I‘ve got news for you. Planning a wedding isn’t always the happy-go-lucky, knock it up in a few minutes, no worries, simplistic job it’s so commonly believed to be (insert tone of sarcasm here!). In fact, let’s face it, although it can be great fun and incredibly rewarding on the day a lot of the time it’s a bloomin’ nightmare!! Brides in tears, grooms staring at their wallets in tears, cakes in tiers… (sorry, had to be done!) It’s an extremely difficult task organizing an event with lots of people and most of us don’t have any experience whatsoever in arranging this kind of thing. So why do we put ourselves through it? Why put a huge amount of time, effort and enormous stress into organizing everything and researching the countless things you don’t know anything about when there are professionals out there who can take care of all of this for us with little or no effort or stress on our part? Isn’t it more sensible just to hire a professional wedding planner?
Let’s step into the ring and find out…
The Main Event: Wedding Planner Vs Plan it Yourself
In the Red Corner, after working for one or two in the past she promises she’s not going to become an over-controlling high-pitched stress monster Bridezilla on her wedding day (although I’m not convinced having seen her when she’s stressed!), fighting this time for planning it yourself, it’s Dom “The Tog” Bride
In the Blue Corner, still after all this time largely oblivious as to the meaning of most of what he’s being asked to render an opinion on anyway, arguing for making life easy and hiring someone to do it for him, it’s Matt “The Gormless” Groom.
FIGHT!!
Dom: Planning everything and putting it together yourself allows you to put your stamp on the wedding. A planner may try their best to do everything exactly how you want it but it’s harder for them to get right. I think your wedding should be a reflection of who you are and doing it yourself makes that easier.
Matt: But we all live busy lives, I’ve seen for myself that it’s often difficult to find time to spend planning your wedding and it may in the end prevent you from achieving exactly what you wanted. Having someone working on it who is dedicated just to that task means they can put the time in to make it absolutely perfect.
Dom: Hiring a wedding planner is going to cost you! This is their livelihood and they can’t afford to do it on the cheap however much they’d like to. For many people it’s simply not an affordable option.
Matt: But often their knowledge and experience in finding the things you need along with their preexisting relationships with venues and suppliers mean they can get a much cheaper price than if you were negotiating it yourself, so you can make a lot of that money back. Plus occasionally spending the money is worth it to get the job done right and your wedding is incredibly important to get right!!
Dom: Sometimes when a wedding planner is involved (and this does largely depend on the individual but you won’t find out until the day!) they can make the day more about them and their schedule than about you and what you want. If you’ve planned it yourself you feel free to go at your own pace and adapt to what happens on the day rather than following a predefined script that may in the end be less enjoyable.
Matt: I’m all for going with the flow (as those that know me will doubtless know!) but there are certain time frames that you do actually HAVE to meet… the church can’t hold on indefinitely, the caterer can only keep the food warm so long etc. Having someone keeping you on track rather than having to worry about that yourself can help you to relax and just enjoy the day.
Dom: Wedding planners do so many weddings that it can become very difficult to keep it fresh and different for every couple. If you’re following their ideas it’s very easy to end up with a wedding that’s nearly identical to someone else’s because the planner has already done it and knows that it works. Doing it yourself means you know it really is YOUR wedding not something recycled from someone else’s.
Matt: But on the flip-side wedding planners will have lots of ideas precisely because they’ve seen what does and doesn’t work at other weddings. They can point you in the right direction, let you know when one of your ideas definitely isn’t going to work, point out the things that you hadn’t even thought about… Their prior experience is invaluable to helping make your wedding special.
Final Remarks:
Dom: Planning your wedding can be stressful but it’s also a lot of fun, and doing it yourself, putting the work in and having a real build-up to the day makes it all the more special. Sure a wedding planner could make it easier but doing it that way there’s a danger of not really thinking about the wedding until the big day and missing out on all the thought that goes into it and the amazing atmosphere as the day approaches. It’s your day, you want to do it your way and in your own style, sometimes if you want it done right you just have to do it yourself.
Matt: Planning a wedding is one of the most stressful things you can do. Having someone to guide you with wide ranging expertise in this area, valuable contacts to help with any of your ideas and the time to spend making sure everything is just as you imagined is an amazing thing and incredibly helpful. As long as you get along with your planner and make sure they really understand you and what you want from your wedding then they can be absolutely invaluable to you.
Keep the debate going! Leave a comment or catch us on Twitter or Facebook and let us know what you think and which way you would go, we’d love to hear from you!
