The right way to hire a wedding planner

Posted by Greg Johnson · No Comments

You’re planning a wedding. You’ve never done it before. You’re on a tight budget. You want to get the best value for your money. What do you do?

My answer – Hire a wedding planner.

Does it make sense?

When you’re trying to cut costs, does hiring someone to do things you could do yourself make sense? The simple answer is yes. Wedding planners can actually save you more than just time. They can save you some serious money. For instance, experienced wedding planners know vendors in all price ranges. Their guidance can also help prevent you from making costly mistakes when negotiating a contract. And those are just a couple of ways they can help you.

Hiring the right way

But before hiring any wedding planner, be sure they are fee-based only. That means they work for an hourly fee, not a percentage of the overall cost. Fee-based wedding planners never accept commissions or compensation of any kind related to the vendors they recommend. So they have no vested interest in how much you spend, or the vendors you choose.

Since fee-based only wedding planners are client-centered, they can advise you about almost any aspect of your wedding, including those you have not considered.

Before you meet with a planner, you will want to prioritize what matters most to you, such as food, music, flowers, photography, and so on. Then you’ll know which vendors you are willing to spend more on and where you can cut back. That will make your initial meeting more productive.

Don’t feel intimidated

No matter what your budget is, you shouldn’t be intimidated when meeting with a wedding planner. You don’t have to hire them to do it all for you, just those things you feel less confident doing, or just don’t want to do yourself. For example, I can certainly do my own taxes, but it saves me time and money having my accountant prepare my tax return. Not to mention the peace of mind I have that itâ€™s done and filed on time, and they will handle problems if they arise.

But if you still are thinking you don’t need any help and can do it yourself, at the very least I suggest buying Mindy Weiss’s The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day, published last spring, for money-saving tips and advice on planning. With the average cost of a wedding today at $20,000 +, investing less than $15.00 in The Wedding Book is the smartest investment you could make. It’s the best book on the subject I’ve read.

If you have any thoughts on the subject, I’d love to hear them. Leave your comments below.