Elisa from http://www.eventsbyelisa.com

Before anything else, I want to thank the lovely Jen for inviting me to be a guest poster on her blog! So excited for your growing family, Mama!

So you’re a bride on a budget. You don’t have a lot of extra money to throw around and you don’t want to spend anything more than you absolutely have to. Totally understandable – I was in your shoes about three years ago.
So why on earth should you consider shelling out more money – in some cases, another couple thousand bucks – for a wedding planner or a day-of wedding coordinator? After all, you’ve got this wedding planning thing down already, right?
Well, take it from someone who has been on both sides of wedding planning. It’s not nearly as easy as you’d think to plan your own wedding. And it’s even less easy to coordinate it. In fact, I’d say coordinating your own wedding is not something I’d ever want to recommend to anybody (and I’m not just saying that because I am a wedding planner and coordinator!).

First of all, I should probably back up and give a quick definition to anyone who might not be familiar with wedding planning terms. If you’ve seen Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner you know that (bad acting and bad accents aside) she was instrumental in putting together her brides’ and grooms’ days – choosing vendors, putting together little details – and even if you don’t have an astronomical budget like her clients did, you can still get a great deal of help from a full- or partial-service wedding planner. Typically a wedding planner will also be your day-of coordinator, helping to make sure your day runs smoothly, but you can usually contract for day-of coordination only, as well.

To put it another way, a wedding planner is the producer of your wedding, making sure everything (vendor team, design details, timeline, etc.) is in place throughout the planning process. A wedding coordinator is the director, who comes in to make sure everyone else on the wedding day production team does their job and that the wedding looks and feels the way the bride has envisioned.
In this article I will often the term “wedding planner” to encompass both full-service planning and day-of coordinating; as a bride, you’ll decide which service is best for you, but either will be a huge help to you on your wedding day.

Back to you. Now, you’re a bride who is budget-savvy and has a great design sense. You know what your wedding will look and feel like. So what’s the deal? Why should you even consider hiring a wedding planner (or a day-of coordinator)?
The simple answer is that a wedding planner allows you to enjoy your wedding day. Instead of sitting in your stylist’s chair getting your hair done and worrying about whether your centerpieces will be set up correctly (or getting up before sunrise to set them up yourself), you can be sitting in your stylist’s chair getting your hair done and chatting with your bridesmaids, or reading a book, or simply taking in your last few hours of single woman-dom. Instead of standing in your bridal suite, one leg in your dress, giving frantic directions to a bakery driver who is frightfully lost, you won’t even get the call.
There are countless reasons why a wedding planner/coordinator is one of the most important vendors you will have at your wedding. But here are a few of my favorites:
1. Planners know people.
It doesn’t always mean you’ll get discounted items; but part of a wedding planner’s job is networking with other wedding professionals. If you need a photographer, videographer, florist, or other wedding vendor, your planner (yes, even if you’re only using them as a day-of coordinator) can probably point you in the direction of one within your price range. And sometimes they might even have the kind of relationship with the vendor that they might be able to negotiate a special rate just for you!

2. Planners do details.
So you know your basic theme and you have your colors. But how do you decide between milk glass and ceramic? Or roses and lisianthus? A planner can suggest combinations that will be easy on the eyes – and the wallet. She may be able to go searching through thrift stores for your perfect centerpiece while you’re at work. Or take what you’ve already found and add the perfect punch of color.

And most planners are addicted to style blogs. Over months and years of blog-reading, a planner may have seen something online that will be perfect for your theme, and know where to find it. If your planner is into design, she may be able to come up with a completely unique idea just for you!

3. Planners have DIY down.
Chances are that you have at least one DIY project in your wedding plans. DIY projects bring personality and fun to your big day! If you’ve got a planner on your side, she’s probably done her fair share of DIY projects. She may have done a similar project before and be able to suggest the best course of action, or the best source for your materials. She may have a template, or be able to show you step-by-step. She may even have some materials left over from previous projects. At the very least, she’ll be a great extra pair of hands.

Since time is your most valuable resource leading up to your wedding day, your planner can help you to make the most of it. Whether she lends a hand or just makes suggestions, your wedding planner’s knowledge of wedding projects should be an invaluable resource for you. It will help you to not be the bride who is up at 4 am the morning of her wedding, trying to finish the last 150 hand-sewn napkins in time for her 4 pm ceremony.

4. You aren’t superwoman.
Unless you’ve figured out how to be in two places at once, a la Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, you will have a really tough time doing everything on the day of your wedding. From taking care of yourself (hair, makeup, nails, etc.) to getting dressed (because getting into a wedding dress is actually a production in and of itself) to taking photos, to actually getting married, you’ll be busier on your wedding day than you’ve ever been before. If you think about how busy you plan to be on your wedding day, and double it, that’s about how busy you probably will be. If you want to have time to actually be in the moment and enjoy your time with your new husband, friends, and family, you need to give responsibility for some things over to someone else.

Your wedding planner knows how to make a wedding run smoothly – she’s done this before – and how long each element of the day takes. She can not only make sure that everything is done in a timely fashion, but she can help you to plan out your wedding day timeline so that you can enjoy it. She can take the stress of making sure it’s all done in time off of you so that you can be a bride.

