On first thought, it may seem like a good idea to resort to do-it-yourself wedding planning. After all, who else is in a better position to make you and partner’s collective vision a reality?
But as the saying goes, hindsight is 20-20, and you may find yourself deeply regretting the decision not to hire a professional wedding planner. Here are three reasons why you should.
1. It will feel like a full-time job
Sure, looking at wedding reception venues and brainstorming on guest attire is exciting, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
When you really get into it, you have to be on top of securing transportation options, reviewing wedding vendors, making payments to service providers, creating the invite list, composing a short message for the invitation, printing out physical copies of said invitation, making sure your grandparents’ special needs are taken care of — the list goes on.
And that’s all on top of your actual full-time job. Be realistic and consider what is humanly possible that you and your partner can do.
2. Vetting wedding vendors is less glamorous than you think
There’s a lot of work that goes into the search for wedding vendors.
While it may seem straightforward enough to look for the best hairdressers that have your style in mind or to settle on decent cake designs, technical details can pop-up — which will demand even more of your precious time.
Then there’s the part where you have to get price quotes from all your potential vendors and make sure you don’t go over budget.
For you, it may be your first time to encounter these vendors and it will require a lot of time and effort to find the right ones for your wedding. However, a wedding planner has interacted and negotiated with hundreds of them for probably a few years now.
To a professional, this is just another day in the job. Wedding planners have a good eye for vetting out unreliable vendors — potentially saving you a lot of time and hassle.
3. Last-minute changes require immense fortitude
Even the best-made plans are not immune to blunder. Anything can happen, whether it’s a few weeks prior or hours before the actual wedding.
Is the food caterer not answering? Better do a follow-up in person. Are some of the guests stranded in their hotel and can’t make it to the church? Find a driver ASAP to pick them up.
If you take on wedding planning duties, you better be prepared for some serious crisis management at the last minute. But do you really want to worry about these things on your special day?
With a professional wedding planner, however, you can offload all these responsibilities to someone who can rely on in the clutch.
To plan or to designate a wedding planner?
Still up to the task of planning the whole thing? Maybe you need a checklist to come to the right decision.
If you’re already convinced, best to start searching for a professional planner who can get you to “I do” without a hitch.
