Wedding is the most crucial step for any person, but also a complicated day full of hassles . To get rid of these hassles nowadays couples are opting for professional & experienced wedding planners . Hiring a wedding planner not only makes you tension free but also channelise the whole event.
If you are new to this concept, I am here to help you!
Hi, I am Mejo K John, owner of Eden Wedding Planner. My father started this business as a wedding decorator but as the time passes new things get introduced in the market. One such concept is “WEDDING PLANNER”.
Now, I am taking his legacy forward and providing premium wedding planning services to the people. But before anything let’s understand who is a wedding planner, what are his duties, benefits and a lot more.
- Who is a wedding planner?
- What is the role of a wedding planner?
- Services a wedding planner provide
- Benefits of hiring a wedding planner
- Challenges when you don’t hire a wedding planner
- Difference between managing a wedding by own and a wedding planner
- How much services from a wedding planner costs?
- Wedding planning packages
- Why choose Eden wedding planners?
Who is a wedding planner?
A wedding planner is a professional who helps couples plan and execute their dream wedding. They work closely with couples to understand their vision, preferences, and budget, and then assist in turning those ideas into reality.
Wedding planners can handle a variety of tasks, from vendor selection and contract negotiation to day-of coordination and problem-solving. They can also provide valuable advice and support throughout the wedding planning process. Wedding planners are highly useful in reducing the stress and overwhelming nature of wedding planning for couples.
What is the role of a wedding planner?
A wedding planner can make your dream wedding into reality. Let’s see what are the roles of an experienced planner.
a. Initial Consultation
They sit with the couple to understand their preferences. Preferences means what kind of wedding you are planning, an intimate wedding or a grand one. A wedding planner help you in –
- Budget planning
- Select/suggest a date of wedding
- Venue selection
- Vendor shortlist
- Design & decor` of wedding etc.
After evaluating all these things they prepare a customized wedding plan for you.
b. Pre-wedding preparation
1. Budget management
Wedding planners act as financial helpers, creating a detailed budget that outlines every expense, from venue rentals to décor and catering. They negotiate contracts with vendors, ensuring that the couple receives the best possible value for their money.
2. Vendor selection & management
With their extensive industry knowledge, wedding planners research and recommend a carefully curated list of vendors, including caterers, photographers, florists, videographers, and entertainment providers. They carefully review vendor portfolios, ensuring that each choice aligns with the couple’s style and preferences.
3. Guest list management
A wedding planner help you to manage the guest list and keep a track of all your guest information at one place to avoid any miscommunication.
4. Menu planning
They take an idea from you that what kind of menu you prefer whether it is Indian, chinese, continental or local. Out of your choice they suggest you the food items to be included in the menu.
5. Wedding outfit fittings
They coordinate with your dress designer also. In case there is any urgent alteration is required on your wedding dress so you don’t have to run here and there, the dress designer will come to your location and fix the issue. And this happen under the supervision of a wedding planner.
6. Pre wedding events
A wedding planner helps you to organize and coordinate certain pre wedding events like bridal shower, pre-wedding shoots, bachelor(ette) parties etc.
7. Wedding timeline
Wedding planners pre decides the timeline of each and every wedding task so that nothing can be messed up at the time of execution. Whether it is a bridal entry or serving the dinner everything should be ON TIME, no matter what.
8. Rehearsal Coordination
Now a days wedding performances is a new trend, wedding planners coordinate during rehearsals to make everything smooth.
c. Design & decor
They design the whole venue as per the color themes, floral arrangements, lighting etc. by coordinating with the clients. So that you get exactly what you are looking for.
d. Wedding day coordination
After all the planning and plotting, wedding day is the actual time to implement all the strategies. A wedding planner gives you full freedom to enjoy the event because he/she will do every coordination from start to finish. There are many things which a wedding planner coordinates –
- Venue Setup
- Vendor Coordination
- Ceremony Coordination
- Reception Management
- Emergency Kit
- Guest Assistance
- Problem-Solving
Now, let us understand this by an example –
Suppose – You are the mother of a bride, on your daughter’s big day you want to be her all the time but you are stuck with a caterer, florist, photographer or any other vendor. A wedding planner gives you freedom from these by coordinating with the vendors.
f. Supervising the vendors
They keep an eye on all the vendors, whether the florist is using requested flowers or not, quality of food, lighting is proper or not. If at the last moment any vendor backs off they arrange that too.
Supervising the vendors includes many detailed things. Let’s understand this by an example – Suppose a wedding planner hires a caterer before he serves the food to your guests, the wedding planner tastes the food to ensure the quality.
“WEDDING IS YOURs, BUT RESPONSIBILITY IS OURs”
Mejo. K. John
g. Managing entertainment activities
A wedding planner help you to get vendors for different engagement activities like dance performance, choreographer, musical show, magician and lot more as per your preference
h. Engaging with guests
Just imagine if your guests are also involved in the wedding, how wonderful will be their experience. So, to achieve that, wedding planners organize activities like karaoke, fun games with the bride & groom’s family, extempore dance etc.
i. Post wedding activities
After the wedding is accomplished there are still many works pending, wedding planners help to wind-up your stuff so that nothing will be left unattended.
