"Why do I need a planner?" "What exactly do you do?"
These are big, important questions that perhaps we have never addressed on the blog. Today we are here to give you the top 10 reasons why you need a planner.
1. TIME: Most couples work, have families, social obligations (we've even worked with couples who were in the midst of a cross-country move/house purchase while planning) that do not allow for the dedication that it takes to plan a wedding from start to finish. As planners, we can give you the gift of time. Leave the vendor communications, price comparisons, and contract negotiations to us and avoid juggling it all and overextending yourself. We will loop you in when it comes time to make a decision or accomplish another item together.
2. MONEY: We do this for you in several ways. We (1) know the industry well and can intelligently point you in the direction of the vendor with the best value in our experience. We also take the time to "shop around" and compare several quotes for you to see where we can get the most bang for your buck. We (2) also often receive discounts from vendors that we happily pass along to our clients. And (3) many venues offer discounts (sometimes up to $1,500) if you have hired an approved planner.
3. STRESS: Wedding planning can be stressful (see above items #1 and #2) and we know that. It is part of our job to relieve those feelings of anxiety and angst. With a bit of trust in our process and knowledge, it is our goal to guide you on a journey that will be enjoyable for you. Getting married is a big life event and we take that seriously, but we also love to have fun with you and one of our favorite things to hear is when clients tell us that they go into wedding day feeling at ease, knowing that someone has carefully listened and planned every detail with them.
4. EXPERTISE: As much as we love your family members, your mother or aunt (likely) are not experts in the wedding industry. Use our expertise and knowledge! We will give you advice and tell you stories about why something worked in the past....why it didn't. After planning and executing so many weddings, we really have a good sense of what creates a fabulous wedding. Lean on our guidance!
5. ORGANIZATION: We keep you extremely organized, to the point where if you wanted to, you could glance at one document of ours and see a pretty darn detailed outline of your entire wedding. We keep you on track with vendor payments, due dates, important deadlines and tasks, etc. You will have a lot on your mind, and especially in the last few months, your brain may feel scrambled. We try to minimize that as much as possible. Our software also has some great features such as a calendar, budget tool, and to-do's - all to keep you organized!
6. POINT PERSON: Leading up to wedding day, and ON the actual day, you get to say "Talk to my planner." We typically take over vendor communications a month out from the wedding so that you can focus on your family and last minute details. When you do not have a clear "go-to" person, or more than one person acting as such, vendors can get confused and wires can get crossed.
7. DESTINATION: If you do not live in the area, having a planner on the ground is priceless! We act as your doubles and are happy to meet with your vendors, go to your venue, whatever is needed to ensure that you don't have to make constant trips back and forth to know what is going on. We pride ourselves on being tech savvy and have been known to Vox and Skype with our out-of-area clients!
8. VISION: Pinterest is fabulous! We LOVE it. It really helps us get an idea of what the client's taste is and what direction they may want to go in for the design of their wedding. Let us help you hone in on a color palette, theme, ambiance. How can we create table centerpieces using your pins of vintage decor? How can we bring to life the romantic lighting that we see on your board? We love when we are involved in the design process, and thoroughly enjoy bringing your pins to life. We can even host a mock-up of your finished tablescape so you can feel, see, (and sit at!) one of your guest tables.
9. VENUE COORDINATORS AND PLANNERS ARE NOT ONE IN THE SAME: Please see this previous post. And this one too for the low-down.
10. PACK-UP!: Picture this: your wedding is over, it was fabulous. But it's midnight and after a LONG day for all, all of your decor items, linens, flowers are still set at the venue. Who is going to gather all of these items, pack them back up, and haul them out of the venue so that they are stored in a safe place until you want to see them again? We can almost guarantee that you are not going to want to do that. Your family may offer, but they too will be tired. Packing up is something that we can do, and as simple and silly as it sounds, we promise that this alone is well worth hiring a planner for!