Why Hire a Wedding Planner? Understanding Their Duties and Benefits
Before hiring a wedding planner to make your wedding planning a smooth & beautiful ride, here are some of the responsibilities you must know of!
Planning a wedding is as hectic as it gets and takes up months of your time. Saying YES to the proposal seems more straightforward when you realise how much of a task wedding planning can be. It is a tedious process and gets all the more stressful as the wedding date approaches. No stress or hectic schedules should stand in the way of you and your perfect wedding. We are sure you will leave no stone unturned to make your dream wedding come true. To get your head off the load of wedding planning and focus on the "happily ever after" in full zest, millennial couples have more often opted for professional wedding planners. Hiring a wedding planner almost instantly solves a lot of the queries and issues that you might face while you start planning your wedding on your own.
In this article:
2. Difference Between a Wedding Planner and a Wedding Coordinator?
4. How to Find a Top and Trusted Wedding Planner in India?
Who is a Wedding Planner?
Image Courtesy: Brass Animals
In simple layman's terms, a wedding planner can plan your wedding per your wishes. While this role might seem simple enough when we think about it, it has multiple layers and responsibilities that you juggle to ensure your wedding is a hassle-free experience for you and your wedding guests so that you can enjoy it to the fullest and focus only on making beautiful memories to cherish for life. Because they have immense experience and knowledge in the field, wedding planners can plan your wedding festivities, come up with contingency plans and even look out for the possible situations that may arise and handle them all efficiently.
I spoke to WeddingWire India's Lead Editor, Rumela Sen, about the role of wedding planners and how important they can be for a wedding; she confirms, "Similar to an event planner, a wedding planner plans the entire event - in this case, the event is your wedding function." The importance of a wedding planner, especially for an Indian wedding, depends on certain factors. Per her, these factors include the total guest list, wedding location, and wedding planning timeline. Sen elaborates, "Wedding planners manage weddings with big guest lists like 300+ and above. If you are planning a destination wedding, wedding planners use their expertise and connections to coordinate everything at the wedding venue and with the local vendors. If you have less than 6 months to plan a big-fat Indian wedding, wedding planners can help close all necessary tasks and plan a beautiful event, drawing from their experience and teamwork."
Difference Between a Wedding Planner and a Wedding Coordinator?
While we might think a wedding planner and coordinator have the same responsibilities, they certainly are not. The roles these two entail on the wedding day are somewhat similar, but there are stark differences between the two contracts and responsibilities. The main contrast between the two is that wedding planners plan the entire wedding, while the wedding coordinators only handle the logistics and execution responsibilities of the wedding day, and the couple does all the planning leading up to the big day.
Talking about the difference between the two, Sen said, "A wedding planner is involved in most of the important decisions related to your wedding like planning the theme, choosing vendors, closing contracts with them, helping you with wedding dress shopping, etc., while a wedding coordinator is hired only to manage the guests and logistics at the venue. Hiring a wedding coordinator is ideal if you are planning an intimate wedding and only need expert help for the smooth execution of events and to keep things on track."
Wedding Planner Duties
A wedding planner can be your knight in shining armour if you are drowning in your wedding planning tasks and have no idea about what to pick first. From booking your vendors to ensuring every last detail for all your wedding festivities is taken care of is the core responsibility of wedding planners. "There are multiple types of wedding planning contracts available in the market now. The most commonly booked contract for destination or high-budget weddings with bigger guest lists is the full-service wedding planning contract. In this contract, the planner oversees the responsibilities like, helping the couple with the wedding planning checklist, covering all actions required from the current date to their wedding date. Helping the couple and their family choose the final wedding theme and vision. Many wedding planners also help choose the venue and close contracts if the venue is not already booked", Sen shares.
"Wedding planners can also prepare the budget breakdown as per all vendor categories, taking into account the couple’s total wedding budget. Connect couples to the best vendors within their budget and close vendor contracts. Some wedding planners also offer the wedding designing services. This will depend on the contract you have signed with them. Prepare the wedding invitation template for the designer and coordinate RSVPs. They can also serve as the event manager and coordinator at the wedding venue." Some of the different tasks that a wedding planning team can take care of for your wedding celebrations include the following:
1. Plan the Whole Wedding
The overall horizon of the wedding planner in simple words is to plan the entire wedding. There are different kinds of wedding planners available for couples to choose from like - full-service planners, wedding month planner, day coordinator and so on. The idea is to make sure that right from picking the venue to managing your wedding entry and guests along with the finances and other miscellaneous things, there is a professional helping hand who does not make it as overwhelming as it seems from a bottom-up view. Their duties, however, can be broken down to a long list.
2. Design the Wedding
Some wedding planners also offer the wedding design services. Once you hire these wedding planners, their first responsibility is to understand your taste, choice of palettes, preference of themes and your idea of a dream wedding as a couple to be on the same page as you and work accordingly to accomplish this in reality. Right from creating your #weddinghashtags, to assist you in picking the decor that suits your ideas best, the type of lights, the kind of aesthetics that will match your taste to spin your dream wedding into reality, they design the wedding to the T.
3. Manage Wedding Finances
If you do not have a wedding budget in place, it will be very difficult to choose the right vendors and plan the ideal wedding you always wanted. In fact even before you hire a wedding planner, it is important to decide on the wedding budget to know exactly what all services can be asked from the planner and also make it an affordable choice without being a spendthrift. However, if you do not have an estimated budget in place, your wedding planner responsibilities include helping you figure out an apt budget, including the unexpected costs as well. Once this is put into action, the wedding planner responsibilities also include sticking to the budget and planning the wedding within this amount.
