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There was a time when our lives and our weddings were simple. Not anymore. Life has become anything but simple and weddings have become large scale events. Complicated, very time consuming and very costly. All of the different elements that now go into a wedding soon become overwhelming and with parents, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles living across the globe and/or having very busy lives themselves, means we can no longer depend on them to do the planning for us or provide us all the assistance that is needed. The planning of the wedding falls squarely on the bride and groom’s shoulders. Two people that most likely had busy lives and schedules prior to the job of planning a wedding and also two people that are trying to enjoy the experience of being engaged and plan their future together. Not to mention two people that most likely have no experience at all with all the tasks required to plan a wedding; budgets, design, décor, finding the top quality vendor in their price range for photography, videography, music, lighting, flowers, wedding attire, invitations, catering, service staff, venues, linens, rental items, officiants, transportation, room blocks and guest reservations, favors and gifts, live musicians, cake designers, draping and special touches, tents, parking, maps and directions and any other special needs that come up.
Time and Savings
Imagine the savings in time. Imagine the savings in negotiating with the vendors. Imagine the savings in legwork. The professional wedding coordinator puts together the pieces of the wedding puzzle. In the 1980’s, a wedding coordinator handled mostly the ‘booking’ of professionals venues, caterers, florists, musicians, etc. Over the years, it seems that many of the most successful ‘consultants’ have included other services or duties to their repertoire. Style, design, budget, coordination, etiquette advice, custom decorating and room transformation, and wedding day implementation are among the most important. The modern day wedding coordinator truly does bring your vision to life, puts all the pieces of the puzzle together, utilizing every distinct element and bringing them together to create a whole. This uniformity gives your event a flawless, coordinated look and your budget a break. Utilizing all the different elements in different ways for all the events of your day (wedding, cocktails, dinner and dance). Inventing different uses for the same products which give you the most for your dollar, that is what good planning and implementation is about. Yet in doing this not sacrificing the look or feel of your events but enhancing them. Changing the mood, the feel, but maintaining a consistent look and style. You do not want your cocktail hour to feel like your wedding or your dance to feel like your dinner. Each event is worthy of its own special place in your day, but that doesn’t mean having to have four different sets of products, it is utilizing what you have in different ways; transforming each portion of your day into its own special identity. Your wedding can be soft and romantic, your cocktail party stylish and chic, your dinner elegant and sophisticated and your dance fun and dramatic. All using the same flowers, linens, lighting, rentals, etc. It just takes a professional coordination team to pull everything together, work things different ways, and transform your space.
When you hire a wedding planner, you should not get just one individual. You should get a team. Unless you are expecting the planner of the 1980’s, who is simply booking your professionals, at least eight different people, doing eight different things, nothing really fitting together or accentuating the other. Today’s planning and implementing takes a team to pull everything together for the successful, beautiful and amazing day you have envisioned and imagined.
Personal Touch
In the age of the Internet when everything is available at the touch of a button, hiring a wedding planner can seem almost like a non-requirement. That is not true. The internet can give you information, but cannot recommend the best vendors for your budget. Nor can the Internet inform you of the true best local choices, not the choices that put out the most advertising. Most importantly, the Internet is missing the ‘personal’ touch, something that only a wedding coordinator working closely with you, can bring to the table. You will be amazed at all the different opinions that become involved in your wedding day from family and friends to vendors themselves and you really need someone that is looking after the needs and desires of who this is all about……the bride and groom. An unbiased, honest opinion, with nothing but your best interest in mind. It is the responsibility of the wedding coordinator to represent your best interest. Get you the best deals possible, the best service possible, and guarantee you and your guests have your needs met and have an amazing day. This is not something the Internet can do.
It is so important to look radiant on this most important day of your life and that cannot happen if you are sweating the small stuff and haggling over particulars, obsessing over details. A wedding planner can take care of any item, no matter how small. The wedding planner knows the couple’s likes and dislikes and will make certain even the most minor details are perfect. We can handle your wedding better than your mom, sister, aunt or good friend, because we have handled so many weddings before. It is this experience that makes us more prepared for last minute changes or faux pas.
The All Important Budget
A budget is absolutely essential for your wedding. In fact we believe that setting your wedding budget is one of the very first things you should do.
You have a dream wedding planned in your mind, but do you know who’s going to pay for what at the wedding? Begin by reviewing your finances. Figure out how much you have, how much you can save each month, how much your parents would like to contribute or what specific things they would like to pay for. Lastly, decide how much you feel comfortable going into debt. Since married couples fight about money more than anything else, give it strong consideration before starting your marriage in debt and make certain you are both comfortable with the decision. If credit is something you feel is necessary, consider an option such as opening a new credit card just for the wedding that will earn you airline miles, cash back, or other incentives. It’s a good way for you to keep track of wedding expenses, and can help you pay for your honeymoon.
Once you have determined the amount you are going to spend on your wedding it is extremely important for you to be honest and forthright with your wedding planner. This is essential for the planner to be able to adequately represent you and provide you the best service. It is important to be realistic about your budget and expectations. The wedding planner with tailor your budget to meet your most important aspects of your special day.
Since the wedding planner knows the couple’s price range, she can weed out any vendor who doesn’t fall within the confines of the bride and groom’s budget. The wedding planner’s job is to match vendors and services with the couple’s budget.
