Do You Actually Need a Wedding Planner?
Here’s How to Know
You get engaged, start planning your wedding, and somewhere along the way, someone is probably going to ask:
“Did you hire a wedding planner?”
And suddenly you're wondering… Wait. Am I supposed to?
The answer is: maybe.
A wedding planner can be an incredible investment, and for some couples, having one is absolutely the right decision.
But does every couple need a full-service wedding planner?
No.
First, Figure Out What You Actually Need
Before you start looking for a planner, take a minute, breathe, and think about what you're actually looking for help with.
Do you want someone to find and communicate with your vendors?
Manage your budget?
Keep track of your contracts and payments?
Help make design decisions?
Build your timeline?
Tell you what you should be doing each month?
Or maybe you don't need someone to do those things for you, but you just need a better way to keep everything organized.
Would having one place to keep track of your budget, guest list, timeline and a checklist customized specifically to your wedding make the process feel a whole lot more manageable?
Or do you mostly feel confident planning everything yourself, but occasionally find yourself thinking...
“Okay... what am I forgetting?”
Those are all very different needs.
And they don't necessarily require the same solution.
Sometimes you need someone to take the reins. Sometimes you need guidance. And sometimes you just need the right tools and a little organization to make planning feel a lot less overwhelming.
When a Full-Service Wedding Planner Makes Sense
There are absolutely situations where we think a full-service wedding planner is worth every penny.
If you have a demanding schedule and simply don't have the time to manage wedding planning, a planner can take a huge amount off your plate.
The same goes for weddings with complicated logistics, multiple locations, a large number of vendors, destination weddings, extensive design elements or venues where practically everything needs to be brought in.
You might also simply not want to plan a wedding.
And that's completely okay.
Not everybody finds researching photographers, comparing contracts and staring at floor plans at 11:00 at night fun. 😂
If you'd rather tell someone what you want and have them help make it happen, full-service planning may be exactly what you need.
But What If You Want to Plan Your Wedding?
Maybe you actually want to plan your own wedding.
You want to choose your vendors, make the decisions, pick out the details and be involved in creating your day.
But that doesn't mean you have to know how or even want to do every single part of it.
Maybe you're great at keeping track of your budget but have absolutely no idea how to create a wedding-day timeline.
Maybe you've loved choosing your vendors and designing your wedding, but the thought of figuring out a floor plan and seating chart makes your head spin.
Or maybe you're perfectly happy handling most of the planning yourself, but you want someone to look at everything and make sure you haven't missed something important.
That's okay too.
Planning your own wedding doesn't have to mean doing everything on your own.
You can be completely in control of your wedding while still getting help with the pieces you don't know how to do, don't feel confident doing, or simply don't want to deal with.
And honestly, that's where we found ourselves.
We didn't need someone making our decisions or planning the entire wedding for us. We needed guidance with certain pieces and someone who could look at the bigger picture and say:
“You've got this part handled. Here's what you need to focus on next.”
There's a big difference between:
“I don't want to plan my wedding.”
and
“I want to plan my wedding, but I just don't know how to do every part of it.”
And you shouldn't have to hire someone to take over the entire process just because you need help with a few pieces.
Wait… Doesn't My Venue Have a Coordinator?
This is another big one, because it's something we learned firsthand.
Our venue included a coordinator.
And venue coordinators can be AMAZING.
But a venue coordinator and a wedding planner aren't necessarily doing the same job.
Your venue coordinator is primarily responsible for everything happening at the venue; the things your venue has promised to provide and the logistics surrounding their space.
Exactly what they handle will depend on your venue, which is why it's so important to ask.
Some venue coordinators are incredibly involved. Others have a much more limited role.
So before hiring additional help, find out exactly what your venue already includes.
You may realize you need a full planner.
Or you may realize you already have more support than you thought.
Don't Hire Someone Just Because You Think You're “Supposed To”
This is probably the biggest thing we learned from our own experience.
