Wedding Planners are not just for the rich or big budget weddings!

I know what you may think - that wedding planners are only for the rich or people who have a large wedding budget. In truth, that is an inaccurate assumption. I posted an entry about when to use a wedding planner (on February 20th) and not one of the reasons were based on how much money you have available for your wedding.

I have a client who has a TOTAL wedding budget of $12,000 - this includes my fee, the wedding dress, shoes, attendant gifts, everything. While that is not a small dollar amount, keep in mind that the average wedding budget is $26,000 (nationally, for Colorado it's approximately $31,000 - see my March 28th post). I know lots of people have budgets under $10,000.

In any case, wedding planners, at least I am, in particular, even MORE help with those who have limited budgets. A wedding planner's services are as valuable to the $12K budget as they are to the $50K budget. In fact, their services are MORE valuable - it's easy to spend more money, harder to spend less. Keeping clients within their budgets is key and very difficult...when it comes to weddings, I've yet to meet a bride that didn't have champagne taste even on a beer budget.

Weddings are expensive and when you've never been married, you have no idea how so.

I can't tell you how many times I hear from a bride that she wants a tent wedding - a tent wedding is tres expensive. The rental of the tent and the labor to put it up and take it down is not cheap, and then with a tent wedding you have to rent EVERYTHING - tables, linens, chairs, plates, silverware, glasses, a bar, a dancefloor, lighting (for evening), etc.

A bride's bouquet - the trendy no greenery rose nosegay can run $150 and up. The typical would be more like $250 - depending on the florist, the style of rose, the quality of roses,etc.

A guest list of 200 is going to cost you at least $5,000 to feed - and that's on the cheap end. The average would be more like $7,000. I see lots of people who have a budget of less than $10K that want to have 200 guests - it may be possible but it will require a lot of sacrifices that the bride and groom may not be willing to make!

With a smaller budget, the bride & groom need more advice on finding great vendors within their means, money saving tips, and typically, they do more themselves. My full service package is unlimited hours - so if you're saving money by making your own favors...well, I could be doing that labor for you!

So, back to my $12K clients. They came to me mid-April wanting to get married July 1st. Not only did they need to plan a wedding in 2 1/2 months - they were both working full time, buying a house (and moving into it) and the bride also had school...they definitely needed someone to work all the details. I set up all their appointments, I ran errands for them - such as buying their unity candle, tapers and candle holders and was at virtually every appointment with the bride. In some cases, on items that they didn't care about, such as their escort cards, I arranged to have the invitation designer create a seating board for them. I also managed their budget - they told me their budget and I found vendors and options based on their priorities that fit within their budget.

They gave me a check for their budget and I made all the deposits and payments to their vendors for them. I also managed the scheduling - telling them when we needed to get things done and making sure we got them done, whether it was me or them (their preference) who did each task. I reminded them when they needed to get their tux measurements in, booked their group hotel rooms and released them at the deadline (in most cases if you don't release your excess rooms by the deadline you get charged).

While the bride & groom still needed (and wanted) to make decisions on invitations, flowers and such, I took a lot of the time and stress out of it - they made a decision, but didn't have to make the calls, the arrangements, or the payments and all the other related details involved.

There is not a chance this couple will tell you my services were not worth the fee, even considering the size of their budget.

I've had several clients that came to me because the groom or the mother of the bride convinced the bride she needed help. These are people that care deeply about the bride and know that planning a wedding is stressful and don't want the bride to bear the pain, and be able to enjoy the process and have fun.

I respect a groom who encourages his bride to get a wedding planner - it really says something about the love they have for their fiance and shows they truly care about her welfare. Wanting your bride to be happy and stressfree during the planning is considerate and it's also really smart - the stress of wedding planning puts tension in even the best of relationships!

If, given all this, you still don't want a wedding planner, that's ok...I have another alternative to you - in the fall (starting in September), I'll be teaching a "I DO it yourself" Wedding Class. For 8 weeks I'll spend two hours a week at the gorgeous Garden of the Gods club with a group of 10 couples walking them through the wedding planning process. Each week we'll cover different topics that will give the guidance needed to do your own work in planning each step - it's a great alternative to hiring a wedding planner, but still getting the advice and guidance of one at a reduced price! I'll be posting information about the class in the next month on my website at www.MoonriverWeddings.com if you're interested - or post a comment (my comments are set to private) with your email address if you'd like the information emailed to you.

Happy Planning!

-Melissa

www.MoonriverWeddings.com