Wedding planner or not?

[Amzizzle]

So I met with a wedding planner today to talk about day of coordination, needless to say she was fantastic! I was honest about our budget and she said she could make it work.

She is about $800,is it worth it? I would love to hear pros and cons,if you used one if you didn''t.Did they really save you money?

 

[kas baby]

We have a planner just for the day of, since we are having an at home wedding. We won''t have a dj or anything like that, and I don''t want to have to delegate the wedding. I am drawing up a layout of the wedding, where we want everyone to be and when and she will handle all of it. Though, I''m not sure on the details after that, since FI is really the one who is planning the bulk of the wedding. I just wanted to make sure I wouldn''t have to be ordering people around etc...

 

[LilyKat]

What is your venue like? Many venues have a co-ordinator who will run things the day of the wedding and do the behind-the-scenes work. If you are putting it together yourself (eg a marquee, a rented hall with separate caterers, etc), I would be more inclined to pay for a separate wedding planner. You definitely don't want to have to be doing it yourself.

What proportion of your budget would $800 be? If it is a small fraction and she is fantastic, it would be worth paying it for peace of mind and to get her help and ideas. It would also be worth it if you're struggling to come up with ideas of what you want and how to pull them together. It's probably less useful if you already know exactly what you want and have booked vendors already.

ETA: You asked if it might save you money - but if it's just day-of co-ordination, would she still be willing to help you with choosing vendors? (as that would be the only thing I can see that would save money). I might have misunderstood this but I would clarify with her exactly what her service will be.

 

[caribqueen]

I agree with Lilykat about figuring out your specific needs and how complicated your day might be. If you like her and think you really need her then sounds like it''s not a bad idea.

In my situation, my church has a coordinator so no need to get someone to line us up because that person will take care of it, plus churches don''t always embrace outside planners. And our venue has a coordinator. But we will designate a cousin of mine to be a go-to person if there''s a question, problem, etc. She will be in communications with my MOH while we''re out taking pictures and do things like help us with our entrances, and if necessary manage the flow of the reception along with the dj.

 

[emeraldlover1]

If you can afford it, 100% do it. This is speaking from someone who is a control oriented person. If you planned the is amazing day all on your own you do not need the stress the day of the wedding to make sure that it is executed. I made this mistake and while our wedding was amazing I was super stressed all day. Don''t do that to yourself. In this area $800 is a great price.

Our venue claimed to have a corridinator and the week before the wedding she got sick. I had to leave it up to the owner to make sure things went as planned and smoothly and that didn''t exactly happen without me watching everything. So, I''m pretty sure by now in your wedding planning process that you know what your venue is capable of.

 

[RaiKai]

We did not have one as we had a really small non traditional wedding.We already did not know what to expect due to the spontaneity built into ceremony and lack of traditional elements so we were not stressed about everything being perfec and planning was easygoing.

If however we had a larger wedding and/or more traditions and bridal parties, receptions and so on we would have gone for a planner.

So I echo the others - it depends on your needs!

 

[megumic]

We hired someone for day-of to be a buffer for family issues, help out where needed, to direct guests, and help keep us organized and on schedule. I think it depends on your needs. Since everyone is OOT, we feel better having another set of hands and another brain to put out fires so we don''t even know the fire happened.

And I think your coordinator is reasonable. Ours was the most reasonable we could find and she is double!

 

[nkarma]

We hired one for that same price but we are doing a DW and it's great having a local who knows the vendors and can negotiate rates and handle stuff for you.

I don't know what your wedding budget is but to me $800 is very worth piece of mind to me if they are well organized and experienced. Sounds like the one you spoke with is.

Our coordinator is going to save us at least half her fee for the flowers. She buys the flowers wholesale and makes the centerpieces for you instead of having the local florist who charges a steep premium because of all the wedding business the area is getting.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

I didn''t hire one initally but I knew I would need a day of because the coordinator at my venue is not that good. Than planning to a bit too overwhelming for me, so I just hired one (6 months out from the wedding). She makes things easier, but I am still doing a lot of work. I know I will really need her at the 2-3 month point when things get busy.

I am glad I am having her for the day of. She is taking care of so many little things. She is getting my dress steamed, will place all my small items (favors, ect), will take care of the gifts, help with the transition points. She is also allowing me to ship stuff to her office and she will bring it to the venue.

If you have the money, I think it is worth it.

I am supposed to go out to the venue a month before the wedding. She will now do that on my behalf, which will save me a weekend of airfare, hotel, and car rental. I guess if you are local, that is not a big deal. The price of going out there is not much less than her fee, so in that way she saved me a ton on money.

 

[zoebartlett]

Our venue had one and it was really easy to work with her. Actually, there were two. We didn''t have to pay extra for their services, but I''m sure their services were built into the costs of having it at the venue. If your venue doesn''t have one and you can easily afford it, it may be worth it to have a day-of coordinator.