You probably know that planning a wedding is a lot of work. As a result, you may choose to hire an expert to help plan and coordinate the process. If you decide to hire a planner, you should find someone who is capable and easy to work with. Ideally, your planner should become your best friend during the planning process. Selecting a planner is about due diligence. There are different kinds of planners:
- A full-time planner who is wholly involved before and on the wedding day
- A part-time consultant/coordinator who provides help when consulted
- A day-of coordinator who coordinates activities on the wedding day and ideally a few days before.
You should plan a phone call or an in-person meeting with your potential planner. You should already have done some research about them, like searching for online reviews. We have put together questions to ask to learn more about your planner as well as test for compatibility.
During your meeting, you should provide the following information so they can best answer your questions.
- Your wedding date, budget, number of guests, and dream location/venue
- Your non-negotiables (i.e. what you must absolutely have) like a vendor, outdoor venue, a theme, etc.
- Your vision, if you already have one
Here are the questions to ask your potential planner:
- What’s your availability on and before the wedding date? You should first ask this question. If the planner is unavailable then there is no need to ask further questions. You definitely want someone who is readily and easily available.
- Do you offer full, partial or day-of wedding coordination? Don’t assume that every planner offers the service you desire. Also, you may realize, due to price or availability, that you are better of going with a certain service.
- How long have you been in business? How many weddings have you planned? When was your last wedding? The planner may not have coordinated a recent wedding, an outdoor wedding, a destination wedding, etc. You should know how much experience he/she has for your type of wedding.
- What kind of weddings do you like? What don’t you like? You want to see if they agree with your vision and also determine your compatibility.
- What are your initial concepts or ideas for our wedding? You want someone with ideas. Not someone who just takes your suggestions and agrees to everything. Also, you want someone who has contingency plans.
- Will you be available to visit venues, meet vendors, schedule a vendor meeting etc? The planner visiting the venue and meeting vendors ahead of time is important to ensure a successful wedding.
- What’s your cost? Is it directly related to the budget? The planner’s fee could be hourly, flat or a percentage of the budget. You should be careful if it is tied to the budget, as the planner may not help reduce your cost. In addition, you should determine if there are additional fees such as travel.
- Is there a minimum budget that you work with? Different planners have a range of budget that they can work with. Some established planners will not work with a low budget especially if they have other potential weddings.
- Can you help us stay within budget? You should check with the planner so you are not surprised at the end.
- What vendors do you have in mind? Are you offered any commission from vendors? What resources or discounts can you get with vendors? If you already have some vendors in mind, you can find out if the planner has a relationship with the vendors and can help negotiate their cost. Also, a planner who receives commission from vendors will seek to use those vendors and not worry about lowering your cost.
- What’s the best way to reach you and what times? You want to ensure the he/she can be reached during emergencies.
- How many weddings are you coordinating on the day-of? Will you or someone work directly with us? A planner with two or more weddings will assign assistants to different weddings and could assign one to you, especially if there is less money to be made. This may not be a problem if the assistants are great and you are informed ahead of time.
- Do you have a contract form and what are the terms? Are you licensed? You should have a signed contract which includes all the agreed upon terms. Note that at any point, you can fire a planner.
- What are the backup plans for when you can’t make it on the wedding day or are sick? This is very important and can’t be overemphasized. You should have a backup plan well ahead of the wedding day.
- Do you have any references? Ask for 2-3 references (I.e. previous couples) that you could contact.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jide Odukoya Photography