Working with a wedding planner is a very personal choice and isn’t for everyone – each couple has their own reasons for hiring a wedding planner; whether that’s due to having demanding jobs or a young family, wanting to marry in an area they are unfamiliar with or living overseas, lacking the creative confidence to deliver their vision, planning an at-home marquee wedding – or simply have no interest in planning a wedding! The common factor with each of these reasons, is that they will absolutely reap the benefits of hiring a wedding planner.
A wedding planner can take on as little or as much of the planning as you want, depending on how much you want to plan yourself, and most planners offer a range of services tailored to suit. My most popular, and comprehensive service is Full Wedding Planning where I work collaboratively with my clients from the start of their planning journey all the way through to the very end. I also offer a Wedding Day Management service where my clients plan their own wedding, and I step in around 6-8 weeks prior to their special day and help to bring everything together and manage the day itself.
So, is hiring a wedding planner the right option for you? Read on for the top 10 benefits of working with a planner…
one
Expertise
An experienced wedding planner is going to be able to give you the best advice when it comes to planning your wedding. As you may quickly discover, planning a wedding can be quite complex, so having a dedicated professional on your team to take away some of the stress and advocate for you is invaluable. Depending on the service you have booked, a wedding planner may be able to save you money (with particular emphasis on the word may!) by thoroughly checking contracts or booking the correct suppliers for the correct service, they will be there for the set-up and de-rig, oversee suppliers, manage your timeline and when things do go wrong (there’s always something!) they will know exactly how to manage the situation in a calm and discreet way. Ultimately they will be dedicated to you, and allow you to let go, relax and enjoy your engagement.
two
Time
A wedding planner will spend 100s upon 100s of hours working with each client, particularly when it’s a logistics heavy weekend-long celebration or a marquee wedding at home. The majority of couples do not have this amount of time to spare, or simply do not want to spend the time that they do have consumed by the nitty gritty of planning their wedding. A wedding planner will be able to save you a considerable amount of time, as depending on which service you book, they will take on most of the admin and logistics involved in delivering your vision.
three
Focus
Planning a wedding can be so overwhelming, especially as you are unlikely to have experience in planning such large-scale events. With so many things to think about it can be hard to know where to even begin! Working with an experienced wedding planner will provide you with clarity and direction. With each of the couples I work with, I help them to establish clear priorities based on what stage of planning they are at, and the timeline we are working with. Breaking each step down to smaller tasks makes the whole process much more manageable.
four
Budget
It is so important to establish a budget from the very start of your wedding planning process. My approach of getting to know my clients, your likes & dislikes and aspirations for your day is a key part of the process, and allows me to shape your budget based on your individual priorities. I will also guide my couples to set a realistic budget, based on my experience and will manage your spending throughout the process, making sure that you know when we’re close to your limit.
five
Contacts
Having a team of suppliers who you can trust is crucial for making sure your day goes to plan, and in a crowded market it can be hard to know where to begin with selecting your suppliers. Hiring a wedding planner who has built up their own network of tried and tested suppliers can be invaluable for helping you to find suppliers of the highest quality to suit your style and your budget.
six
Support
Not only do we provide logistical support, but learning how to manage tricky situations with guests or relatives comes with the territory of being involved in such an emotionally charged day. If you’re unsure how to move forward with certain situations, don’t be afraid to ask your wedding planner for advice; I can assure you, we’re very likely to have experienced similar before now!
seven
Inspiration, Your Style and Your Vision
At Aster & Gold, an integral part of delivering successful events is getting to know my clients. By getting to know you and understanding your personalities, your likes and dislikes, your priorities for your day, and your family dynamics I can refine your ideas and bring your vision to life by weaving all of these elements throughout your day – and if you don’t have a vision, I can help you create one!
eight
Collaboration
You may be worried that hiring a wedding planner means you have to relinquish control of your day – absolutely not! I work on an entirely collaborative approach, all of the decisions remain yours to make, and each element of your day is built around your personal story, making it completely unique to you. I can be as hands-on or as hands-off as you need, and will tailor what I do to suit your needs.
nine
Logistics
When first starting out with your wedding planning, you may find you completely underestimate just how much admin is involved – the endless amounts of list making and back and forth emails could really put a dampener on things! By hiring a wedding planner, you get to hand over all of that admin whilst still getting to enjoy all the fun parts of planning a wedding. I’m not ashamed to say I love a good spreadsheet! All of the logistical challenges that you are not sure how to figure out (or may not have even thought of!) will be off your plate, freeing you up to focus on other things. No matter what stage I start working with you, we will have regular check-ins to ensure you will always have full control and full transparency over where we are at with plans for your special day.
ten
Peace of mind
By hiring a wedding planner, you not only get to tap into their knowledge and experience of the industry, but you also gain a person that you can go to throughout the planning process to ask for advice and support. You won’t need to fret over any element of your day for long, and we are always happy to offer guidance and shoulder the burden of planning your wedding. You also gain peace of mind that on your wedding day, you have a professional on site who you can trust so that you can let go, relax and enjoy your special day.
Get in touch if you would like to find out more about my wedding planning services or to discuss how I might be able to assist you with your special day.
