6 Reasons to Hire a Wedding Planner
Wedding planners take care of every small detail and ensure that your vision comes to life.
After getting engaged, a bride can drown in a sea of Pinterest posts and Instagram fantasy weddings. It’s so easy to begin pinning everything but choosing nothing when there are so many fairytale options available.
Wedding planning can overwhelm the most organized of brides.
The number of options found online only parallels the number of decisions a bride has to make during the wedding planning process all while attempting to stay on BUDGET and maintain peace in the family.
So, as exhilarating as the entire process can be, it can be equally as stressful.
How does a bride create a Pinterest worthy wedding, manage the budget, and be in three places at once all while keeping everyone (including the future in-laws) happy?
Two words: Wedding Planner
As a Cleveland wedding planner with over two decades of event experience, I have seen first-hand the value of of hiring a professional, but I’ve narrowed down my top 6 reasons.
1. Wedding Planners are your Eyes and Ears
“Take a deep breath. Enjoy your day. I’ve got this.”
How nice would it be to wake up on your wedding day and KNOW…not just hope, but KNOW that your wedding is going to look and feel exactly as you’ve always dreamed.
Spend the morning sipping on champagne while your hair is pinned, sprayed, and perfected. Enjoy the laughter of your bridesmaids and family while the makeup artist puts on the finishing touches.
Take in each minute of your day without any worry. Wondering if your cake was delivered? Worried that the colors of the linens will be wrong? The flowers still haven’t been delivered to your house? Don’t even think about it.
Those worries are for your wedding planner.
Me in action making sure my bride has every last detail for her wedding!
The photos of your grandparents will be placed exactly where originally specified near the custom sign-in book. The handwritten calligraphy seating chart is visible from the entry exactly as you planned during the final walk through just days before the wedding.
Each and every detail that you desire to customize your day will be done to perfection before guests walk through the door.
2. Wedding Planners Save You TIME
At times, moments of stress and anxiety fill the wedding planning process. There are so many choices and oh my the research.
So. Much. Research.
Research locations, caterers, florists, photographers, pricing, dresses, hotels, limos, videographers, invitations, musicians, colors, songs - the list goes on.
Researching the existence of different wedding vendors is just one small part of that whole process. God forbid you have questions about the various vendors.
“Can I include my dog in my wedding photos? I want this venue, but I don’t want the entire space, can they split it up.”
Now, not only are you researching the existence of various locations and vendors, you have to call and inquire at each of those places. Wedding planners know the ins and outs of the venues and vendors.
And here’s the best part, if they can’t answer your question without research, THEY call and ask the questions for you! So while you grind at work, your list of questions are answered by someone other than you.
When both individuals getting married work full time, the time that it takes to research is enough to hire a wedding planner in itself.
3. Wedding Planners Help With the Budget
First things first. Your wedding planner will sit down with you, your fiance, and whoever else is a big part in the wedding planning and get to know you. This helps to establish what is most important to you on your wedding day.
Maybe you just want to ensure that your reception is the best party of the year and everything comes secondary to that. Now, your planner knows that a huge portion of the budget should not go to flowers, to allot more money for booze and music.
Maybe your goal is to have a ceremony draped with flowers as you walk down the aisle to a harpist. Now, your planner knows to keep the flower budget substantial.
Once priorities are identified, an ideal investment can be discussed and solidified.
While this conversation may feel uncomfortable, it’s important to be honest with your wedding planner about the budget. She will also be able to tell you if your budget is suitable to bring your Pinterest dreams to life.
Let’s be honest, sometimes even the best researchers don’t realize how expensive one single rose can be, let alone a massive centerpiece filled with roses.
Having a professional manage the wedding budget, makes it easier to stay financially realistic while still making all of your dreams come true.
4. Wedding Planners know the Tips and Tricks
In a Pinterest world, it’s easy to get swept away with ideas, but when it comes to actual execution, where do you begin?
Often a bouquet or floral arrangement on Pinterest is way too extravagant to work within the budget, or the flower in that bouquet is out of season. A wedding planner can help with alternative solutions.
Perhaps, you are IN LOVE with a venue overlooking the water, but they are booked for your ideal month. Remember all that research to find the dream location? Now, you’re back to the drawing board.
Or maybe not.
Your wedding planner happens to know that there’s a beautiful venue just down the road overlooking the water. She just saved you an additional two hours of research and loads of frustration.
A wedding cake makes for beautiful decor at your wedding, but it can also be extremely expensive. Trick: Opt for a sheet cake in the kitchen and a smaller cake in the reception area. Once it’s cut, guests don’t know the difference!
Maybe the idea of spending hundreds of dollars on a cake blows your mind. A wedding planner knows that you can purchase a beautiful small cake to cut in front of guests and a matching sheet cake in the kitchen to cut for guests to eat. Guests never see the sheet cake in the kitchen and no one knows that it saved couples hundreds of dollars.
Wedding planners are full of original ideas for wedding ceremonies and receptions. You'll be amazed at the creativity they let flow if given the opportunity to make your wedding even more fairytale-like than any Pinterest board could accomplish.
5. Wedding Planners Know just what to get out of each Vendor
Dealing with vendors is not a piece of cake. See what I did there?
Remember, they're business-minded people, with maximum profit-making on their minds which could be a considerable drawback for couples who might venture out on their own.
But wedding planners are market-smart professionals.
Their job is to stay ahead of vendor-business trends and competently strike deals that help their clients get the best value for money. They are the professionals who communicate with caterers, DJs, bakers, florists, photographers, hair stylists, stationery designers, and more.
And your wedding planner’s ultimate goal is to help clients negotiate the best deals which they may not receive when dealing with vendors on their own.
Vendors often offer freebies, meaning specific free leverages as part of the wedding packages. On the other hand, vendors may offer couples upgrades that may seem important, but a wedding planner will know if that upgrade is truly necessary.
There's also the tricky paperwork involved in dealing with vendors for a wedding. A planner knows all about the required paperwork and handles the fine print with an expert eye.
This minimizes miscommunication problems and ensures there are no shortcomings in your arrangements.
6. Wedding Planners Negotiate Contracts
Couples never appreciate their wedding planner more than when it comes time to negotiate contracts.
If you have to work within a strict budget and have a timeline to adhere to, you will need help with endless contract paperwork. A wedding planner will make sure you get the most for your money by scoring discounts, crunching numbers, and signing contracts that bring the best deals to your day.
You will not have to worry about one detail, from coordinating the logistics to ensuring the vendors run a smooth show. All couples have to do is enjoy their big day while their wedding planner does all the leg work.
From caterers to the choice of venue, the décor, the menu, the dessert table, and the flower arrangements: there's so much that goes into creating your dream wedding.
Guests will see the beautiful details that came to life from endless planning, coordination, meetings with vendors, contract negotiations, and hard work.
If you are wedding planning in Cleveland or throughout Ohio, contact me to find out how I can help. I will make the experience planning your big day not only tolerable, but ENJOYABLE and to help you bring your Pinterest dreams to life.
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