We hired a wedding planner because, at the time, it felt like part of planning a wedding.
Big wedding = wedding planner.
Except we ended up doing most of the legwork ourselves.
We found our vendors. We communicated with them. We reviewed our contracts. We created our own floor plan. We made the decisions.
Was it overwhelming sometimes?
Absolutely.
But looking back, the problem wasn't that we needed someone to do all of those things for us.
We needed someone who could look at everything we had already done and say:
“You're good. Here's what you need to worry about next.”
And Please Don't Let a Generic Checklist Decide for You
If you've Googled anything about wedding planning, you've probably already found one.
The Ultimate Wedding Planning Checklist!
Listen, they can be a great starting point; however, your wedding isn't generic.
Maybe you're planning for two years.
Maybe you're planning for six months.
Maybe your venue includes tables, chairs, catering and linens.
Maybe your venue gives you four walls and wishes you the best of luck. 😂
Maybe you're having 50 guests.
Maybe you're having 250.
Those couples shouldn't all be following the exact same checklist.
A checklist can't automatically know what you've already booked, what's included with your venue, what your vendors are handling or what actually applies to your wedding.
That's why we believe wedding planning should start with your wedding, not somebody else's timeline.
So… Do You Need a Wedding Planner?
Ask yourselves:
Do we have the time to plan this?
Do we actually want to be involved in planning?
How much does our venue already handle?
Are we comfortable researching and communicating with vendors ourselves?
Are the logistics of our wedding relatively straightforward or complicated?
Do we need someone to do the planning, or do we need someone to guide us through it?
If your answer is, “Please, somebody else handle this,” a full-service planner could be one of the best investments you make.
If your answer is, “We can do this ourselves, we just need some help knowing what to do and when,” you may not need full-service planning.
You may just need guidance.
And if you're somewhere in between?
That's completely normal too.
There Isn't One Right Way to Plan a Wedding
That's really the point.
Hiring a wedding planner isn't automatically the right choice.
Not hiring one isn't automatically the right choice either.
The right amount of help is the amount that makes sense for your wedding, your budget, your schedule and the experience you want to have while planning it.
Because at the end of the day, you shouldn't be paying for help you don't need.
But you also shouldn't spend your entire engagement completely overwhelmed just because you think you're supposed to figure everything out yourself.
There's a whole lot of space between those two options.
And sometimes, finding that middle ground is exactly what you need. 🤍
So… Where Should You Start?
If you're still sitting there thinking, “Okay, but do we need a wedding planner or not?” you don't have to make that decision just yet.
If you already have your venue booked, start there.
Talk to your venue and find out exactly what coordination services are included if any at all.
Do they provide a day-of coordinator?
What does that person actually handle?
When do they become involved?
Will they communicate with your outside vendors?
Will they help with your timeline and onsite ceremony?
Don't just ask whether they have a coordinator; ask what's actually included with their coordinator.
You may realize your venue already provides a lot of the support you thought you'd need to hire separately.
If you haven't booked your venue yet, you have a little more homework to do.
You can absolutely research venues yourself, but if you're already feeling overwhelmed, consider finding a planner or wedding consultant who offers à la carte services and can help you with just the venue search rather than committing to a full planning package right away.
There's actually a big benefit to doing it this way.
You get a chance to work with that person and see if you like their style, communication and approach before making a much larger investment. At the same time, you can find out exactly what coordination and planning support is included with the venue you ultimately choose.
Once you know what your venue handles, you'll have a much clearer picture of what's still missing.
Then decide what kind of help you actually need.
Maybe that's a full-service planner.
Maybe it's a day-of coordinator.
Maybe it's help with your timeline, floor plan or seating chart.
Maybe you just need someone to guide you along the way.
Or maybe you realize you've got this completely under control.
You don't have to decide how much help you need before you even know what help you already have. 🤍
— Alexandra & Anthony