Just a reminder to enter in the dearfoams giveaway here.
So you saw the interview with Brian Worley on how he rose to the top with all of his amazing work. Here’s what he says when the tables are turned and what the bride and grooms should look for. Brian lays out the top five most important things you should look for in a wedding planner.
As a wedding planner and designer, I am of course bias and believe that when I produce a wedding, I do a pretty amazing job creating an incredible evening. BUT if you don’t have me, here are five things I think a bride and groom need to take into consideration when choosing someone else.
1. Do your research and spend some time getting to know the person you are considering to hire. Interview them just like they should be interviewing you. There should be a real connection when you choose your wedding planner, because they will be the person that you are trusting with all the elements of your big day. I tell all my clients that planning their wedding should be fun for them, but it should also be fun for me. I honestly love my job, so I let clients know if the planning process is no longer fun for both of us, then I will refund their money. There is nothing worse than having to pretend that you are enjoying the process with your client. And everyone knows that you excel at something when you enjoy what you are doing. As a wedding planner, we are not curing cancer, we are helping to create a flawlessly executed celebration that creates memories to last a lifetime.
2. Make sure you are very clear of the expectations you have from your wedding planner and they are able to fulfill all your wishes. A wedding planner is like any sales person, they are trying to win your business. It is very important that you spell out the details of your wedding and they are able to execute each and every one of them. Once you get past my first suggestion, you will become very close to your wedding planner and hopefully a friendship will also develop. Remember, you are paying for their services, not their friendship.
3. Now that you have developed a friendship with your planner and expectations have been explained, the budget of your wedding is crucial for the execution of the big day! Unfortunately, money is one of those elements that can not be avoided, and like with most moments in life, can cause all sorts of problems. It is important that you have an idea of what you would like to spend on your wedding upfront. It is not fair to hire someone and not provide them with a jumping off point. Trust me, I am very familiar with working with all types of budgets both big and small. When I am producing and designing a wedding or event, I try to give my clients three choices for each element of the wedding; chairs, linens, flowers, etc… I like to provide them with the least expensive option, a medium range choice and an expensive option. Of course every bride chooses from the Neiman Marcus collection across the board, then freaks out when they see what everything will cost. Reality sets in that a wedding is expensive. That is where we start to get creative and put the pieces of the puzzle together, so we can create their dream wedding for their realistic budget!
4. Ask questions, ask lots of questions and don’t be ashamed to be inquisitive. I have heard from many brides they met with someone from a wedding planning company, fell in love with the person who owns the company or was their initial contact and once the contract was signed, they were passed off to someone with less experience, or someone with whom they did not feel comfortable. Make sure to confirm that the person you meet with will be your planner and the one actually making your dream day a reality. At my company YourBASH!, co- founded with Jaime Geffen, we take pride in the fact that we are a boutique production company with the experience of a large one. We don’t have packages where you only get a certain number of meetings with us to produce your wedding and once you have run out of meetings, there are additional charges if you need more. We like to get to know our clients, have lunch with them, spend time with them and really get to know who they are and what makes them tick! I think it is very important that we are creating a dream wedding for our clients, not us… which leads to my final piece of advice…
5. Your wedding planner should be planning your dream wedding, not theirs! Again, as a wedding planner with many years of experience, I do have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t. I know that the video on the CW website says that I like to “psychologize” my clients and make them believe that my ideas are theirs, but ultimately I let my clients make their own decisions for their wedding day. When I design a wedding, I have to remove myself and my ego from the design and remember that it is not my wedding, it is my clients. Even if they choose flowers that I don’t particularly like, or colors for the wedding that I am not crazy about, I will make those choices look exquisite. It is your wedding planners job to make suggestions and guide you in the right direction, but they should let you make the call on what you want.
Planning your wedding is a blast and there are so many intricacies involved to make the day special. Let your wedding planner do their job, so you can enjoy every minute of the day you have been planning for so long. The day goes by so quickly and all the months of planning, tastings and decisions are only the icing on the cake when you realize how lucky you are to have all your family and friends there to help you celebrate. Enjoy the people that are there to witness your love, because the day vanished in the blink of an eye!