While planning your wedding, many vendors will offer an event planners of sorts or say they can handle your day of coordination ‘free of charge’ or ‘comes with their deal’.. etc.
The question of course is, then why would I or do I even need to hire a free-lance Wedding Planner?
I would love to just say yes, every time you should!!!
.. but that’s not being completely honest and un-biased is it?
However, I’m not saying you shouldn’t either. What I am saying is.. well it depends. Every vendor has a role to play and every bride needs something different that the last.
The things to consider are:
What are you looking for in a planner or coordinator?
The number one thing to keep in mind is:
This person should offer what you need, not you trying to make your needs fit what they offer.
What kind of additional services are you looking for from a person in this role?
Is it just someone to just watch over the reception or someone to help you think of every aspect from waking up to get your hair done to making sure you got all your wedding gifts in the right car and all the details in between. Sometimes you have family or friends who can fill these gaps and with them and the on site coordinator (whether from the venues or caterers etc.) can accomplish that, but make sure to ask what kind of hands on assistance they actually do offer and see if that is the kind you were looking for in the first place. Always determine your own requirements first, not work to fit into someone else’s; its your special day.
What exactly are these other vendors offering?
Are they offering just the day of, some planning, and assistance? And Is that assistance limited to their own product/services or is it inclusive to working with the other vendors and their own timelines and promises as well.
These are the kinds of questions to ask them:
A DJ does a great job keeping the night on track, but can he walk away when there is no one to cut the cake, or if there’s a lighting issue, or more chairs need to be set out?
A caterer does a great job with presentation, but are they coming early to set up your decorations, are they actually staying all night to help with break down, what other kinds of assistance do they offer outside the “day of” they provide?
Venues also often offer people to help you plan your day, but is that limited to planning with their own particular services they offer; such as planning a menu with their in-house catering or preferred caterers, choosing the linens that only they offer, will they make a timeline with you including all the vendor services timelines as well and will they be true to helping you find other options that stay within your budget? If you want different linens or more assistance in finding other vendors, are they actually going to call and help book that?
I am not saying that other vendors are out to get you or that some of these guys don’t do these things because some actually do!
What I am saying is to be watchful of the types to try to do too much. You hired them because of their particular service and while it’s great they are willing to help in other places, can they really do so? And if so, can they with unbiased objectives? Every business has employees that must do what is part of their job and company’s best interest, so that could mean offering up limited options to get you to stay in-house or work with their partners because it is more beneficial to them. Now that could also mean they will throw in add-ons and discounts to get you to not look elsewhere and that’s great too!
BUT there is something to having a non-bias person who is in it just for you. A Wedding Planners only job is to offer you the best possible vendor options they know of or they will research and find what they can so that meet your budget. We try our best to offer you our complete and whole effort in making the day as you want it to be, to be there as your shoulder to lean on, a confident to help with the random questions, who’s only goal is to make you happy because for most planners, helping people makes them happy and there’s a reason they went free-lance.
We only have you to impress, you’re the boss, you’re the one in charge, we have no one else to worry about.
So No, you don’t need to hire a planner, but do you want to?