A role originating in the US and more recently making its home in the UK, Wedding Planners are quickly becoming a crucial part of the Wedding and Events Industry. But with anything new, there are questions and misconceptions about the role (and let’s be honest, the need for) of a Wedding Planner in the UK. Below I shed some light on some common misconceptions about Wedding Planners…
“Wedding Planners are only for couples with massive budgets for their wedding.”
While it is true that some Wedding Planners do specialise in ‘luxury weddings’, this is not true for all planners. Similarly to how couples will search for venues and photographers within their price-range, this is also true for planners. Most Wedding Planners will have a ‘minimum spend’ for couples, however, this may be more financially achievable than you think. If budget allows, this is an excellent investment that takes a lot of the stress off of you.
Many planners (me included) will offer alternative, bespoke services which are more budget friendly. For example, I offer Wedding Day Coordination, which enables you to have a Wedding Planner running your wedding day itself whilst you handle the planning, as well as bespoke planning packages where I take on some but not all of your planning. This is especially helpful if you’ve started planning already, but perhaps are limited in time, resources or simply want a helping hand. Find more on these services here.
“Wedding Planners only want you to use ‘their’ suppliers.”
This is a half truth. Wedding Planners spend years curating their favourite, most reliable, professional and fun suppliers that they can trust with their clients’ wedding days. These years of experience allows for planners to provide couples with fantastic suppliers that will help their vision for their day become a reality. It is the planner’s responsibility to provide each couple with a team of suppliers who truly want the best for their day and understand each couples’ vision.
This means that in most cases, planners will have preferred suppliers to work with based off of their own experience working alongside them. This does not mean they are picking the most expensive suppliers, but to the contrary, will find suppliers that work within your budget that can meet your needs. This also provides you with peace of mind, something that can be difficult when booking suppliers who you do not know.
But while we have preferred suppliers, every couple has the choice to accept or decline a specific supplier, and planners will work with you to ensure you love your suppliers as much as we do.
“Wedding Planners get carried away with planning and don’t involve you in the process.”
I often hear “I don’t want to hand over any control or for anyone to hijack our wedding” from couples referring to Wedding Planners. If a couple feels, at any point, like their wedding plans are being hijacked, something has gone wrong.
Wedding Planners exist to bring a couples’ vision for their day to life, alongside the couple.
I work alongside my full planning clients to ensure their desires for their day, and also how they go about their planning, are listened to.
For example, within an initial meeting after booking, we will look into your overall budget and decide which elements of the day are the most important to you. My time and energy will be put towards these areas, as well as ensuring other aspects are covered within your budget.
Throughout the planning, I will keep you on track with what you have said you want, to minimise stress.
I will keep an open channel of communication with you to ensure that you have a space to share ideas, ask questions and touch base between our planning meetings.
The presence of a Wedding Planner during your engagement should help you to enjoy every aspect of planning your own wedding, rather than take away anything from you. This requires trust on both parts, understanding that your Planner truly has your best interest at heart.
“Wedding Planners are the same as Venue Coordinators.”
I’ve also often heard “I don’t need a Wedding Planner because my venue has a venue coordinator on the day. I recently shared a blog post here sharing the big differences between the two roles, but to summarise, these roles are vastly different due to a number of factors.
The quantity of weddings booked
Most established wedding venues host around 50-100 weddings per year. During August alone, at the venue I have worked with, we hosted 4-5 weddings per week. While there is a larger team to pull this off well, in busier months, couples may not receive the input and responses from a Venue Coordinator that they would like, due to the sheer volume of work and pressure the team are under. Wedding Planners on the other hand, will be incredibly selective with the couples they work with to ensure that couples receive excellent communication and a personalised approach to their planning.
Communication with Suppliers
Venue Coordinators hold no responsibility for communicating with your suppliers ahead of the day, or even on the day itself. On the other hand, a key role of a Wedding Planner is to hold communication with your suppliers both in the lead up to the day and the day itself.
Responsibilities on the Wedding Day
Couples are often surprised to discover that on their wedding day, Venue Coordinators hold other responsibilities on their day, for example, conducting showrounds and appointments with other couples, meaning they cannot (and it is not their responsibility to) give you all their attention at all times. Wedding Coordinators, however, do not have any other responsibilities on the day itself, other than to their client.
“I don’t need a Wedding Planner because I have lots of friends and family to help.”
There was a moment on my wedding day where I realised, ‘no one in this wedding knows every aspect of the day, except me!’… not even my husband, bridesmaids or wedding venue! That’s a lot of pressure when you’re trying to be present. While friends and family are a gift on the wedding day, the role of a Wedding Planner is to take complete pressure off of you, help you to be fully present and clear your mind of all wedding logistics, on the lead up to the day and the day itself! No other role on the wedding day is able to do this, should they be asked to if they are a guest.
Featured Photo: Gabriela’s Photo & Film
