I’ve covered close to 600 weddings in my career and one thing that I can tell you is this, weddings with a planner make ALL the difference.

Today, I want to provide you some great insights on why you need a wedding planner for your wedding, what happens when you skip hiring one and what to look for when hiring one.

But, before we dive into that, let’s explore what a planner is and the pros and cons of hiring one in the first place.

What is a wedding planner?

The most common answer is that it’s someone who oversees the wedding day and helps bring everything together. While this is the norm, planners are far more than just someone with a clipboard and a walkie-talkie.

If you are engaged, then chances are you are considering having a planner and while there is an expense (something we’ll chat about later), I want you to think of them as people that are the glue to your wedding day.

As a former wedding videographer, I can tell you that wedding planners (sometimes called wedding managers) have a mountain load of tasks in front of them for your bid day.

Here are just a few things that these people do:

Help create a timeline for the day
Help manage your expenses and keep you in check with your budget
Work with you on hiring great vendors and reocmmend those that will be best for you and your spouse
They put out ‘fires’ when family members such as divorced parents that don’t get along
They manage and adjust the day if something goes wrong
They keep the reception going and communicate with all the vendors on what’s happening, when
They help you with vendor scheduling, think food tastings, venue tours, dress shopping and the like
They help with last minute details, guide you through issues you haven’t thought of and help with those little emergancies.

And the list goes onward, but you are starting to get the idea hopefully.

So, why do you need a wedding planner to begin with?

From your point of view, they take the bulk of the planning stress and handle it for you, with all the stuff I listed above and much more.

As a bride, you are going to focus on other things, like your vows, your soon-to-be spouse, your friends and family and not if the flowers ar eput out the right way or if the parking lot is being taken care of.

From a vendor point of view, having a planner literally makes the day smooth sailing.

They will communicate between you and vendors and dependingo n your weddign size, there could be a lot of us. From the officiant, to your florist, photographer, videographer, photobooth manager, catering, cake person, DJ, the list goes onward.

Covering a wedding without a planner tends to leave you and your guests wondering who’s in charge of what and pockets of what I like to call ‘dead space’ pop up.

Many times, couples will think the DJ is in charge at the reception, but that’s a misnomer, many just follow the timeline and keep on track.

I remember filming a wedding a few years ago where there was a 20-minute difference from the first dance to the dinner service, it was mostly poor planning on the brides mom’s part becuase they skipped a planner.

The DJ didn’t think to ask about closing that gap and guests, the bridal party and the bride were all hanging out for 20-minutes with nothing to do, leaving many confused about what was supposed to happen.

A good planning will know not to schedule that and if they do, to close that gap and keep the reception rolling.

How many couples hire a wedding planner?

According to the Knot, roughly 32% of couples hire a wedding planner and the national average cost of a planner is about $1,700, of course this depends on where you live, I’ve seen them as much as $5,000 and as little at $500.

The more expensive planners tend to do much better work and are more detial oriented than those charging $500 or $600. Now, this doesn’t mean you need to hire someone thats out of your budget, but you should be mindful that cheaper professionals will translate into cheaper results.

Percentage of Couples that Hired a Planner

When asked why couples skipped a planner, they mainly said a family member or friend could manage the day for them while some complained about the cost.

More times than none, I have seen that turn into something like this. Mom will plan the wedding, walk down the asile with dad, then the rest of the wedding party is at the mercy of someone that’s been appointed to tell people when to walk. It usually ends up with lot of time between bridesmaids and groomsmen walking down the asile and leaves a lot of dead time for the processional.

Many times I’ve seen the reception to start and they kick the timeline to the DJ only for people to leave after the cake cutting and no one really knows whats happening next.

Should you hire a planner?

Well, it’s a bit of a tricky question, but if you can afford it, yes.

You should be able to find room in the budget to be able at a very minumum, find someone to cooridnate your timeline for the day.

Not everyone can afford to hire a planner and I completely get that. But, I can tell you that skipping out on one will leave a lot of room for things to go off the rails from your timeline and most times they do.

What I can tell you is that your venue manager should have good details of your event and they should be able to help guide you to a planner if you decide on one.

Venue managers are not planners, so if your venue comes with a manager, don’t plan on having them run your wedding day.

Managers just help with the evening like where to place your tables and chairs or when to turn off lights, things like that. Let me give you some pros and cons of hiring a wedding planner.

Pros:

They will help keep you in budget with vendors and expenses
They will provide great recommendations on hiring other vendors
They manage the day and take that stress off you and your family (like mom)
They keep the day runnimg smoothly (this is VERY important for your guests)
They have been through the wedding process many times and can guide you through it with ease
Are avaiable to help with any issues before and during the day
Keep vendors in check and communicate with them on changes

Cons:

They can be an added cost to the wedding budget (I’ve found that most will pay for themselves in time and vendor savings alone)
You give up a lot of control during the wedding day (although you’re less stressed thinking about having things go right and run smooth)
If you love DIY, hiring a planner will not help as much
If you have different tastes than the planner. (Although you SHOULD have interviewed them before hiring them)

What to look for when hiring a wedding planner?

Here is my recommendaitons on what to look for if you decide ot hire a planner.

First, hire someone with a couple years of weddings under their belts rather than someone new. The wedding industry is always turning over new people, so finding someone that’s been around at least a couple years or longer is best becuase they will have some experience under their belts.

Second, wedding certifications or those with ‘degrees’ are not any better than those without them. Being certified simply means they went through a course, (many of them are online these days) and have some book knowledge underneath them.

Real experience is the best teacher in our world, so find someone that worked with well seasoned professional can be just as good as someone that took a course.

Next, hire them for the during of your wedding, not just the day itself. Often tiems called “day-of” wedding coordnatiors do one simple thing, they take all the work that you did yourself and they simply follow it to the best of their ability. While they can make adjustments to help keep things going, ultimately, it’s not their fault if you gave them a bad timeline, they are just following orders.

Hiring a planner from start to finish is best and you’ll find planning the wedding day will be a much easier and more friendly experience.

Finally, when it comes to costs, try to stay away from the low budget pricing. While it’s a grest starting point, you’ll often times find less experienced people with shorter lists of weddings under their belts.

Try to stick near the national average or above.

Why you NEED a wedding planner for your wedding