Do you think Wedding Planners are useful?

With the economy taking a nose dive the trend has been for a lot of brides to scale back on spending and mainly coordinate and plan their weddings themselves. Wedding Planners do charge a fee for their services but some brides don't see the benefits. Wedding Planners are a tremendous help in working out a budget, day of wedding coordination and helping brides realize their wedding day dreams. Any thoughts on this?

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Permalink Reply by Allie Smoley on August 21, 2010 at 12:20pm
yes!!

I think everyone should hire a wedding planner. They have access to vendors, information, prices, reputation etc of every other aspect of planning your wedding. Most of the information they have is learned by years of experience, and there reputation is all about helping your event go as smoothly as possible!!

Allie
www.allielindseyphotography.com
Permalink Reply by Julia Hewitt on November 19, 2010 at 8:55am
As a planner myself, I think it is really important to have one. In addition to our vast knowledge, creative eye, vast array of contacts and ability to trouble shoot any and all mishaps we can advocate best for our clients on the day of, especially when we begin to work with our clients from the beginning. I have been to many weddings as a guest and have watched the DJ take orders from the venue leaving the bride frazzled and unhappy because her party is not going as planned. We work first and foremost for our clients to be happy and have fun and spend their day and journey to this day without stress.
Permalink Reply by Heart and Soul Events on November 22, 2010 at 1:08am
I am a wedding planner, and yes, the economy has had an effect especially with weddings. Unfortunately, some brides-to-be do not see the value but the results are proof enough. I have two neices - one who had me plan everything for her; the other wanted to be a bit more independent and planned a lot on her own. The day of the reception, she did not have me coordinate the details and timing, and because it was such a whirlwind day - she wanted to enjoy her guests - here are the pieces that never got accomplished:

1.) No bride and groom dance after the DJ announced the wedding party
2.) DJ was horrible - not dressed for the occasion and did not play key songs for their special day
3.) No mother-son dance or no father-daughter dance
4.) No family pic of bride's family; the groom managed to get his family's pic done

My neice is very stubborn so there was no way to interfere without her causing a big scene. She was disappointed and sorry that she had not used my services. I did not charge her sister and I would not have charged her, since they are my neices. But, the day is now gone forever.

Wedding planner are precision with time. They know when to do the parts of the reception that are important to you. They make sure everything moves along as it should. The bride and groom do not have to think twice about it and they have the wedding of the dreams. Trust the wedding planner to make your day what you envision it should be.

Thanks, Connie
Heart and Soul Events
Permalink Reply by Janis Flagg on November 23, 2010 at 7:41am
We save them from costly mistakes that they can't see and also provide discounts that are unavailable to them. Another Wedding Coordinator and myself will be offering workshops for the DIY bride so that she can receive tips, but also become educated to the fact of what goes on behind the scene for each vendor. DIY sounds great to them, but if they can get a little picture of what their day will be like without any particular professional, they'll be able to make better decisions. I am thinking that they will be adding vendors after gaining knowledge.

This would be a good time to collectively brainstorm on what we do to educate the public about what we do vs. what they see on TV. Guests will say the craziest things to me just from their impressions from the TV shows out there and movies. I think we need to fight to get the respect we deserve. It seems like people think we should just take all the garbage that is handed to us. There are limits!

I consider us to be among those in helping professions. We always need to be one step ahead.
Permalink Reply by Inspirations by Gina on November 27, 2010 at 3:03pm
Hi Janis,

When are you going to be offering the workshops? I have been doing similar workshops for over a year now. Would love to talk via email about what you guys are doing. My email address is inspirationsbygina@gmail.com. Thanks!
Permalink Reply by Classy Transportation, LLC on November 24, 2010 at 3:07am
I run a limousines service, but I work with a lot of wedding planners and I can document their value to a bride very clearly.
1. A good wedding planner knows the best vendors (You don't want poor quality vendors).
2. A good wedding planner already have deals in place that brides won't get (everyone wants the best price).
3. A good wedding planner knows what works & what don't. Most bride don't. For example, brides always ask about our Horse-Drawn carriage to take them from wedding to reception. They say...It's only about 3 miles to the reception. It's clear, they were not born in the "horse & buggy days". A Horse-Drawn carriage takes about 2.5 to 3 hours to travel 3 miles.
4. A good wedding planner knows the standard protocols and traditions of a wedding and most likely has done some very unique things.
5. A good wedding planner can work out a schedule with enough flexibility to keep everything on track. And can make the repeated phone calls and schedule changes that will surely take place.
6. A good wedding planner will keep everyone stress-free the day of so they can enjoy the day. I have seen brides coordinating their wedding from the back seat of my limo and they were totally stressed out!
7. A good wedding planner makes sure everything is left in the proper order after the wedding and the reception. I've seen brides taking down decorations and folding chairs! This is crazy!
8. A good wedding planner is a great resource if only used as a consultant to give brides access to hard-to-find services.
9. A good wedding planner will save a bride on average 15% to 20% across the board. For a $20,000 wedding, that's $4,000, so in reality the wedding planner services are FREE!
Permalink Reply by Janis Flagg on November 28, 2010 at 8:53pm
I would so love to share this with my networking group for event and wedding vendors and on a couple of my blogs! If you don't mind, I'd like to know how you would best like to be credited before I share this. If you are on Facebook, I could share it there as well.

I couldn't have said this better myself.

Janis Flagg
Greatest of Days
(Event Planning and Design)
Permalink Reply by Konstantina Saraidari on November 29, 2010 at 8:17am
Some of us already share comments on our blogs!! I assume you could do the same with credit to....
Permalink Reply by Inspirations by Gina on June 22, 2011 at 4:33pm

Hi Janis,

 

By all means, please let the world know and also tell everyone on FB!  I am under "Gina Lett" and then have a FB fan page "Inspirations by Gina".  Thanks Janis!

Permalink Reply by Roxie Peace on July 28, 2011 at 9:29am
To Classy Transportation, you nailed it! I would like to put this list on one of my web sites.
Permalink Reply by Janice Smith on November 28, 2010 at 3:58am
I am sure if I read all the replies, I would agree with everyone. I have been in the industry for 10 years and I've watched it grow in this short time. My clients are working couples, moms/dads, in other words busy people. As a planner, my job is to leverage their time so they can get on with what they do best.
Does every B&G need a planner...NO. B&G not needing my service does not de-value my service.
Are wedding planners useful, of course.
Are lawyers useful? Are Financial Consultants useful? Are Real Estate Brokers useful...definitely. Each of us are experts in our field.
The value is placed when there is a need for the service.
Permalink Reply by Classy Transportation, LLC on November 28, 2010 at 5:32am
Using an old lawyer's cliche..."A bride that coordinates her own wedding has a fool for a wedding planner"

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