Wedding Planners: Pros & Cons

When it comes to the organization of your big day, a wedding planner can be a godsend, helping to oversee every minute detail of your ceremony and reception and ensure the day goes off without a hitch. With that said, the decision to hire a wedding planner is a big one and for all their benefits, there are some drawbacks as well. Before you pull the trigger on bringing in a professional to handle the event, here are a few pros and cons to consider:

Pros for Planners:

-Stress relief: Hiring a trained professional to take over responsibility of the wedding will remove the burden from your shoulders allowing you to focus on the upcoming wedding with excitement and anticipation. Organizing an event for hundreds of guests is so small feat. Wedding planners are experts at it; you are not.

-Connections: An experienced wedding planner will most likely have established relationships with local wedding vendors and professionals, which can help in a bind and with a budget. Due to their connections, wedding planners can often get deals and discounts unavailable to the public, and they can call in favors in a sticky situation.

-Expert Execution: Regardless of your best intentions or the number of wedding magazines you’ve scoured through, there’s a chance that some elements of your dream wedding might not come true due to your lack of experience. An experienced and professional wedding planner will help ensure that every detail of the wedding will be cohesive, stylish, and excellent.

Cons for Planners:

-Cost: Unfortunately, hiring a wedding planner isn’t a minor expense. Typically, you can expect to spend 10-15% of the wedding budget on a planner’s services. If you’re on a particularly tight budget, splurging on a wedding planner might mean sacrificing in other areas.

-Conflicts: For the months it takes to plan your wedding, you and your wedding planner will be in constant communication, figuring out the details of your big day. If you hire a planner that has a distinctly different personality or style than your own, you might be setting yourself up for unnecessary conflict. Be sure to thoroughly interview each candidate ahead of time and only hire a person you feel comfortable working closely with.

-Lack of Participation: Although hiring a wedding planner can be a great way to relieve stress, it also leaves you with a less hands-on approach to the nuptial organization. Although you’ll have input and authority over the planning decisions, leaving the organization to a professional can leave you feeling a little detached from the process. If you’re the type of person who wants to soak up every part of the wedding execution—from addressing invitations to assembling favors—you might regret the decision to bring in a hired hand.

Tying The Knot Wedding Planners