The title "Wedding Planner" brings
thoughts of J-Lo and her ability to get a drunken father presentable enough to
walk his little girl down the aisle. While we all have our own little bags of
tricks to keep the day going, wedding planners are a lot more involved in the
process that gets you to the altar that day. Hiring a wedding consultant will
not only save you an immense amount of stress but also a lot of money.
“How?” you ask? Well, planners aren’t just for the wealthy, and a good one will
save you cash in the end.
The best thing about wedding consultants is the
fact that they have done this before. Most brides are completely able to plan
their own wedding, but few realize just how difficult it is. Attempting to find
the right location, photographer, and caterer are hard enough, but then you
still have the officiant (minister), florist, DJ, bakery, and a multitude of
others. A planner has worked with and has gotten to know many of these people;
by hearing your ideas, they will be able to give you the names of vendors who
fit your needs. No vendor is alike, and a conservative bride may not be suited for
an eclectic photographer. You could interview 15 different caterers,
or a consultant could give you the name of 4 they recommend and save you a lot
of time. Most consultants will attend the interviews with you if you would like. They
can negotiate discounts, and read the contracts to make sure there isn’t
anything in the agreement that you would regret signing.
Budgeting is a key part of wedding planning that
not enough couples take seriously. A consultant will help you create a budget
so that you may have a beautiful wedding that you won’t be paying off for the
next 5 years. Financial problems are one of the top reasons for divorce, and
you don’t want to get off on the wrong foot. The key is to be realistic, and a
coordinator can help you decide where to cut back so that you can get that
expensive gown, and not overspend in the grand scheme of things.
There is a lot of pressure on a bride to make
her wedding day perfect. The truth is that something always goes wrong. Be it a
bride's maid's dress not fitting the night before, an unpredicted downpour, or
a cigarette burn in the bridal gown. A coordinator is a “Jack of all Trades”,
and in one day may be medic (band-aids and Benadryl), seamstress (torn seams),
bouncer (crashers and tipsy guests), counselor (what if he doesn’t like my
toes!), director and mediator (Mom and Aunt Susie were set at different tables
for a reason).
Anyone who has seen the “Bride Freak Out” on YouTube knows that
there is enough to go wrong in your own preparations, and you don’t need those
extra million little things that can go wrong. Even though that video
is not real, it still shows how one little thing can cause a cascade of
mishaps.
In the end, the day of the wedding does turn out
like the movies where something goes wrong, and the Planner is there
to save the day. Don’t be on your cell phone from the dressing room trying to
find out why only 5 of the 17 tables you ordered were delivered. Don’t leave it
all up to Mom to make sure that the deliveries are in order (you can’t set up
the cake without the tables!), or run to the store to get batteries for your
camera. Enjoy the day that you spent so much time and energy on, and let
someone else deal with the details!
No comments:
Post a Comment