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Friday, January 18, 2013

Why I Hired a Planner - From the Brides

From Julie - Married June 2012

I got engaged in May of 2011. Almost immediately, I knew I wanted to hire someone to help me plan the wedding. I was working full time, as was my fiance, and while we were getting a lot of "help" from our family and friends, I wanted to have someone on my team that really knew what they were doing. 

I'm a procrastinator at heart, plus I second guess my decisions constantly. I needed someone to keep me on track and focused. I started looking through bridal magazines pretty much right away, and was a little intimidated by everything that needed to be done, all the deadlines and time lines, etc. I kept thinking, "I have to do all this by myself?!". I just didn't have time to go through thousands of online reviews for vendors in my area, and even if I did, I wondered if I could really put my trust in a specific vendor based on reviews from people I didn't really know. Hiring an experienced wedding planner gave me first hand knowledge of many vendors, since she had worked with so many of them before, and could help me decide which one would be the best for me, specifically, and what I needed. 

Also, this was going to be my "big day", and I didn't want to worry about the little things on the day of- vendors who maybe got lost, setting up decorations at the ceremony and reception, dealing with last minute emergencies- thinking of all that alone was making me want to throw in the towel and go to Vegas! However, I am SO happy that I didn't. Hiring a wedding planner was the best decision I made; I was able to relax, breathe, laugh, and enjoy my day, because I trusted her and knew things would be taken care of.





From Jessica - Married October 2008

We were living in Dublin, Ireland when my husband and I got engaged. We would be completely planning our Grand Rapids wedding from thousands of miles away. No easy task but with my eager DIY family, we knew we would have plenty of help with the details. As we were starting the planning process, my mom and I were reminiscing about my sister Jill's beautiful wedding. It had been a large wedding -- my brother-in-law has a huge family -- and my mom was saying that she felt like she hadn't really had time to enjoy the celebrations because she was running around making sure everything was going smoothly. It suddenly dawned on me that while I loved that my family was so DIY and hands-on, I knew that on our wedding day, I wanted them focused on one detail only -- us! At that point, we only saw them once or twice a year and I didn't want this one day and night to fly by (as weddings always do) and not have had the opportunity to make as many memories together as possible. The perfect solution was to hire a wedding coordinator. 

My mom was skeptical because she was unsure about a stranger being involved, but I was firm in this decision. We found Michelle through a referral on The Knot and initially interviewed her over Skype. My mom and sisters met with her face-to-face and loved her instantly. It was the best wedding decision we made and she never once felt like a stranger! Not only did our wedding day exceed our expectations, everyone agreed (including my once skeptical mom) that Michelle's help had been integral in the process. She gave us the peace of mind we were looking for and we certainly had fun making those great memories!. I would highly recommend hiring a wedding coordinator to any bride, especially if you are planning an out-of-town wedding!




Please also check out these posts about hiring a wedding coordinator/planner:

Why You Should Hire a Planner - The Vendor's Perspective
Myths About Wedding Planners and Why You Should Hire One

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