What Do Wedding Planners Do

How Do I Choose My Wedding Planner

Meet with 1-3 potential planners until you find one that feels right and be sure to discuss any concerns in your initial meeting. You will work directly with your planner more than anyone else during the process. If you prefer to handle certain aspects of the big day on your own, youll want to have an open communication from the get-go.

As is the case with all vendors, its best to begin with basics:

• How much does the wedding planner cost
• Services offered
• Their ability to travel
• Ensuring your personalities mesh

Planners are particularly crucial if you have a busy job, a large family or are generally daunted by the planning process. If you can work a planner into your budget, their skills can guide you through every celebratory stage of the process, from the first dress fitting to the final send off. Dont forget to send your planner a big thank you gift for all of the hard work they put into making sure your wedding is everything youd ever dreamed of.

Important To Know: Your Venue Coordinator Is Not A Wedding Coordinator

• Brides, grooms, parents, whomever this might be reading this, please take note! If youve gone with a traditional wedding venue, your package likely will come with a venue coordinator. This person will certainly be there to help on the day of your wedding, but their loyalty is to their employer , not you. Unless your agreement specifies otherwise, the venue coordinators main responsibility is to make sure the building doesnt burn down and everything runs smoothly.

How Do I Get A Wedding Planner Job

Many wedding planners are self-employed, so it’s not unusual to set up your own practice early in your career.

However, wedding planning companies do exist and often advertise vacancies on their websites – alternatively you can send a speculative application. Your first job could be as an assistant wedding planner. Search the internet to find relevant companies in your area.

You should try to get some experience to help you land a job. Offer your services to a local wedding planner or wedding venue, just to get your foot in the door. Show them what you can do and before long, a permanent position will be yours for the taking.

You’ll typically earn around £17,000 to £20,000 when you first start out as a wedding planner, rising to between £20,000 and £25,000 with some experience, according to the National Careers Service. Once you build your reputation and get even more experience, you can earn more.

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Theyll Track Spending And Help You Stick To A Budget

One of the key things that a wedding planner should do is help you set and stick to a budget. So, prepare to come up with a spending plan together after you discuss your dream nuptials. As you continue working together, they will keep track of where the moneys going and if youre overspending or underspending in certain areas. This will ensure you dont end up with an unexpected surprise bill after you tie the knot.

How To Become A Wedding Planner In 8 Simple Steps

Wedding planning is one of the toughest jobs in the events industry. Its also one of the most important, as well as one of the most rewarding. Planners oversee almost every aspect of the wedding timeline. Theyre in charge of doing everything they can to ensure that a couples wedding is everything they expect it to be and more.

Being in the wedding and event industry has its challenges, but there is nothing better than seeing months and months of hard work come together to create the most perfect wedding day, wrote Denise Ferdinand of the Fairy Godmother Wedding & Event Planning Company in a post on their website. Watching all the hard work unfold is one of the most rewarding experiences that this business has to offer. In this business you continuously get closer to your clients and that is what makes their wedding so special and unique, watching your work bring your clients dreams to life is such a magical feeling.

Want to learn how to become a wedding planner? Keep reading! In this post, we go over the steps you can take to get started, as well as things you can do once you get your feet off the ground. We also answer a handful of frequently asked questions about wedding planning.

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Ready To Start Your Own Wedding Planning Business

The 25 Steps to Start Your Wedding Planning Business guide is a comprehensive 70-page guidebook and worksheets that include each step necessary to start your own wedding planning business.

This guidebook is perfect for aspiring wedding planners who are ready to start their own profitable and sustainable wedding planning business.

If You And Your Partner Have Different Dreams For The Wedding

While you and your partner might agree on most things, your wedding visions might not perfectly align. Perhaps you’ve been dreaming of a casual pizza party while your partner is picturing something more formal. A wedding planner can help you both clearly define what you want and help find a compromise. “The wedding and events industry has its own languagethere are terms that are unique to us and event planning and production, which couples likely do not know, and a planner helps translate it all,” Meyer says. “A great planner will get to know both to-be-weds and understand their individual styles, goals and preferences so they can steer them in the best direction and will work to merge two styles into one event in the best and most organic way.”

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Tasks Wedding Planners Do So You Dont Have To

October 25

What was once considered a luxurious, over-the-top wedding service is now becoming more and more commonplace among couples, and for good reason! Wedding planners were once thought of like butlers only for the rich and fancy! Now we know that navigating a wedding alone isnt ideal, and there are so many reasons why wedding planners can be great assets for your wedding vendor team. We talked to Oklahoma wedding planner Savannah Shades of Savy Social Co. and got all the tea on wedding planners and what makes them truly the MVP. Read on!

Photo // Ashley Sunderland Photography

Yes! The one-word answer to the best question youve ever been asked and changed your life forever. Youre now engaged to your fiancé and excited to start the rest of your lives together. You are more than likely eager to start planning your wedding, and the word yes is about to start being used much more frequently in the foreseeable future.

Between being bombarded with ideas on social media, advice from friends and family, plus your own wedding guest experiences, it might be a little overwhelming on what you should say yes to. Whether you are a Type A kind of person or someone who likes to go with the flow, hiring a wedding planner can be one of the best investments and decisions you say yes to.

Still on the fence about saying yes to a wedding planner? Check out the list below of ten things a wedding planner does so you dont have to.

Frequently Asked Questions About How To Become A Wedding Planner:

Do you need a degree to be a wedding planner?

No, but it certainly doesnt hurt. Your level of education depends on the type of wedding planning business youre trying to be a part of. If your goal is to be your own boss and run your own one-person business, no college degree is required. However, a degree in a hospitality or event-planning field can help better prepare you for the industry, and it may be preferred by some organizations.

