On your wedding day, you can either be the bride or the wedding planner – it’s very difficult to be both. Our advice: save yourself the trouble & hire a professional! The following 10 tips will help you find the (almost) perfect wedding planner!
Remember the days when you used to go for job interviews and everybody asked what kind of experience you had? Choosing a wedding planner starts the same way. Eventually, you’ll begin shortlisting potential candidates based on the kinds of weddings they have done, types of families they have handled and wedding venues they have decorated.
No one can guide you better than your friends and family members. Ask around to see who hired a wedding planner for their big event. Once you have chosen a few candidates, ask for a list of recommendations that way you can get the real scoop from previous brides.
Do You Need To Go To School To Become A Wedding Planner?
Know how much you’re willing to put forth for a planner, then manage your budget from thereafter. Keep in mind a professional may have relationships with vendors and be able to obtain discounts to help stretch your dollar even further.
Wedding planners like to work around a certain theme. Have some ideas for themes, then let the wedding planner do the rest. For theme ideas, check out Today’s Bride Real Weddings, Styled Shoots, and our Pinterest page!
Your wedding planner must know your dreams and expectations in order to give you your fairy tale wedding, so be honest. Also, remember that a consultant should have plenty of questions for you too, in an effort to determine your wishes, needs, level of maintenance, budget, scope of imagination and more.
Wedding Coordinator: Roles, Responsibilities, And Checklists
Keep in mind that some wedding planners charge by the hour and others have a fixed or a flat fee service rate.
There are some wedding venues that cover the fee of a wedding consultant and charge a flat rate for every wedding that happens on the premises.
Once you have selected the wedding planner and negotiated the terms, do not forget to put it all in writing. Signing a written contract will safeguard your interests and hold the consultant responsible if something does not go according to the plan.
Hitch Without A Glitch; Arizona Wedding Coordinator
Hiring a wedding planner is as big as the wedding itself, so making sure to consult your partner in the process of selection and budgeting is very important.
Introduce the wedding planner to your family as he or she will be working closely with them to ensure your wedding goes off without a hitch. You will be busy either in the ceremony or with guests; the near and dear ones automatically become the first point of contact for the planner.
On the day of your wedding, time is of the essence and no one knows that better than a wedding planner. So start interviewing because there’s a wedding planner out there ready to create your dream wedding!Recently I was asked the question, “What is the difference between a wedding designer, wedding planner, or wedding coordinator?” At the time, I didn’t have the answer, but after some research, I now have an answer!
Wedding Coordinator Thank You Card To Our Wedding Planner
Wedding designers create the wedding’s design concept. They take charge of creating the theme, color palette, flower selections, and reserve and communicate with the vendors. Designers will work with the wedding planners to implement the design. They will create a layout, make a floor plan, oversee the decor budget, and will identify potential problems.
Why hire a wedding designer? If your wedding’s decor is highly essential to you and you need a creative eye to assist you, then a designer is the right choice. A designer is also crucial if you have multiple style ideas and themes that you are having a hard time narrowing down, then a wedding designer will be a vital addition to your wedding team.
Wedding planners oversee everything for your wedding day. They will help you manage and determine your budget, as well as plan a timeline and work with the bride and groom to choose the attire, ceremony and reception venues, music, and food. Planners will assist in brainstorming design styles and will coordinate those design details with the vendors and other team members. Along with this, wedding planners manage the rehearsal as well as take care of the many behind-the-scene details.
When To Book Your Wedding Planner And What To Know
Why hire a wedding planner? If you have a short time frame before the wedding, want the least amount of wedding planning stress, have no time to plan a wedding, or maybe your organizational skills are lacking, a wedding planner will be incredibly helpful in preparing for your big day.
A wedding coordinator also referred to as a wedding consultant, is someone that will oversee everything on the wedding day. They are the Point Person on the wedding day. They are not involved in the early wedding planning phases; instead, they come in about a month before the wedding to help you prepare. Coordinators will make sure the logistics are in order, such as guest counts, payments, vendors, and the rehearsal dinner. They will create detailed timelines, help with final-walk throughs, and point out overlooked details.
Why hire a wedding coordinator? If you want to plan your wedding but need someone to take care of the last-minute details, as well as someone to oversee and be the Point Person on the big day, then hiring a wedding coordinator, will be a valuable asset to you.
The Difference Between A Wedding Planner And A Venue Wedding Coordinator
On a side note, we have witnessed weddings that the Point Person on the day of the wedding is the mother of the bride. When surveyed after the wedding, most brides and mothers wish they had an outside person be the coordinator instead of the mother. Mothers are not able to enjoy the day, and they felt like they were working the entire time instead of enjoying the special day with their daughter.
An alternative to a wedding designer, planner, or coordinator, is a wedding facilitator. The venue provides a wedding facilitator. They set up, tear down, and take care of the clean-up afterward. However, keep in mind, they are not in charge of decorating and do not partake in the day’s itinerary. Having a wedding facilitator relieves an incredible amount of stress on your wedding day.
Before you hire one of the above wedding teams, the most significant consideration is your budget. A wedding planner is the most expensive and will charge near 15-20% of the total wedding budget. However, they do provide start to finish assistance. On the other hand, designers, consultants, and facilitators are less expensive but will not offer the same start to finish assistance as a wedding planner.
Venue Coordinators Vs. Wedding Coordinators: There Is A Difference — Dpnak Events
I hope this helps clarify the difference between these roles. We have several vendor resources on our website that we work with that may be able to answer more questions on “Who Does What.” Congrats and Good Luck!When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.
Jaimie Mackey was the real weddings editor at from 2013 to 2015. She also worked as a luxury wedding planner and produced over 100 high-end weddings and events in Colorado
Lauren Matthews is a writer and editor with more than 15 years of experience in beauty and lifestyle content. She was an editor at for five years.
List Of Wedding/special Events Planner Skills
When planning a wedding, couples often need to ask for help from pros to make their ceremony and reception dreams into a reality. Before hiring a team, one thing and grooms should learn is the difference is between a wedding planner, a wedding designer, and a wedding coordinator. Vendors in each of these roles can help you execute parts of your wedding, but each of them do so to a varying degree.
While a wedding planner addresses logistics along the wedding planning journey, a coordinator helps with executing the wedding plans on the day of. A wedding designer does less coordination than a planner and works more on the overall aesthetic of the event. To learn more about what each role entails, read ahead for a breakdown by the pros.
Wedding planners are all about the logistics, from vendor referrals and contract negotiation to day-of execution of your vision. Planners take the guesswork out of the process, making planning a wedding as seamless and smooth as possible, says Renny Pedersen, owner and creative director of Bliss Weddings & Events. A planner will keep track of your budget and handle the logistics. This is a skill that many can learn, but only the best planners have the years of experience and credentials that set them above the rest.
Tips For Becoming A Wedding Planner
Some planners also provide design