For the vast majority of Brides, this is the first wedding they’ve ever planned. So expecting them to be able to navigate the process without any confusion is a leap of faith too far.
So I decided to start a series of blog posts designed to make the relationship between Bride and Supplier less confusing! What your Wedding Supplier wants you to know before your Big Day should help establish what you can and can’t expect.
Starting with a big one – a Wedding Planner.
What your Wedding Planner wants you to know
The lovely Rachel Overall, wedding planner Mirabella Weddings
When it comes to weddings, all too often couples leap into wedding planning – ‘how hard can it be?’. Once the post-engagement buzz wears off, reality sinks in and the monumental task ahead becomes all too apparent.
With the average wedding taking between 200-300 hours to plan, it’s little wonder that more and more UK couples are seeking the help of a wedding planner. Up against busy jobs, juggling family commitments and seeing friends, many of today’s couples simply don’t have the time to add planning a wedding to the mix.
So, if you’re thinking of hiring a wedding planner, what can you expect them to help you with? And where do the boundaries lie? Rachel Overall, owner of luxury wedding and honeymoon planning business Mirabella Weddings, tells all.
What you can expect from your Wedding Planner
Best in Class Suppliers
Any wedding planner worth their salt will have a little black book crammed with some of the top names in the industry. Anyone who’s started dipping their toe into weddings on Instagram or Pinterest will know that the industry is overrun with suppliers, and it can be very hard to distinguish the good from the bad. By having a wedding planner, they can help you identify those most suited to your style and budget, saving you a whole load of time – and worry.
Honest Advice and Opinions
Let’s face it, for most engaged couples, this will be your first time planning a wedding – and it can be hard to know where to even begin. Wedding planners have experienced many different wedding days and events and can offer invaluable tips and advice to ensure the smooth running of your day. Whilst a wedding planner should respect that it is a couple’s day and they have the final say, they can also be able to be a sounding board for bouncing around ideas. Don’t be afraid to get their thoughts! It can often be all too easy to get bogged down in your own wedding, so having a different point of view and a little outside perspective can be really helpful.
The Little Things
Whilst some of the parts of wedding planning are obvious (find a venue, choose a photographer, buy a dress…), there are so many teeny tiny details which would often get overlooked, if not by someone with prior experience in weddings – both in the build-up and on the day itself. Whilst these are often hard to quantify up front, their value is often only recognised by couples further down the planning process, or on the day itself. Even the savviest of couples are frequently known to have shown their surprise at some of the details they would otherwise have forgotten!
Attention to detail is all part of the Planners role
What your Wedding Planner won’t do
Work without a Budget
Part of a wedding planner’s role is to help manage the budgets – and in order to do this, they need to be given a specific budget to play with in the first place. With such a broad spectrum of suppliers available at both ends of the price scale, it’s impossible for your planner to know where to begin, unless you give them a guide as to how much you’re looking to spend overall. Even those with a seemingly infinite budget should be able to give a ballpark figure of how much they’re comfortable spending – even if they decide further along the line that they’re actually happy to push that up some more. Whilst your wedding planner should be able to find suitable suppliers within your price range, and should flag if you’re going to go over budget, only you can say how much you’re happy to spend, and be responsible for anything over and above your initial amount.
Get involved in the Politics
By their very nature, weddings can often come with politics – whether you’re not inviting kids or certain family members, or the mother-in-law is being overbearing. Much as it might be nice to deflect attention, unfortunately this is not something your wedding planner can get dragged in to!
Take Over
Unless you specifically want a very hands-off approach, a good wedding planner will ensure a collaborative approach throughout. Whilst they will do much of the research and administrative duties that come with planning a wedding, the final decision should ultimately lie with the couple. A wedding planner can offer advice and opinions (which are often worth listening to!) but at the end of the day, it’s your day and totally up to you how you want to do things. But, remember that a collaborative approach requires effort on both parts, and a wedding planner can only do the best with the information given to them. So to get the best from your wedding planner, be as clear as possible in what you want from your day, and respond promptly to keep things ticking along.
How to Find your Wedding Planner
As with all suppliers, there are so many different styles of wedding planner and it’s important that you find the one that’s right for you. Do your research and have a chat with them first (whether on Skype, a call or face to face). The wedding planning process is a long one and it’s important that you get on! If you have any questions about how to begin your wedding planning journey, or would like to get in touch for a chat, please feel free to drop Rachel an email at rachel@mirabellaweddings.co.uk