The question comes up more often than not… Do you REALLY need a Wedding Planner?

 I say HECK YA and OF COURSE!

In the current era, one which has made us all cut back and count our pennies, it’s only natural for brides to check the “to do” wedding list to see what items they can take off the lists to save some money.  And since most of us have been planning our wedding since we were, oh I don’t know …… FIVE…… we tend to think “oh, what’s the big deal about planning a wedding? I can throw it together!” So it’s also natural to think a wedding planner is just an extra expense.

Do you want to know my thoughts about all of this? Well, I’ll tell you regardless. 

“In today’s economy” (a phrase I’ve come to hate more and more each day), it is more important than ever to have a wedding planner. Whenever Event Pros is in a meeting with a client, we simply explain to them the economics of how to save money by hiring us as their wedding planner.

The planners are the people who actually SAVE you money:

— Planners look and review your contracts and make sure that what you think you are getting is in fact WHAT YOU ARE GETTING

— They have a Rolodex of wedding vendors and long established contracts so they can pair you with the perfect vendor for you that both matches your desires and request and your budget at the same time.  At times, they can even get the vendor to give you a reduced price because of their established relationship with the vendor.

–When viewing different venues, often the bride focuses more on how the palce will look with her flowers and linens, yet the planner, with less emotion is able to look at crucial items such as parking space, bathroom condition and location, size of the room and design layout and if there is enough power for the DJ, lighting, band and kitchen for the entire evening.

–When a bride is talking to the caterer, the bride is having a hard enough time trying to decide between chicken and fish let alone the rest of the menu.  The planner is asking what the server/guest ratio is and how much is the cost of each server?

Let me share some stories  on how planners have helped brides.

– Bride hires wedding planner after selecting the venue but before signing the venue contract. When planner reviews the contract, she finds the bride has contracted for the use of the building ONLY. Bride thought she was getting tables, chairs, linens and lots of other things that the bride thought “were always included” at a reception. The planner saved the bride over $6000 on a bad contract. Well worth the $2000 the bride paid the planner.

–Planner told him this was not a “gig”, this was a wedding, the wives were not on the guest list, and there would be no wives table because there would be no wives. Band member began to argue the point. Planner fired the band and hired a professional DJ. Bride was relieved.

When times are good and people have good jobs, they don’t worry about costs as much. I’m not saying they don’t comparison shop, but they tend to buy bells and whistles instead of staying in a budget. It’s easy to plan a wedding when you’re not paying attention to every penny.

When times are tough, a couple just can’t afford last minute surprises. But they’ve never planned a party for 200+ people before and there are questions they just don’t know to ask. An event planner knows those questions and when he/she asks them, the bride saves money.

Caters are always happy to see a professional planner walk into the room.  They know the details are going to be handled, things will run on schedule, and it will be a very pleasant event for everyone.

If you have a tight budget, you NEED a wedding planner. Today, more than ever, it’s the best investment you can make in your wedding.

Remember, it’s your wedding. You have ONE SHOT to get it right. Get a professional on your side who is going to be looking out for you on your very special day.