April 2013 Weddings

To hire a wedding planner or not to hire a wedding planner?

I've always thought that I would never need a wedding planner (because watching wedding shows on WeTV makes you a wedding expert :P).  I have loved the idea of weddings and planning weddings far before I was engaged. But now that I am actually planning my wedding, I am seriously considering hiring a planner.

For one thing, my wedding is accross the state (for no reason other than we found an amazing venue). I don't know anyone from the area, and its about a 3 hour drive for us. I am also in graduate school, which is stressful and time consuming enough without the addition of planning a wedding. I just think that having a planner would make my life so much easier and less stressful.

On the other hand, we don't really have extra money in our budget (if things keep going the way they are we might end up over budget as it is). But I hear that the cost of a wedding planner balances out because of their connections with people in the industry. 

So I'm not sure. We've talked about it and haven't made a decision yet. What do you ladies think? Are any of you hiring a planner?
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Re: To hire a wedding planner or not to hire a wedding planner?

  • it might be helpful..i dont have one bc im the youngest of 4 kids so I have seen my siblings get married and have a lot of referrals for various vendors. 

    What i would suggest look for a partial planner. im pretty sure they offer different packages based on how much you want them to get involved. if you have that extra helping hand you can still enjoy the planning but you have someone on ur team helping u out and wont cost as much as a full out planner. 

    hope that helps
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  • I agree with previous post! Most wedding planners have different packages from where you can have them the entire time, or where they can come in halfway into the planning process, or just the day of.  I think it is just preference of deciding if you want to take it all on yourself or letting someone else take some of the stress off of you. I know for our wedding we have a day of coordinator that comes along with our venue. I am doing a lot of DIY stuff to cut down costs, but that was my choice. We pretty much have all of our vendors in place except for florist. Don't look at what I have done and get stressed. I have been with my FI for 6 years and have been engaged since November! I have pretty much been planning my wedding in my head way before we w even got engaged so everything kinda fell into place!! I think either way it will be a fun experience. Hope this helps!
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  • I've been getting a lot of info from wedding planners that offer day of/rehersal services and their prices for that one day seem reasonable. Personally, I'm not using one at this point, because it's not really in my budget and I don't mind doing it myself. And my venue includes a day of coordinator in their package.  However, I have a friend that found a planner who was just starting out on her own and gave her a fantastic rate and she has been really happy with her so far. According to my friend, they have already made back what they spent for her services in savings that the planner negotiated for them. 


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  • I think I may look into a DOC.  I pretty much have all of the main checks already done but like you I am busy with school and work.  I just think having someone watch out for everything on the day of will make me enjoy it that much more.  My sister just got married last summer and had a DOC and she raved about her! I think it would definitely be worth the added expense.
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  • another tip

    my photographer, and dj are the reffered companies by our venue..my brother had the same thing..and at his wedding they were almost like built in coordinators..bc the hall and photographer and dj work together all the time they knew when things were going to happen so it was really helpful and free.
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