Things to Know About Hiring A Wedding Coordinator
Did you know that there are more than 3 million weddings in the United States each year? There are probably lots of weddings right where you live and if yours is soon to be among them, then you are, no doubt, caught up in wedding plans, along with all that it entails. It’s quite possible that there will be multiple weddings happening on the same day as your own wedding, so you might be considering hiring a wedding coordinator to help you pull off your big day without major snags. You might think that it would cost you a fortune to have a wedding planner, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Oftentimes, they will have connections you can’t get on your own, as well as relationships with various vendors who will be willing to cut a deal. Here are just a few things a wedding coordinator can do for you:
- Help you design your dream wedding on the budget that works for you. They will listen to your vision and help you make decisions about which direction to take. If you can’t afford what you are envisioning, they will be able to come up with alternative solutions you might not think of yourself. A great wedding planner has years of experience from which to draw!
- A wedding coordinator will be able to plan every detail of your wedding. They will be able to work with all the vendors needed, including your DJ, a live band, florist, cake decorator, caterer, photographer, videographer, and even invitations. Many times, they will have access to good deals from these vendors.
- They can help you find a venue for your wedding, as well as a reception hall. They can also step in and work with your church if you’ve already chosen where to be married.
- After you have spoken in detail about your vision for your wedding, the coordinator will provide you with a contract outlining everything they will do for you and what it will cost. This is important so that there is clear communication and no disappointments on your big day. Make sure you read through it before signing it!
The internet has become the most common way to find a wedding coordinator, but referrals always bring the best results. Ask for references as well as asking your friends and family. If other people have had a good experience with the local wedding planners, chances are you will, too.
Ask the wedding planner how many weddings they have done. Experience is golden! Not only will they have knowledge in planning a wedding, but they will also be able to quickly solve problems and issues that can arise at the last minute. Remember—the whole reason you hire a wedding coordinator is to not have to think about all those details! Their job is to pull off a flawless event. Your job is not to worry about anything!
So, what is the average cost of day of wedding coordinator or how much does all this cost? You can expect to spend anywhere from 5% all the way to 20% of your total budget when you hire a wedding planner. With the money they can save you on various vendors and other connections, you might be surprised how cost-effective it really is. Most people say that it was well worth the cost to not have to take on the stress and pressure of planning a wedding.
If you are planning to married soon, consider hiring a wedding coordinator to give you your perfect dream day! For more information, please call us today!
Top 5 Reasons for Hiring a Wedding Planner
One of the most joyous occasions in life is a wedding, a time when two people in love exchange those powerful words, “I Do”, which binds them legally as husband and wife. Although an exciting time of life, planning a wedding is also a very stressful time. For that reason, many people have discovered the benefits of hiring a professional coordinator to ensure everything comes together as it should. In this article, we are providing you with the top five reasons for hiring a wedding planner so you can enjoy your wedding with much less stress.
Stress-Free
The number one reason for hiring a wedding planner is to dramatically reduce the level of stress. Every wedding, even the best planned will have challenges. Unfortunately, when the bride and/or groom are the ones trying to handle all the obstacles along with everything else, they feel completely overwhelmed and suddenly, the enjoyment of wedding planning is out the door. With a professional planner, they supervise all of the events associated with your wedding so you no longer have to sweat the small (or big) stuff. That means everything from the delivery of the flowers, to the set up of the cake, to the limos arriving on time is taken care of for you.
Creativity
A good wedding planner will have been in the business for years. Because of this, they have coordinated hundreds of weddings and can take ideas to share with you for your upcoming wedding. That means instead of a wedding cake that is three layers of chocolate, you could end up with something tropical, one layer of pina colada cake, one of red raspberry, and a third of coconut cream. The point is that by hiring a wedding planner, your ideas can be expounded on, enhancing your wedding.
Precise Detailing
For all weddings, there are so many small details that often, things get overlooked. One of the frustrations for the bride and groom is trying to maintain all of those details so the wedding goes off without a hitch.
An experienced wedding planner knows all about the small details and has an outstanding ability of keeping track of them. He or she would sit down with the bride and/or groom and go over each aspect of the wedding, covering every possible angle so nothing is missed.
