The preconceptions of hiring a wedding planner

Hir­ing a Wed­ding Plan­ner is still a rel­a­tively new thing in the UK, but why? In Amer­ica they seem to have got to grips with the whole idea, with most cou­ples see­ing it as the norm to hire a plan­ner. So why do we still see it as a lux­ury? When really the wed­ding planner’s aim is to save you Time, Money and your stress levels!

Pho­to­graph by Jon Den­nis — www.s6photography.co.uk

I set myself up as a wed­ding plan­ner soon after I got mar­ried (I know it is the old cliché). I spent 18 months plan­ning my wed­ding and I let the whole plan­ning process con­sume me. How­ever I know first hand the ben­e­fits of using a plan­ner because I used one myself! My hus­band and I got mar­ried in Ibiza and hired a plan­ner straight away to help find a venue, caterer and min­is­ter. For the most of it I did the rest. What I found most help­ful though was know­ing that there was some­one else who was respon­si­ble for things, some­one who was at the end of an email or phone to help me with issues I felt were out of my control.

Look­ing back on it the most impor­tant thing was know­ing that, on the day, I didn’t have to worry about any­thing, that my lovely plan­ner was there to fix things and make sure every­thing was set and if there was a prob­lem I knew noth­ing about it until after­wards. I woke up on the day of my wed­ding, not the ner­vous jit­tery bride every­one expected me to be, but a calm happy bride, safe in the knowl­edge that every­thing was in the hands of a pro­fes­sional. I never got to know that the water nearly didn’t get deliv­ered, that there was a prob­lem with the elec­tric­ity that nearly resulted in our not hav­ing a DJ, and I didn’t have to deal with mov­ing the cer­e­mony loca­tion because it was too hot for my guests to sit in the sun.

How­ever peo­ple still think hir­ing a wed­ding plan­ner will cost too much money — Not true!

It is our job to save you money. We will do this in many ways.

1)    We will work with you on your bud­get and make sure you don’t over spend. When a cou­ple tells me their bud­get, I will then sit down with them and work out where best to spend that money, this way we can decide what is impor­tant and  where we can save money. I will write up your own bud­get plan and keep a check on you so you don’t go over it!

2)    We are con­stantly work­ing with venues and sup­pli­ers build­ing up rela­tion­ships and nego­ti­at­ing dis­counts which we will then pass straight on to you………….see still sav­ing you money

3)    We will nego­ti­ate for you. I have been taught by my hus­band who is in sales, never to take the first price that is offered to me, so we as wed­ding plan­ners will nego­ti­ate for you, and make sure you always get the best price.

Peo­ple still see hir­ing a plan­ner as a Lux­ury – Not true!

In this day and age when our lives are so busy and most of us have busy respon­si­ble jobs it is more of a neces­sity. It has often been quoted that the aver­age wed­ding takes 200–250 hours to plan, that’s a full 5–6 weeks to plan the per­fect day. I have even heard of brides giv­ing their jobs up because the plan­ning has got too much for them and they need to focus on the wed­ding! Why spend hours and hours research­ing and search­ing for each spe­cific sup­plier when we can do all the foot work for you. Any decent plan­ner will have files and files of supplier’s details and know which one will suit each spe­cific wed­ding.  Our job is to research these things for you, sav­ing you hours and hours of inter­net surf­ing, ring­ing round and end­less quotes, so let­ting you enjoy your wed­ding plans, instead of dread­ing the whole process.

Peo­ple think a plan­ner will take over and they will lose con­trol of their day – Not true!

A good plan­ner will be able to dip in and out when­ever needed, we will offer advice when asked and give you a solu­tion when needed. We know it is your day and you want it the way you want it, it is our job to make your vision come to life. We may have our own taste and style but we would never enforce this on our brides and grooms (unless they wanted us to!) We know when to step back and be quiet, just as we know when to come for­ward when some­thing needs to be said.

A Plan­ner will want to plan my wed­ding from begin­ning to end – Not True!

Obvi­ously it is an hon­our when cou­ples give us the oppor­tu­nity to plan the whole thing but plan­ners these days offer many other ser­vices. Some peo­ple hire us to chase-up their RSVPs, oth­ers to pull things together in the last few weeks when things have got a bit out of hand. Oth­ers will book us to find them the per­fect venue, while oth­ers who have planned the whole thing will hire us for the day so they can have piece of mind and relax and enjoy all their hard work.

Most plan­ners will have a num­ber of dif­fer­ent ser­vices they offer, most are pretty sim­i­lar but you will be sur­prised how many dif­fer­ent options there are for brides and grooms, we can help as much or as lit­tle as you wish, no job is too big or to small. 

Why do I want to hire a wed­ding plan­ner when my venue already has a wed­ding co-ordinator, they do the same thing don’t they – Not True!

Yes a lot of the venues around the coun­try these days do have their own ‘on site’ co-ordinator who will help with issues within the venue. How­ever a wed­ding plan­ner works inde­pen­dently, they will not have spe­cific ties to the venue’s busi­ness as a co-ordinator will, nei­ther will they have ties to spe­cific sup­pli­ers. On site co-ordinators will also be work­ing with mark-ups to try and make sure the venue makes more money, a planner’s job is not sales ori­en­tated, they will work inde­pen­dently, always get­ting you the right price and the right ser­vice. Remem­ber it is our job to save you money! It is also true that some­times the on-site co-ordinator isn’t actu­ally present on your wed­ding day, unlike your wed­ding planner. 

Wed­ding Plan­ners only work on big fancy wed­dings – Not True!

We are happy to work on any size wed­ding, from a small inti­mate fam­ily wed­ding to a huge scale pro­duc­tion. Every cou­ple is dif­fer­ent, which is what makes every wed­ding dif­fer­ent and our job so special. 

A wed­ding planner’s job, as corny as it may sound, is to make your dreams a real­ity. We will do every­thing in our power to make sure you have the best day ever, and in the process keep you as calm and stress-free as pos­si­ble, sav­ing you much needed time and of course save you money!

When I tell peo­ple what I do for a liv­ing they often say to me ‘’I wish I’d used a plan­ner’’ Well I did, so I know first hand the ben­e­fits, I was so impressed I became one! 

by Kelly Hood – Boho Wed­dings & Events

www.bohoweddingsandevents.com