How to Find the Right Wedding Planner
August 21, 2008
photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/naelyn/
You have decided you want to hire a wedding planner, but you aren’t sure how to do it. There are a few things you should think about…
What they do
Wedding planners can do as much, or as little, as you want. For example, there are the full planners and the day-of planners. The full planners take care of everything so you dont have to worry about it. The day of planners help make sure that the actual day-of goes well, but usually you’re responsible for doing the planning yourself.
Wedding planners can:
- pick your location
- pick your vendors (florist, caterer, cake design)
- take care of the little details (flower arrangements, linens)
- ensure that things move smoothly on the day of the event (chairs in the right place, namecards in place, people in the right place, etc.)
It all depends on what they usually do and what you are hiring them to do. If you want to be involved in the location decision, make that very clear when you meet with them. (See below about what to discuss!)
How to find one
My blog on how to choose vendors provides the best guidelines for how to find a wedding planner too.
- Ask friends
- Look online
- Check out ads
After you find them, you should:
- check out reviews online
- contact them to find a price
- meet with them
- ask for references
What to ask
The point of meeting the potential wedding planner is to 1) ensure you like them (and can afford them), 2) establish parameters of what you expect them to do and what they expect of you, and 3) assure that you feel the person is qualified to do everything that you would like them to do (and that they & their plan will fit within your budget). With that in mind, here are some questions to guide you:
- How much experience do you have? How long have you been a wedding planner?
- What is your background? (eg did they used to be an attorney, a party planner, a financial planner? Attorneys are helpful for contracts, party planners are helpful for the planning portions, and financial planners are helpful to ensure that you stay within your budget)
- Are you a member of any professional organizations?
- What do you usually do as a wedding planner?
- How much do you charge?
- What kind of budgets do you usually work with? (This is very important if you have a particularly small or particularly large budget. No matter what your budget is, you dont want your money being wasted because of carelessness!)
- Are you familiar with contracts and traps that might arise in a contract?
- How do you select vendors? location?
- Do you have experience with a certain religious/ethnic/cultural wedding? (if you are having a particular type of wedding)
- Do you do day of work also? (some planners only do the planning, but aren’t available on the day of to ensure things go smoothly)
- Do you have people who help you? How many?
- Explain what you want and expect. How much do your services cost to do that? (though maybe that will be clear if you ask what they charge)
- Can you give me a list of references?
Most important is to make sure that you get along. You have to work together at a very high stress time and it’s important that your personalities mesh so that it’s LESS stressful to have a planner, rather than more.