Insider Information
A huge benefit in hiring a wedding planner is that they know who the best of the best is. If you want a DJ, they can provide you with several top choices. If you want a catered meal, they can tell you exactly which caterer serves fabulous food at an affordable price, or if you want a horse drawn carriage to take you to the reception, they know who to call. For you, that means no time is wasted making phone call after phone call, only to walk away frustrated and empty handed.
Discounts
Finally, to find and hire a wedding planner is an excellent idea if you want to save money. Because these professionals have connections with all types of people in the wedding industry, they can typically pass on excellent discounts to you. Keep in mind that does not affect the quality of the service, just the price.
Wedding Planner
There are so many issues to deal with when planning your wedding, that I can’t think of a better investment than a wedding planner! There is so much pressure and stress involved with coordinating all of the details of a wedding, that I am always amazed, how not only the bride and her family, but the engagement itself survives the process! (watching too much ‘Bridezilla’)
It is very, very important that your wedding planner not only be well-qualified, be very experienced, and have verifiable references (and that you do verify them), but you also will want to ensure that he or she has the type of personality that you can get along well with. Keep in mind that this relationship will require lots of interaction and that the atmosphere will be very intense at times!
It may be a good idea to invest the time to meet with potential wedding planners as many as two or three times, and note the dynamics between your two personalities. You should also call them a few times to see how easy it is to reach them, and how they react to you when you are calling without an appointment to do so. Manufacture a reason to call if necessary.
When you interview wedding planners you want to be sure this person or group has the right degree of assertiveness. You want them to ‘take charge’ in negotiations on your behalf and to be able to compel vendors and other 3rd parties to give you what you need; at the same time, they should remember that ultimately YOU are in charge, not her/him. No prima donnas need apply!
This means, for instance, that (within reason) you reserve the right to change your mind on any issue that has not been written in stone (e.g., reservations, or fees paid); so you will want the wedding coordinator to compile a duties list and options or bids and to consult with you before making any commitments on your behalf.
This also means that you can disagree with their assessment of a particular 3rd party vendor, venue, design, or whatever, and they will cordially defer to your wishes. Of course you will be respectful to your wedding planner, and hopefully you will be able to let them have enough freedom to do their job for you.
You also want to make sure that your wedding planner is readily accessible to you. This does not just mean they have a cell phone, which can have answering services, but they should have a pager, as well; maybe even a couple of different ways for you to reach them, during normal business hours, at a moment’s notice (this can be critical in the last few days before the wedding).
All of these issues should be agreed to in writing, before you sign any contracts with your wedding planner. As well, you want to be sure your wedding planner understands that you require that all agreements made on your behalf be legally binding. Documentation should allow clauses that include what legal recourse you would have if either the wedding planner, or any of the 3rd parties that they contract with on your behalf, do not perform to agreed specifications.
So, what is a wedding planner
Each and every year around 2.5 million weddings take place nationwide. This means that the number of weddings that will take place in your immediate area is astounding. Your wedding plans are going to be affected by number of factors, because many more weddings will happen at or around the same time as your wedding.
If you want even the tiniest little detail to be taken care of at your wedding, it’s recommended that you hire a wedding planner. Hiring a wedding planner can save you a lot of time and money. The wedding planner will help you coordinate your wedding and the most important of all the wedding planner will save you from frustration.
So, what is a wedding planner anyway, and what does the wedding planner do?
A wedding planner (sometimes called a wedding consultant, wedding coordinator or a wedding producer) is hired to help the bride and groom coordinate a wide variety of tasks associated with their wedding. Planning your wedding can get vary frustrating at times, which on the other hand will make you forget about the fun that you need to have at your wedding. So, it is a good idea to spend a little bit more on a wedding planner to make sure your wedding day goes smooth.
A wedding planner can help plan many aspects of your wedding, including DJs, floral arrangements, cake, seating arrangements, invitations, photography, and so on. In some cases, a wedding planner might be able to use his or her industry connections with vendors to get you a good deal on many things.
