If you’re engaged, or expecting to get engaged soon, you’ve probably asked yourself this question. As professionals who are consistently walking couples through their options (and who know the planning process in and out) we’re here to provide you with the resources to make an educated decision.
Let’s Dive In!
If you are reading this, you are most likely somewhere in your wedding planning journey- whether you are the engaged couple, or a loving supporter of the engaged couple. Either way, there is a high chance that you have never gone through this process before.
This aspect of a wedding is very interesting– you have little to no idea as to what you’re doing when you enter the process. It’s not until the end of the planning that you’re just getting the hang of things. Because of this, couples usually have retroactive desires that they wish would have been incorporated, or have aspects that they would have changed after experiencing their big day- (even if they absolutely loved their wedding!).
As wedding professionals, we completely recognize that it’s difficult to anticipate your needs for an event that you have never personally experienced before. A newly engaged couple is looking at their budget , choosing the most fun aspects to allocate their hard-earned money to, and wondering how essential including a professional wedding planner may be. We’ve been there and we understand the debate! This is why we are collecting a fact-based collection of quotes, statistics and perspectives to help you make the decision. Budgets can be tight, hosting is expensive and where you allocate your money is important.
Our Heart
At Evermore, we are more than planners. At our core, we truly believe that your engagement season is a sacred time in you and your partner's journey that should be spared stress at all costs. We are on a mission to assist all engaged couples in absolutely any way we can, whether they choose to officially use professional services or not. Your best interests are at the core of who we are, and our goal is to not persuade you in one way or another - but simply to lend wisdom from couples who have been in the space where you presently are. Whatever you decide, we want to ensure that you are confident that your decision is in the best interest of you and your partner!
What Modern Couples are Saying
Details, personalization and unique vendors are on the rise- which is SO fun! Weddings are all about celebrating a couple and they should be as personalized as possible, right?
Modern couples “are revolutionizing wedding traditions and how all the wedding ceremonies will be happening! Our young generation couples are certainly redefining not only when to get married, but what it means to them! (Lily & Lime).”
As published in a WeddingWire Newlywed Report, “young couples are personalizing the most important day of their life like never before. For every couple, the personalization differs! Every soon-to-be-married couple wants their wedding day to resonate with their unique and romantic love story and thus personalization plays an important role..”
While we LOVE adding unique aspects to weddings, this also requires an increase in attention to detail, planning and coordinating. This is often overlooked. Whatever your personalization is, a wedding planner will surely assist in getting to know your vision, creating a functional plan and timeline (and of course ensuring that everything is executed perfectly).
This is why, “These days, couples aren't leaving their special day to chance. More and more are turning to wedding experts to ensure their big day goes off smoothly. (Forbes).” A bride shares, “Until you really get into the preparations for your big day, it is impossible to fathom how much work is involved and how many details need to be taken care of Huffpost).”
This past-bride shares the following about how she came to the decision to not use a wedding planner: “We had very little debate about whether or not to bring a wedding planner on board. Quite simply, I wanted us to handle all the preparations and vendor research ourselves. I thought it would be fun to do the research, and also felt that us looking into the suppliers was the only way to know all the options... so that we could make a truly informed decision and ensure we got the style we liked at the most reasonable price -- not simply a wedding planner's "usual" contacts. My groom was more than happy with this conclusion, since it saved us an extra line item in our bridal budget... and we were indeed worried that a wedding planner would be quite expensive (Lily & Lime).”
Post-wedding, she shares: “Out of 15 or so wedding day vendors, there were only three that we were actually totally happy with... and some others we were extremely unhappy with...why did we think our judgment would be better than that of a professional, who has seen these vendors in action at more than one (and perhaps several, and perhaps many!) weddings?”
She also highlights that while wedding planning is exciting, there are many aspects that are stressful and not fun. “The Final week (prior to my wedding) I lost five pounds from stress, burst into tears a few times and my groom and I were snapping at each other. This is not how anyone's planning should be. Bringing on board a professional planner to help and take some of the workload off our hands definitely would have made sense (and they probably could have given advice on managing family drama).”
“Contrary to what I had thought, hiring a wedding planner doesn't mean outsourcing your entire wedding; a wedding planner only handles what you want them to (support at the start to get you on the right track, on-the-day coordination only, or indeed the whole shebang) so won't take over and choose your final bouquet design for you. So if do you want to drive your wedding planning, you can focus on the fun parts... and leave the boring bits to someone else.”
“If you work long hours, have lots of hobbies or have children to look after, and don't want to be completely drowning in to-do lists during your engagement, a wedding planner handling some of those tasks for you could be a real lifesaver.”
She leaves her fellow brides with this: “(Hiring a planner) could be your best way to a smoother, less stressful and more romantic wedding planning experience.”
What are my options for wedding planners?
Wedding planners are experts in all-things-wedding. Most independent planners (meaning not included with your venue) will offer different packages for you to choose from. These packages will list different services that the planner will/can assist with or manage (depending on your needs and comfortability level). Most of the time these packages will include full planning, partial planning and day-of (the wedding) coordination options. Some planners offer flexibility in creating a custom package for you based on what you are looking for, while others tend to strictly remain in their listed options. (This is definitely something to consider when choosing a planner!).
At Evermore, we pride ourselves on meeting our couples where they are by offering unique curated packages (on request) to maximize planning/coordinating assistance within any budget.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, “whether you hire someone or not, someone will need to manage the timeline, your vendors, and your guests on the day (of your wedding), and it can’t be you. (Zola)”
On your wedding day, you are already preoccupied with your role– getting married! It’s crucial to determine in advance who will be the “manager,” per-say, for the wedding. This is the person who directs set-up, perfects table settings, arranges decor, handles last-minute emergencies, communicates and directs vendors, tells everyone (from the wedding party to the guests to the vendors) exactly where they need to be, what they need to do and when.
If you and your partner decide to not hire a day-of coordinator, you will need to ask a family member or friend to handle this responsibility. This can be tricky because you may not trust someone with this responsibility who is not in your close circle, but at the same time want this person to be present and enjoy your day with you as well. Moreover, is there someone in your life that you trust to make this happen? Do they have relevant experience? Are you comfortable with them not attending your wedding as a guest, but as a hands-on coordinator? And last, but not least, are they comfortable and confident accepting this role? If you’re unsure about your answer to any of these questions, I would highly recommend allocating some of your budget to hiring a day-of coordinator to ensure all of your planning and hard work is executed perfectly.
Whatever you decide, we strongly, strongly urge you and your partner to consider your options many months in advance to your big day. Take some time to really envision your wedding day. Think about all of the details coming together, how you want to feel and how you want things to flow. Maybe seek perspectives from other couples who you know that have gotten married recently.
If you have absolutely any questions about anything we’ve discussed, please don’t hesitate to reach out. More than planners, Evermore is here for any engaged couple as a go-to toolbox. No strings attached. You deserve to have the wedding of your dreams without any hick-ups and we’re here to help make that happen!
You are not alone, dear reader. Use all the resources at your disposal whenever you can!
All the love,
- Evermore
Helpful resources:
Comments