Congratulations – You’re Engaged!
The first few weeks and months of your engagement are an exciting time, as you consider all the potential magical aspects of your big day.
And, clever you, after the day dreaming fades and the practical aspects of planning begin, you realize the best gift you can give yourself is professional assistance with hostessing the most important party of your life.
As you begin to research options for engaging a wedding planner, you will come across many different monikers for all different services.
The value of a wedding planner is to be your representative on your wedding day. And just like a good lawyer, the only way we can be on your side is if we have all the information.
Gathering information requires at least a few weeks of consultations and conversations via phone and email to:
*learn about the details of your vision and what is most important to you
*collect copies of all of your vendor contracts and review them thoroughly to ensure that what you believe is being provided and what is actually being provided, match.
*schedule site visits to determine and finalize decided setup/layout and logistics.
Following is a simple guideline to decipher the wedding planning service lingo:
“Day Of”: The term “day-of” coordinator is widely circulated in the wedding industry. I believe it is a bit of a misnomer, and actually, I’m not quite sure what it means. Is this someone who walks on site the day of your wedding? I imagine this will be an person of assistance to whom you will assign specific tasks, such as setting out wedding favors, placing the guest book, setting up place cards, tying ribbons on chairs. This is a great assignment for a trusted Aunt or friend, who has the time, skillset and patience to set everything up, and isn’t required to be present for immediate photos before the wedding.
This “Day of” assistant is there simply to help with specific preassigned tasks. You might even decide on an hourly wage or a nice gift if they are a friend or family member.
It goes without saying that every professional wedding planning service includes the actual day of your wedding, arriving on site hours ahead to arrange load-in/ setup and ensure everything runs smoothly throughout the day until the last guest has left.
“Month Of” service generally begins three to four weeks before your wedding day, after you have done all the planning legwork, hired all of your wedding service professionals, and confirmed all the big decisions. This is where the wedding planner spends much of their time gathering information from you, as noted above, in order to serve as your right hand or “rep” on your wedding day.
Your wedding planner’s job is to make decisions and tackle challenges on event day based on your vision and priorities, without bothering you about the details while you are getting ready and enjoying your friends & family.
“Full Service” can start three months ahead or two years ahead of your event, depending on your requirements. It includes everything from helping you choose locations for your ceremony and reception, recommending and referring all of your service professionals, attending meetings with you to determine decor, vision, etc., and unlimited consultations to advise and guide on every detail.
An engagement is a time not only to plan the wedding, but to revel in all the reasons you’ve chosen each other and why you want to spend the rest of your lives together.
By knowing yourselves and your schedules, eg. how much time you will have during your daily lives for planning and meetings, you can best determine which service is right for you.
With that in mind, you can work with your chosen wedding planner to customize a service that works perfectly for you!
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