The wedding planner will conduct an interview with the bride-to-be and the groom-to-be, and then coordinate the details of the wedding that have been agreed upon. A good wedding planner will be able to assist in organizing, budgeting and purchasing services for your wedding and all the steps to planning a wedding. A good wedding planner after the interview will put a contract together that you and him or her need to sign. Without a contract there’s a lot of room for misunderstanding and confusion of what was agreed between you and your wedding planner.
In the contract or often referred to as a letter of agreement, the wedding planner will include the services that the he or she is expected to perform, the cost of these services and the payment terms. When you receive the contract, if there’s anything you do not agree with or anything not to your desire, discuss it with your wedding planner before signing it. When you sign the contract, you and your soon to-be wedding planner have to agree on all of the items listed to avoid any possible misunderstanding. But remember: even though you have been through the interview process, you are not obligated to continue with that particular wedding planner until you sign the contract.
So, how can you find a wedding planner, and not just any wedding planner, but a good wedding planner?
Nowadays, it’s probably the easiest to find a wedding planner on the Internet. But, it’s best if you know anyone who had had a wedding planner for their wedding. Referrals are always the best. But, even if you have to seek help from the Internet or the yellow pages, when looking for a wedding planner, be sure to ask for his or her credentials. Ask for references from each of your potential wedding planners and research their past work. Also, ask to see a few other weddings your potential wedding planner has prepared. This will help you make a decision very easily whether you like the style of that particular wedding planner or you need to seek another one. Keep a lookout for the wedding planner you’d like, and don’t hesitate to ask family and friends for suggestions.
Some of the advantages of hiring a wedding planner are, of course saving you from frustration; money savings, since most wedding planners have connections in the industry; solving your wedding problems; low stress since your wedding planner is there to pick up the slack should a problem arises.
But, there could also be some disadvantages, such as: overconfident (ego) wedding planner may try to convince you into having a wedding of “his or her dreams” and not the wedding of your dreams. If you’re a person who likes to be known or to show off, hiring a wedding planner may not be a good idea as they will be in charge of your wedding. Another disadvantage could be that you may accidentaly hire a scam artist who may not have done any weddings while broadcasting his or her enormous experience. That’s why it is vital to do a thorough research on the wedding planners of your interest.
So, how much does a wedding planner cost?
If you hire a wedding planner expect their fee to be anywhere between 5% and up to 20% of your total wedding budget. At the end of the day it will be your decision whether you want to concentrate on the fun that you will have at your wedding while your wedding planner takes care of the details, or you want to be in charge of the details that will make hiring a wedding planner a waste of money.
Have fun interviewing those wedding planners.
Why Hire A Wedding Planner?
Are you trying to decide whether to hire a professional wedding planner or do it yourself? Take a look at this rudimentary collection of chores and details to be attended to in order to pull off a successful wedding. You’ll probably want to run, not walk, to find the nearest professional consultant or an affordable wedding planner near me.
There’s the church wedding, and all it entails, from providing your baptism certificate to choosing between confetti and biodegradable rice. Then there are such items as who sits where, ushers, bridesmaids, best men, flower girls, music, wardrobe, hairstyles, flowers, and rings. Not to mention the vows. And all the rehearsals.
There’s the reception. Finding the right venue and the right caterers can be a really stressful task. Then you have to plan the menu, the bar and the service, all the while hoping against hope that everything comes out okay. Not to mention the wedding cake!
There’s the photographer. And do you want stills and videos too? What kind of transportation will you use? What about the invitations; how to know what to put on them, who to invite?
Are you getting the picture yet? The above list shows only the tip of the iceberg. The myriad chores involved in completing just one of those tasks is enough to make one elope to Las Vegas or Mexico!
In fact, the only reason you might hold back on hiring a wedding planner is your budget, but that reasoning is not well thought out. A professional wedding planner not only has the know-how and the contacts to get you the best deals around, but also will hold you to your original budget with an iron will and the experience to back it up. Without someone like this on your side, things can get out of hand pretty fast.
Make your dream wedding a memory to cherish forever, not a nightmare full of stressful problems to solve. A wedding planner will stick with you through thick and thin and be a shield and a comfort, so you can relax and enjoy the best day of your life!
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