Wedding Planners

Why do you want to know?

I may possibly consider using an "on the day" co-ordinator, nearer to the time, just because it will stop my Mum from stressing and thinking that she's in charge!

But this is all a long way off.

I am currently doing a diploma in event management and wedding planning and I am hoping to start my own business towards the end of the year. Presently I am at the research stage and I thought who better to ask than the brides to be themselves. I hope you will give me your opinion.?

Poss on the day, but then a Master of Ceremonies can do that (and ushers etc). I think I'd feel I'd missed out on the planning if someone else was doing it all for me. Although perhaps someone doing the initial quote getting would be good?

What do you think a wedding planner's role is? I'm not really sure what they do and what they don't do?

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I think the only reasons I might consider one would be:

• Ease/stress relief - putting it in someone else's hands may seem like a weight off my mind especially as I have a full time job to think about which is just as important as the wedding
• As Ooh La La said, maybe an OTD co-ordinator would seem like a good idea to ensure things run smoothly and OH and I don't have to stress about anything
• Experience - having no wedding experience myself I would possibly like the idea of having someone bring their expertise to my ideas
• Time management - sort of ties into the above 2 points, would free up a lot of time for me especially when it comes to the 'boring' parts that I'm not overly bothered about, e.g. favours, stationery, help with seating plan, probably loads of other stuff too!

But I think the main reasons I am not having one probably outweigh the above, and these are:

• Affordability - we are spending a lot of money on our venue and need to be pretty prudent in most other areas, so a wedding planner seems to be an extravagance we can't afford (in my opinion - seems to only be people with a lot more disposable cash that spend money on them) especially when a lot of family and friends around us would be glad to help out if we asked
• Personal touch - at the moment, I am quite liking doing the research and putting ideas together for our wedding and feel it will bring a great sense of achievement on the day knowing it was all our work. Obviously we wouldn't get this if we hired a wedding planner from day 1
• No overwhelming need - I just think we can manage it ourselves, at the end of the day. It may get stressful and we obviously both work full time, but I think it's do-able nevertheless.

I hope those reasons make sense and that it helps you out a bit! I do think maybe the idea of an On-the-day co-ordinator is a better idea (for us personally) than one during the whole wedding planning, but then I know our venue are very good when it comes to the actual running of the day too so I don't know if it would be a real option for us.

Hi Leagh

I'm a wedding planner and would be happy to answer any questions you have. If you want to find out a bit more about me the go to www.finesseplanning.co.uk. I have to say though that coming onto forums like hitched doesn't really give a balanced response. You'll probably find that the majority of people on sites like these are here because they are loving planning their weddings themselves and wouldn't really use a planner's services. Some may consider an OTD co-ordinator though. As a planner I would say that 75% of my business comes from OTD and the rest from planning. This works well though as you can only take on so many full planning weddings a year without compromising the quality of service you give to each couple, whilst with OTD work, you can obviously take on more work. I sometimes take on two weddings a week (depending on distance) which financially works out more viable than planning weddings over the course of a year.

Happy to help.

Ruth

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Thank you all for your comments. These are great answers and invaluable to my research. It will all be very helpful when I start up my own business to get feedback/opinions like this as it will provide me with ideas on the best way to move forward.

Thanks again and keep them coming xx ?

Let us know how you get on.

Hi ya

I've received your email and will answer it in length once the wee man has been put to bed (I'm a mum of one, so it can be done!)

Catch you later

Ruth

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