Planning a wedding is one of the most enjoyable experiences you’ll have in your life, but although fun, it can cause unwanted stress – especially during such a special and action-packed time. Major props to the brides who stick it out and plan the entire wedding start to finish on their own, it’s not an easy task. For those of you opting to hire a wedding planner or coordinator, trust us, you won’t regret it. Here are our top 10 questions you should ask your prospective wedding planner before the planning-process begins!
1. What services do you offer?
Most wedding planners or coordinators offer a variety of services to cater to different types of brides. From full-service to day-of coordination, work with the planner to determine which service will work best for your wedding day needs.
2. What is the payment schedule?
It is important, like it is with any vendor, to ask what the payment schedule will be like with your coordinator. Is there a one-time fee? How much is the deposit?, etc.
3. How will we communicate?
It is important to determine how many in-person meetings you will have with your wedding planner and how you will communicate between appointments. Can you call them at any time? Do they prefer email only? Will they charge you if you seek their help outside the month-of coordination package you purchased? It’s good to have answers to these questions before you commit to a contract.
4. Do you have any ideas or inspiration for our wedding site?
Seeing what your potential planner or coordinator can come up with will give you an idea if your styles, ideas, and personalities will mesh well in the months ahead.
5. Are you willing to work with vendors directly to execute our vision?
Knowing that your coordinator or planner can take your vision and relay it to your vendors is something many brides find very reassuring. While others prefer to be more hands on, it is good to know you have the option to have your planner do everything for you.
6. Do they have specific vendors they prefer to work with?
The wedding-planning community is fairly small within each community, so it’s not out of the ordinary for a wedding planner to have a list of vendors they prefer to work with. For most brides, this is fine, but if you have a specific vendor you’re dying to work with, make sure your coordinator is fine with that, as well.
7. Do they have wedding planner services they will let you use?
Many wedding planners or coordinators have wedding planning software they allow their clients to use. These programs will allow you to do everything from compile your guest list to manage your budget and even create your seating charts. Having access to resources like these are definitely a plus.
8. What will the wedding day be like?
It is important to know if your wedding planner will be bringing a team with them, or if you will need to assist on the wedding day, as well. Will they be responsible for all the set up and tear down? Will they be responsible to coordinating and returning all the rentals?
9. Are you comfortable flipping a ceremony to a reception?
This is not applicable for all brides, but those who are hosting the ceremony at the same venue as the reception will definitely need to ask this. If your coordinator and their team are comfortable flipping the room, you are good to go. But, if they are not, you will likely have to pay a fee to have the florist and rental companies come back to the site and assist in flipping the room.
10. How do you deal with wedding-day mishaps?
Nothing will go 100% perfectly on your wedding day, but if you have a good wedding planner or coordinator, you won’t even notice! This question is important to ask to see how they react under pressure and remedy a situation.