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A wedding planner might be a little bit more involved in the planning process depending on the bride. There are many different reasons why a bride would hire a planner for more detailed services, but there are two main reasons that I've come across; 1) the bride is from out of town and she is doing the planning remotely and 2) the bride is too busy to do the planning on her own. Either way, all of the final decisions are made by the bride, the planner is just executing and adding to the bride's vision of her wedding day.
Below you will find some of the other services a wedding planner can provide followed by a brief description of those services:
1) Vendor Meetings
For this service, your wedding planner will act as your secretary and will book your vendor meetings. I include meetings with three of the same vendor, so if you were to hire me for your photographer meetings I would book three photographers for us to meet with. Once at the meeting I would take notes, offer feedback, and negotiate pricing. After the meeting I would type and send you the notes. Once we've met with all the photographers, I would type up and give you a comparison of all three and then I would tell the vendors of your selection so that you would not have to have an awkward conversation with those that you did not select.
I offer a different option for my brides, as well. Its kind of an in-between option in which I do all the leg work for the bride. I research all vendors in a particular category to find which vendors meet the bride's specific needs and I then call to make sure that they are available for the wedding date. After that, I present the bride with my research (along with reviews of wedding professionals that have used this particular vendor) and from there the bride will tell me which vendors she would like to meet. I would setup the appointments, but I would not attend the meetings. Afterwards, I would let the vendor know of the bride's decision.
2) Additional Consultant Meetings
Some examples of these meetings would be to order rentals, visit venues, work on the budget, arrange transportation, attend a tasting, or to attend another vendor's meeting.
3) Budget Tracking
This is a continuous budget that begins when the planner is hired. The budgeted amount is determined by what a bride is willing to spend extra on and what a bride is wanting to save on. Once the vendor is hired the planner will adjust the entire budget to reflect the costs. If more is spent than what is budgeted, costs will be taken from another vendor to offset the amount.
4) Returning of Rentals
This a popular add on service. After the wedding is complete, there are many items that need to be returned. First there is the obvious; the items from the rental company (which includes tables, linens, place settings, etc), but there are also less obvious rentals such as the cake stand and (even though is not a
rental) the left over alcohol. Instead of finding a friend or family member to do this, your wedding planner can do this for you.
5) Maintenance of RSVPs
This is nice little add-on. Instead of having RSVPs sent to the bride (or family) they can be sent to the wedding planner. She will then keep track of all the RSVPs on a spreadsheet, update the bride with the guest count and then before the head count is due she will call non-responsive guests (if provided with the guest list and contact information).
Stay tuned for details of services provided by a wedding planner.
