Interview Questions to Ask A Wedding Planner
Having been a wedding consultant for the bulk of my career, I have to say that we are not a luxury, rather a necessity. Who else has the experience to handle a crisis or two on event day? Who is supposed to make sure that all your vendors are on time and communicate any last minute changes on the itinerary to the vendors? Wedding planners take on the bulk of the stress of wedding day, so that you can enjoy yourself. You absolutely want to consider what help you will need during your wedding weekend, and what type of Wedding Planner is the best fit.
There are a few different planning options:
- Wedding Planner vs. Consultant. A Wedding Planner is a bit different than a Consultant, much like a Decorator is different than a Designer. A Planner does just that, they plan, they make sure that things are where they are supposed to be based on the guidelines you provide, they execute tasks. Whereas, a Wedding Consultant, is much more involved throughout the process. Having said this, the terms are used interchangeably, but you must understand the role and function of each and determine which best suits your needs. Consultants rarely take on the role of just “day-of” services because their involvement is critical throughout the planning process.
- Wedding Planner vs. Wedding Coordinator differ in that one offers full service and the other provides “day-of” services only. While I do not believe that ANY human being can show up on event day and magically be expected to know what you want, understand that if you hire a wedding day coordinator – conversations with them should start about 2-3 months before your wedding date. Also important, is for them to have copies of contracts and to finalize your itinerary together. If they do not allot time for this work, don’t bother hiring them, save the money and ask friends to fill that role for you 🙂
- DIY. Many couples choose to do it themselves. They search for services online, ask friends and family for referrals and help, etc. This is a very challenging way to go, but definitely manageable if you have the time and resources available.
- Online Wedding Planning. Smart Brides work with desiweds.com to simplify the planning process, and may choose to hire a consultant or coordinator to work alongside them or to execute on wedding day.
Now that you know the differences, here are some important questions to ask before signing a contract.
How many weddings do you do in a typical weekend?
How many people from your team should we expect on event day?
Who will be my primary point of contact and what is the best form of communication with that individual?
Who is your ideal client?
What are the specific services you provide?
When helping me select vendors, do you have a preferred list or how does that work? Do you have a limit on the number of vendors your provide me per category?
Have you had experience at the venue you are looking at or same style of space?
What should I expect in regards to you handling vendors, contracts and payments?
What is the most unique wedding (or intimate wedding or traditional wedding or whatever is important to you as a couple) that you have organized?
What is the biggest disaster you have faced and how did you handle it?
Will you set up things that I may have for wedding day, like reserved signs, pictures, etc.
What are your fees and how do we handle payments? Are there extra fees outside of your services or do you get kickbacks from vendors?
What you are looking for with these questions is to find someone that you are compatible with and that has an organizational style that will work with your needs and personality. For instance, some wedding professionals are like to write everything down on paper and keep binders, while others like to have everything digitally, keeping everything in the cloud or on their computer. Aside from their organizational style, you want someone whose design aesthetic is in line with yours. Lastly, if you are hosting a luxury wedding, you definitely want someone with experience in that arena. The most important element in my honest opinion is trust. This is why trust is at the core of what we do here at DesiWeds. You are planning a very important event, or multiple events, and you want someone that is looking out for your best interests to guide you through the process.