Does a Wedding Planner Fit in Our Budget
This is one of the biggest concerns we hear with couples that have lower budgets to work with. Although $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 is a lot of money, in the world of today’s weddings it goes real fast and really needs to be watched. Wedding planners are definitely more affordable and common place today, than even ten years ago. They are no longer employees of the rich and famous. They are now commonplace for couples of all walks of life and a foundation for all of your other wedding vendors and elements to build upon. Once again, there are so many different facets of the services of a wedding planner, that they are certainly not only for the most common thought of service, as valuable as it is……..”If you’re overwhelmed with all that needs to be done for your wedding, why not hire a wedding planner?”. We believe one service that is often overlooked and can actually pay for all the other services the wedding planner provides is contract and price negotiation. In all actuality a wedding planner should be able to save the couple money in the end and also get them services and products beyond what they could have obtained for themselves. One reason is repeat business we bring to wedding product and service providers. This gives us the ability to negotiate expert pricing. This also gives us the ability to negotiate additional services and receive the highest level of services for you, our client. Wedding planners know the right questions to ask, know what hidden fees to get taken care of or at least advise you about so there are no surprises and you can make informed decisions. We deal with real numbers. Not percentages or estimations. It is important to know exactly what you are looking at for gratuities, taxes, surcharges, delivery fees, food and beverage minimums, parking, late night pick-ups, additional service staff requirements, linens, rental items, and these do not even touch the fine print in contracts for vendors such as photographers, videographers, venues, musicians, florists, audio/visual needs, cake designers, transportation, just to touch the surface. Each and every one of the vendors and elements of your wedding day need to be analyzed, studied, understood and negotiated. It is important there is a clear understanding of what services are and are not included, and if there is something that is important to you the wedding coordinator can negotiate it into the contract and it is not overlooked and is taken care of. In most cases, the savings experienced by the couple through their wedding planner’s keen negotiating skills pay for the cost of hiring the planner, if not more. The end result is the bride and groom are left with a beautifully orchestrated wedding, planned by a professional, with less stress and the ability to focus on the joy of the occasion, while knowing you received the best deals, best service, and perhaps for less money than you would have spent without hiring the wedding coordinator.
Aware of the Services
At the end of an event we send our clients a “Feedback Form”. This provides us with the knowledge of what our clients loved about our services and what they did not. On the Feedback Form we ask the question “Before experiencing the services of Make It Exceptional Co. were you aware of all the services a wedding planning company provided?” The answer is usually very similar, “not to the extent that they were”. The referral rate for our business is about 80%. Typically we are hired by someone that has been to another wedding or event that we have planned and produced. Yet, even after seeing our work they are still not fully aware of the multitude of services that we provide to our clients.
From beginning to end the wedding coordinator is by your side, working for you. Your dreams becomes her dreams and she does everything she can to enhance them. We strongly feel, and not just because we are in the business, that the wedding coordinator is the single best investment for your wedding day. What other vendor is there from the beginning, typically for at least a year, meeting with you, providing you advice and answers to etiquette questions, assists you in what you have to spend, negotiates pricing for you, finds you quality vendors, assists you in finding the perfect place for your special day, assists you in finding the perfect wedding attire, keeps everything on track with timelines and schedules, makes certain everyone has been paid, assists in designing and creating the look and flow for your special day, makes certain everything has been covered so nothing is left to chance, advises you in regard to invitation wording and addressing your save the dates and invitations, can provide services to address and mail your save the dates and invitations, can provide rsvp tracking and seating card assistance, is there on your special day for what is typically a 19 hour day coordinating everything and everybody, providing service with set-up, tear-down, making certain that everything looks amazing and just as you had planned and anticipated, getting emergencies handled and taken care of, providing supervision to catering, florists, musicians, photographers, videographers, cake designers, florists, getting place cards in place, checking and double checking the seating chart, assisting with the placement of linens, chair coverings, and special touches, assisting the bridal party with emergencies and special needs, making certain everyone is comfortable with their duties and responsibilities, getting everyone lined up and down the aisle, greeting your guests and making sure they are comfortable and assisting them with any special needs, finding places to sit for guests that did not rsvp or are not on the seating chart, securing your cards and gifts, transporting your wedding items to where they need to be, getting your wedding party lined up for their grand entrance and first dances, providing assistance to the musicians that they may need, making certain your guests find adequate transportation at the end of the evening, does a final inspection of the facility at the conclusion of the event to see if anyone has left their purse, jacket, glasses, camera, or other personal items behind and making sure they are returned to the bride and groom so they can get them back, going to the bride and groom’s suite to clean up any messes that were made during the “getting ready” process and adding special touches so it is beautiful when the bride and groom return as husband and wife.
The services that are provided by a wedding coordinator are extensive and valuable. They are professionals in their field just as photographers, musicians, florists and caterers are in theirs. The hours of service they provide far exceed the hours of service of other wedding professionals, yet their pricing is below or comparable to, and unlike other vendors, the wedding coordinator can possibly make up the difference in the cost of their services by negotiating something else out of the budget. As stated earlier, the wedding coordinator is the foundation for which all other vendors and services are built upon. The benefits of hiring a wedding consultant….. what are the ramifications of not.
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