Is A Wedding Planner Really Worth It? I’ll Let You Decide!
Getting engaged and planning a wedding is a super exciting time of life! It’s the time that your Pinterest board FINALLY gets to come to life after all of those years of dreaming about what your big day would look like.
While it’s exciting, it can also become one of the most stressful and overwhelming times of life. There’s a ton of decisions to be made, logistics to be figured out, and well, if I’m being honest… money to be spent.
Between the venue, vendors, decor, food, and more, you naturally may start to wonder… is a wedding planner REALLY worth the extra expense?
As you’re looking at the line items of your budget and deciding where your money is best spent, it’s completely normal to start cutting costs here and there.
You might decide against the photobooth that you really wanted or decide that a late night snack really isn’t necessary. But how can you know what costs to cut and what costs to keep?
This decision is completely personal and it really comes down to what you value the most. Sure, some people really do value the photobooth over a wedding planner. The picture memories are worth it to them.
On the other hand, others could never even imagine planning one of, if not THE, biggest day of their life without a professional by their side.
So even though I am a wedding planner, I would love to present the blanket statement of, “YES, a wedding planner is SO worth it!” I don’t want to do that.
Instead, in this blog post I want to guide you through a few unbiased reasons for why a wedding planner really is worth it so you can decide for yourself!
5 Reasons Why Hiring a Wedding Planner Is Worth It
1. Expertise and Experience
Did you know that many wedding planners receive professional certifications? This means that most of us aren’t just people who have mastered the art of wedding planning through piecing things together from Google and Pinterest.
While it’s true that you can learn a lot through your own research, there are just certain things that you aren’t going to find that are extremely important for making sure your big day runs smoothly.
Not to mention, through our experience in the field, we have many connections in the wedding industry, such as venues, vendors, and other professionals who can help you throughout the entire process.
At Planning Forever, I’m a master certified wedding planner through the Certified Wedding Planner Society, which means I’ve learned the ins and outs of wedding and event planning so you don’t have to.
So, if you want to ensure that you’re checking the correct things off your wedding to-do list at the right time AND make sure you don’t forget anything throughout the process, hiring a professional is the way to go.
2. Stress Relief
As mentioned earlier, planning a wedding can be incredibly exciting, but also incredibly stressful. There’s a new decision that needs to be made daily and that doesn’t even include the last minute problem solving that often arises throughout the planning process.
When you hire a wedding planner, you’re putting your trust into someone who handles a ton of those things for you. From handling the schedule and logistics of your big day, communicating with vendors, and actually setting up the decor on the day of, you get to step back and truly enjoy your engagement rather than worrying about all of the nitty gritty details.
And when the big day comes, you get to simply show up and celebrate instead of making sure that I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed.
3. Budget Management
“You have to spend money to make money.” 💸
That’s a saying that a lot of business owners say in order to justify their investments. And honestly, wedding planning is pretty similar.
Not only do you have to spend money to create the wedding day that you’ve always dreamed of, but sometimes you have to spend money in order to actually SAVE money.
I know it sounds counterintuitive, so let me explain:
When you hire a wedding planner, you’re getting someone on your side that has your best interest at heart – with a big thing being your budget.
Most wedding planners understand that you don’t have unlimited funds and they make it their mission to help you bring your vision to life without draining the bank. They can professionally guide you on what areas can be skipped or DIY’ed and what actually needs to be hired out or bought. (I actually have a whole blog post on my opinion for this!)
Additionally, they often have access to exclusive vendor discounts that you wouldn’t be able to obtain otherwise.
Not to mention, hiring a wedding planner can ensure that things are done efficiently and correctly the first time, which can help you avoid costly mistakes or last-minute fixes that can skyrocket your budget even more.
And the cherry on top of it all is that investing in a wedding planner is also an investment into how you remember this season of life – what could potentially be a season of stress and chaos could easily turn into a season of joy and excitement with the right person by your side!
4. Time Savings
In addition to money savings, let’s talk about your TIME! ⏰
From the moment you get engaged, planning a wedding can quickly become overwhelming. With hundreds of decisions to make – choosing vendors, touring venues, managing guest lists, designing décor, and coordinating logistics – it can feel like a full-time job.
And the only problem with that is that it’s probably NOT your full-time job! As a bride-to-be, you also have a normal life to continue living, so choosing to plan your wedding on your own can take up a big chunk of your time and add a lot of stress that really isn’t necessary.
A professional wedding planner can take the bulk of those responsibilities off your plate.
And no, this doesn’t mean that you have to delegate ALL of the planning! I often find that many couples want to have a hand in certain parts of the planning process because they find it fun and enjoyable.
Hiring a wedding planner doesn’t mean that you have to be completely hands off. Together, you can work with your planner to decide what you’re going to handle and what you want them to take off your plate.
It can truly be the best of both worlds! In fact, this is the very reason that I have a number of different services for my couples to choose from, so that you can hand pick what works best for you.
Overall, regardless of the service that you choose to invest in with Planning Forever, you can expect for the process to be streamlined and to gain hours of your time back to focus on what’s most important to YOU!
5. Creative Vision and Personalization
Chances are you’ve been adding to your wedding Pinterest board since before you even started dating. You’ve probably imagined what your wedding day would be like for years - what style of dress you would wear, the color scheme, who would be in your wedding, what type of venue it would be at, etc.
And the time has finally come to really bring that to life. While Pinterest can be really amazing to help you create a vision, it also can be extremely unrealistic.
For example, you might want a champagne wall at your reception because you saw it on Pinterest, until you find out that that champagne wall costs $2k to rent… without the champagne. 😅
From there you might go down a DIY rabbit hole to see how you (aka your husband or your dad) can make one instead. And while I’m all for a good do-it-yourself project, things like this can become just as costly and can take up so much of your time that could be spent on other things.
When you have a wedding planner helping you bring your vision to life, we can help you find budget-friendly alternatives to certain parts of your wedding and make sure that everything you want flows together smoothly instead of being randomly thrown together.
Is Hiring a Wedding Planner Worth It To YOU?
So, the question isn’t, “is hiring a wedding planner really worth it?”
The question is: “is hiring a wedding planner worth it to YOU?”
Everyone values different things when it comes to the wedding planning process and I can’t be the one to answer the question of is it worth it – because of course I think so.
But you might say otherwise!
However, if you value:
✔️ your time
✔️your money
✔️your sanity
Then I have a strong feeling you’ll find that YES, hiring a wedding planner is totally worth it.
And remember: simply hiring a planner doesn’t mean that you’re handing over the reins to your entire day.
You still get a say in what happens and you can still have a hand in certain parts of the process if that’s what you really want!
Because after all, it’s YOUR day and you should be the one determining how involved you are.
So, if you’ve decided that hiring a wedding planner is worth it to YOU, then I’d love to meet you. CLICK HERE to connect and see which service best fits your personal scenario.
Here’s to you! 🥂