wedding planner

sammy_wheeler

i still completly dont get it
i do get it for weddings abroad
but not for weddings in ur own country

like said above- if you have a problem- then you ring ur planner- to ring the supplier- to ring you back---- cut out the middle man and save £400

and i completly dont get the 8 weeks thing--- its then not abour saving money as everything would be booked then- its then all about the wedding day-- and like i have said- this is down to the venue, bridal party, and suppliers (and wedding insurance is there 2)

i 100% dont get it!

LEJC

aarchk wrote: »

Ignore the naysayers on here.

As someone who didnt get married in a convential venue (reception was big empty barn which I had to decorate the day before) I would have LOVED a planner to help me on the day. I was persuaded that it is such a waste of money and people will help me by doing things the way I wanted them. I was sooooo wrong. I had rubbish flowers in the church with huge horrible displays when I wanted simple jam jar arrangements, none of the tables were set up properly on the day (we couldnt do this the day before because of bats and owls in the barn) and a million other things that went wrong which still annoy me more than a month later.

Obviously everyone else on this forum has a load of perfect friends and family, venue coordinator there on the day etc etc and therefore doesnt need one, but if you want one and can afford it / justify the cost then go for it.

I was quoted £250 for on the day help only and and extra £150 to help the barn set up in the afternoon before the wedding.

I'm not a naysayer...I just think that perhaps its being discussed on the wrong forum...I originally said the ethos of MSE was how can I achieve my perfect day for the best price?

If that includes a wedding planner then fine....its how you choose to allocate your money...
Its really sad that your day wasnt quite how you planned ityou posted some very beautiful photos of the day afterwards (beautifully rustic if I remember..) ...but whats to say a wedding planner would have made it better...and at what cost...it was clearly a cost too far when you were budgeting...hindsight is a wonderful thing...all the planning in the world wont necessarly make things perfect..theres some luck and judgement involved too... the wedding planner doesnt have a magic wand...

sammy_wheeler

absolutely agree lejc

MrsDrink

I personally wouldn't want a wedding planner - for me (I'm a teacher, but I still find plenty of time to gass on here.) I have loved finding the perfect bits and bobs for our wedding. I think the only time I would considering having one personally is if like others I was marrying aboard, or I wanted to get married within a month say and just didn't have the time to organise it all myself. As it is I have had over a year already and still got a year to go to finish planning and organising.

The only time a planner, in my opinion, (and in agreement with Sammy) makes any sense is if you are handing everything over for them to source, plan and organise for you. If though you want to do the majority of things yourself, and you just want someone to chase them up at the end, and make sure everyone knows what they should be doing, then I personally would spread the duties out around my nearest and dearest. I know for a fact my mother-in-law-to-be would relish having some big important job to do so she felt included and special.

At the end of the day it is down to you (and your OH) whether you want to have a planner. But at the same time this is a Money Saving website and we will try to help you save money where possible. And for a lot of us, that would include scrapping the wedding planner. (I guess in the same way that some people insist on chair covers while others think they are a waste of time).

If you are determined to have a planner, I would write a list of all the duties I would want them to do. Like do you want them to find you caterers? Or do you want to find the caterers but then give them the list to haggle prices? Or do you want to find and organise them, have tasting sessions, book everything, and then give the planner a list of who you've booked and what you've agreed to? (If this is the case I would say they are less 'wedding planners' more 'wedding organisers'). Then I'd write a list of all the things their duties would entail, along with a rough outline of their time. E.g. phoning round a range of caterers to check their availability and pricing (say 30 mins) though to phoning up the caterer and reminding them what time to arrive (5 mins). Then write down exactly what you want them to do on the day... e.g. arriving at such and such a time, greet caterers, show caterers where to lay out the food, pay them, whatever. Once you've done this you can then look at how much money you are spending for their time, and that'll give you an idea of whether you're paying over the odds or not. I think though 8 weeks before your wedding chances are you would have pretty much everything planned already.

I would say though - don't assume that your guests wouldn't like, or even relish, the job.

Idiophreak

Not a wedding planning as such, but we're using an event management company for our wedding. They are taking care of a certain amount of things for us - they're arranging the marquees, the carparking, toilets, catering, the lighting, the bar, furniture, audio and will sort out any decorations we give them to deal with. One of our friends tried to coordinate this kind of wedding themselves and it almost drove them mental, so we were happy to offload a little of the coordination. They're also providing an event coordinator to manage the staff on the day and make sure everyone's in the right place. (the best men, though, will still be checking everything and making the payments).

