My Wedding Ideas - Cheap Wedding Ideas & Creative Wedding Tips » Wedding Planners

Interviewing your wedding planner / event planner

Wedding Gal — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 01:36:16 +0000

Planning a wedding is a huge undertaking, which is why many couples choose to go the wedding planner route. This is a very wise decision for many couples, especially if you don’t have the time, interest or inclination to plan a wedding on your own. In addition, although you wouldn’t think so, hiring an event planner to plan your big day can actually save you money because they will negotiate with vendors on your behalf to make sure you pay a more than fair price (and that you don’t get ripped off).

When you are scouting out planners, there are some key questions to ask to make sure that you choose the planner right for you and your wedding.

1. How much experience do they have? Probably the most important question to ask. Every professional has to start somewhere, but do you really want your wedding to be planned by someone with no professional experience? Probably not. So, you need to ask fairly specific questions about how many events the planner has planned, how big they were, how big the budgets were, what were the themes of the weddings, etc.

2. Do they have a portfolio book? Nothing speaks to the quality of an event more than pictures. From a planner’s book, you can get a sense for how detailed they are, their flair for design and how polished and finished their events appear.

3. Can they give you references? Of course, any decent planner will provide you with glowing references, and you should definitely call these references. However, you should go beyond this and look for past clients of the planner via Yelp! and other wedding websites where there are reviews of the planner and then try to contact those former clients.

4. Are they credentialed? Many wedding and event planners have taken courses or even completed training for event planning, and these programs can provide planners with a substantial amount of knowledge and preparation as well as official certification. In addition, many planners belong to professional organizations like the Association of Bridal Consultants. You should definitely weigh these factors heavily when evaluating your planners.

5. Do they have tools and resources that are part of their process? Some event planners have event planning software and some wedding planners have wedding planning software to help them stay well organized and streamline their operations, and these tools can really be an asset to both the planner and to you. They also show a commitment to their business and a desire to provide the best service possible to clients.

6. What is their personality like? Although this isn’t a precise question you can pose, it is an important question to ask yourself because you are going to have to work very closely with this person, so you should enjoy working with them.

7. What other value-add things can they offer you? Some wedding planners have special relationships with vendors so they can offer discounts that you can’t get anywhere else. Some event planners use professional event planning software or wedding planning software that includes special tools and features that clients can use. Be sure to ask if there are any special things that the planner can offer beyond their base services.

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Hiring a Wedding Planner (Coordinator)

Wedding Gal — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 05:53:37 +0000

photo credit: www.sweetchicevents.com

Don’t underestimate the usefulness of hiring a qualified and experienced wedding planner or wedding coordinator.

Each and every year around 2.5 million weddings take place nationwide. This means that the number of weddings that will take place in your immediate area is astounding. Your wedding plans are going to be affected by number of factors, because many more weddings will happen at or around the same time as yours.

If you want even the tiniest little detail to be taken care of at your wedding, it would be recommended that you hire a wedding planner. He or she can save you a lot of time and money. The wedding planner will help you coordinate your wedding and the most important of all they will save you from frustration.

So, what is a wedding planner anyway, and what do they do?

A wedding planner (sometimes called a wedding consultant, wedding coordinator or a wedding producer) is hired to help the bride and groom coordinate a wide variety of tasks associated with their wedding. Planning your wedding can get vary frustrating at times that will make you forget about the fun that you need to have. So, it is a good idea to spend a little bit more on a wedding planner to make sure your wedding day goes smooth.

A wedding planner can help plan many aspects of your wedding, including DJs, floral arrangements, cake, seating arrangements, invitations, photography, and so on. In some cases, they might also be able to use their industry connections with vendors to get you a good deal on many things.

The wedding planner will conduct an interview with the bride-to-be and the groom, and then coordinate the details of the wedding that have been agreed upon. A good wedding planner should be able to assist in organizing, budgeting, purchasing services for your wedding, and after the interview he or she will put a contract together that you and him or her need to sign. Without a contract there’s a lot of room for misunderstanding and confusion of what was agreed upon.

In the contract, or often referred to as a letter of agreement, the wedding planner will include his or her services, the cost of these services and payment terms.

When you receive the contract, if there’s anything you do not agree with or anything not to your desire, discuss it before signing. When you sign the contract, you and your soon to-be wedding planner have to agree on all of the items listed to avoid any possible misunderstanding. But remember: even though you have been through the interview process, you are not obligated to continue with his or her service until you sign the contract.

