Today we welcome Briana Cannon, owner of Yenuh B. Event Planning, as our very first guest blogger to continue our series on planning your wedding. Enjoy! And let us know what you think in the comment section below. :)
By Briana Cannon, owner of Yenuh B. Event Planning
As you sit and marvel at your gorgeous engagement ring you realize a ticking time clock just went off in your mind - you have to plan a wedding! Don’t panic. Yes, you may start to feel overwhelmed as cake, flowers, guest list, music, entertainment and [gasp] the dress swirl through your mind, but that is okay. Feeling overwhelmed is a normal symptom for the newly engaged! So what do you do next? Well, you can hire a wedding coordinator to help you plan your amazing day or you can visit your local bookstore, library or wedding website and start the planning yourself. In the beginning you may think a wedding coordinator is the best way to go, so here are a few things to consider before you hire one for your wedding.
Cost
In today’s tough economy, brides can’t easily take advantage of all the luxuries wedding planning has to offer such as hiring a wedding coordinator. Wedding coordinators, also referred to event planners, are people that assist brides and grooms in the planning of their wedding for a fee. The fee for a wedding coordinator depends on what type of service you want them to provide. There are 3 basic types of coordination service available:
1.
Full Service Coordination: Full service coordination is assistance from start to finish and everything in between. It usually begins by first helping the bride and groom make a wedding budget to know how much to spend on the details of the wedding like invitations, cake, the reception and entertainment. The coordinator will then help with everything from finding venues to assistance with vendors for invitations, cake, flowers, music, entertainment, photography and even guest list RSVP. The benefit of full service coordination is that you have a wedding professional helping you throughout every step of the way and it alleviates a lot of stress and time. Costs vary between coordinators, but full service coordination generally starts around $4,500 and some coordinators charge a percentage of the total budget.
2.
Day-of-Coordination: Day-of Coordination is assistance by a wedding coordinator for just the day of your wedding. It usually consists of a couple meetings prior to the wedding and then full coordination of vendors and set-up for the wedding day. A bride and groom should not have to make sure the cake and flowers arrived on time. Leave that stress to the professionals! Again, costs vary between coordinators, but you can usually book day-of coordination for under $2,500.
3.
A la Carte Coordination: A la Carte Coordination is assistance for when you need help with just a few things. For example, you can hire a coordinator to help with invitation design and RSVP organization, he or she can assist with securing well known vendors for your cake, music and venue or they can assist with the design and color scheme of the reception. The options are limitless and prices vary by project.
Budget
What is your budget? You may not know how much money you should spend on a wedding cake or flowers, but you should know how much money you’ve set aside to pay for your wedding. Also, please do not go into debt for a celebrity inspired 4-tier wedding cake that you may not even get to eat on your wedding day. Only spend what you know you can afford and set a budget. Parents and family members may want to help out as well, so talk to them before you start planning anything. Wedding coordinators are somewhat of a luxury, so if you have $10,000 to spend on your wedding, then full service coordination may not be the smartest expense. Instead, think about a la carte coordination or enlisting all of those family members and friends that said, “Just let me know if you need any help with the planning!” Here is a special tip: Work with wedding coordinators that are newer to the business. They will usually discount their fees to gain more clients and you can often get great attentive service.
Vision
What is your vision? Do you want a beautiful fairytale wedding with all the bells and whistles? If so, it’s a great idea to hire a professional wedding coordinator because they will help you get the most bang for your buck. Their experience and industry relationships will help make your dreams come true. Do you want something very small and simply? If so, you can probably pull it off yourself with a few friends and family to help. Do you have no idea what you want and feel like you need as much guidance as possible? If so, a wedding coordinator would be a great to help bring your wedding all together! Just make sure you can afford it.
Time
The most important thing to have when planning a wedding is time. If you are too busy to talk flowers, cake and shades of pink, then the extra help from a wedding coordinator is a must. They can take care of setting appointments and making sure the planning process is timely and organized. On the other hand, if you are very organized and can spare a couple hours a day to plan all of the small and big details you can save some money and not hire a wedding coordinator or just consider some a la carte wedding coordination.
Lastly, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends, and even fathers can be your personal wedding coordinators. The key is to delegate, delegate and delegate some more. The weight of planning doesn’t have to fall to just you and your beloved, sometimes all the help you need is just a phone call home.
Yenuh B. Event Planning
“Because you cared enough to plan…”
Blessings, Christine Lee Smith 1 (888) 810-4322 | info @ clsphotography.com Los Angeles | Orange County | Long Beach | California Available for travel.
Labels: Wedding Tip or Trick of the Week
