What Happens When You Don’t Hire a Planner

A planner can ensure that everything is in place. Photo by hannahelaine photography (hannahelaine.com).

You’re planning a wedding, or any large event, and you’re thinking of hiring a planner, or at least a day-of coordinator.  But you’re also wondering if it’s really worth paying all that money when there will be nothing to show for it.  After all, when you hire a florist, you get beautiful flowers; when you hire a caterer, there’s delicious food.  But when you hire a planner, what do you get?

Let’s look at that question in reverse:  What do you get when you don’t hire a planner?

I’m in a lot of online groups for wedding vendors, and one thing I see happening constantly is musicians and florists and hair stylists asking the group to recommend other vendors.  Just today, a musician was trying to help out her client by asking for recommendations for flowers, uplighting, and a chuppah.  Now, a musician is no expert on those vendors.  But a planner is.  If the couple had hired a planner or coordinator–like, say, me–they would have the benefit of my extensive vendor list at no additional charge.  But because they haven’t hired a planner (yet), it takes much longer to get recommendations.

There have been occasions when I have been hired very close to the wedding day, when most of the major decisions have been made already.  There’s nothing really wrong with that, but if I had been hired early and had input into those decisions, I might have helped my clients make better or easier decisions.  In this case, what my clients didn’t get was expertise to make their planning process easier.

And, of course, if you don’t hire a day-of coordinator at all, what happens?  Someone has to do the work that a coordinator does on the wedding day:  putting out place cards, making sure the tables are set properly, starting the processional on time, keeping photographers informed, alerting people making toasts, adjusting the temperature, calling cabs…and so on.  If you don’t hire a professional, who will do all the things I do?  Either you will press one of your guests into service or wheedle a vendor whose job it isn’t to do them, or they just won’t get done.

These are just a few examples of what happens when you don’t hire a planner. And just because they are intangible doesn’t mean they aren’t important.  Sometimes, the things you can’t see are the most important ones of all.