Wedding Planners: Yay or Nay?

sarahtrg · September 2013

Who here is hiring a wedding planner? Why or why not? I didn't initially think I was going to even think about having a wedding planner but I've been hearing so many good things about them. What are all your thoughts on them?

doeydo · September 2013

I think they are great if you can afford them. I would love to have one but, I don't want to feel like I'm "wasting" any of our budget.

KatWAG · September 2013

I had a full service wedding planner. Yes, it was expensive. But she was completely worth it. I dont know how much flowers cost, our anything about invites, wear to shop for great bridal attire, what wine to serve at dinner, etc. I also knew that I needed a day of coordinator. I didnt want to have to deal with vendors delivering food to the wrong place while i was trying to get ready.

She helped me with every aspect of my wedding, rehearsal dinner and HM. For the amount of stress she took away, I would have paid her double. I was able to completely enjoy my engagement

mlau2001 · September 2013

At the very least, you should hire a day of wedding coordinator so they can make sure all the vendors you booked are confirmed and secured, and if you are missing anything, at this point your day of coordinator will let you know and take care of it from there. They typically confirm with all your vendors 30 days before your wedding. I agree with Katwag, you don't want to worry about the set up, greeting guests, and making sure the wedding is going well. With at least a day of wedding coordinator, they'll help you release that stress! I did not hire a wedding planner, and my beautiful came out beautiful and i enjoyed the planning process a lot.

Mrs.Jackson2014 · October 2013

I am hiring a day of coordinator for our wedding. I want to relax and enjoy the day to the fullest which won't be possible if I am stressing out over making sure all of my vendors arrive with what I paid for. I am an extremely detail oriented person who likes to be on top of things, so I would carry a great deal of stress the day of ensuring everything was coming together. By hiring my planner (who is also helping with the rehearsal dinner) I am saving this stress and giving it to someone who will be fully equipped to handle it and make things run smoothly. I am also appointing both of my maid of honors in being the point people for if big issues arise and my planner needs to contact someone in regards to it. That way problems can be solved (within reason) without me knowing anything went wrong.

climbingsingle · October 2013

I have one, however she's a good friend and is offering her services for free. So far, what she's helped me with has been fantastic. She's thought of things that never would have dawned on me.

Jells2dot0 · October 2013

I had a day of coordinator, but not a full on wedding planner. I think it comes down to budget and personality. I had the budget to hire one, but i'm the type that would be stressed out even more if I had to work with someone else. Yup- i'm a control freak

lol I think if you end up hiring someone, due your homework. A bad wedding planner will cause stress and the whole point of having one is to help reduce it.

Majelin86 · October 2013

I didn't have a wedding planner or a day of coordinator and I didn't find it stressful or difficult to contact vendors myself and have meetings with them. I have married friends so they were helpful in the fact that they told me who their vendors were and if they were reliable or not. I didn't really see a need to hire and pay someone for something I could do myself. I made sure I had everything done on the Thursday before the wedding so that I could enjoy manicures, lunch and the rehearsal on the Friday and of course the wedding on the Saturday! The week leading up to the wedding (minus the Friday and Saturday) I was a bit stressed, but nothing over the top. Wedding planning isn't that difficult, it's just a lot of making appointments/meeting with vendors, and figuring out the little details.

katieg520 · October 2013

I am not having a wedding planner or anything like that, but the venue I have provides a coordinator for the day of and to work with us before then on menu selections, how we want the service and reception to go, etc. and that's good enough for me.

Tulips29 · October 2013

If it's within your budget, then look into getting one. I personally didn't think a wedding planner was necessary and didn't get one. I've been able to do everything on my own so far. For things I didn't know about (i.e. flower costs) I asked friends for recommendations of vendors, shopped around, brought pictures of what I'd want and settled on a vendor I felt comfortable with. It's very doable to do it all on your own. I personally would much rather put that $ towards my honeymoon than pay someone to do what I can do on my own.

lauracutter · October 2013

I hired a wedding planner after booking the venue and I am really happy about it. It's expensive, but planning a wedding AND finishing college while dealing with a sick father didn't sound like a great way to spend a year, so I bit the bullet and hired someone. She's done all the research for our vendors and will deal with communication between everyone and the venue. If it's in your budget and you're going to be busy, do it.

Sonietsjka · February 2014

FI and I live overseas, we're getting married in the US, and we just don't see how we can pull it off. As we want our engagement and the planning period to be fun and not stressful, we decided to hire a wedding planner.

The planner is about 10% of our overall budget (it definitely pays to shop around and compares prices and packages). Many people say that planners are often able to arrange a discount, but I'm not sure of that yet. I just don't want to have to deal with all the hassle - imagine finding a venue online google wedding venue NJ and you get 1.5m hits. We just didn't know where to start anymore, so she's definitely worth it.

JennyColada · February 2014

I would definitely look into it if I were having a larger ceremony/reception.

Newborndoc2008 · February 2014

We hired a full service planner as we are having a destination wedding in the US. I don't know that we've gotten any discounts from vendors by using her, but she knows who the reliable vendors are which has saved us tons of time during the wedding planning. She would recommend a few for each service which we could then review. Once we pick one, she takes care of getting the contracts squared away for us to sign. She hunts down the vendors for me when I have questions or clarifications as I'm very busy at work and don't have time to email or make phone calls on weekdays. As our venue banquet manager can be difficult to reach, it's nice to have someone who knows her quirks on our side. Our planner was pricey ($5k+ of our $45k budget) but worth every penny so far. A friend from work had used her for day of services (hence the referral) which I think was more like $1000-1500. I highly recommend one if you can afford/prioritize it.

flyingfoxes · February 2014

No planner here - no budget for it. I do want to have a day-of coordinator though just so she can keep things moving along and vendors are handled.

Wedding Planners: Yay or Nay?

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