Some would argue that a person’s wedding is one of the most, if not the most, important days of a person’s life. Whether or not you buy into that popular belief, it’s a known fact that people are willing to spend a lot of money on their weddings, and if they’re going to spend money, they usually want it to be perfect. That’s where wedding planners come into the picture. Wedding planners are essentially event planners who specialize in planning weddings. Movies like The Wedding Planner often make the job seem glamorous, but the job is actually a lot harder than it looks.
Wedding planners are in charge of planning weddings, but the degree and amount of work that a wedding planner puts into each wedding varies based on the client. Some clients will hire wedding planners as day-of planners, which means that the wedding planner will be in charge of running the wedding and ensuring the day goes smoothly to relieve some stress from the bride and groom, but they won’t do much of the pre-planning. Other clients will hire wedding planners for full service. This kind of wedding planning takes months of planning and preparation and means that the wedding planner will be in charge of coordinating and detailing every step in the process with the clients.
Each client’s needs are different, but the tasks that most wedding planners are open to doing are varied. Typically, the first thing a wedding planner will do is interview the couple, and potentially their parents, to identify the needs of the clients. It is during this time that a wedding planner has to decide who the true client is in the family. Different families have different dynamics, and while most of the time the client will be the bride, other times the true client will be the parents of the bride or even the groom. Wedding planners sometimes have to negotiate with families to really figure out what the needs are and how to solve conflicts between family members.
Wedding planners also can help with budget preparation. Money can be a tricky subject, but weddings are expensive. Wedding planners that help with budgets can help clients figure out venues that meet their needs and their wallets. Other tasks wedding planners perform include event designing and styling, contracting, making checklists, helping with invite lists and invitations, hiring professionals that help with the wedding like caterers and photographers, coordinating deliveries and services on the day-of, and even creating back-up plans in case of disaster.
Being a wedding planner takes organization and patience. Weddings can be beautiful occasions, but they can also cause a lot of stress. If you like event planning, weddings, and can handle the stress of dealing with lots of different people in stressful situations, wedding planning may be the career for you!
