One of the choices you’ll face as you begin planning your wedding is whether to hire a wedding planner, or try to do it all yourself. This article will give you an honest look at what wedding planners can do to make your event special and stress-free.
1. Do your grunt work. Let’s start with the simplest thing first. Your planner will do little things like counting all of your rented linens at the beginning and end of the night, setting out your guests’ table cards and having extra ones ready, and making sure your décor is perfect and that your flowers get moved from your ceremony to your reception site.
2. Keep your vendors honest. The planner reviews all the promises your venue and vendors made, and makes certain that everything is in writing, so there’s no “I never promised that” when your wedding day comes.
3. Win extra perks from your vendors. A venue or florist or DJ company wants your planner to recommend new clients; so it’s important for those vendors to bend over backwards to please your planner. That means any small disagreement that comes up will probably be resolved in your favor.
4. Get discounts. Again, vendors want to curry favor with your planner, in hopes of getting future business. So they’re more likely to offer reduced pricing or free upgrades that you wouldn’t be able to get on your own.
5. Keep you on time. It’s very easy to let the time get away from you when you have dozens or hundreds of guests all competing for “face time” with the newlyweds. Your planner will crack the whip on your photographer, florist, caterer, baker and everyone else to ensure that everything is on schedule, no one has to wait an extra hour for dinner, and your dancing starts on time.
6. Fix problems before they become problems. Your planner has the cellphone number of every vendor; so if the cake is late, or the flowers aren’t what you expected, your planner can get through to your vendors immediately to fix what’s wrong before it interferes with your perfect day.
7. Pass out the checks. Your vendor will handle all of your wedding day payments, including tips for your vendors, so you won’t have to worry about it.
8. Run interference for you. There will always a family member who wants to remake your wedding in his or her image; your planner’s duties include defusing all the little intra-family squabbles that are certain to pop up, and ensure that your wedding is indeed your wedding.
9. Schedule your other wedding-related events. Your planner can coordinate everything from your bridal shower to your rehearsal dinner to your next-day brunch, so you and your bridal party can just enjoy the experience.
10. Share insider secrets. Planners who have done lots of weddings have picked up all sorts of great ideas for streamlining your planning process. Yes, you’ll have to do some things yourselves, like writing and sending your invitations; but there are ways to simplify virtually every step of your planning process. Rely on your planner to know them and share those valuable tips and tricks with you.
The best planners may look expensive; but quite often, they’ll save you enough money to cover their fees and more. And the peace of mind of having a personal representative handling your stressful and time-consuming details is priceless.
To learn more about Fourth Estate Audio’s incomparable service, call me at 630.654.4440. I’m here to help.
© Fourth Estate Audio, 2015 – Jay Congdon is president of Fourth Estate Audio, a professional Chicago DJ and Chicago Wedding DJ company.
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