4. Vendor Scouting & Referrals
The budget and your taste define what kind of vendors you are looking for the wedding to be perfect. There are more than a thousand vendor options for a single service in one city. To scout them all according to your requirements and then to sieve them according to your budget is time-consuming and for an amateur planner, it becomes all the more difficult to dive deep into the industry. Also more the options, more confusing it gets! The wedding planners always have a list of vendors that they work with or referrals that will work for their clients and fit best for the occasion. This will save you a lot of time and mental exhaustion. The filtered list of vendors will be way shorter and easier to interview to make the final call!
5. Schedule Vendor Meetings
Once the wedding planner has shortlisted the vendors who can fit into your list of requirements to provide the best services and utilise the value of the payments, they have to set up appointments and schedule meetings with your vendors. Instead of you calling 10 different vendors and getting mind-boggled by the many calls and different coordinations, the wedding planner responsibilities include maintaining your timeline and coordinating the available slots for different meetings.
6. Create a Website
Wedding websites are a blessing in disguise. For contemporary couples who are planning their wedding, the best route of coordination and smooth planning is a wedding website. You can put in your wedding save the dates, invitations, guest lists, RSVPs, wedding registry and so on. All you need to do is share the link of the website with your friends and family to stay updated and on the same page with the proceedings. Your wedding planner can have the itty bitty details from you right at the beginning and from the theme and template designs of your wedding website to keep it updated until the wedding day. You can use the website to update the wedding album later for your friends and families to see.
7. Guest Lists & RSVPs
Prepping a guest list is a TASK. Your parents want to invite some distant uncle who has been MIA since you were born, and your partner along with his family has some other names on their mind to add. To meet halfway is impossible unless there is an impartial party with absolutely professional skills of coordination and that third party is your wedding planner. While tactfully helping you sort your guestlist aligned with your budget and dates and facilities, they will also help you maintain a track of all the RSVPs to keep it smooth and hassle-free.
8. Guest Co-ordination
Right from sending invitations to receiving RSVPs, to picking them up from the airport and then dropping them to the venue or hotel, the wedding planner handles all these logistics seamlessly. While you enjoy your mehndi ceremony with beautiful designs on your palm, you need not worry about your classmate or your uncle waiting at the airport to be picked for the wedding. A wedding planner is hired for both the bride and the groom and the to-be-wed couples can dance their way into a grand wedding without any hurdles, all thanks to the wedding planner responsibilities.
9. Manage the Event Flow
From planning your pre-wedding shoot right to a flawless flow of events that include the Haldi ceremony, the Mehndi, Sangeet night, the wedding and the Reception party - the itinerary is planned way ahead according to your needs and the wedding planner makes sure to coordinate a smooth flow of the ceremonies. From the different dance performances at Sangeet to the choice of songs for the DJ and your grand entry and unforgettable exit, the wedding will be a grand festival for all to reminisce.
19. Coordinate Ceremonies & Activities
While you get your shopping lists checked, you will not have to worry if the wedding mandap is ready yet or if the dismantled pieces of decor come together to make it your dream wedding or not. One of the most important wedding planner responsibilities is to keep the couple on top of everything with a first-hand account of everything. Even in case of last-minute tasks, miscellaneous ones, vendor payments and collecting your gifts, returning the rentals - the wedding planner is a task force you will be grateful for.
A complimentary service provided by many venues is a day-coordinator but if you have a wedding planner in place, it is sorted for you already. From announcing your entry for your wedding to prepping the car that says "Just Married" it is all done without you having to invest much time and energy. Having a wedding planner in place relieves you of many To-do lists and gives you more time to prepare yourself for the wedding and pamper yourself while spending quality time and enjoying every bit of this dream come true moment.
How to Find a Top and Trusted Wedding Planner in India?
Finding the best wedding planner that not only fits your budget but also understands your vision and work their magic accordingly can be quite difficult. To make your journey easy, you can find some of the best and most popular wedding planners through our extensive list and ensure your wedding festivities are just the way you always dreamed of. Choosing the right wedding planner can be a big task and there are a few things that you should aways keep in your mind while hiring one.
- Guiding us on how to find the best wedding planners in India, Sen said "Wedding planning services are quite expensive given their diverse list of responsibilities. Make sure you have additional budgets to hire them, and it will not impact your overall wedding budget.
- Check their portfolio and overall experience. For eg: If you are planning a destination wedding in Rajasthan, find a wedding planner who has experience in planning weddings in Rajasthan and has the right network for it.
- Some planners specialise in different locations or themes like planning a beach wedding in Thailand or Indonesia or planning a cruise wedding in Europe. Crosscheck their exposure and specialisation before finalising the contract."
- I cannot emphasise enough on a planner’s ‘vendor networking’ skills. If you are hiring a wedding planner, make sure they maintain the best relationships with vendors in decor, catering, venue, entertainment etc to help you with the best deals.
- Their communication skills and overall responsible nature: A wedding planner can become the bride’s best friend very quickly if they have the right communication and coordination skills. They will play a very important role in your planning journey so make sure there’s a vibe match.
- Team Size: Check on their team size for your event. Do they have the manpower and resources to handle your guest list? Review the contract carefully for all necessary details like scope of services, cancellation policy, etc. Lastly, read reviews on WWI."
They are also great at handling any on-spot mishaps like an unruly guest or a wedding crasher and are in fact great at covering up for unexpected happenings at the wedding. Be it a destination wedding or a residential one, hiring a wedding planner reduces your emotional and physical strain while upholding the timeline and avoiding any crunch of planning at any point of the wedding with their extraordinary knowledge in the field.
The wedding planner is a trustworthy professional who guides you through the wedding shenanigans under your supervision and while your perfect wedding becomes a reality full of memories to carry forever, they take care of everything on behalf of you and your family.
