Why I Hired a Wedding Planner: My Reasons, Preferences + Experience
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
More than 90% of brides we've spoken to who didn't hire a planner for their weddings wish they had. Sara is one of our new writers and a recent Nashville bride who LOVED her planner so I interviewed her to share her experience in the hopes that it will help you make that decision of whether or not hiring a wedding planner is right for you.
Ashley: Did you ever consider not having a planner?
Sara: We never considered not having a planner. We knew we didn't want a full-on planner because of how much we wanted to be involved, but we knew we would need someone to pull it all together. After being in so many of my friends weddings, I knew that we would need someone to help us at least on the day of to avoid some of the stress.
Hiring a wedding planner seems to be one of those things that many brides consider “optional” as they make the lists of things they need to make their day complete. For us it was never an option, it was a necessity. I am a planner at heart – all of my friends call me the “party planner” and I am happy to be the one making plans for various occasions. But, when it came time to plan our wedding, I knew that I would need some help.
The first decision (of many) that we made was to hire a planner. The second decision was to figure out how much help we would need. There are great wedding planners in Nashville, and they all offer a variety of services from start to finish planning, to just being with you on the day of. What you use them for is totally up to you.
For us, it boiled down to wanting to be involved in all of the decisions along the way, but not wanting to be bogged down by every detail in the days (or even weeks) leading up to our wedding day. It was important for us to find a planner that would let us lead the way, but could really take control when the time came.
Emily {planner} pinning corsage - far right.
Ashley: What steps did you take to hire your planner?
Sara: We started the process by looking at websites for references or suggestions (the knot, Ashley's Bride Guide, etc). Most of our friends were married out of Nashville so that didn't help too much. We tried to find out as much as we could about the person and their personality before meeting with anyone.
Ashley: What questions were important that you asked as you interviewed planners?
Sara: Price was important to us. And we also wanted to know what they would do for us and hear how they would handle certain situations (if something goes wrong). We just tried our best to get a feel for them and how well they would gel with us to make our day perfect.
Ashley: How did you know which planner was right for you?
Sara: We wanted to find someone that we could trust. I kept saying that we needed someone we could be friends with. We didn't actually have to be friends with him or her, but I wanted to feel like that. The wedding day was so important to us for so many reasons and it was really important that we could be comfortable with who we chose to execute our day.
Sara's mom putting on her veil.
Ashley: You hired one planner, then changed. When did you know you hired the wrong planner? I bet it was a hard decision to change mid-way through your planning. How did that go?
Sara: We had originally hired a planner to do just the month leading up to our wedding. She was very nice and when we hired her that was the first thing we had done. As our wedding came together and we figured out the style of "us" it just didn't feel like the right fit anymore. After talking about it, my husband (yay!) just wanted me to be comfortable so we made the decision to go in another direction. We parted ways with the first planner with no hard feelings which was great.
Emily {planner} coordinating our entrance - far left.
Emily Humphries of Simply Yours Weddings helping secure Sara's veil and helping Nate's grandmother with her corsage.
Ashley: Who was your final wedding planner?
Sara: Emily Humphries from Simply Yours Weddings. She was incredible and I can honestly say that she made our day absolutely perfect. We had planned out all of the big things – found venues, picked a caterer, hired a florist - and she helped us bring it all together for our big day.
Ashley: Why did you decide to hire her? What stood out?
Sara: During the wedding planning process, I found a lot of help/advice/suggestions from local brides through blogs and Twitter/Facebook. A few times, I even reached out to various wedding professionals on Twitter when I had questions that only Nashville folks would know the answers to. Emily was always helpful and she seemed to fit that "we could be friends" mold. She was also very professional concerning our previous arrangement with someone else which really impressed me.
Ashley: What was the biggest benefit of having Emily during your planning?
Sara: While we had lots of ideas and plans for our day, she added so much to it. She was so helpful in ways that we hadn't even thought of. She handled the logistics and small details while we had been focused on the big stuff. She also was so calming and made us her main priority. She made sure we had everything we needed leading up to the day, always seemed interested in how we were doing, and she took on our day as if it was our own. I literally was so calm and relaxed during the week of the wedding because I knew that she had everything covered.
If you've been on the fence about hiring a wedding planner, hopefully Sara's experience will help in your decision. Your wedding day should be something you remember fondly, with no recollection of any mishaps (if any!). As a start, take a look at our list of out wedding planners by clicking here. All the best!
All images by Betsy Limbaugh Photography.
About the Author:
Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide
Hey - I'm Ashley! I started AshleysBrideGuide.com to give Nashville brides, or folks planning a Nashville wedding, a local resource for inspiration and resources. Hope to see you at a bridal show soon! Happy Planning.
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Posted on May 4, 2011 |
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Posted on May 4, 2011 @ 2:35pm