Wedding Planner?

DJMM

How do we know if we're good candidates for hiring a wedding planner? We're planning to have about 100 people attending. The ceremony will be at our church and the reception will be at a very chic restaurant. No caterer needed, no dinnerware, flatware, or stemware to rent (though we may want to rent linen in our colors). Arrangements for the cake, flowers, favors, music, and most everything else ISN'T negotiated or finalized. Would it be worth getting a planner or not? What are the deciding factors for retaining one?

AmoroAgain

This seems pretty simple to me:1. Do you feel overwhelmed and like you need someone to help?2. Can you afford it?Voila.

danieliza1127

Personally I think wedding planners are unnecessary, unless there is some reason you can't do it yourself like living really far away from where the wedding will be, or you just have a lot of money to throw around. 

DJMM

Ultimately, we're going based on the concept that planners cost less that the money that they can save for us in the long run. Plus, having someone else taking care of the details seems like a great idea. Yes, we can afford it. No, I'm not overwhelmed...yet. But I am trying to avoid that feeling.

mocha beans

Are you able to coordinate different vendors?  Are you an organized person who can take charge of a situation?  Are you able to go with the flow, and whatever happens happens?If so, you probably don't need one, maybe a day of coordinator, but probably not.  If no, then it might be worth it to look into it.  It depends on how much your sanity is worth.  If you are worried you're going to be a completely stressed out mess and will not be able to handle a problem if it comes up, it might be worth it.  Having a planner may not really save you any money exactly, but they will save you sanity.But it's totally up to you, it's hard to say if you need one or not.  We're having one, but we're having a DW and I'll not see a thing until the day we get there, a few days before the wedding.

Beadlz

Our planner has saved us over 5k so far, not to mention a lot of stress.  Basically she knows where the best deals are and she gets discounts that she passes on to us that the average person isn't necessarily privy to, like catering discounts.  I also like the fact that she has experience with a lot of vendors in town and can give us advice and keep us on budget. We are also eliminating other vendors, like a florist, since she is putting together the centerpieces and, having her business license, can go to the flower markets which also saves money.  We are also able to get blocks of hotels at a discounted rate through her connection for our OOT guests, which is nice for them, and even for our wedding night suite.I can get stressed easily, and it doesn't help that we are getting married in the middle of fall qtr for me (it was unavoidable, long story).  Knowing I don't have to do much and that she is there to know what needs to be done when and making sure it all runs smoothly is definitely worth the money.In your situation you already seem to have a lot done, I would think about maybe a day of person so that you can be sure everything goes as planned.