After you celebrate the joy of being engaged, your next step will likely be diving into the world of wedding planning. There’s so much to do, learn, and explore! And, this step should feel exciting and fun. You’re planning a celebration after all! While you’re researching wonderful wedding professionals and next steps, one specific question may cross your mind…
Can we afford a wedding planner?
The answer to this question is not a simple yes or no. Instead, like many things you will uncover while planning your Colorado soiree, there are complexities. So, I thought I would dig into the ones I hear the most (there are three!) to offer helpful insight from my perspective as a wedding professional who plans multiple weddings each year.
Every Couple’s Must-Haves are Different:
One of the first steps you should take as you start to plan your wedding is to create a wedding budget. This will help you to keep tabs on those who are contributing financially toward your wedding day, how much you collectively plan to spend, and how you would like to allocate your funds. That final piece – how you will allocate your funds – is particularly important because it’s a choice that’s totally up to you.
After your budget is set and before you begin contacting wedding professionals, consider deciding on the top 3-5 areas in which you want to spend more of your wedding budget. These will be things that feel important to you. Consider food, photography, venue, florals, videography, and…planning!
If hiring a planner feels ideal and important to you, you will find yourself eager to allocate a portion of your budget toward working with a great professional. In this sense, you can definitely afford to work with a wedding planner! It’s all in how you choose to spend your wedding budget.
Wedding Planners Can Save You Money:
A question that surfaces often is whether or not a wedding planner can save you money. The go-to thought for many couples is that planners must be receiving discounted rates to work with their preferred wedding professionals. While this is sometimes true, it’s not something couples are wise to count on because planners and couples are often all being quoted the same prices. What is true, however, is wedding planners plan multiple weddings each year. With all of that planning comes a ton of knowledge!
Because most couples are planning a largescale event for the first time, they simply don’t know the ins and outs quite like a planner, which is understandable and expected. But, when you don’t know how the industry works because you’re new, you’re more likely to overspend in areas that don’t require it. When a wedding planner steps in and guides you through the process, costly mistakes become something that no longer need to be on your radar because a planner can easily advise how to best spend your budget (think: venue, stationery, linens, florals, food, drinks, favors, and more).
In this case, again, a wedding planner is something you can afford!
Wedding Planning Is A Fulltime Job
Planning your wedding should feel fun and exciting; however, it’s also important to realize that planning an event for friends and family also will inevitably involve a certain level of stress and time commitment. If you thrive in situations where you’re making all of the decisions, curating the details, constantly being the point of contact, AND have several hours per week to dedicate to the task, planning your own wedding may be ideal. But, for couples who would prefer to fully enjoy the process and experience much less stress because they’re not in charge or responsible for doing all the research and making every single decision (big and small), working with a wedding planner might be the better way to go.
Planners have contacts they’re eager to work with, they know when every to-do must be completed, and they’ll be the point of contact throughout the process. That means your plate will be much more manageable, which will allow you to enjoy your engagement season. It’s also important to note your family and friends want to enjoy your wedding day, which means they don’t want to become the point of contact for your vendors, nor do they want to witness you stressed about the details.
Simply put, experiencing your wedding day stress-free and present is worth it.
Deciding how to allocate your wedding budget is a decision that’s entirely up to you, but I will say those who opt to work with a planner are rarely (if ever!) disappointed. There’s definitely something to be said about being present for the process!
Are you planning a Colorado wedding day? I cannot wait to learn more about your celebration and how we can best become a team!