Brides should have a time line. Often they come to me before they have a venue selected. Selecting the venue, garden, home residence sets the tone immediately. Immediately they can deduct from the budget they have.
Then seek out a reputable caterer who should do a walk through of the venue and get a sense of the brides style and personality. A good full service caterer can help select a budget friendly menu with a variety of options.
Please know the difference between a buffet dinner and a sit down dinner.
Please be realistic about the budget - don't just guess and be honest when about what you have to spend and not play games by saying you only have $10,000.00 when you actually have $13,000.00
Don't waste vendor's time by price shopping every where and then believing you are an expert.
I had a buffet dinner for my wedding And when the bride that i just had a difference with Told me thats a pot luck dinner and i was being cheap. OMG i did my whole wedding by myself in less then 2 months.A real wedding has sit down dinner and has it served to them . And this is the 1 that didn't want to spend 150.oo on wedding invitations and told me i was was a rip-off cause the Wedding dress didn't even cost that much. So she got her wedding invitations from party city and spent 10 bucks and said that her DIY are better then use professionals are. Only if she knew how many hours i put into her wedding invitations and designing her wedding venue for her Then she says this So she got the layout for free and the verses from me for free now. She said that she didn't know that my me doing her wedding invitations was to make a profit from her and our friendship. I told her this is how i put food on the table and pay bills. And that wasn't good enough for her to hear. She just said i was ripping everybody that i do business with off. I would never do that And the worst was i was only making 30 bucks off her.really
That budgeting for a wedding coordinator is important because we are the buffer between them, their friends, and their family. We keep them on budget and we get them what they want. We appropriately plan out their "Day of" time line and execute it properly. We know what to look for in a good contract with other vendors and we know details about the planning process they may not as well as ask the questions that are important when interviewing other wedding professionals before hiring them. We also know how to communicate with the other professionals at the wedding to make the day turn out perfect for the couple and run smoothly.
I would like brides to know that hiring a planner has to be looked at other than just another expense. A planner goes the extra mile for their brides, they make sure that everything is getting done, not overlooked. When something goes wrong we are there to assist and make it go smoothly instead of them being so stressed. I like to think that all facilities and their staffs are wonderful, but issues do arise. If the facility is having issues and the bride is dealing with only the facility planner, the planner is obligated by their employer to do what is right for the facility, not the bride. Sometimes it is nice to have a planner to be the buffer and a sounding board to offer suggestions and alternatives. We are a great resource.
Wouldnt it be a great thing if all of us vendors could put together a short / snipit of a video with just ONE tip for brides, then put them all together in one video & have it on youtube. It would either educate (at least a few of them) or hopefully open some eyes. Just a thought.
That is a great idea Robbie! I am going to blog (http://aislinnevents.com/blog) and twitter (aislinnannie) this, please have a look and repost or retweet. But that can only go so far. Youtube (it seems) is much longer lasting.
I would really like when brides come to me with a scrapbook of hair accessories that they like. I have had over the time that I have been in business found that only a handfull of brides know what they want. This is a bit fustrating for me the designer, when they say to me "You will Know if it suits me", Hello, I am the jewellery designer not your best friend since you were a child! I have only just met you!!!
Or the bride that come to me about a week before her wedding and has completly forgotten that she has no hair accessory and will take anything! That does not certainly help me or her as she will at this stage still have no idea what way she is wearing her hair!
On the whole I believe that Brides should have a good idea of how they would like to have their hair styled around 4 months to the wedding, this then gives not only me the designer and the hair stylist a chance to give them ideas and for me to actually have the hair accessory ready for the final hair trail.
I agree Naomi...I didn't get a videographer for my wedding because at the time it seemed to be an unnecessary cost and as I posted on Twitter to BridalTweets question regarding wedding day regrets...you can't put a price on capturing live memories. I would have loved to be able to completely re-live our wedding day 20 years from now...or for that matter, share the memory with our kids.
You provide a priceless service...thanks for sharing it!
I wish brides only knew the importance of hiring a good wedding planner. Most brides look at planners as an extra expense, but when you factor in the time and money you can save by hiring a planner that has the contacts and resources on hand to make your wedding run without a hitch, not to mention the huge burden of stress that a planner can help to relieve, there really should be no other way to go!
