Your wedding is one of the most personal and sentimental days. It is a day that reflects you and your partner’s relationship and love. This makes hiring the perfect wedding planner very important because they will be helping to bring your wedding dreams to reality. To help make choosing your wedding planner easier, I’ve got the ten most important questions to ask them in the initial interview right here!
Is my date available?
This question is applicable to all vendors. Save yourself and the vendor some time by just making sure your date is available.
Can you work with our budget?
Money is never the most fun topic of discussion, but one of the most important. Having an idea of your whole wedding budget and specific budget for a planner can quickly help you and the planner know if it will be a good fit.
What type of planning do you offer?
Every planner is different. Some planners will only offer the organizational aspects, like timelines and floor plans, while others offer design and logistics, or maybe even all of it. Make sure that the planners you are considering, specialize in what’s most important to you!
What packages do you offer? Are they customizable?
Make sure you get to see different options of what they provide to ensure you pick what fits best for you. The customization can be helpful if you are looking for very specific things for your planner to help with, while you have control of the rest.
What parts of planning will we be responsible for?
Clarifying the parts of planning that the couple would be responsible for is important. Not all planners handle every single nitty gritty detail of planning, so you want to make sure you know your responsibilities in the planning process. If you’re a DIY couple and want to help in the creativeness or if you just want to take a back seat and let the planner work, make sure you communicate exactly what you’re looking for so the planner can let you know if it’s a good fit!
Are there any other fees we should be aware of?
While the planner’s packages should outline the exact cost, sometimes there are additional things that could not be included and you should be prepared to pay for, like travel fees for example. Knowing exact numbers, before hiring any vendor, is very helpful so there are no surprises later on.
How many weddings have you planned? Can you provide a portfolio of some of them?
Asking this will give you an idea of how much experience the planner has. If experience is very important to you, their answer will be very telling if this is the planner for you. Getting a portfolio can also show their work and experience outside of just their word and you can ensure it fits your needs and wants.
Are you willing to advocate for our visions when we can’t?
The best quality to have in any planner is assertiveness when needed. You want someone who will stand-up for your desires on your wedding day to make sure they come to life.
Do you have a preferred vendor list? If yes, do we have to use them?
A huge perk to having a planner is they should be well versed in the wedding industry and have vendors that come highly recommended. It can be extremely helpful when wedding planning to not have to search each vendor yourself and already have a list in front of you. If they do have recommended vendors, you might want to check if you are required to use those vendors exclusively. For example, if you already have your favorite bakery you want your cake from, but they aren’t on their vendor list, that would not be the best fit for you.
If you can’t make it to our wedding what is your back-up plan?
Any planner, or vendor for that matter, should be able to do everything in their power to make sure they make it to your big day, but sometimes life happens. While planning and hoping everything goes smooth and there are no emergencies, having a plan B in place is very reassuring. It is great to know the back-up plan so you don’t have last minute stress if an emergency does pop up.
What questions would you ask your potential wedding planner? Let us know in the comments!