One in five couples now use a professional wedding planner. These planners or coordinators typically offer three core services, says Danielle Andrews Sunkel, president and cofounder of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada and Tracey Manailescu, vice president and cofounder of the institute.
Consulting
Danielle says that consulting usually involves just one or two face-to-face meetings with the client. Couples may have specific concerns about how to get started; wedding etiquette; budgeting issues or merging two cultures or religions.
An initial phone call establishes the specific concern. Then the planner will do the research necessary before a person-to-person meeting. Other issues can be discussed at this meeting.
A typical consulting meeting takes two hours and costs $150 for the first hour and $50 for every subsequent hour. This fee includes two hours of planner research prior to the meeting.
Month-of coordination
This service is for the couple who wants to plan their own wedding but realizes there are still infinite details to attend to as they approach their wedding day.
On the wedding day, the coordinator will be on hand from the beginning of the day until the end, calmly taking care of all the details, such as scheduling, deliveries, logistics, vendors, appearance of unexpected guests and general troubleshooting. Last minute changes and unforeseen situations will be discreetly taken care of, while your day unfolds effortlessly. Month-of involves building timetables and schedules, finalizing details and putting the couple’s wedding day together to make sure it will flow smoothly. The month-of coordinator should always be accompanied by an assistant on the day of the wedding.
This service starts at $800 for rural areas; urban areas start at $1,000. Experienced planners charge about $1,500.
Full service coordination
Danielle Andrews Sunkel and Tracey Manailescu say that an experienced wedding planner coordinator creates a complete wedding planning timeline and breaks the tasks into monthly deadlines.
They book venue visits for the client and attend visits to the sites with the couple. This includes researching, suggesting and setting-up meetings with all vendors for the clients and consulting on everything from invitations, wedding etiquette, fashion recommendations, design and decor decisions and menus. It includes creating a wedding day timeline/schedule with the couple and then sending it to every vendor booked for the wedding.
The planner will attend and oversee the wedding rehearsal and direct the wedding for the entire day with an assistant who stays until dinner. Tracey says that the job of the full-time wedding planner is to alleviate stress, be there for the clients to answer any questions, help find solutions to problems and to always answer phone calls and emails in a timely and professional manner.
An experienced planner can suggest vendors that are a good fit for the couple in regard to budget, style and personalities. Planners also need to have a professional relationship with the wedding team to ensure that everyone works together for a successful event.
Fees involve the time required (which may be based on the planner’s level of experience and whether couples are on a limited, premium or luxury budget) and how much work will be involved for the planner and how many assistants will be required.
Fees should be approximately 10 to 15 percent of the wedding budget. Or it may be based on a flat fee, usually from $2,500 to$5,500.
Originally published in Today’s Bride magazine, Fall/Winter 2015.
