Find a Wedding Planner for the Most Special Night of Your Life

You only get married once and you want your wedding to be nothing less than perfect. However, planning a wedding is a daunting task and you may not know where and how to start. A wedding planner is an answer to your doubts. They will take care of all the major headaches for arranging everything and run around the venue on the day of the events while you play your part and enjoy the ceremonies. But finding a wedding planner who understands your requirements well and can bring your vision for the wedding to life is not easy.

While you browse through the catalogues of many and get in touch with the shortlisted ones, here are some tips for choosing the most appropriate one for your wedding. Hiring a wedding planner is the key to reducing your stress and getting to enjoy your wedding festivities in a manner you truly deserve. With a plethora of things that a couple has to narrow down and nail in order for their wedding to look classic and be memorable - it is a whirlwind and a rollercoaster ride that does not seem to come to an end.

From the florist to wedding caterers to wedding invitations designs to sourcing the wedding favours - how much can a person really do? Therefore, read this specially curated piece of information and learn the hacks that will help you find the ideal wedding planner for your taste and budget. 

1. Do your homework well

Google different wedding inspiration and bookmark them on Instagram and Pinterest. If you don't know which pages to look for, follow WeddingWire's Instagram for the latest wedding trends of the season. Make a list of the planners that you think match your style and expectations. Give due consideration to the type of weddings they specialise in, the average cost of a wedding, their speciality, and their experience - which is the most important thing! You will come to know about their sense of style from the online portfolio itself. 

2. Shortlist of the best ones

Select the top five wedding planners that fit perfectly for your event. Don’t forget to ask those key questions about the specific planning services they offer, available dates, their price range, the experience they have working with your location and their background. You wouldn't want someone who is already taking care of other weddings on your big day. You will want an expert who can devote undivided attention to you and your wedding functions alone. 

3. Arrange a meeting with them

When you meet for the first time, it’s always advisable to take all your inspiration and ideas from magazine clippings and photos. This will give them an idea of what you are expecting. Talk to them, ask about the events they have done, get an idea about their personalities and, remember, this might be the person you are going to be with a lot for the upcoming months.

Discuss openly what you have in mind, feel the vibes, you will immediately get an idea of how open or rigid they are regarding your opinions. If they get curious about your vision for the wedding and ask you questions regarding that, you just might have met your match. But if they listen to you only to impose their ideas on top of yours, that's a red flag you shouldn't ignore.

4. Don’t make any hasty decisions

You met this planner and they were awesome! But don’t finalise just yet. Ask around, find more references and get an idea about how they will actually conduct the whole event. Talk to the couple they previously worked for. Learn about their experiences with the wedding planner and do some fact checking as well. Could they turn your ideas into reality properly? Can they get better deals for you? What is the size of their team? Will they insist on using their own vendors? Get answers to these questions from people who have hired their service before.

5. Select your favourite one

A good wedding planner will take much of the stress out of planning your big day. They will turn your dreams into a reality and will come up with new ideas. After checking all the references, matching prices, comparing working styles and doing enough research, considering your budget, venue and expectations, it’s time to pick the one for you. Select wisely, this person is going to plan and organise the biggest day of your life. No excuses allowed!

Have multiple thorough discussions with your wedding planner about how you want things to be. And then trust them to make the right decisions for your wedding. After all, they’re the experts. Also, make sure you have the finalised details sent to you over email so that at the time of billing their services, there are no discrepancies.

But please don't take a backseat just because you've hired a wedding planner. Be proactive about your wedding, get involved with the planning process and point out any discrepancies from the ideas discussed well within time. Also, they will handle only a part of the organising process. You still need to go to your wedding shopping and take care of your beauty regime. Taking care of your skin, buying gifts for your fiance, and planning your honeymoon, such are the tasks you will need tending to.

Make sure you've hired a wedding planner whose presence will give you the mental space to organise the rest of the things. So, by now you must have a few things cleared in your head and must be feeling amped up to meet a few wedding planners to plan the wedding you and your spouse will forever remember. 

Tell us in the comments about how hiring a wedding planner made things hassle-free for you.