So, how can you find a good wedding planner?

Nowadays, it’s probably the easiest to find them on the Internet. But, it’s best if you know anyone who had had them for their wedding. Referrals are always the best.

Even if you have to seek help from the Internet or yellow pages, be sure to ask for his or her credentials. Ask for references from each of your potential planners and research their past work. Also, ask to see a few other weddings your potential planner has prepared. This will help you make a decision very easily of whether you like their style or you need to seek another one.

Some of the advantages of hiring a wedding planner are: saving you from frustration; money savings, since most have connections in the industry; low stress, and so on.

However, there could also be some disadvantages, such as: overconfident (ego) planner may try to convince you into having a wedding of his or her dreams and not of your dreams. If you’re a person who likes to be known or to show off, hiring a planner may not be a good idea as they will be in charge of your wedding. Another disadvantage would be that you may hire a scam artist who may not have done any weddings while broadcasting his or her enormous experience. That’s why it is vital to do a thorough research on the planners of your interest.

So, how much does a wedding planner cost?

Expect their fee to be anywhere between 5% and up to 20% of your total wedding budget.

Some important points:

Be sure your wedding planner is a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants.
Contact your wedding planner’s references. Contact at least three brides and be sure that the wedding planner performed well.
Be sure the wedding planner is dressed to match on your wedding day.

Photo credit: www.sweetchicevents.com

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Do You Want to Be Your Own Wedding Planner?

Wedding Gal — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:35:12 +0000

Do you want a wedding planner? Many brides dream of having a wedding planner who can give them the wedding of their dreams. But with some planning, preparation and a little creative thinking – you can be your own wedding planner. You’ll save on costs and best of all you will have exactly what you wanted for your own wedding.

Stay organized for the fairytale wedding. When you are trying to coordinate an event that can have up to 300 guests and a wedding party with 20 or so people in it, staying organized is critical. But don’t make staying organized more difficult than it needs to be. One of the best tips is to simply keep everything related to your wedding in a single place. Create or purchase a wedding organization binder to keep your planning, receipts and other materials in. When you can easily put your hands on “the wedding stuff” you’ll find your stress level goes way down – and your fairytale wedding is that much easier to plan.

Put time on your side when planning your wedding. The “typical” wedding can take 1 to 2 years to plan. That is “if” you can get the site you desire and everything in place. Brides and grooms who have their eye on a special venue or site may have to wait a little longer – or if you want to get married in a specific season you will simply have to wait for the calendar pages to turn. Use this time to your advantage when planning your wedding to organize everything and do things in advance. Many bridal magazines give a timeline – consider your own personal desires. Some brides may need additional time if they have more responsibilities to juggle. Other brides may have help putting together their wedding and can do things quicker.

Use your strengths and know your weaknesses as a planner. We all have our talents and we all have our weak points. What are yours? Maybe you are a foodie or a fashion plate. Maybe you are a black belt bargain shopper. Make a list of your wedding planning skills. Then sit down and make a list of the skills you may be lacking in. Are you not good at details? Do number or budgets drive you up a wall? With these skills you will need reinforcement. Ask family, bridesmaids and your groom for help in planning the wedding of your dreams. You may have a bridesmaid who is a foodie when you don’t understand menus as well. Or your mother-in-law may love fashion when you don’t enjoy shopping for clothes at all. When you know your skills and weaknesses, you get things done quicker and with more confidence. Best of all, you have more fun planning your wedding!

Take inspiration from life, bridal sites and other brides for the wedding of your dreams. Your fairytale wedding is a combination of what you always dreamed of as a little girl and what makes everyone happiest today. Many brides have specific things they “must” have at their weddings and that’s okay. You can get great ideas by connecting with other brides to learn today’s bridal trends and hot ideas for your wedding. Or take your own passions, inspirations and include them in your wedding. A wedding should be about the joining of two lives and including things about your two lives gives your wedding truly a polished and complete look. Ask your Groom for ideas about adding to the wedding too!

My Wedding Ideas - Cheap Wedding Ideas & Creative Wedding Tips » Wedding Planners

Interviewing your wedding planner / event planner

Hiring a Wedding Planner (Coordinator)

So, what is a wedding planner anyway, and what do they do?

So, how can you find a good wedding planner?

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Do You Want to Be Your Own Wedding Planner?