How to Prepare for your Wedding Planner

Don’t think of wedding planning as a chore or something that’s going to bog you down.

The whole process of imagining your perfect day shouldn’t be daunting or even stressful, that’s what we’re here for. In an effort to help things operate more efficiently, here are some things to keep in mind when working with a wedding planner/coordinator:

Start a Pinterest and create a handful of categories of boards. If your overwhelmed by Pinterest or the thought of navigating through the countless photos makes you feel like you’re standing in the middle of Ikea on a Saturday – we get it! However, this is the easiest way for you to visualize and narrow down what you like and do not like. In turn, it helps us to envision what the overall feel of your wedding should be and or flow like. Start with boards such as table settings, décor, Wedding invitations, Wedding ceremony, florals, and build from there.

Make sure to focus on the priority items, those “must haves” for the wedding first and go from there. Your planner needs to have a firm understanding of what is most important to you so that they may achieve what you want and fit it into your budget.

Be prepared for your meetings, facetime/conference calls. The wedding planner is going to have a lot of questions for you – not only regarding the overall style and feel of the wedding but also about the actual flow and what your biggest wish or “must have” is on the day of. BE PREPARED to answer these questions and put some serious thought into it. Perhaps even start a journal to organize your thoughts. Wedding planning can be overwhelming but it’s important to remember that it doesn’t have to be! Be present when you are speaking with the planner and allow no room for distraction.

Make the extra investment – IF YOU CAN. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had a lush money tree growing out in the backyard? Unfortunately, living in dreamland isn’t an option and the reality is that everyone has a budget. Budgets are a pesky thing. Try not to get caught up in the midst of all the fun stuff because before you know it, your whole budget is blown and you haven’t even gotten to the items on your must have list.

Trust their insight and recommendations, they want this process to go as smoothly as you do therefore, if they’re recommending a certain vendor there is probably a reason why. Either they know your personalities will mesh or simply because they just flat out do the best florals you’ve ever laid eyes on.

Be open to their suggestions – design wise. If the planner is telling you that something won’t look good, listen. They do this for a living and they’re doing it because they love it. They’ve seen a wedding. Or two…or seven hundred. Trust them.

To Recap: Wedding planning can be a lot to handle, we want you to have the wedding of your dreams complete with all the fixings minus the headache. Preparation is key and if you can make it past the initial stages, you’re all set! You have a planner for a reason… trust them – their vision, their instinct, their feedback and most importantly, their ability to keep your wedding on track and in budget!