Life of a Wedding Planner Tag

As a consumer it can be daunting enquiring with a specialist, such as a wedding planner, when you’ve never worked with one before and you have no idea how much it might cost. So, in today’s blog I thought I’d outline some of the key factors on how a wedding planner charges for their services. Service Levels It’s helpful to start with a brief overview of the various levels of wedding planning. Most planners, including myself, offer services ranging from “on-the-day” wedding planning (read my blog here about why this is a misleading title), through to partial and full planning. “On-the-day” tends to be priced on a fixed fee which we can provide to you once we have a better understanding of your plans i.e. guest numbers, number of venues, number of suppliers, complexity of design etc. From this we can estimate how much prep work will be needed in advance of your wedding and...

If you’re enjoying the planning of your wedding but want to a right-hand woman (or man) to ensure all your hard work comes to fruition in exactly the way you had hoped, a day-of wedding coordinator may be the best option for you. Read on to find out exactly what an on-the-day coordinator does and how to find the right one for you. Why on-the-day wedding coordination is a myth You'll often see planners with packages titled 'on-the-day coordination', but really there is no such thing, hence why I call it 'wedding day management'. A planner can’t simply arrive on the morning of your wedding and instinctively know what is meant to happen. Instead, your on-the-day planner is likely to start working with you about 4 to 6 weeks before your wedding. From this point forward, they will then become the main point of contact for your suppliers, meaning that all their questions and demands...

Does your venue's package include the services of a coordinator? If so, many people often get the services of a venue coordinator and a wedding planner confused. Couples believe that their venue coordinator will look after all their planning and on the day needs. This, however, is not usually the case. Firstly, I would like to say that I love venue coordinators - they're great! They know their venues inside out and they are the experts at making sure the venue is fully prepared for your big day. During the planning process they can advise on what has worked well before and they will ensure you know the limitations of any rules they may have. They are there on the day to ensure the venues operations run smoothly. Any issues that arise, such as overactive air conditioning, or tatty toilets, are promptly dealt with by a venue coordinator. However, that is a...

On Sunday I spent the day at a local wedding fair, speaking to the various exhibiting suppliers, the venue managers and even a couple of brides-to-be. As great as the suppliers were I couldn’t help but come away feeling a little dejected… Here was a group of wedding professionals, those “in-the-know” and yet they all still held the slightly outdated belief that wedding planners are only for the elite. So I've turned to my brand new blog to explain why wedding planners can be suitable for many different couples, no matter what their needs might be. 1) “2+2 equals 3! Right?” – That’s the sort of maths many couples end up with. They choose the venue first, having no idea how much everything else adds up to, hence why (according to You & Your Wedding) 50% of brides expect to go over budget. For example, did you know that, depending on design,...