Planning your own wedding can be a fun and rewarding experience, but there is a huge amount of pressure attached to creating an unforgettable experience for you and your guests and chances are you will suffer from your fair share of stress. As your perfect day moves closer, this is the last thing you need.

When you embarked upon planning your wedding, the thought of hiring a full service Wedding Planner may not have even crossed your mind. Perhaps you enjoyed the venue search and had sufficient time to invest in researching and appointing all the suppliers you needed? Or maybe your budget simply did not allow it?

I imagine the idea of handing everything over to someone else to manage may have made you feel nervous, but perhaps not half as anxious as you are feeling now about tying up all the loose ends and making sure everything is as perfect as you want it to be on the day.

Not everyone has the budget to hire a full service Wedding Planner to eradicate all the stress throughout the wedding planning process, nor do they realise there is a happy medium between handing the entire project over to a professional and winging it all on their own.

For an increasing number of couples, hiring an experienced Wedding Planner who delivers a first class on the day co-ordination service is the perfect halfway house. Besides being the perfect antidote to any unnecessary stress during the build up to the big day, it is also a very affordable service. One which I would argue you cannot live without.

In actual fact, it should be called ‘in six weeks co-ordination’, because that is generally when the service kicks in. I would ideally meet you around six weeks before your wedding day to establish precisely what your ideal day looks and feels like to you.

If possible, I will meet you at the venue and literally walk through the format of your perfect day. I will ask all the important questions and listen very carefully to what you have to say in order to understand what is most important to you and appreciate the type of wedding you wish to have.  I then take responsibility for contacting each of your suppliers in order to introduce myself to them and ensure everyone involved understands precisely what is expected of them, including where they need to be and when.

During the final few weeks leading up to your wedding, I will handle all the e-mails, telephone calls and last minute questions which you may not have time to deal with.  I will review each of your suppliers’ contracts and highlight any potential ‘gotchas’ which in your initial excitement, you may have overlooked. This means that you are able to relax during the run up to your wedding in the knowledge that your wedding plans are in supremely capable hands.

In readiness for the day, I will create an incredibly detailed wedding day plan outlining all of the arrival, set up and breakdown times.  On the day, I will be the single point of contact for you and all your suppliers. This leaves you free to enjoy every single moment with complete peace of mind. Relax and ENJOY every moment in the knowledge that someone who understands exactly what you want, and well and truly has your backs, is taking care of everything for you.

The simple answer is EVERYONE!

Your wedding day is one of THE most important days of your lives and with that in mind, why would you leave anything to chance?

Wherever you have chosen to host your wedding; in a marquee at home, an idyllic country house hired for your exclusive use or a conventional venue such as a hotel or historic stately home, the likelihood is you will benefit in ways you may not even be able to imagine!

Yes!

Allow me to explain.

Even if your wedding venue provides the resources to ‘manage’ your day, chances are the person or people involved will only concern themselves with matters relating to the venue.  They may not even be the person or people who you have been liaising with throughout the planning process. In all probability, the person who originally sold the venue to you will be nowhere to be seen on the big day itself.

No matter how helpful your venue’s representatives may be, they are highly unlikely to call the driver of your wedding guest transport to ensure they have all of the information they need in order to find the relevant pick up and drop off points. God forbid, if your band happens to break down on route to your wedding they are unlikely to have a contingency plan in place, just in case. That may well sound like a very far fetched scenario, but I am referring directly to personal experience… suffice to say, that night a DJ saved my life!

In the face of adversity, an experienced Planner with a credible contact directory can make ALL the difference. That said, they will be adept at working collaboratively and cohesively with the venue’s own in-house team, ensuring that EVERYONE involved pulls together and is working with your best interests at heart.

Check them out on-line first before speaking to them. Search for reviews and take a look at their social media channels for a glimpse of how they conduct themselves.  When you speak to them, take on board how they sound;

• Do they seem genuinely interested and enthusiastic about your wedding?
• Are they the sort of person you would like to represent you?
• Ask them to explain specifically what is included in the service they are offering.
• How many hours are they prepared to give you?
• At what point will they arrive and leave on the day?
• Will they be on site from the point at which your first supplier arrives until after the cutting of the cake and first dance have taken place and the evening celebration is in full swing?
• Do they undertake Master of Ceremonies duties, if required?

Not unlike so many other things, the price you pay will be reflective of the service you should expect to receive.  Most Wedding Planners offer an On The Day Co-ordination service and you should expect to pay somewhere in the region of £600 for a standard service.  Expect to pay around £1,000 if your wedding is taking place in an unconventional venue such as a marquee where there are additional complexities involved.

This should afford you an experienced, professional Wedding Planner with the necessary know-how to handle just about any eventuality, without you even knowing about it.  If a planner advertises the service at a significantly lower price, buyer BEWARE!

Ask precisely how much experience they have and always request sight of testimonials or better still, ask to speak to previous clients who are able to back this up.  The last thing you want to find yourselves doing is counting the cost either during or after the event as a result of an inexperienced amateur letting you down.

Ultimately, your peace of mind is priceless.

“Thank you for everything you did for us in both the run up to the wedding and on the day itself. You made it all so stress free and the day ran perfectly. It was more than any of us could have hoped for.” – Nicky and Ian

“Thank you so much for being fantastic. We had a wonderful wedding day and you were a major factor in achieving that. You were supportive, creative and listened and guided in the planning. You really came into your own on the day. We could totally relax and enjoy it, confident in your keeping the day running smoothly…. calm, friendly and efficient.” – Helen and Mark

“We wanted to say a huge thank you for everything! We honestly can’t begin to describe how relaxed, laid back and easy you made our day. All of our guests felt so at ease and happy during the day and that was absolutely down to the day you crafted. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.” – George and Becca

“I would hire Helen again in a heartbeat and urge anyone looking for a safe pair of hands on the most important day of their life not to look anywhere else.” – Lydia Drukarz

“Worth every penny! That’s all we thought about all of our dealings with you. Booking your services and having you there on the day was one of the BEST decisions we made. You were so knowledgeable and professional – such a help to us. We really enjoyed every minute of our day and found it easy to relax knowing you had everything under control. Thanks again for all of your support. Love, Sarah and Tim”