As we walked into the venue to set up our lighting, about an hour before the wedding day excitement began to unfold, the wedding planner greeted us with a warm smile and huge hug. Joy filled my veins and yes my heart was going pitter patter with happiness. I get excited when our couples choose to have a wedding planner. It makes the day so much smoother behind the scenes yielding a fabulous wedding day for our couples and their beloved guest.

I do realize that having a professional wedding planner adds to the already large cost of the wedding day, but trust me they are so worth it! If you are a bit iffy on hiring a wedding planner or not here are a few questions to ask yourself. If you don’t see yourself being able to say yes with excitement to all these questions I would really consider getting a professional wedding planner. And please know this is not to scare you but to really give you a good idea of what is in store for planning your beautiful day. I was in your shoes, I was a bride before I was a professional wedding photographer.

1.) Do you love planning big events + parties? 
Planing your wedding day is really planning a well orchestrated event with all the timing laid out beautifully. Followed by a huge party with you being the host, responsible for all the food, entertainment and atmosphere at that party. If thinking of all this makes you cringe, then let a professional wedding planner do this for you. Let them host, let them be responsible for the food, let them keep the entertainment on track and let them make sure the atmosphere is exactly what you dreamed of.

2.) Are you detailed oriented?
Details, details, details and then reviewing more details. For every wedding we are so blessed to shoot there has always been at the least 6 vendors, usually more upwards of 10+. From the florist, dress designer, hair dresser, makeup artist to the venue, baker, caterer, DJ and the list goes on. All of these vendors need details, designs and your vision to make your wedding day come to life. They will also need to review these details with you several times before your wedding day. With a professional wedding planner you can tell them your dream vision then let them relay this vision to all your vendors and go over details several times.

3.) Are you available during the day (while at work) to take phone calls from vendors and to meet with vendors during your lunch breaks for an hour or more?
Most wedding vendors have the same business hours as you making it very tricky to take phone calls and meet to discuss details. A big portion of a professional wedding planners day consists of taking these calls and going to these meetings for you.

4.) Is planning a schedule and keeping things on time your forte? 
If not, a planner is so helpful here. The day of your wedding they make sure a schedule is laid out and everything is on time. And if for some reason things happen to throw the timeline off there is no need to panic, a wedding planner knows how to stay calm and get things back on track with quick thinking and reflexes.

5.) Are you very organized and legal verbiage savvy?
Planning a wedding takes an obscene amount of organization, from the save the dates and invitations to color coordinating and seating charts. And on top of that contracts out the wazoo. If you don’t understand legal verbiage, contracts, florist and banquet event orders a wedding planner is a humongous help in this department. They understand it all and can walk you through it.  They also explain wedding etiquette when it comes to who to tip or not tip on your wedding day.

I hope this help you make your decision on wedding planner or no wedding planner a little easier. Oh and one very important side note, having a wedding planner frees you up to be in love with your fiancé.