OVERVIEW
Planning a wedding takes time and money, sometimes a lot. To help you save some of both a good solution is to hire a wedding planner. So how do we choose one?
If you were building a house would you select electricians, plumbers, carpenters etc. and turn them loose and hope for the best? Without overall guidance by the owner and or contractor and a written contract the house would be a disaster and yet many people plan their wedding just as described in the example above. One wedding can have a seven course meal costing well over £20,000, while another wedding will have unique features, a great caterer and DJ and will not cost more than £12,000. There is one thing which is for sure on every event: IT PROBABLY WILL NOT HAPPEN EXACTLY AS YOU PLANNED!
HOW TO SELECT PLANNING GUIDES
To start your wedding planning process you need to generate the overall concept of your wedding. You can do this through friends and weddings you have attended plus your own ideas. Supplement these ideas with a wedding guide containing "Creative Wedding Ideas". You can find many of these online. The next step is to determine how much money you have to spend on the wedding. Be realistic when you determine the Pound amount. Another wedding planning guide you will need is a budget related planner and JUST AS IMPORTANTLY ONE THAT EXPLAINS HOW TO CONTROL YOUR BUDGET. Finally you will need a planning guide that will demonstrate how to write contracts/proposals so you can ensure that your event happens as planned and what to do when they don't.
PLANNING PROCESS:
Planning a wedding or major event can be a complex and time consuming process. Fortunately, even complex tasks such as wedding planning can be broken down into smaller segments and the expense and performance element of each can then be more easily controlled. This is why you need a professional and experienced planner to coordinate your event. Before you meet your wedding planner spend some time visualising each element necessary to create your dream wedding. The following outline will assist in this process:
1. Ideas for event
a. Theme and any unique aspects of your event.
b. Think about what you want to accomplish i.e. setting, ambience, and theme.
c. Decide how many and who to invite.
d. Type service (sit down or buffet), music (DJ, Musician or Band), transportation and where to sleep the night (hotel, home, flight to honeymoon) etc.
e. BUDGET: Not a glamorous subject but it controls all aspects of a, b, c, & d. Start thinking of priorities in case you cannot afford everything (for example entertainment, food, location).
2. Organizing
a. Finally making your choices within your budget and documenting the costs, services and other performance elements such as:
1.Negotiating price and performance standards: one of the best highlights of hiring a wedding planner is having better prices and discounts. since the wedding planner is connected in the industry and knows how to obtain better vendors for a good price, you can work within your set budget and save money for the honeymoon.
2. Ensuring that your exact specifications are stated in enforceable contracts. This is where most event problems originate. Written communication is the key. Good detailed written contracts benefit both the client and vendor as all misunderstanding is eliminated prior to contract signing and more importantly prior to the wedding. Remember most vendors conduct many events per week and without written detail, SOMETHING WILL BE FORGOTTEN. Your wedding planner is there to make everything happen on time and as guaranteed.
The topics we just covered are only the tip of the iceberg but it will give you a feel of the process required for a successful event. Your results are directly related to the amount of effort you put into the process, the level of detail, and communicating exactly through written contracts with your vendors.
As you can see this is a very complex task, but relax, now that you have a wedding planner he or she will be there, with you, on every step to make sure your requirements are fulfilled.
Now sit back and enjoy planning the happiest day of your life so far
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