Planning your own wedding is an admirable feat, but for some, it sounds less than ideal, overwhelming, or just not feasible due to distance, work, or other obligations. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, but hiring a wedding planner could also turn your big day into something better than ever before! There are so many great things about having a coordinator by your side every step of the way while planning your wedding. We asked eight Houston wedding planners why you absolutely need a planner or coordinator on your big day, and they gave us all the inside scoop! Read on to hear what these wedding pros had to say about just why you should hire a wedding planner to bring your dream vision to life.
1. Bring Your Dream Wedding Vision to Life
From Love Birds & Co. // Photo by Kasey Lynn Photography
“I really feel like exceptional event production is finding that delicate balance between beauty, design and personal expression. From our first meeting, I encourage our clients to start collecting items and images that speak to them both personally and as a couple. Favorite colors and textures, vacation destinations, clothing, even the style of engagement ring gives insight into a couple’s collective personality. That’s why it is so important to get to know our clients on a deeply personal level. We want to make sure that they feel included and heard throughout the creative process. Events must be a true expression of their personalities to be both aesthetically beautiful and wonderfully meaningful.
The million-dollar question! I feel like a planner/designer should be your first call when you take that leap into the world of wedding planning. A great event planner will not only help you tick the boxes on the long to-do list but should take the time to truly get to know you and your fiancé. Developing that relationship and building that trust early on in the process is essential to helping couples create designs that are beautiful, meaningful, and within budget, as well as choosing the right team of creatives to bring those inspirations to life.
Trust your creative team and remember why we are all here—to celebrate the union of two people madly in love. Yes, nailing down the design and personal details of your event is so important, but at the end of the day, you are going to leave this beautiful party and embark on a beautiful life together. Make sure you stay focused on the forever part.”
2. Manage Your Budget
From Two Be Wed // Photo by Marco Wang Photography
“First, we help our couples determine the 3 E’s of their event – Emotion, Environment, and Experience. What emotion do they want to invoke, what kind of environment do they want to create, and what kind of experience do they want for themselves and for their guests.
Once they determine the ‘why and what’ of their event, we can identify priorities and determine their ideal investment. Knowing who contributes to the wedding planning fund is also important. Many families are co-contributing to the wedding and more and more couples are paying for or supplementing their wedding budgets.
Once we establish the ideal and realistic budget, we allocate their dollars according to their top 3 priorities. Oftentimes, we educate our clients on the market value of services. We help them to understand the overall cost for a wedding and how factors such as guest count, day of the week, venue and vendor selection ultimately influence the bottom line.
Budget management gives the couple a realistic expectation for their investment. It helps keep them on target and to consider every financial decision and commitment they make with the bigger picture in mind. We strive to make every purchase thoughtful and intentional.
We encourage our clients, whether they are spending 25K or 250K, to respect their budget and to avoid impulsive purchases that may result in buyer’s remorse. Entering into a marriage with debt, financial stress and anxiety is not recommended. We want our couples and their families to feel good about their investment and to enjoy every part of the wedding planning experience.”
3. Problem Solving Pros
From Blue Poppy Events // Photo by Picture This Forever
Problems are bound to arise when planning a wedding, and it’s nice to have someone to help you who has extensive knowledge of the industry. They’ve done the research and been in the game and can save you a lot of time and energy with their advice and expertise on an array of problems.
If couples are unaware of wedding costs, planners can review vendor prices to ensure clients are charged a fair price and help them properly budget for each area of the wedding.
If something unexpected, such as a natural disaster or family change, gets in the way of someone’s special day, planners can help handle rescheduling. They can contact vendors, review contracts, and present the information to clients in an easy-to-read way.
Overall, planners are quick on their feet, making quick decisions and solving problems objectively. They have experience with weddings that clients don’t. Even if couples don’t want a full-service planner, simply working with a planner in the beginning to create a budget and plan can be immensely helpful. Tapping into their advice and experience is a surefire way to help avoid problems and make the big day run smoothly.
4. Ensure No Key Detail is Overlooked
From Moonstruck Events // Photo by Ruet Photography
With a wedding planner, couples receive guidance from the very beginning in selecting their vendors. By considering their, budget, style, and preferences, much of searching is handled for them. Once a vendor is chosen, proposals are reviewed, necessary adjustments are recommended, and a comprehensive vision of the wedding is created early in the planning process. Furthermore, strong relationships with local vendors allow clients to benefit from exclusive discounts.
Sometimes vendors may offer upsells to clients. While some upsells can greatly enhance an event, others may not provide the best return on investment for creating a lasting impression. Planners adopt a holistic perspective, understanding that clients can sometimes get caught up in minor details. It is the planner’s job to steer clients toward decisions that lead them to look back happily on their big day.
5. Ensuring You Stay On Track
From Vow and Voyage // Photo by Sydney Eustice Photography
Having to tackle single decision for your wedding by yourself can be exhausting, and make it hard to stay on track. This is where a wedding planner can step in to help carry the load.
