April 27, 2020
Getting married is the happiest time of your life, but planning can sometimes prove stressful. A wedding planner can be a great resource to help you organize your dream wedding so you can relax and enjoy your day.
But before you decide on a wedding planner, make sure you ask them these 7 questions to get a feel for how they’ll make your wedding vision come to life:
It’s important to know how many weddings your planner has arranged and how many they will be planning alongside yours.
This gives you an idea of the experience the planner has and the types of weddings they’re used to organizing. It also tells you how available they will be throughout the process, which could make a big difference in the quality of service they are able to offer.
Some wedding planners provide full planning, whereas others offer a range of services depending on your needs. If you only want certain aspects of your wedding to be overseen by a wedding planner, you should ensure your wedding planner offers partial planning or a la carte services.
Here’s what you can generally expect from each type of planning service, but be sure to double check with your planner that this is what they offer:
Full Planning: With full planning, your wedding planner is engaged in organizing all aspects of your wedding, from the rehearsal dinner to the reception. They will be in charge of coordinating your venue, caterers, and other vendors as well as decor and timing for each phase of the ceremony.
Partial Planning: Some wedding planners allow you to pick what they are involved with, but others have more rigid partial planning packages. This may mean they coordinate your wedding decor but leave the rehearsal dinner to you. Other times, it may mean that they leave it up to you to coordinate with certain vendors, such as the photographer or cake decorator.
A La Carte: This is a menu of extra services you can add to any other package, like partial planning. You only pay for what you want, so if you need someone to handle the invitations, but you don’t need anyone to pick up your dress, an a la carte service may be for you.
At first, you should expect to meet with your planner a couple of times a month. As your wedding gets closer, it should increase to almost daily in the last week or so. Your planner should be readily available by phone too.
Make sure to check with your potential wedding planner to ensure their meeting schedule matches up with your expectations. You’ll likely have fewer meetings depending on what kind of wedding planning services you opt for, such as with partial planning.
Hiring a wedding planner doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be involved in selecting the vendors you want for your big day. You’ll want to have a hand in choosing your wedding venue, catering vendor, and photographer, for example.
Be sure to ask your wedding planner how you’ll be involved in the decision-making process. This is important for several reasons, perhaps if you have a venue you love that is located near the majority of your guests, or specific flowers in mind that match the style you’re going for.
It’s useful to have your wedding planner explain how they will bring your ideas for style, theme, or colors to life. After you’ve explained your vision, your wedding planner should be able to offer specific suggestions for how to incorporate those details into your big day. For example, if you want a fairytale themed wedding, they might suggest a ballroom-style venue that can accommodate your ideas for decorations.
This is an important question to ask before hiring a wedding planner to ensure they are on the same page as you for your wedding style and not planning on executing something totally different. The last thing you want is to be in a tug-of-war with your wedding planner over every detail of your wedding.
It’ll save you a lot of stress if you know precisely how many staff members you’ll have at your wedding. That way, if you need to delegate some tasks to guests, you will know in advance, and your day will run smoothly. Some people like to have fewer staff, so they are less noticeable amongst the guests.
You need to know which details the planner notifies the guests about. You’ll want to find out if the planner will cover invitations and table settings, for example. This is key because some couples may not want their planner telling their friends and family what to do and where to go, whereas others may prefer that their wedding planner organize guests precisely according to the wedding program.
As you search for a wedding planner who will make your vision come to life, make sure you ask them each of these questions. Your wedding planner will be happy to answer your questions so together, you can organize the perfect wedding.