Does Hiring a Wedding Planner Save you Money? | Wedding Tips

First and foremost, Marta and I will always recommend hiring a wedding planner.  They’re different than venue coordinators.  Wedding planning has a lot of things happen behind the scenes.  Does hiring a wedding planner save you money?  Do they simply set everything up and call it a day?  Are they able to get you discounted rates on wedding vendor services?

Marta and I have a few opinions and ideas about it all.  That being said, I reached out to a few local wedding planners to see what they had to say about it.  I wanted to make sure that I got the right information regarding a wedding planner.

Ways that Hiring a Wedding Planner Saves you Money

We’ve covered it in the past, but I kind of want to touch upon why a wedding planner is important on your wedding day.  Afterward, we’ll go into why hiring wedding planners save you money.  So let’s start off with the basics.  Does hiring a wedding planner save you money?

Is Hiring a Wedding Planner Worth it?

Aside from reducing stress, professional, certified wedding planners are almost always invaluable in comparison to your friend who planned her DIY wedding.

” A wedding planner is meant to alleviate any stress that comes with planning your wedding.  We will guide and assist you in finding the best wedding vendors that will fit your needs.  We will help you narrow down your color concepts and assist you in your decor choices.  Sometimes even wedding etiquette is something we can assist with.  Many questions come up that are part of wedding etiquette, so the planner must know how to reply to those questions and explain how to implement them. Hiring an experienced and knowledgeable professional wedding planner plays a very big role in having a successful event for both the client and the Planner.”

-Annie Muniz, Modern, Chic, & Shabby Events by JoeAnnie

A Worthwhile Investment

On average, most wedding planners charge anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000.  High-end luxury wedding planners are around $5,000 and up.  The price that wedding planners (as well as other vendors) charge is closely related to a few factors.  Two of the biggest ones are demand for their services and their experience in their profession.  Everyone thinks that wedding planning is an easy task until they plan their own wedding or help in planning one.  Quickly, they realize how tiring and stressful it is. 

Does hiring a wedding planner save you money in your budget?

The short answer is yes.  It’s so much more than that though.  The experience that wedding planners have with coordination and budget balancing allows for realistic wedding goals.  Not only that, but they can plan for the unexpected in ways that a friend of bridesmaid can’t.

“I always have clients offer me a considerable and realistic budget to hold in a contingency plan for either a weather backup call (to design appropriately) or any other circumstance that may arise on [the wedding day].  If we don’t use it, we don’t use it, but it’s helpful when you need to dress up a bare ballroom that serves as the rain back up for a ceremony!”

-Lisa Stoner, Lisa Stoner Events

Vendor Referrals and Trust

Aside from the stress relief, expert knowledge, and problem-solving skills, wedding planners have so many ways that they save you money before your wedding day.  Wedding planners have a tightly knit relationship with a lot of the wedding vendors that they work with.  These are the vendors that they trust and work with on a regular basis.  When they suggest this vendor to their couple, it’s because they know that they’ll be taken care of.

Perks of Repeat Business

Some wedding vendors have special rates or products that are available exclusively to couples that come with a wedding planner.  Not only does this nurture the relationship already there between the wedding planner and the wedding vendor, but this also is an additional perk to the couple.

” [There are incentives for repeat business.]  For example, one hair and makeup company I use all the time provides free lashes for my brides.”

-Katie Jimenez, Big Day Celebrations

A Plan from Engaged to Wedding Day

Needless to say, there’s going to be a plan from beginning to end when you hire a wedding planner.  Some wedding planners even offer proposal planning services for those planning a wedding proposal.  Most wedding planners offer full planning, partial planning, and some even offer day of coordination.  All these perks that we’ve listed are for full planning.  Some planners help out with the partial or month of planning, but that’s nowhere near as thorough as full planning.  With all these different options, does hiring a wedding planner save you money?  Talk to your wedding planner and see what their tiers of service and packages are like.  They’ll guide you through everything that they offer and then some.

Conclusion

With knowledge of the wedding industry and close relationships among wedding vendors, wedding planners simply have more accessibility to saving their couples money in the long run of wedding planning.  A wedding planner can save you money in ways that you couldn’t even imagine.  Most of those savings aren’t available to normal couples or “friends” planning their weddings.  Does hiring a wedding planner save you money?  The short answer: yes.