Have you Budgeted for a NJ Wedding Planner?
By GEOFF CAPLAN
Maybe you should!
You could assume that the term "budget" doesn't apply anymore since the typical cost has risen to such an extreme degree.
Budget is Essential
There is no way around having a budget, whether you're spending $3,000 (which is far below average, even in the least expensive areas of the United States, but we know some people who have done it quite successfully) or $30,000 (which is only a little more than the average cost of a wedding today, meaning plenty of people spend more).
In most cases, a budget is not an effort to spend less money. Regardless of the quantity, what it is is a strategy for deciding how and where you will spend the money.
Perhaps you are one of the fortunate few who can afford to spend unlimited money on the wedding of your dreams. But on the other side, among very affluent individuals, it would be a challenge to meet anybody who was not concerned to some degree about the expense of their wedding.
Most individuals either cannot afford or do not want to deplete their savings accounts and rack up their credit card debt to pay for their wedding reception.
Consider Future Expenses
When it comes to spending your hard-earned money on more permanent things, such as purchasing a home and having a kid (or two), weddings have the unsettling tendency of being quickly followed by even more costly things to spend your money on.
What makes things even more difficult is that many brides (the traditional wedding planners) marry later in life when they are well established in their careers and don't have the luxury of time to interview wedding suppliers and sample cake on their weekdays.
Is it more expensive or less expensive to hire a wedding planner?
Professional wedding planners like industry leader Michelle Perez of Knot Just Wedding Events, of course, must be compensated, and as a result, they will undoubtedly incur a financial commitment on your behalf. But there is a powerful argument that hiring a professional wedding planner may save you money in other areas. This case is made both by wedding planners themselves and by couples who have been satisfied with their professional planners. A wedding planner with extensive expertise is engaged in several weddings every year. This implies that they will have continuous connections with specific wedding suppliers, and it is in the best interests of those vendors to provide a discount to the wedding planner for her to continue to employ their services at all of the weddings in which she is involved.
Wedding Planner Venue Relationships
Keeping wedding planners satisfied with the service provided by a vendor is not only good for business, but it is also suitable for business for wedding vendors. As an individual, you are unlikely to come into contact with these vendors again after your wedding (at the very least, not for a long time, if not forever). However, a wedding planner will encounter these suppliers repeatedly since she is a repeat client for them.
Those who return again and again are valued more highly by vendors than customers who purchase once. They will communicate this value to customers via financial incentives and exceptional customer service, among other measures. They may also share this by providing a wedding planner something (such as service on a popular day or an item that is difficult to come by) that they must take away from a specific bride if the situation calls for it. We have heard of situations where couples are offered a wedding location for a particular day, and then a week later, the venue canceled on them because they had a "repeat client" who wanted that date and was prepared to pay an additional fee. They didn't offer the disappointed couple the option of paying more or outbidding the return client.
Best of Both Worlds
It is possible to obtain the best of both worlds if you choose a wedding planner with a stellar reputation (among brides and local vendors). It's very important to enjoy the services of a wedding coordinator who can readily get top-tier providers and negotiate favorable prices on your behalf.
Although you have a fantastic wedding planner on your team, you should also research and communicate with the planner while maintaining a tight budget. The burden to provide cost-saving suggestions falls on you if the planner cannot keep expenditures under control. If your wedding planner does not adhere to your budget, she is the one who failed to do a good job, but you are still the one who is out of pocket. No money is taken out of the planner's pocket to cover the additional expenses!
On the other hand, no wedding planner is going to save you more money than she costs you. In addition to increasing your financial wedding expenditures, hiring a wedding planner will actually improve your wedding expenses. However, a good planner will come in handy when it comes to managing your time effectively. If you employ a wedding planner, you'll be able to devote considerably fewer hours to planning and ensuring the specifics of your wedding than you would if you did not.
