When to Hire a Planner

I have done a lot of posts in the past about WHY you should hire a wedding planner or a coordinator but I have never really touched on WHEN you should do it.

If you are considering hiring someone to assist you with the planning or coordination of your wedding I recommend doing it as early in the planning process as possible. Here are my reasons why:

1. An experienced and knowledgeable planner will have access and information about venues in the area and will be able to direct you to ones in the style, size and budget that you are looking for. They can save you time by contacting the venues upfront to check for availability, as well. This is especially important if you are planning your event on a shorter time frame, if a popular venue will book up quickly and a planner will be able to guide you with that.

2. A planner will have a large network of vendors (photographers, florists, DJs, bakers, etc.) and can recommend those that will fit your style and budget. This MAJORLY cuts down your research time and also gives you the confidence that the vendors you are working with are professional and reliable.

3. A planner will help you layout the timing of your day so that you (or they) can relay the schedule to the rest of the vendors and venues. Although the majority of your time line will be filled in closer to the wedding day, you will need to have the main times such as ceremony and reception start times early on.

4. If you are having a hard time coming up with the overall feel, look and design of  your wedding a planner can brainstorm with you to help develop these.

5. A planner will keep you on track to make sure that you are accomplishing things in a reasonable time frame. They will help you to cross things off your list and keep you from getting overwhelmed with all the decisions that need to be made.

There are many packages and services offered by wedding planners. They are able to assist you with one or all of these things depending on your needs. Hiring a professional to be on your planning "team" can be a huge asset for you. Hiring someone early on in the process places them on your team and makes them accessible for questions or concerns you may have throughout your engagement and planning period.

Red Heels Events would love to assist you with your planning and coordination needs. Our 2014 calendar is filling up quickly so please contact us soon to see if your date is still available!

Happy Planning!
Michelle

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

Why You Should Hire a Planner: The Vendor's Perspective

I have been talking about this a lot lately and it is easy for me to tell everyone getting married that they should hire a wedding planner. It is my job and I love it but I also want to help education others on how having a planner or coordinator involved can ease stress on their big day. Here are a few examples of how other wedding vendors view events where a planner is involved and why they agree that a planner can be a great addition to your team.

From a linen specialist:
"The top three solutions to a stress free wedding day is organization, selecting reputable vendors and hiring an event planner. Your event planner will be become your most valuable asset. She will give you guidance from hiring your vendors, staying on budget, and even figuring out the logistics throughout the day. Her creativity will help you to achieve what you envisioned for your event but didn't know how to develop it into a cohesive look. As a designer and linen specialist, I have see many events with and without an event planner- it was evident when a planner was used. Let your event planner, such as Michelle, take care of the details for one day while you concentrate on. . . the rest of your life with your new husband."
                                                                                 ~ Connie - Chair Cover and Linens Collection

From a photographer:
"There are many reasons I enjoy weddings with planners but the biggest reason that it helps me out is just how relaxed and available the Bride and Groom are on the day of. They don't need to be setting up or tearing down anything, no need to be running any part of the show just enjoying it.. and each other. Keeping everyone on schedule is also a huge help.  Things can run behind quickly on a wedding day and when things fall behind it is usually your portrait time that gets cut into, keeping on track is very important for those beautiful creative shots that are so treasured after the big day."      ~ Amanda - Arrae Photography

From an officiant:
"If you want something done right you have to do it yourself. This belief leads people to hold on to too much. Unfortunately, people who cling to this belief often become an organizational bottleneck. Everything has to be done by, or through, them. It is hard for some brides to emotionally detach themselves from every aspect of their wedding, so they decide to take care of it all. Those are the ones that end up extremely stressed out, things don't turn out the way they wanted, and ultimately they didn't enjoy their wedding day. Realize your limitations both talent-wise cash-wise and time-wise. Deciding to go with a professional will save you heartache, because it can't be redone."   ~ Carleen  - With This Ring Wedding Ceremonies

(photo by Michael Terri Studio)

From a DJ:
"The best part of having a planner is we, as DJ's, have only one person to have as a contact through the night.  When you have mothers, sisters, best men, maids of honor, that all think they know what should happen and when and how must happen can get things all messy. A planner makes sure everyone is doing the right  things at the right times. All things happen at the right time as the bride and groom want the night to go. We only have one person to talk to THE PLANNER." ~ Dave - Thunder Mountain Music DJ

From the Paper Product expert:
"I do all that fun paper stuff that comes in the mail all the way to table numbers at the reception. Being slightly new to the wedding world, I too am learning the value of a planner! There's more to it than just a few phone calls the florist and sending you down the aisle. They step in and make sure each vendors roll is being filled properly. And it goes both ways for me: the planner will follow up with me to make sure the invites are shipped out on time, that I send her the programs to bring to the ceremony, that all the name cards are there and set up the way the couple want them. They keep the vendors on track and updated as we aren't in the process from start to finish as the planner would be. On the other hand, I can communicate with the planner about a printing issue I'm having and run it by the bride, that I would love to have the photographer shoot my paper products so I can use them for my portfolio or that another meeting is needed to go over design for a specific item. The planner becomes the liaison as they have developed a deeper relationship with the couple, knows them a bit better than the vendor usually and can smooth any issues that seem to be developing between them and the vendor. Having a planner to work with would be such a breath of fresh air as we all have our own ideas on how things should be and in the end the planner knows the client the best!"
                                                                                              ~ Christie - Paper and Ink Designs

To read more about how a planner can help you, please also read Myths About Wedding Planners and Why  You Should Hire One.