We meet with so many couples before and after their wedding day. The ones before say “we thought wedding planners were expensive”, the ones we meet after their wedding say that they wish they’d hired a planner or at least an on-the-day coordinator.
The latest data from our mates at Google, says it takes 528 hours to plan the average modern wedding. That’s 66 working days or 13 weeks of five-days-a-week work. This isn’t surprising when you take into account the hours spent researching, calling, emailing, waiting for responses, thinking about it, laying awake a night, discussing it with friends and family for opinions, paying invoices, sending invites, planning your timeline, finding a dress and suit, visiting venues and alllllllll the many other tasks that wouldn’t fit in this blog article!
There are SO many reasons a wedding planner should be on your list of must-haves for your wedding, not just because they handle all of the above! Here are just a few reasons you should consider working with a good one:
- They have been part of a LOT of weddings. They’ve seen it all, fixed it all and learnt from it all, so they know “what” and what “not” to do!
- They know what things cost. Enough to know when you’re about to over-spend on a supplier or other item. For example, the average wedding photographer is around $3500 for 8 hours on the day. But if you don’t know that and you receive a quote for $5000 you might think that’s normal. Of course, prices vary based on experience, popularity, location etc, but you don’t know what you don’t know!
- A wedding planner is your very own wedding cheerleader, box-ticker and all-round doer of things! A wedding is a major event that inevitably comes with a list of to-dos longer than your legs in six-inch heels. Having someone whose job it is to complete those things can be a life-saver.
- A planner handles all the supplier contracts, questionnaires, booking agreements and negotiations. This means fewer emails clogging up your inbox and much less paperwork for you to complete! Moreover, most suppliers won’t send their final information requests until the month-of or week-of your wedding; and we know you don’t want to be up at midnight replying to those!
- Negotiations: let’s deep dive on this one because we know a lot of people are uncomfortable discussing pricing and fees with suppliers. Why is that? We’ve been told it’s impolite to discuss what people make. We often genuinely believe suppliers are worth what they’re asking and therefore miss out on an opportunity to work with the best because we don’t believe we can afford them! A wedding planner is happy to have those “uncomfortable discussions” with suppliers for you, and we don’t like to brag (we’re gonna) but we just saved two separate clients over $4000 on their venue fees. Wanna know how? #magic and a whole heap of learned skills over many many years of working in the industry.
- Timeline management: want to maximise your photo time in between ceremony and reception? We know how. Want to get all those formalities out of the way so you can relax and party all night? No worries! Want to make sure that all your suppliers turn up on time, without having to call you to find the venue entrance. Yep, we’ve got that sorted.
- Templates, song suggestions, ceremony additions, contacts, skills, remembering to pick up ice, and the ability to carry three pallets of water bottles at one time. The list of reasons a wedding planner is an investment for your wedding goes on!
And the best part? We have planning phone calls that start at $99 for an hour, and our planning packages begin at just $1,200. IKR?! Call us Detective Bridesmaid or Sleuth Sister, because we just solved the mystery!
Wanna hear more about what we can do for you? Please feel free to call any time on 1800 4 BESTIE or check out our, services and packages here.
Much love,
The Hire A Bridesmaid Team x