How do wedding planners make their money?

Most wedding planners earn their money by charging a flat fee, an hourly rate, or a percentage of a couples wedding budget.

How long does it take to become a certified wedding planner?

It depends on the type of certification. A Wedding Planner Certificate from Online Courses Australia, for example, takes an estimated 12 study hours. On the other end of the spectrum, the Wedding Academys Certificate in Wedding Planning takes approximately three months.

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The Difference Between Wedding Coordinators And Planners

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Planning a wedding comes with a whole new set of vocabulary, and words you thought you understood suddenly take on entirely new meanings. One of the biggest distinctions that a bride needs to figure out is what, exactly, the difference is between a wedding planner, a wedding designer, and a wedding coordinator. And who better to ask than the professionals themselves?

Read on for a breakdown of what each different wedding pro does, from the professionals themselves.

Think Of A Wedding Planner As A General Contractor

Lets imagine you were building a brand new home. Youve shared your vision of what you want your home to look like with your general contractor and you have a budget and a time-frame of when you want your home completed.

Once you and the general contractor agree, a contract is drawn up and signed by both parties and the work on building your home begins. Its unlikely that the general contractor will actually perform the work, instead s/he is responsible for finding and then overseeing all of the different sub-contractors to construct your home. Plumbers, roofers, landscapers, painters, and so on.

Assuming that all goes as planned, you get the home youve been dreaming about and the general contractor is paid his/her fee.

The role of of a professional wedding planner is very similar.

After the bride and groom articulate their wedding day vision to you, and both parties feel comfortable with the working relationship, a contract or letter of agreement is signed and the planning process begins.

One of the first things on your to-do list is to create a budget followed by a timeline and then you start to pull together a dream team of vendorsthe florist, the photographer, a venue, the limo, the party bus rental, the catererto bring your clients dream wedding to life.

You, the professional wedding planner, are the main point of contact and on the actual wedding day you and your staff are there to ensure that everything happens according to plan.

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What Does A Wedding Coordinator Do

A wedding coordinator is responsible for a variety of jobs, such as a wedding or bridal consultant. Although coordinating a wedding takes creativity, there’s also going to be phone calls and paperwork to take care of. Wedding coordinators must respond to emails from clients while also managing all of the minute details of the ceremony. A wedding coordinator provides expert support to a couple on their wedding day to help ensure no major mishaps occur.

The main duties of a wedding coordinator include:

• Meeting with the couple a few weeks before the wedding

• Communicating with vendors to confirm logistics and review contracts

• Creating a comprehensive timeline and floor plans

• Completing a final check up on the venues for the ceremony and reception

• Addressing any overlooked details

• Managing the rehearsal

• Overseeing all aspects of the wedding day ceremony

A wedding coordinator requires the entire plan of the event in writing, so they can see to it that everything has been accounted for. Wedding coordinators are accountable for the entire ceremony, so they possess excellent communication and follow-up skills. Multitasking is also crucial because wedding coordinators may have to deal with a bride’s missing flower bouquet, issues with caterers or musicians and finding extra seats for unexpected guests all at the same time.

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Create Functional Floor Plans

Floor plans are no joke, and no event can function properly without a meticulous plan from the get-go. We work alongside your Venue Manager/Coordinator to specify all that your event needs tables, chairs, staging, etc. We make sure all these pieces can realistically fit in your space and flow nicely with your venue and guest count. Your vendors will also want a clear plan of where to set up, the flow of the room/night, power sources, etc.

Having a tented or outdoor wedding? Floor plans are just as important for these as well! Your Wedding Planner will act again as Team Lead, making sure the flow of the evening is how you want it to be, but also setting your many vendors up for success.

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Coordinate You Your Family Vendors & Guests

On the day of your event, we act again as that Team Lead in every aspect: From the moment hair and makeup begins to the vendor strike at the end of the night. Our team is constantly checking in on you, making sure you both are happy and excited, all while making sure their vendors have what they need and are running on time as well.

Need a tissue? Well grab you one. Sewing needle and thread? Weve got an emergency kit! Need to push back speeches 5 minutes, to allow for a bathroom break? Well let your DJ/band and attendants know! All of these things are constantly in check to ensure theres no rushing or awkward lags the entire day.

Its a long day of work for Planners, who can be on their feet coordinating and overseeing your event anywhere from 10-15 hours in just one wedding day. Sounds like a lot, right? It is, but we love that we get to serve in this way!

Us Planners love what we do, but its truly not for the faint of heart! We invest more time into our couples and work more hours on one wedding than any other vendor. Based on all of the services we listed and hours we spend on each event, hopefully all of the above helps give those inquiring minds a better understanding of why investing in a Planner is worth every penny.

You wouldnt trust your inexperienced neighbor Tom to take your wedding photos that youll look back on year after year so why take the chance on your Wedding Planner/Coordinator?

Cheers!

A Laundry List Of Responsibilities

Take a look at the following list of professional duties that explain what is a wedding planner?:

• find and rent ceremony and reception venues
• create a wedding budget
• oversee all wedding day activities
• coordinate newspaper engagement announcements
• plan honeymoon

This is by no means the only tasks you will be expected to complete in your role as a professional bridal consultant.

Since your clients are hiring you to do all the things theyre unable or unwilling to do themselves, its likely you will come across requests that arent listed here. So be ready.

The good news is that most, if not all, of these listed tasks can be learned. But being a professional wedding consultant requires much more than wedding planning know-how.

Dig a little deeper and find out the touchy-feely response to the question What is a Wedding Planner? by checking out the article Wedding Planner Skills.

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