Wedding Planner - Worth it???

[lesco]

Hi all,

I wanted to know if any of you hired a wedding planner and if so, was it an expense worth paying for?

Here is my story. After a long engagement, we are finally getting married in July 2009.
I used to work in a catering hall for many years ( college job). I have seen so many weddings, I feel far from enthusiastic about having a traditional wedding... I really want this day to be something I have never seen before. FI is OK with that.

With that said, I have spent the last 4 months trying to find a unique location with no luck. This is why I''m considering hiring a planner who could do the legwork for me. Is it worth it ? Should I continue my search alone?

I would love to hear all of your opinions, Thank you.

 

[violet02]

I posted this poll not too long ago about how many people had hired a wedding planner:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/wedding-planners.79214/

Personally yes, since my sorta destination wedding is in a city almost 2 hours from here by the Ocean and I'm not familiar with the areas vendors. My planner keeps track of a thousand things for me, doesn't charge me half of what others in the area charge and has gone above and beyond. I also get vendor discounts through her, she has good relationships with many in the area and lots of other things. I would at least hire a day of coordinator if you're having a bigger wedding. I could ramble on about all of this for days but that doesn't answer the main question

We started out looking at venues on our own. We didnt get serious on dates until 10 months before so not a lot of time. I was looking a couple months before that just before we got engaged, but we weren't ready to book so any top picks we had were too pricey, didn't have what we wanted and eventually all got booked up. I didn't want to compromise on a saturday wedding, wanted at least a parial ocean view and something nice. Our planner saiid she could find houses for us. We decided if she could come through on an ideal place we'd hire her. Most won't work like that but ours did.

So she found a house that was a rental, a villa by the ocean. A new owner jut bought the place and is remodeling it. We loved it right away. He's only allowing two weddings a year. We got to pick any prime time date we wanted too! We also got to cater the wedding (vs using hotel catering) and do it outdoors, all money savers. This route is saving us thousands. We'd have never found this on our own. I tried a ton of house rental agencies too. Also she wound up being made the exclusive planner for this guy so that helped as well. She was a great resource for this! Also doing a private residence requires insurance etc so she helping us get all that organized as well.

Anyways, I would call a planner and see what kinds of places they can find for you. Some will tell you where to go pre-hiring them, and you can hire them if you like it. There also books out there that may help you find unique places. I tried here comes the guide which has all the popular ones and some were okay just not what we wanted and could afford. Lastly there's tons of folks on here that may be able to recommend places as well.

What area are you looking in?

 

[doodle]

if you''re in the US, i found eventective.com to be really helpful--it pulls up pretty much any venue that can hold a group and not just traditional wedding venues but also parks, gardens, sporting events arenas, etc. i live in such a small town that almost everyone here gets married at one of three places, but this site found 64 in my area. if you''ve already booked any other vendors, like your florist or caterer, they can usually help you out with this, too. these recommendations are specifically for if you''re trying to avoid hiring a wedding planner.

on the other hand, if your budget allows it, i say go for it. they handle all the stressful details for you, and since they usually get discounts on wedding related stuff, you could actually wind up spending LESS, even with the planner''s fees added in. again though, it depends on where you live--a wedding planner in cali or ny is worth it much more so than one say in smalltown georgia. hope that helps!

 

[lesco]

Thank yo so much for your feedback. I live in NYC and I'm looking for a venue either in NYC or Long Island NY.
In reality, as long as it's something unique, I will settle with anyplace near NYC or at a maximum of 1.5 hrs away.
I love what you are doing for your wedding ... I love the ocean.

Does anyone have reccomendations regarding wedding planners in the NYC area?

 

[doodle]

oh honey, in that area, a wedding planner would help you out a TON anyway. it''s so expensive around there, and wedding planners are great at getting things for you with a discount. in that area, finding a venue''s tough because there''s so MANY to choose from! good luck--i wish ya all the best!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Here''s my opinion (which has actually changed over the past 7 months or so), I don''t believe they are worth the money in most scenarios. If you are having a destination wedding, then definitely. If you have a short time period and need a bunch of help, definitely. If you''re endlessly rich and just want to throw money at the wedding and have a $100,000 wedding...definitely. I may have missed something, those were just examples. But anyway, we looked a day of coordinator, but then we realized we were really far out and could do it ourselves. Same time period as you essentially.

However, the trouble finding a venue thing can be very frustrating; I went through this myself. Is there a local bride magazine you can look at? Those help a lot. Also look for a listing of wedding vendors. Finally, you could always meet with a wedding planner for a one-time fee. Like one meeting, or see if they have an hourly rate. But honestly, if you look long enough and hard enough and even employ us (definitely willing to help you after Monday!) then you can do it on your own I believe. Hope this helps some!

 

[doodle]

Sarah made a good point--you don''t have to pay a wedding planner to plan your entire wedding. get together a list of questions for everything you might need help with, talk RAPIDLY (like Alvin and the Chipmunks pretending to be auctioneers rapid), and you could squeeze all the planning help you need into one hour.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Oh and by the way, I totally did what Doodle said to do during our consultation meeting. I basically went into it saying what can you do for me..and I determined for my case the answer was nothing after they answered my questions already. Maybe it was kind of evil of me, but when I asked the questions I did fully intend to hire them.

 

[lesco]

You both have given me great ideas... I am comfortable doing the rest of the planning once I get the venue straight. I have looked through some magazines including Locations magazine and others. I have done some research online and even contacted some vendors but I have not had any luck finding something I''m excited about. The few places I have liked are soooooo out of my price range. A day off coordinator is something I will definitely need.... My family is not reliable....

I am going to look this weekend for some wedding coordinators in this area, as suggested and maybe I can meet with a couple pre-hiring.

Thank you for all of your ideas....