The 5 Major Reasons You Should Hire a Wedding Planner

By Gwendolyn Purdom

Published on October 22, 2016 on brides.com

 

 

When it comes to the planning process, the bridal spectrum stretches from "I have no idea what I'm doing" to "I think wedding planning may be my calling. Should I quit my day job?" Accordingly, for brides who don't know where to start, hiring a wedding planner to help them along the way can feel like a no brainer. But for brides who are feeling like they've got this from the get-go or who feel like the extra help isn't financially feasible, is spending thousands on a planner really worth the investment?

 

Planners Claire Weller and Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride say it absolutely is worth it, and insist that stance isn't just their bottom line talking — it's their clients' bottom line, too. If you choose your planner wisely, it can actually end up saving you money.

 

1. Planners can help with your budget constraints and legal contracts.

"We can then stretch your budget because we know what's more important. We know what's going to have more impact," Cordogan says. "We recently had a bride who wanted bagpipers and we just did her day of coordination so we learned that she spent over $1,000 on five bagpipers and bagpipers are so loud you only need one. We could have saved her $800 in that small decision. Even small decisions can add up to big savings when you have a planner who knows what they're doing."

 

2. Planners will fight for your wedding vision and keep everything on track.

In addition to helping couples with their budget and supervising sticky details like legal contracts, the most important perk of a planner, Cordogan and Weller say, is having someone who'll fight for your wedding vision from start to finish. While many vendors tackle more than one wedding per day or per weekend, a planner is focused only on your special day and will push to make sure everything goes according to your unique plan.

 

"It really is a long journey to the alter and on the wedding day [you want] someone who knows what's in your brain and knows that you want an outdoor ceremony even if it looks like rain, and will fight for that until the very last minute," Cordogan says, "Or if it does rain we're going to run out there and dry out the chairs."

 

3. Planners can keep things stress-free.

From a vendor's perspective, working with a wedding planner instead of directly with the bride or groom or their parents can keep things streamlined and stress-free. Erin Foster-Olszewski, owner of West Town's A Stem Abovefloral design, says especially as the wedding day gets closer, she'd rather bother a planner ironing out last minute details than worry an already-stressed couple directly. According to Cordogan, planners having those built-in relationships with vendors can also cut costs.

 

4. Planners can get you a vendor discount.

"Sometimes discounts don't appear on paper. If we call our lighting guy and on the wedding day we don't like what he's brought, you can be sure we're going to have him add extra lighting and [you're not going to] get charged for it," she says. "We are repeat business. Couples are not. [The vendors] aim to please us so we bring them more business."

 

5. Planners can handle ceremony to reception flipping.

Full and partial planning packages aside, Foster-Olszewski says a day-of coordinator is ideal, if you can wing it, especially if your celebration involves complex orchestration like flipping the ceremony space in a short time period so it's ready for the reception.

 

"It is so important to have somebody who can bring in vendors who are familiar with the space who are familiar with what they're doing," she says.

 

6. Planners can help you coordinate the entire day (as opposed to just one aspect).

A wedding that's divided in multiple venues with their own coordinators may require less overall coordination, Foster-Olszewski says. But even if a venue offers an in-house coordinator, Cordogan advises couples to remember that that person will likely only be coordinating the specific details that venue is responsible for providing, like food or the space itself. They may not be focused on helping you juggle all the little details that will make your special day so special. And juggling details is the last thing you and your fiancé want to worry about on your wedding day.

"At a hotel or a venue, they see a wedding every weekend or two a weekend," Weller says. "Your wedding planner wants to make sure this is your wedding. So having someone help you understand how to celebrate that is so important."

 

Even so, full wedding planning may not be practical or even possible for everyone. Maybe you have event experience yourself, your fiancé is a whiz with spreadsheets or your budget just won't allow it. If a couple has already booked their major vendors and only decides to consult a planner mid-way through the process, most planners still offer partial or customized packages that can fit your needs.

 

"Some brides are really creative, they're going to be able to do their print material on their own because they're a designer or their best friend is a designer. Some people have a vision and are great at decorating and are going to be able to manage their design but a lot of brides have no vision, haven't been dreaming about their wedding forever, don't know how to pull together a high-end wedding," Weller says. "So every couple is different in terms of what they need help with."