Choosing Your Wedding Planner!

You have decided to get some help with planning your wedding and your not quite sure where to start. Planning a wedding can be hard work, stressful and will require
excellent organisation skills. Making the decision to hire a wedding planner is something you will not regret.

Having the professional help of a wedding planner to take care of every detail or part of your wedding planning will take away the stress and the worry that will make the memories of planning your wedding day an enjoyable time. For some couples hiring a wedding planner is a must as they literally don't have the time with work, family life and other commitments.

Wedding planners are trained to know exactly what to do from the very beginning of your planning up until the end of your wedding day.

All wedding planners work differently, offering different packages and costs. Finding the right one can feel a little daunting.

Apart from all the help that a Wedding planner can give you they can also save you lots of time and money. Some couples tend to think that they will save money by not having a wedding planner,  but actually in the long run they can save you money. They say the initial payment that you will make will be repaid a thousand times over in the stress it will take away!. I personally don't think the cost is much considering everything that a wedding planner will do for you. They will deal with what I call all the nitty gritty parts of your planning. 

Most wedding planners will have their contacts for suppliers which they know, can trust and most likely have used many times before. Depending on your budget they will know which of their suppliers to contact for you that will be in your budget range. Of course they will consult with you making sure you are 100% happy before any bookings are made.

You will have sat down with your partner and discussed your total budget for your wedding before you contact a Wedding planner.

The different wedding packages that you will be offered are a full service - This would normally include arranging every aspect of your wedding from tracking your budget, negotiations and bookings, sourcing and chasing up suppliers, invitations, on the day coordination etc. Your wedding planner will be with you every step of the way from the start of your planning up until the end.

The partial package - Normally designed for couples that have arranged most of their wedding planning and need help with the last minute stuff like contacting suppliers, arranging transport, making phone calls to know that everything is running smoothly and on a time scale. Of course this package is tailored to your needs and what you need help with may be different to what another couple may need. This package would start about 8 -12 weeks prior to your wedding date.

On the day wedding coordinator - This package is for the couple's that need to know that their wedding day is going to run 100% smoothly. Your Wedding planner will be their on your special day from the start til the the end. Working in the back ground they will be making sure that every detail of your special day is perfect. Sometimes everything can look perfect on paper but when the day finally arrives there can be problems that will arise that you don't want to have to deal with, you want to feel relaxed knowing that your wedding planner is taking care of everything. Working in the back ground your wedding planner will be dealing with any problems that arise so you can be rest assured that she/he will be taking care of it.

Professional wedding planners will listen to your ideas, taking notes of all the details that you will expect your wedding day to be. Your vision of how you want your special day to be is going to be your wedding planners top priority.  They will want to get it right and so they will do everything they can to make that happen.

The best way of finding a good wedding planner is through recommendation. You can ask friends and family or search on- line. I would advise you to choose a couple of planners so you can compare what they can offer you. Once you have found a couple that you like the sound of you need to do your research. If you have no recommendations and are looking online then you need to check their reviews and even asking them if they have any references from previous weddings that they have planned. Make sure that they are right for you and that they can offer you a package that you want. Please feel free to look at Fairytale Wedding Suppliers in the UK, where you will find wedding planners that I can highly recommend.

Meet up with your wedding planner for a consultation, get to know her/he. You will know if they are right for you from that first consultation, you will either click with them or you won't. They maybe able to offer you exactly what you want but if there is no connection between you then its not going go work. Remember this is your wedding and what you say goes, yes you want the advice but you don't want to be told what you should have and what you can't have. You are the boss and you are paying a cost for a service to have your wedding how you want it. Good professional wedding planners should go out of their way to ensure that every detail of your wedding day is going to be just how you want it to be, your perfect fairytale wedding!

When meeting your wedding planner for the first time you will want to ask her /he questions. I have provided you with a list of questions that will help you to really get to know and understand how they work.  Depending on their answers will help you to make your decision. Of course you would of made the phone call or contact prior to your consultation asking if they are available for your wedding date.

• Are you a certified wedding planner?
• How do you like to work, face to face, email and phone calls?
• What are the different themed weddings you have  planned?
• What packages Do you offer and what do they entail?
• What parts of the planning will we be responsible for?
• If we decide to book with you will we receive a signed contract?
• Will we receive a break down of how our money will be allocated?
• Can you tell me if there will be any extra fees or hidden costs?
• Why did you want to become a Wedding planner?
• Can you tell me an example of your problem solving skills?

I would advise you not to make a decision straight away, tell them you need time to have a think before you make a decision. Professional wedding planners will not be pushy and actually suggest that you do take some time to talk it over with your partner. You need to be 100% sure that this is the right wedding planner for you, after all you will be working with them to plan one of the most important days of your life.

 Tanisha Forde the owner of TF Events is a new and exciting wedding planning business. I can truly say Tanisha is full of passion, enthusiasm and will provide you with all the help and support to plan your special day. TF Events offer different wedding packages that are all tailored to your needs, offering a service that is unique to you.  My readers have been generously offered up to 20% off their wedding packages! Just mention Fairytale Wedding Planning in the UK when contacting TF Events. Tanisha has wrote a piece for Fairytale Wedding Planning in the UK to explain to you what she thinks makes a good wedding planner.

I saw a post on social media a couple of days ago that I thought was really important to highlight and I wanted to share it with you and also thought it was appropriate for this post.

 I am a member of a wedding community forum and a bride that was having a dilemma had turned to social media for help. She had shared that the wedding planner she had hired was continuously booking different aspects of her wedding without consulting her. She wanted to know what jobs the wedding planners should book, what she should be consulted about and what she should be booking or should she be booking herself.

I was completely gobsmacked, for two reasons. One - her wedding planner was booking aspects of THE BRIDES wedding without THE BRIDE knowing about it and two -  the bride was left questioning what parts of her wedding she didn’t have to be consulted on.

You are more than likely to have had a vision of your wedding for a long time. You would have some idea of how you would like your big day to look, whether it’s something small and intimate or big and bold. Wedding planners are hired to turn the brides dream into reality. How is this supposed to happen if your wedding planner is not listening and communication is poor?

As a wedding planner, I wouldn’t even dream of doing something like that. The bride, groom and their wedding planner are supposed to be a team, regular consultations and communications are the key to success, focusing on what the bride and grooms needs are.

The bride should not be questioning herself and wondering if she’s overreacting, this is outrageous!

 I guess my summary is, brides do not be afraid to tell your wedding planner what you want. If you require more communication, ask for it!. You are paying for a service and if you have the right wedding planner they should want to do everything in their power to try and provide you with the day you deserve!

Happy Planning Brides x

It is clear that excellent communication and listening skills are essential to become a good professional wedding planner.