In a time where we can type anything on a search engine, and a thousand results come up, shouldn’t everyone be capable of planning a wedding alone? You might ask, why would it be necessary to hire a wedding planner? Here you will find examples to make it easier to decide if you should hire a planner or if it’s best to go it alone; from busy schedules, to budget, making a choice to hire a planner can come down to figuring out your specific needs.
You Have Trouble Making Decisions
Wedding planning comes with a laundry list of details that need to be handled. If you’re indecisive but are comfortable relying on a trusted adviser to help you, a wedding planner is a definite must. They have the skills and experience to simplify your decision-making process and remove the stress of having to research every piece of your big event. Aside from picking a date, dresses, tuxedos, and selecting the wedding party, you must also choose a venue, an officiant, a photographer, caterer, florist, wedding stationery, baker, and a band/DJ. You may even have additional vendors, depending on the type of wedding you're planning.
You Can Save Time
They say that the average bride spends about 6-10 hours a week planning a wedding, and that the average wedding takes a year to plan. If you do the math, that’s over 300 hours of your time! What would you do with that time if you weren’t planning a wedding?
Now, let’s go down the list:
Do you have a demanding full-time job?
Does it require traveling more than most brides-to-be?
Do you have a family to look after with dinner, homework, dance recitals or soccer practice?
Is your wedding months away and you just haven’t gotten around to planning it?
If you answered yes to any of these, then you might want to consider hiring a wedding planner to save yourself time. Beyond just identifying the potential vendors, you also have to schedule calls and meetings, decide on a long list of details with each one, review contracts and align these with your budget. While you're doing all of that, you also need to create your guest list, seating chart, make hotel arrangements, decide on your look for the wedding, and find hair and makeup artists that can help you achieve it, all while dealing with all your day-to-day tasks and keeping your family happy. And that's just all the things that happen before the wedding. The day of the wedding has its own laundry list of tasks that need to be handled.
You Can Save Money
Let’s say you had the time to handle all the details involved in planning a wedding. Would you be interested in saving money? Most people would say yes. A wedding planner may also be a good fit if you have more than simple wedding ideas. They have been in the business for quite some time, and have established a good repertoire which might come with a discount or know where the good deals are. If cost is the limiting factor to hiring a planner, just know that the cost will be offset by having someone who is able to keep you within budget and find you the best deals.
You Can Avoid Learning a New Industry
Learning anything takes time, but it’s even more of a challenge when you have a deadline and high stake involved. Planning your wedding without the assistance of a planner means you will have to dive deep in to the details of a whole new industry, which means you will spend a lot of your time just trying to understand how to get to your destination. If your goal was really to have a fabulous wedding, you can avoid also having to decipher the lingo and a whole industry just to get there by hiring a wedding planner. Ask yourself: do I really want to deal with all this minutia?
You Can Enjoy Your Party
Hiring a planner means that you will be able to be a guest at your party, and so will your friends and family. have you thought about who will ensure that all of your vendors are following your specifications? While you’re getting ready, who is ensuring that things are getting completed on time? Is anyone going to follow up with all the vendors and give them a schedule to follow on the day of? What about making sure that the florist is setting up the hall the way that you had laid out in your vision? There are a lot of details to handle even if all the vendors are booked, and a wedding planner can ensure that you are allowed to enjoy all that time and money you put in to the event.
Of course, hiring a planner isn't for everyone. As much as it seems like everyone should have one, it's possible that you fall in to a small group of people that shouldn't. Sign up for our newsletter, and you'll learn the five reasons not to hire a wedding planner.