Being engaged is an exciting time! For most couples the lead up to the big day is filled with anticipation and joy. However, whether you’ve been dreaming of your wedding day since you were a child or if you have no clue where to start, all of us could do with a little helping hand. Enlist a wedding planner for some expert assistance.
Remember your wedding day is a celebration and the wedding planning itself should be an enjoyable process. With that being said, it’s difficult to know where to start! Unless you’ve had any events management experience, the whole process can seem a little overwhelming.
Most couples tend to put a considerable amount of pressure on themselves. Of course you want your wedding day to be a wonderful experience and one that would be nostalgically reminisced for years to come. You want your guests to wow at the fabulous venue and magical floral arrangements. However, juggling life and planning such an occasion is tough. That’s where wedding planners come in.
Professionals when it comes to planning the most lavish celebrations, they have seen all types of wedding. Whether you don’t know where to begin with budgeting, are having trouble sourcing suppliers, or if you have no idea what stationery you need, they can swoop in and help.
Creativity combined with patience
Creativity and patience are the foremost qualities that a wedding planner should possess. Each is insufficient without the other. Creativity is needed to match the ideals of the marrying couple.
Perhaps you’re dreaming of a vintage wedding complete with fairground rides or a Las Vegas themed wedding featuring genuine roulette tables. A wedding planner needs to be able to understand your vision in order to pull it off.
They also must be highly flexible and innovative in providing alternative options to you. You may have no idea what kind of wedding you would like. The only thing you might be sure of is your favourite colour. In that case a good wedding planner would be able to show you a vast portfolio of weddings they have coordinated. They may also offer mood boards tailored to your style. As a result, brides and grooms can gain inspiration and ideas!
Patience also is an irreplaceable virtue that will enhance the overall performance of the wedding planner. It’s your wedding day and you want it to be perfect. Rightly so! This may mean you change your mind, alter your budget, or go with an entirely different theme altogether.
A great wedding planner is patient and understanding. Being adaptable and empathetic to your needs is first and foremost.
Finance and budget
A good wedding planner must effectively offer sound financial advice to the couple. Weddings are expensive after all!
Most wedding planners are highly efficient when it comes to organising a budget and sticking to it. Setting up and presenting workable financial options to the bride and groom is so important. Their ability to allocate your budget effectively will enable you to have the wedding of your dreams without sacrificing anything. This means that blowing the entire budget on the entertainment and not being able to afford a wedding cake will never happen!
Managing to pull off your wedding vision within your financial capacities is a skill you should look out for in a wedding planner.
They should also offer wedding insurance from a reputable company that would undertake to indemnify all parties against loss, damage or liability. This is an unlikely situation, but one that might arise from an unforeseen or contingent event during the wedding celebration.
Vows, speeches and acknowledgements
A wedding planner who can, where necessary, provide effective guidance in speech preparation, personal vow composition and acknowledgement messages may be of significant help to brides and grooms.
If you’re someone who feels dread at the prospect of having to write vows or speeches, find a wedding planner who is experienced in that area. Having worked countless weddings, they’ll know what works and what doesn’t. Some gentle guidance in this area is sure to give you the confidence you need!
Building a rapport with you chosen wedding planner is helpful in more ways than one. They are more able to provide personal advice if they know you both as individuals rather than clients. As a result, they will be able to thoroughly coach you in writing the vows or speeches. This little helping hand goes a long way.
Organisation and options
It goes without saying that organisational skills are highly important for a successful wedding planner. A planner should alleviate your stresses. So, ensure you choose a wedding planner that can confidently take over and leave you to relax in the knowledge that it will be all be fine.
Particularly if you’re planning a lavish occasion, discovering a wedding planner who has organised events on such a scale is important. This will give you the reassurance that your big day is in the most capable of hands.
Some couples may be concerned that their wedding planner will take over. This is a natural concern and something that an experience wedding planner will understand and be respectful of. Ultimately they want to create your dream day. Therefore no good planner would take over from you and make decisions without your consent.
For this reason, some wedding planners offer different options depending on your preferences. Their packages may come in existing bundles, or they can offer bespoke options. For example, you may just want a wedding planner to help with the design of your special day including venue décor. Or simply a helping hand with coordination on-the-day.
Going beyond this, you might be after full wedding planning services. Consequently a planner would organise the budget, plan a timeline, send out invitations, source suppliers and even source a venue for you, along with much much more. However, even with full planning services, you should still remain in the loop and in control of every aspect.
Finding a wedding planner who gives you these comprehensive options is extremely important. You’ll get the most out of the experience if you’ve found an option to suit you.
Empathy and universal communication
A wedding planner must be versatile and non-discriminatory. Gone are the days when only the bride (and maybe her mother) would sit down with the planner to attend to the details of the wedding. Now, with the legal recognition of civil partnerships for same-sex couples, a wedding planner is also expected to keep up with the changing times and the wishes and aspirations of these couples.
One invaluable characteristic of a good wedding planner is the ability to communicate with everyone from all walks of life, irrespective of the potential barriers of economic status, gender bias and educational attainment. The ability to perceive and identify what others need will enable the wedding planner to realise what they can offer them in return.
After all is said and done, your wedding day should not revolve around worldly status, sexuality or knowledge. It celebrates the moment of saying goodbye to your erstwhile freedoms and joining one with another to drive your lives in a whole new direction. It is all about the culmination of dreams for two people wishing to achieve these dreams together.
To achieve a perfect wedding celebration, you should engage a wedding planner who is inventive and resourceful enough to present all the essentials in one well-organised framework. This includes adhering to your budget, style and size of celebration whilst having a comprehensive understanding of exactly how much your wedding means to you.
This is a very good article – a good resource for couples getting ready to plan their dream wedding. Often times I think that couples underlooked the value that a professional planner brings to the table. I have been photographing weddings for over eight years and I can honestly say that some of my best weddings are the ones where the couple hire a good wedding planner.
Today, I’m less likely to accept a couple as new clients if they don’t have a planner and they don’t want to consider a Day of Coordinator.
It’s just too much more work for me the photographer when the couple doesn’t have a good planner. I once shot a small wedding and although it was a small wedding the Groom was the DJ/planner. I watched that poor man ran himself ragged on one of the most important days of his life.
It just doesn’t make any sense to me!