We've decided to book the band ourselves, sort flowers ourselves, sort our own clothes, car, cake etc - and the best men will be in charge of making sure these people get to the right place at the right time - the events company would have done this, for a certain percentage of the cost, but we didn't feel that was great value.

I can assure the doubters on here that we're paying much less for our marquees than we were able to negotiate ourselves (we did try...) and they're giving us a good price on the catering, so it's actually working out cheaper for us than buying all the different bits separately - but I'm aware we're having a very specific sort of wedding (entirely out of marquees). If we were having our reception at a venue, we wouldn't bother.

TBH I'd doubt that £400 is good value...I put myself in their position, there's 2 of them...that's £200 each. I'm assuming they pay themselves minimum wage, meaning you'll have a max of 30 hours each from them. More likely, they pay themselves £20/hour and you get 10 from each. That's a drop in the ocean compared to the time you spend on a wedding, so I can't believe that, for £400, you're going to get any contribution worth having.

MrsDrink

Idiophreak wrote: »

I can assure the doubters on here that we're paying much less for our marquees than we were able to negotiate ourselves (we did try...)

Can absolutely imagine that - marquees are extortionate!! And I was only looking for a 3x6m cover for our garden!!

I do agree though - it does depend on the type of wedding you're after. Clearly I wouldn't need a wedding planner for my registry office affair on a Tuesday, and a garden party at our house on the Saturday for 50 people at most.

kmmr

I agree that professionals can save you money. It's like having a project manager when you are doing building work - it seems a lot when you are planning, but will save you money in the end!

I also think that some people (me included) don't get the 'buzz' out of organising every little detail, so am happy to leave it to other people if they can do the job. I know it's just a phone call here or there, but these things all add up, and it's always on your mind. I also believe that there are real skills in organising that are worth paying for, and they will probably do a better job than me anyway.

Plus there are the other little things in life, like having to do a job, that do get in the way!

So for £400, I would certainly think about it. I didn't know it was that cheap, although I am sure it won't be in London!

loony1635

hiya

so sorry I havent been on the boards, I have been so busy at work, and wow lots of comments on here, but all great help.

I have decided to go with the wedding planner, I have seen her testimonials and spoke to some of the brides of the weddings she has done. and they have all commented that she is actually amazing. she doesnt stand back and delegate jobs, she actually gets stuck in and helps, one bride even told me how she was scrubbing the toilets in a hall as they were discusting, and she decorates the venues if needed.

As I still have suppliers to find, we have gone for the partial planning package, I am still in total control but she finds the suppliers suited to me, I met with her and wow she is loverly, she has set prices, so you know exactly what your paying, she doesnt charge travel costs,. no extras at all, and to top all that off, she actually has an assistant that is with her on the day. again at no extra cost.

I actually feel really excited about my wedding now knowing that my planner will be along side me all the way, I have contacted her several times and within 2 hours she has called or emailed me, and as I work full time and can only have meetings in the evenings or weekends this is no touble for her. she is there 24/7 for me.

I always thought wedding planners were only for the rich, we had a chat about it and she said unfortunatley most brides think this and its simply not true, she has worked on weddings that have a £1000 budget.

If anyone is considering a wedding planner, please let me know as I would defientley recommend mine. and she is london based but will travel.

Scotsbride

I think it up you to deside on what you and your OH want but personally we going to do it ourselves yes it's stressful weddings are! but I feel you feel more personally involved if you do it yourselves. if you have a wedding planner she/he is going to be contacting you an your OH for approval and to ask questions which you could in some instances probably sort out easily yourselves. Also they will be doing other weddings at the same time so their attention is not going to solely be on your wedding.

tryingtobetheperfectHW

I used to be a wedding planner at a venue.

And honesty, 95% I wouldn't need to be there all day, the catering staff could have done it fine, the venue will supply someone to be there all day. We have to otherwise the place could get trashed, drunkeness get out of control, and things can go wrong, power cuts, flat tyres, and we usually now how to sort it out.

I have done wedding planning for people not tied to my venue either.

and it honestly depends what you want them to do, if you do just want some one there on the day, don't bother.

If you want some one to keep track of your guest list, rsvp, help you work out seating plans, ensure you've sorted your registrar, etc, then maybe, but honestly, get a diary and an awesome excel spreadsheet and you'll be fine!

It's all about being organised!

If you do need any advice feel free to PM me.