In our previous post we asked some questions of a professional wedding planner. This is the follow up to that interview.

Q. Is there anything you can’t help a wedding couple with?

A. There’s nothing we can’t help with. In our boutique, for example, we even have wedding dresses that brides can either purchase or rent, and we can get our hands on pretty much anything a bride might want to wear. We have invitations and any other paper products that might be needed. We have arches and all types of decorations as well. We don’t have bridesmaids dresses or tuxedos, but we can put them on order for the wedding party.

Q. Can you handle two weddings on the same day?

A. Our boutique has enough people where, if there’s no wedding that’s going to be larger than normal, we can actually handle 3 weddings at once. We have people who have been trained to help out if we need extra hands and we trust every one of them. We’re lucky that we don’t have to make the food or drive the limos; all we have to do is supervise everything that goes on most of the time.

Q. Do you have favorites you like to work with in all areas?

A. We have multiple favorites, which works out well because there are so many weddings as certain times of the year that it’s hard to guarantee that you’d be able to work with specific people every week. We have a list of photographers, florists, reception halls, caterers… you name it we have them listed. We have a ratings system as well that helps us make sure we get the right person to an event. For instance, some photographers have teams of people that will help them cover a large wedding, so we would contact them as opposed to an individual photographer. Some caterers make everything in their homes, which works fine for many weddings, but a large wedding would need caterers that can put out a lot of food. Every once in awhile we get special food requests, so we also have a few gourmet and exotic food caterers on the list as well.

Q. Are there people you won’t handle?

A. I think the show Bridezilla highlights a lot of bad behavior that, in real life, a lot of wedding planners aren’t going to put up with. We have a behavior clause built into our contracts, and we collect a 50% deposit up front. If either member of the wedding party exhibits bad behavior, we address it early and give them the option of finding someone else and our keeping 25%, or being warned, as nicely as possible, that the next breach will result in our walking away and not refunding anything. We have rarely had to give any money back, and we’re also realistic enough to realize that on the wedding day a bride might be under a lot of stress, and therefore we tend to give a little leeway on that day. Outside of that, if the client can afford our fee, we’ll represent them.

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.