- Payment and Tipping: Management of final payments and tips for vendors.
- Gift Management: Check the collection and safekeeping of gifts.
- Rental Returns: Ensure the return of all rented items.
- Thank-You Notes: Assist in organizing and sending thank-you notes.
- Post-Wedding Debrief: Meet with the couple for feedback and any follow-up.
Services a wedding planner provide
Now have a look at what services a wedding planner provides to make your wedding memorable.
- Venue decoration – At your wedding card after the names of bride & groom the second most important thing is VENUE. Thus it takes a lot of effort to make the venue extraordinarily beautiful with flowers, lights and props. Wedding planner decorate every inch of the venue whether it is the main entrance, compact selfie points, the lobby, the staircase, etc.
- Residence decoration – At weddings the residence of bride and groom should not be untouched. After all, the whole wedding vibe comes from the house itself. Wedding planners can suggest beautiful themes & colour combinations to decorate the house.
- Photography/ videography – Every bride or groom and even the guests wants to look picture perfect. Thus the wedding planner shortlists & suggests the best photographer/ videographer to make wedding memories beautiful.
- Entertainment – They have tie-ups with musicians, dancers, magicians etc to add that glam to your wedding.
- Venue selection – Wedding planners help you to select the venue keeping in mind your budget, your gathering, locality & your preferred facilities.
- Wedding transfers – Next comes the most important task pick-up & drop of guests. Maybe some of your guests are coming from different cities or countries and they don’t have an idea of the location. The wedding planner helps you in that too. You and your family members don’t have to go personally to receive your guests, wedding planners do all the coordination and manage wedding transfers.
- Hospitality – They make you & your guests absolutely happy & comfortable during the event by checking every minute thing. They give personalized attention to each guest.
Benefits of hiring a wedding planner
- Hiring a wedding planner is a hassle free process.
- You can enjoy the event at the fullest without any tension.
- You can manage your budget effectively, as wedding planners provide a number of vendors and you can select from those as per your budget.
- There are plenty of options to choose from in terms of venue, caterers, photographers, entertainers, florists and so on.
- You can attend to your guests well because you are not involved in any other hectic task.
- Good impression on guests.
Challenges when you don’t hire a wedding planner
- Managing everything from your side will be difficult and time consuming.
- You can go heavy on your budget, because you are new to the market and you have no idea which service provider is best.
- Venue selection will be a tough process as you have to personally go place to place in search of the perfect option.
- A wedding comes with unexpected challenges and without having an experienced team it is difficult to fix that.
- No time to attend the guests and enjoy with them.
- Too much work pressure can lead to health issues like headache, excessive tiredness.
- At some point you might be out of ideas and the event can be boring.
- Your guests may feel discomfort as everything will be managed from your side, so some things can get overlooked.
Difference between managing a wedding by own and a wedding planner
| Features | Self management | Wedding planner |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty | Managing the whole wedding from yourself can be a Hectic task. | Wedding planners makes the whole wedding Hassle free. |
| Budget | Can be costly as you don’t know much vendors. | Manage your budget wisely. |
| Planning | In self management planning part can be messed up. | Wedding planner organise everything thus you can enjoy the event. |
| Quality of work | Everything is managed by family members so quality can be compromised. | A professional takes special care on the quality of work. |
How much services from a wedding planner costs?
Cost of the wedding planner depends upon many factors –
- Quantity of services you are taking
- Type of wedding decorations
- Venue and destination
- Food
- Entertainment
- Pick ups & drops for guests
In Kerala the cost of wedding planner generally starts from 2.5 lakhs and it can go up till 6 lakhs depending upon the experience & expertise.
Wedding planning packages
Wedding planners provide many packages as per the unique requirement of their clients. But the wedding packages also depends on many factors –
- Combination of services you are availing.
- Special requirement of premium flowers for decor`
- For transportation any specific demand of luxury cars.
- Specific requirement of artists like – makeup artist, mehndi artist etc.
- Variety of food in the event.
- Special lighting arrangements.
- Unique idea of bride & groom entry, so to achieve that required props etc. For example – Sometimes couple demand CHARIOT for entry, that requires extra budget.
Why choose Eden wedding planners?
- Huge experience of 34 years in the industry.
- Till now organized 5000+ weddings which includes hindu weddings, christian weddings & Knanaya wedding.
- We have tie-ups with many luxurious venues so you can choose anything from that.
- End to end solutions for destination weddings in and outside Kerala.
- Tie-ups with professional & experienced wedding vendors.
- We design curated wedding packages as per your unique requirement & budget.
Choose Us For a Hassle Free Wedding!
Request for a free quote today
About the Author
Mejo K John
Owner of Eden Wedding Planner, Kottayam
Mejo K John
Owner of Eden Wedding Planner, Kottayam
Eden Wedding Planner is 34 year old premium service provider in Kerala from Kottayam. Being a part of my father's venture till date we have organized over 5000 weddings across India. We are specialized in planning unforgettable Hindu, Christian, and Knanaya weddings.
