With the economy taking a nose dive the trend has been for a lot of brides to scale back on spending and mainly coordinate and plan their weddings themselves. Wedding Planners do charge a fee for their services but some brides don't see the benefits. Wedding Planners are a tremendous help in working out a budget, day of wedding coordination and helping brides realize their wedding day dreams. Any thoughts on this?

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hehehe.. thanks Janis!  :))

Not only are they important, the are essential. Most planners save a bride more than their fee, so that should be an incentive to go with a planner. A planner might well say to a bride, Don't ask how mch my services cost. Ask how much I will save you in expenses. But then there is the fun and guidance part of having a planner. They know the best order inwhich to do things and can make it fun to be a bride-to-be. Just taking away some of the stress is worth the fee. I have a planner who does a column on my Wedding Whispers website that has shared something about this. www.weddingwhispers.com  Please check it out. Also, please check out our Folsom Bridal Show. I frequently refer our brides to our planners because I know they play a valuable part of the process of pulling together a great wedding day.

 

Think of the value of a Wedding Planner like a Real Estate Broker.  Yes, you could do your homework and search out the best value for the home you want to buy, you could look all over town, make all the calls yourself, keep all the appointments to view the homes.  But what you will encounter are those want you to buy "what they are selling" not necessarily what you are looking for.  In working with a real estate broker who will use their expertise to narrow the margins, weed out the undesireables, check the fine print etc, you benefit all around because they only present you with viable options.  That's what makes them worth the money. A wedding planner is no different.

 

A wedding planner is in the business because they love the excitement of weddings and the beauty of the event.   They are always looking for the best of the best just because that is what they do.  They will go the extra mile to find the perfect "this or that".  Event planners that come with the venue may not. 

 

Wedding Planners are useful for many reasons including:

*Focusing the Bride the families' attention to what is important for the couple.

*Getting the best VALUE for the wedding budget.  Planners get discounts and special deals where DIY  Brides can not.

*Planners know the current trends and take advantage of market influences to enchance your wedding experience.

*Planners are trained to deal with high pressure situations and professionally coordinate often chaotic circumstances.

Planners know "what to look for" during the process of planning a wedding to redirect problems and avert catastrophies.

 

Shall I go on?

 

 

Though I havent hired a wedding planner just yet, I am considering do so. I have done some research on my own regarding how to negotiate and stay within your buget. However, it is possible that a wedding planner can get soem things done that I can't. And while I love the footwork of planningthings, there is so much that goes into getting a wedding together, I don't want to be stresed or worn out. Though I am having a small wedding, I want to be able to enjoy every moment.

The only problem I see with this is how busy your friends will be the day of the wedding instead of focusing on you and enjoying themselves. Will your friend be queing the DJ and the Officient, straightening the flowers or dimming the lights or serving cake instead of chatting with friends she has not seen in a while. I have had many chances to watch a planner in action and they are running all over the place making sure everyone is doing what they need to be doing. If your nearest and dearest want to be doing this on your special day, then you will have a lovely wedding. I agree, it would take 5 friends to do what a planner does. As far as affording a wedding planner goes, negotiate. They often have packages for small weddings or let you chose the services you need. 
I'm a makeup artist and behind the scenes before the wedding even starts, but for every wedding where I have seen a coordinator, the bride has always been more relaxed and seemed happier, so I think coordinators/planners are essential to making it a fabulous event. They carry all the stress (I feel for them) and put out a lot of fires, and think if a bride can't afford a planner from the start, at least get one the day of to ensure a stress-free day.
That's a nice observation.  That's our goal, but it's good to hear that from a professional such as yourself.

I think that many brides have the idea that they can do it all and some of them can, but, you can save a lot of time and money just by hiring a planner.

 

I always tell my brides that my job is to connect them with the best vendors, services, venue and above all advice for their wedding day. And yes, we charge for our time and the know how, because if you will do it all by yourself it will take you time and you will make many unneeded mistakes trying to do it all by yourself.

 

Many bridess do not see the benefits because they think planning a wedding is an easy game. Our industry has been exposed but also glamorized by tv shows. Now brides  try to do it all and then they stress so much, they can not relax and enjoy their day...

Hi I am new to bridaltweet but not new to weddings. I am a wedding planner here in Cyprus and 99% of my brides are from the UK. Most of them are very happy to give me a brief and let me get on with it but you do get the odd ones who decide halfway through that they want to sort the flowers out themselves for example. They soon realise that they should have left it to me in the first place because most flowers have to be imported.

I love my job and always give 110% to each and every couple often doing the extras and no extra charge. For destination weddings a planner is essential. Every wedding is stressful and in my opinion planners are worth every penny.

In my mind,that the wedding planner has a great use in a wedding,They can save your time

Wedding planners are a definite benefit, and I coordinated one girl's wedding, and then a year later was invited to her sister's wedding but did not coordinate it because she wanted to do everything herself. She thought after viewing the agenda of events at her sister's wedding that she had everything under control. However, her wedding had a series of mishaps to which she was very disappointed. Her mom instructed me to not step forward and help because her mom had told her to hire me so that everything went smooth. Mom and daughter clashed on a lot of things. I had all I could do to step back. But, I had to respect wishes of both. I did let her know prior to the day if she needed something I would be there. She did not ask. She came up to me months later and said if she had the chance to relive it, she would have hired me immediately. Both sisters see the value of having a wedding planner - one prior to the wedding and one after it was over.

When I got married, we didn't have a wedding planner/coordinator. Everything went fairly well though, but I'm sure it would have been much more fantastic and smooth with a coordinator.

 

During the march down the aisle, no one was telling the sponsors and entourage when to march, no one was directing the timing, etc., it was a mess but it still worked out. With a planner I'm sure I wouldn't have had that stressful moment. I think planners are useful. Especially if you want a flawless, smooth wedding. It's doable without one, but expect some hitches that can cause you worry.

 

Franco

Victoria James Photography

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