So, you’ve announced your engagement, and now it’s time to start planning the wedding, but where to begin? You’ve opted to take advantage of the services that wedding planners can offer so that they can help you prepare the celebration you’ve always dreamed of, but how do you really know if a wedding planner is right for you? Today, we’ll reveal to you the key questions that are absolutely essential to ask when meeting with a professional wedding planner for the first time.
- Start searching for you wedding planner
- Know their availability
- Personal interview
- Get to know how they work and their prices
- Decide whether they’re the wedding planner for you
Step 1: Start searching for you wedding planner
The search for the perfect wedding planner for your big day isn’t an easy task but it’s the most important if you want to organise your day as stress-free as possible! Therefore, we recommend that you pay full attention when deciding who to hire, and that you keep the following things in mind:
Assess exactly what you need
You’ve always dreamed of a wedding full of details, with a defined style that reflects your tastes and personality. It’s your unique day, so you must try and make it the best it can be, whilst keeping within your budget. We spoke to wedding planner, Callista from Callista & Company, who told us that “wedding planning should be an enjoyable and exciting process. Choose a planner with a sense of style similar to your own, and trust them to build a creative team you can count on. Then join in for all the pleasant planning festivities so you can have as much fun during your engagement as you do at the wedding.”
Types of service
As soon as you start looking for your wedding planner, it’s fundamental that you look in detail at the type of services they offer, and if it fits your needs. The most important are:
Complete Organisation: as the name indicates, it is about the complete organisation of the wedding. From the advice and management of suppliers, going through the decoration of the wedding, arriving at the coordination of D-Day.
Advice from suppliers: if you do not know where to start, they will help you choose the rest of the suppliers by selecting those that fit your taste and style.
Decoration: do you want your wedding to be remembered for the exclusive details? Well you can hire a wedding planner to personalise each of the corners of your wedding venue.
Co-ordination of the day: If all you need is to have peace of mind that everything goes well and that the different suppliers comply with the contract, this option is ideal.
Search on the internet
The best way to find the most recommended wedding planners will undoubtedly be internet and wedding portals like Zankyou where you will find a wide range of possibilities depending on the area where you marry as well as all those who work in the sector. For example, if you’re having a destination wedding and you don’t know the local area, an online directory is perfect to find planners such as The Vows – PWC Portugal Wedding Consultants, a group of talented planner who aim to promote cool, alternative spaces never before used as a wedding event space.
Assess your budget
Apart from the other important parts of your day, like your wedding dress, shoes, flowers, you have to leave an important place in your budget for a wedding planner. Keep in mind that they will be in charge of organising all your event, so they need to have a clear of your budget and just how much you want to spend on each part. Kate, from Chicago Vintage Weddings, told us her top tip when it comes to finding the perfect wedding planner: “Be willing to invest. It can be tempting to go with a budget planner who is just starting out but someone who charges well below industry standard may end up being inexperienced or unreliable, and doing more harm than good. An experienced, established planner will charge more up front but offers many ways for you to save big during the planning process.”
Step 2: Know their availability
Create a list of favourites
After the search, you should make a list with the wedding planner that you liked best and which best fit your style. It is necessary to organise in advance and look for them as soon as you have the date of the wedding, so that they can help you with all the preparations.
Personal interviews
It is important to know if they have the option of doing a personal interview to get-to-know exactly how they work first hand. This point is important, especially if you are living abroad or in a different city as the wedding planner. If, in these cases, they do it via video call or by telephone.
Exclusivity: number of weddings in a day
If you always knew which wedding planner you wanted, or you have decided on the one you liked the most, it is time to know the volume of work they have and how many weddings they tend to coordinate in a day, since it may happen that on your wedding day, you have other weddings that coincide.
Step 3: Personal interview
Get to know how they work
In the personal interview you’ll get to know how they’ll organise and coordinate with you throughout the planning process. It is essential that you can coordinate with them throughout the process, because planning a wedding.
Explain your needs
This is the perfect opportunity to tell them exactly what you want, as well as your doubts and concerns. This is opportunity to give them a clear photo of how you want your day to look. At this point you’ll be sure whether they’re the right planner for you or not, so creating a good, honest relationship is key.
Step 4: Get to know how they work and their prices
Timings
As it’s such an important part of your day, it’s necessary to have a well established schedule. You need to know if they’ll be working on just your wedding or more, for example.
Do they have a catalogue of suppliers?
Many wedding planners have connections with other suppliers. It’s best to know if they are of a good quality, and if you’d be interested in using them for your big day.
What’s included in the budget
It’s necessary to get a well defined the price of each of their services, that you know if there are certain details that are excluded from it and some not.
Step 5: Decide whether they’re the wedding planner for you
Ask for recommendations, especially if someone you know has hired their services previously. See if they meet your requirements, and if they fit your budget, and fit with your style, you may have just found the one!
Finally, don’t forget to ask if she will be with you on your big day or have a team that will be divided to accommodate several events at once.
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