To Have or Not To Have a Consultant?

During the initial consultation meeting with clients, you are asked quite often similar questions. Most often, many brides want a consultant, but view it as a luxury. While in reality, consultants are more frequently a necessity to the success of the wedding. A well "season" consultant, Patty Hansen, CWP explains it best:

As couples begin thinking about their wedding, they are often confused as to how much to spend, where to obtain specialized services, and how to choose vendors. These worries often mount as quickly as the cost of the wedding. After the euphoria wears off and the reality settles in, it's shocking to discover of how much preparation is involved. Couples are faced with decisions about everything from invitation wording to planning their honeymoon. Couples often find they want experienced professional help.

Not long ago, a wedding planer was thought of as a luxury, only used by the wealthy. Now a planner is essential to the well planned affair. It is no longer "trendy" to engage a planner. Being experienced in negotiating contracts with caterers, florists, photographers, and other suppliers, the planner saves valuable time and money. The planner can take advantage of discounts not available to private parties and avoid costly mistakes, while turning your dreams into reality.
The average wedding can take more than two hundred fifty hours just to plan. With today's hectic lifestyles, you may not have time to compare all the options, making sure you get the best deal, and make sure all the details are in place. Wedding planners are not here to make decisions for you, but to guide and assist you in making informed decisions. Their training, knowledge, and experience will turn your dreams and expectations into reality. They want you to host a beautiful and distinctive event which you can enjoy. A wedding planner will save you time and enable you to get the most for your money! A wedding planner can serve in many other capacities. They can act as the family counselor for apprehensive brides and the mothers—a wedding planner can become as close as your best friend.

Many services boast a wedding coordinator when all they are really offering is someone on site to announce and direct elements of a wedding reception, help with the floral or menu selection, supervise the food service or assist at the wedding ceremony. What about the planning and obtaining the necessary elements of the entire wedding? Some vendors even claim to provide the bride with a list of photographers, florists, etc. Is this vendor really trained to know the budgetary needs and the bride’s personal taste? In addition to those very absent elements in vendor choice, the vendor has not been scrutinized and qualified by a bridal consultant that really has the bride’s interest in mind.
A wedding planner will act as a consultant to help you plan your special day. This consultant is a professional wedding planner that knows etiquette from the socially correct formats through proper planning and organization of your wedding day. As your planner they have the contacts necessary to match you with the right wedding professionals, which are wedding vendors. Your planner also works with your wedding professionals that you have chosen to make sure all the details are set just the way you want them. The planner will help you organize your dream wedding and keep you within your budget by suggesting ways to make your dollar go the farthest. Since your wedding planner is an independent party, he or she, may often mediate disagreements when you are caught between family disputes and friendly disagreements.

You can afford a wedding planner since it is not an extra expense if you consider the planning part of your wedding budget. Your wedding planner will even be able to save you money by suggesting the appropriate vendors that will provide professional services to accommodate your budget. It is a penny well spent to have a wedding planner overseeing the wedding professionals that you have spent an investment with to insure that your day goes just as you have paid for and planned.

Of course you may opt to plan the entire wedding yourself or have a family member and even a friend to help, which is sometimes part of the fun of the wedding. However, it can also be a huge hassle and a headache especially if you, your family member, or friend does not have the proper professional wedding training that most professional wedding planners have and experienced. In addition to just finding wedding vendors, you'll need to check out sources, make sure all the details are in place, and worry about whether you're getting the best deal, and, ultimately, if everything will turn out right. A professional wedding planner has the training and experience to do the ground work, and make sure it all works the way you want it to, while you relax and enjoy.

For example, your dress gets muddy if it starts to rain and your fiancé is already 30 minutes late and the limo driver has not even shown up yet to bring the officiant to the chapel--what do you do? This is where your wedding planner will see to all of these details without breaking a sweat. She will be able to locate the fiancé and ensure he gets to the chapel on time; they will clean your dress with a wipe from their emergency kit; they will track down the limo driver and have a back up limo driver in waiting just in case.

The wedding planner will get it done so you don't have to worry. When you hire a wedding planner you know that you are buying quality, service, knowledge, professionalism, creativity, guidance, leg work, a stress reliever, an etiquette expert, a personal assistant and a friend. What could be better than that for the most important day of your life? Just knowing that you were smart enough to hire a wedding planner!