5. Emergencies don’t feel like such an emergency.
In fact, when you hire a wedding planner/coordinator, if she’s doing her job right, you won’t even know an emergency has happened. If a vendor gets sick or can’t make it, she’ll be the one on the phone to find a replacement. If they’re lost, she’ll be giving them directions. She’ll be the one troubleshooting when all the reception tables don’t quite fit in the space – or when the florist is one centerpiece short! She’ll make sure that the cake cutter and server are where they need to be before your DJ starts to play your cake-cutting song. And that the photographer and videographer are capturing the moment.

Your wedding planner has probably seen it all, from drunk uncles to frightened flower girls, and has a contingency plan in place for every possibility. It’s her job to make sure you have nothing to worry about on your wedding day. And since there has never been a wedding without something going just a little bit differently than was planned, it’s her job to make sure you don’t notice when the contingency plan is put in place.

Your wedding planner also has another secret weapon. It’s called her emergency kit. It’s there in case you suddenly get a headache, your period, or a stain on your white dress. She’ll have an aspirin, a tampon, and a stain removing pen – and, for good measure, a bribe for the flower girl and a safety pin for Aunt Mildred’s zipper that pops open too.

6. Your wedding isn’t just in your head anymore.
Working with a wedding planner or coordinator ensures that someone else has a good handle on how your wedding is supposed to be. Instead of your wedding day being conceptualized in your head, it’ll be in the hands of your capable wedding professional. She’ll be able to make sure that the day you’ve been dreaming about doesn’t just stay in your dreams. And she’ll be able to make sure that it runs smoothly, so that you don’t have to get up in the middle of your reception and yell, “Okay, now it’s time to cut the cake!” That is, unless you want to.

7. It’ll save you money.
Wait, don’t wedding planners and coordinators cost money? Well, yes. They have cold, hard expenses like business licenses, taxes, and websites, as well as those pesky things called living expenses to pay for. So planners do charge for their services. But an experienced planner can help you to streamline your planning process so that you only buy what you need, get the best deal possible, and make sure you’re covering all your bases. It’s your planner’s job to help you to make the best choices, so that you get the best wedding day possible.

Wedding planners can help negotiate on your behalf (“Okay, Mr. Wedding-Venue-Person, my client wants to bring in 3 bottles of her favorite bubbly for herself and her bridesmaids; I want you to forego the corkage fee on all of them!”), give you guidance where you need it (“Changing from out-of-season peonies to ranunculus will help save you money!”), and direct you to the best resources (“Instead of buying all those apothecary jars from Michael’s, you can rent them here for a fraction of the price!”).
When I was planning my own wedding three years ago, I was confident I could do it all. I was a successful event manager in my “real” life, had a great idea about what my day would look like, and had great faith in my vendors. Sure, I’d had my days of being completely stressed out – but a wedding was a stressful time and I could handle it.
But three weeks before my wedding day, I realized I couldn’t possibly do it all – especially since my reception venue wouldn’t allow any set-up until I was walking down the aisle. I made the best decision of all – to hire a professional day-of coordinator. Sure, it cost me money. But when the florist didn’t bring candles, the photographer took a too-long dinner, the cake was still frozen, my dress needed hitching up, and my face needed touching up, I didn’t notice. It was my wedding coordinator who took care of it all. She also made sure the reception looked amazing, the laptop we had for sharing photos stayed out of our guests’ children’s hands, and the gifts got loaded in my parents’ car. And that we got sent on our merry way with leftover wedding cake!
Three years later, I am a wedding and even planner, day-of coordinator, and print materials designer. I’ve helped my brides choose photographers. I’ve designed invitations and programs. I’ve made last-minute wedding cakes, set up reception spaces, created floral arrangements and bouquets. I’ve shopped for the perfect table décor, stuffed favor boxes, and made yards and yards of paper bunting. I’ve gotten behind the bar to help out an event staff that was unprepared for the demand for coffee with cake. I’ve been in charge of the ceremony music on the iPod. I’ve given a vendor – stuck in LA traffic on their way down to San Diego – alternate directions. And, yes, I’ve packed up a little box of leftover cake to send with my couple on their honeymoon.
A wedding planner or coordinator can save you time, stress, and even money. She can help you with planning details, finding resources, and managing time. She can make sure you don’t even know emergencies exist. And she can make your wedding day look, feel, and run the way you want it to – without you having to worry about who is in charge.
A wedding planner or coordinator is your best investment to make sure that your wedding day is what you want it to be and that you are a happy and hassle-free bride.

Photo credits:
• The Wedding Planner – movie still (captured from the official YouTube trailer by me)
• Bride getting ready – http://murakamiphotography.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
• Details (Pink Flowers) – http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/02/18/vintage-english-garden-wedding-inspiration/
• Bubbles – http://www.mywedding.com/blog/photo-galleries/galleries-by-style/outdoor/outdoor-fashion/
• Bridezilla – http://www.elizabethannedesigns.com/blog/2009/08/28/future-bridezilla/
• Table Decoration – http://www.eventsbyelisa.com/gallery3.html