“A wedding checklist can be overwhelming, and oftentimes you are left with decision fatigue after juggling picking out a dress while tasting a cake at the same time. To keep the process fun and on track, we start with learning your priorities so we can ensure we put first what matters to you most. A priority could be something like “We want to have fun on the dance floor,” so we make sure to prioritize finding you a great DJ or live band. Once your priorities are addressed, we continue step by step together to plan the rest of your wedding day.
As planners, we take on much of the behind-the-scenes work, such as gathering vendor quotes, ensuring they match your style, and negotiating contracts, all before you even meet with them. This takes about 85% of the workload off your shoulders, leaving you confident in your final selections and keeps the planning momentum going so you’re not feeling burnt out.”
Wedding planners can also help your planning feel like less of a chore, and more of an experience. While all the ins-and-outs of organizing such a big event are time-consuming and stressful, there are ways to make it fun and enjoy it with your partner. This is a magical time in your relationship, and that should shine through.
“We also love to keep things fun by organizing date nights for our couples. Whether it’s tastings, shows, or other experiences, we keep the romance alive while checking off key planning steps. Our monthly check-ins help ensure everything stays on track, and we’re here to listen to how your engagement season is going. If there’s one thing that keeps the process running smoothly, it’s making sure you’re happy and enjoying the journey. When the planning is fun, the decisions come naturally!”
6. Take Away Unwanted Stress
From Keely Thorne Events // Photo by Erika Geier Photography
A good wedding planner will prioritize open and honest communication, as it is vital to empower clients with knowledge about the wedding and events industry. This enables them to make informed decisions for their special day. Planners take on the role of consultant and guide, providing essential information that helps clients confidently choose their preferred vendors while managing their budgets effectively. The stress levels involved in planning a wedding can majorly decrease with this kind of help.
When clients wonder what exactly they should be doing, planners can prompt them to reflect on what’s really important to them. Certain aspects of the wedding may not be priorities for every couple. The emphasis is on fostering a positive experience for both the couple and their guests, which can reduce some of the stress involved in planning. A strong support system is also considered vital. Although planning a wedding can often feel like a full-time job, there are natural pauses in the process, and couples are encouraged to use these moments to enjoy quality time together.
7. Timeline Professionals
8. Let Your Friends and Family Enjoy Your Wedding Day with You
From On Cloud9 Events // Photo by Christina Elliott Photography
“If hiring an event management company does not fit your budget, it’s time to call on those close friends and/or family members! We suggest delegating specific tasks to a smaller group of people versus a larger group. This will make it easier for your confidants to communicate throughout the event. Also, make sure you trust them to make in-the-moment decisions to avoid taking time out of your wedding day to tend to every detail. We also advocate being extremely specific and detailed with your vendors about the “point of contact” person for the event. You most likely won’t be around your phone all day, and some questions need answers crucial to your big day’s flow. One thing to note is that it may be more difficult to communicate last-minute adjustments to your vendors while keeping everyone on the same page.
It can be difficult to facilitate all the wedding details while still attending as a guest. Many wedding planners, including Cloud9, offer a less expensive ‘Wedding Day Management’ package to help clients ensure the enjoyment of their family and friends. This budget-friendly package is perfect for our more ‘hands-on’ brides because it allows them to take charge of selecting their vendors, and the day coordinator can compile the details and schedule about three weeks out. Even if a full-service wedding planner is not in your budget, we definitely recommend hiring a day-of coordinator.
When it comes to crafting your wedding day schedule, it is truly a living document until the morning of your wedding. We will revise and distribute drafts to you and your vendor team throughout this process, however, we will put a fresh, fully up-to-date copy in every vendor’s hand on your wedding day. Cloud9 makes a point to emphasize any last-minute changes discussed overnight. Our schedules are detailed down to the minute and include direct contact information to your coordinators, so we are easily accessible at any moment of the day.
On Cloud9 Events takes great pride in going above and beyond for our clients. Regardless of the package the couple selects, we offer unlimited correspondence throughout the entire planning process. This helps us solve problems as they surface, as opposed to waiting to solve them during the contracted ‘full dedication’ period. We often recommend bundling as many vendors as possible (i.e. caterers who also do cakes or DJs who also offer photo booths etc.) On Cloud9 began as a decor rental company, in addition, we now offer event design and styling to our clients. The design of your event is a continuous process that we can add on to any package to simplify your vendor list as much as possible. Our favorite part of our job as a planner is seeing the smiles, not only on the bride and groom’s faces but on their family and friends’ as well. With a wedding planner working in the background, everyone can relax and take in every moment of the BEST DAY EVER!”
Find the right Houston wedding planner for you or browse our full variety of Houston wedding vendors here. Cheers!
Featured in this Post
The StoryBook Event
Two Be Wed
Weddings by Andrea
Junk In Love Events
Keely Thorne Events
Set in Stone Events
Hayes Planning
RL Design
Erika Geier Photography
T-Events
Other Local Vendors: Riss Creations, Kasey Lynn Photography, Marco Wang Photography, Christina Elliot Photography, Sydney Eustice Photography, Picture This Forever Photography, Ruet Photography, J Cogliandro Photography
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