedding planner will take on this role, so that all your loved ones can relax on your big day!
And getting married is just very expensive. Managing your budget may be a priority for your wedding. A wedding planner has a lot of experience with managing budgets, and they may even have a few tips and tricks to book your dream location for the best price!
Getting married in corona times
A lot has changed during corona times; your wedding plans may have changed as well. Tricky measure or maybe even a general ban on social gatherings can be serious obstacles for your dream wedding. So it will come in handy to have a wedding planner who can help you plan your day just the way you want it, despite any unpleasant corona measures. If the wedding unexpectedly can’t take place because of the measures, the wedding planner can help you and your partner change the date, so you can still have your perfect day!
What does a wedding planner cost?
After all this information, you may be eager to find yourselves a wedding planner, but then we get to the important question; what does a wedding planner actually cost?
Naturally, the costs of a wedding planner depend largely on your budget and what you would like your wedding planner to do. For just a counselling session or just a little help finding your dream location, of course you’ll pay less than if you want your full wedding day planned from start to finish. The wedding planner will have a price tag depending on your wishes for your wedding. Do you want the whole day planned? Then you will have to reserve about 10 to 15% of your total budget for your wedding planner. There are also wedding planners who work for an hourly rate. The hourly rate of a wedding planner is between €40 and €90 per hour.
Do you want to make sure that a wedding planner is worth the price? Always look at their reviews.
Questions to help you find your ideal wedding planner
Okay, so now you know what a wedding planner does, what they can do and what it costs to hire a wedding planner. So now only one thing remains: the search for the perfect wedding planner! Maybe you have already done some research to find a wedding planner online, but it can be difficult to find the right information. To help you and your partner find the perfect wedding planner, we have compiled a few practical questions to ask them, so you can make sure that it’s a perfect match!
- How many weddings does the wedding planner work on at the same time? (it may not be practical if they have two more weddings to plan during the weekend of your wedding, because your wedding will not get enough attention in that case)
- Will the wedding planner be present during the wedding and will they be coordinating things? (will they coordinate the arrival and departure of suppliers?)
- If the wedding is abroad, will the wedding planner also come abroad?
- Is there a replacement, just in case? (if the wedding planner gets sick unexpectedly or can’t come to the wedding for another reason, will there be a replacement?)
- How elaborate is their playbook? Is there a detailed plan?
- Can the wedding planner work within your budget? Do they have experience with budgets like yours?
- Could the wedding planner arrange discounts with suppliers?
- Does the wedding planner know florists, photographers, catering services and bands that fit your budget and style?
- Are there any additional costs? (some wedding planners charge additional travel and/or parking costs)
- Can you read reviews anywhere? (it’s always helpful if you can read the experiences of other wedding couples)
We hope that our tips will help you, and that you will find the ideal wedding planner for your big day!