Last week we had the opportunity to talk to a wedding planner about some of the things they encounter with their clients. Here’s a portion of that conversation.
Q. It must be something working with wedding couples of all types. What do you believe many of them expect in working with you?
A. Unfortunately, sometimes what they expect and what the reality is doesn’t match up. They sometimes want you to do everything from getting the church and the reception hall and ordering the bridesmaids dresses and getting the limos and all the other things that make up a wonderful wedding. We can do that part. What they also want is for all of that to come in under certain dollar amounts, and that’s when problems occur.
Q. Can you give us an example?
A. Depending on the area, it can cost anywhere between $20,000 and $50,000 to put a wedding together. We include our flat fee into the estimate so we’re not going to be under any restrictions that keep us from doing everything we can to make the wedding day perfect. Because we like charging a flat fee, sometimes couples believe that fee gets them everything they can think of. Although we have plenty of contacts, it still costs a lot of money to get everything you want. Unless a couple has unlimited resources, they’re just not going to get everything they want.
Q. What’s a typical wedding day like for you?
A. There’s no such thing as a typical day. It all depends on what a client decides they want. We can be a part of only the wedding or we can be a part of the entire day. At a recent wedding, one of us started the morning at 8AM with the bride while someone else was at the church by 10AM. The reception was held in a large field, so we had to set that up as well. We were also responsible for cleaning everything up; we didn’t get finished until around 2AM.
Q. That sounds like a long day. I assume that’s a day where you were responsible for everything across the board?
A. Yes, exactly. We booked everyone and everything except the location of the reception, as the family owned the land. We reached out to our entire network of specialists, which is something wedding planners are lucky to have. Of course, this was also one of those times when the family had enough money for us to get them everything they wanted, as they had over 300 guests coming. Everything was in place a month before the wedding, and lucky for us, nothing went wrong, including the weather.
To see more of this interview, click on part two.
