Hire a Wedding Planner! Seriously, Do It!

As someone in the wedding industry, I’m asked my opinion on wedding tips often. What are my top suggestions, what are the biggest mistakes I see couples make, what can you do to get the best photos? Well, when it comes to my top piece of advice, the number one thing you can do to help ensure a smooth running wedding day with the least amount of stress and the best chance at amazing photos? Hire a Professional Wedding Planner! Whether its a full service planner or a Day Of Coordinator, you NEED a planner! A third party professional who’s sole job on your wedding day is to make sure everything goes off without a hitch and to be your go to handle anything unexpected that might pop up.

Many venues either supply you with a coordinator or point of contact as part of your package or they require you to hire a certified planner to assist you on your big day. Those venues know what’s up! If you choose a venue that does not offer or require this service, or if you get married on private property or somewhere that is not a wedding venue specific location, find a reputable planner and lock them in. And please, oh please, for the love of all things wedding… do not (seriously, don’t do it!) ask a family member or close friend to do this for you. While a cousin, aunt or college roomie may have the best intentions at heart, they simply do not have the knowledge or the experience needed to pull this off. I promise a professional planner will be worth every penny! They have seen and done it all and that knowledge is invaluable.

Many planners offer several options for brides, from full service planning to Day or Month Of coordination. This helps fit into a wide variety of budgets and helps couples with a wide variety of needs. Wedding days and the planning process in general have a lot of moving parts. Many of which you probably wouldn’t even think about! I promise you do not want to be worried about handling small things that come up mid day or dealing with vendor deliveries while trying to get ready and enjoy your day. Coordinators handle so much that you probably haven’t even thought of! And when it comes to benefiting your overall photography experience, they really are key! They help make sure everyone sticks to the timeline as possible and help keep everyone where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. In the absence of a planner, a lot of the timeline responsibility inevitably falls on the photographers. While we don’t mind flagging down a wandering groomsmen from time to time, if we spend the majority of the day keeping the entire wedding party on schedule, we will undoubtedly miss out on catching some really important moments on camera. So, not only does a planner help give you and your family and friends, peace of mind on your wedding day, but it allows your photographers to freely do the job that you have hired them to do and allows them to focus on your wedding day with you! As a vendor, this also gives us a point of contact to go to with any questions, concerns or logistical issues that we don’t want or need to bother the bride with in the middle of her day.

I could really  go on and on about the benefits of a Wedding Planner! From helping you navigate the details of wedding planning as a whole from the very beginning of the process, to reminding you of every little detail on the wedding day, to pinning boutonnieres, to helping you find your wedding vendor Dream Team… oh the list goes on! BUT the most important thing I can say is that their value far exceeds the cost to you! Hire a planner! I promise you will not regret the decision!