When it comes to the planning process, the bridal spectrum stretches from “I have no idea what I’m doing” to “I think wedding planning may be my calling. Should I quit my day job?” Accordingly, for brides who don’t know where to start, hiring a wedding planner to help them along the way can feel like a no-brainer. But for brides who are feeling like they’ve got this from the get-go or who feel like the extra help isn’t financially feasible, is spending thousands on a planner really worth the investment?
PlannerCarly Magnarella with Designer Weddings by Carly Rose say it absolutely is worth it, and insist that stance isn’t just their bottom line talking — it’s their clients’ bottom line, too. If you choose your planner wisely, it can actually end up saving you money.
1. Planners can help with your budget constraints and legal contracts.
We recently had a bride who wanted bagpipers and we just did her day of coordination so we learned that she spent over $1,000 on five bagpipers and bagpipers are so loud you only need one. We could have saved her $800 in that small decision. Even small decisions can add up to big savings when you have a planner who knows what they’re doing.
2. Planners will fight for your wedding vision and keep everything on track.
In addition to helping couples with their budget and supervising sticky details like legal contracts, the most important perk of a planner, Carly says, is having someone who’ll fight for your wedding vision from start to finish. While many vendors tackle more than one wedding per day or per weekend, a planner is focused only on your special day and will push to make sure everything goes according to your unique plan.
3. Planners can keep things stress-free.
From a vendor’s perspective, working with a wedding planner instead of directly with the bride or groom or their parents can keep things streamlined and stress-free. Especially as the wedding day gets closer, she’d rather bother a planner ironing out last minute details than worry an already-stressed couple directly. Planners having those built-in relationships with vendors can also cut costs.
4. Planners can get you a vendor discount.
“Sometimes discounts don’t appear on paper. If we call our lighting guy and on the wedding day we don’t like what he’s brought, you can be sure we’re going to have him add extra lighting and [you’re not going to] get charged for it,” she says. “We are repeat business. Couples are not. [The vendors] aim to please us so we bring them more business.”
5. Planners can handle ceremony to reception flipping.
Full and partial planning packages aside, a day-of coordinator is ideal, if you can wing it, especially if your celebration involves complex orchestration like flipping the ceremony space in a short time period so it’s ready for the reception.
“It is so important to have somebody who can bring in vendors who are familiar with the space who are familiar with what they’re doing,” she says.