Do I Need a Wedding Planner? Understanding What Kind of Help You Actually Need.
One of the first things couples discover about wedding planning is just how many decisions are involved. Venue. Photographer. DJ. Catering. Florals. Décor. Timeline. Transportation. Guest list. Seating. And somehow you’re supposed to make all of those decisions while continuing to live your normal life.
Eventually, many couples ask the same question: do we need a wedding planner?
My answer after nearly 20 years in weddings is simple: maybe.
That isn’t avoiding the question. Every couple needs a different level of help.
A great wedding planner can be worth their weight in gold. If you’re extremely busy, planning from another state, hosting a complicated event, working with a lot of moving pieces or simply don’t want to manage hundreds of details yourself, full-service planning can be an incredible investment. Great planners bring organization, relationships, experience and problem-solving ability to the table.
For the right couple, I will recommend a planner all day long.
But there is another group of couples we see constantly. They actually enjoy planning. They want to choose the details. They’re comfortable managing a budget and making decisions. Their biggest challenge is not planning the wedding. It’s figuring out who to hire.
That is a completely different problem.
You may not need someone managing the entire planning process. You may simply need an experienced person who can listen to what you want and say, “Based on everything you just told me, here are the people I think you should meet.”
Preferred vendor lists can be useful, but imagine receiving a list containing six photographers, five DJs, four florists, five caterers and three videographers. You’ve narrowed the field, but you still have 23 businesses to research. You still have to determine style, pricing, availability, personality and fit.
Sometimes couples don’t need more choices. They need help making better ones.
That’s the gap RM Wed Co. is designed to fill. We are not a wedding planning company, and we’re not trying to replace planners. In fact, wedding planners are one of the vendor categories we can help couples find.
We sit down with couples and learn about their wedding, budget, priorities, personality and what they absolutely do not want. Then we use nearly two decades of industry experience and relationships to make thoughtful introductions.
If you want someone deeply involved in planning, logistics, design and execution, hire a great planner. If you’re comfortable planning your own wedding but feel overwhelmed by the vendor search, that’s where RM Wed Co. can be especially helpful.
And our service to couples is completely complimentary. Sometimes you don’t need someone to plan your wedding for you. You just need the right people standing beside you while you plan it.
