Your New Jersey Wedding
By GEOFF CAPLAN
How to Start
1. Take into account your requirements. What kind of service are you looking for? There are as many planners as there are options, so it's critical that you limit down your pick depending on your specific requirements. Experienced wedding planners like Michelle Perez suggest the following:
2. The wedding planner should be coordinating activities on the day in question (and present on the day of your wedding to ensure everything is handled professionally).
3. Discuss using services that refer people (the planner recommends different vendors based on your preferences and you approve the hiring and coordinating).
4. Full range of services (The planner is in charge of everything, from selecting a location to reserving a church to assisting with service providers, and so on.)
5. Take into consideration their educational and professional history. Consider the following: if you are looking for a lot of creative input, you may want to select a wedding planner who has a background in a creative profession such as art or graphic design. Perhaps you are searching for someone who will do all of the labor and will collaborate with you as a partner, but who will also give you the freedom to express your own particular creativity. Or, even better, you may be seeking someone who has a solid mix of both creative and organizational skills and abilities.
6. Consider their previous experience. How long have they been in business? A respectable planner will be willing to provide evidence of their dependability and expertise upon request. Examples include providing you with references from previous customers so that you may talk with them directly. They should be able to provide you with a large collection of wedding photographs and movies. And, of course, referrals from the service providers with whom they had the most contact. Feel free to inquire about the work history of your prospective wedding planner.
7. Take into account their training. What kind of training did they have before deciding to become a wedding planner? This will offer you a better understanding of the sort of planner they are and what motivated them to pursue a career in this field in the first place. Many wedding planners are not only excellent wedding planners, but they are also enthusiastic about weddings, as seen by their understanding of the most recent trends and wedding styles.
8. Take into account their communication, organizational, and professional abilities. Have they shown professionalism and dependability from the moment you first spoke with them? A competent NJ wedding planner, especially one with whom you will be in constant communication on a daily basis, should respond to emails as soon as they are sent. The responses should be comprehensive. It might be quite inconvenient to have to write three or four emails only to get one full response. In addition, if you have a wedding planning emergency, you want to be certain that they will react quickly.
9. Take into account their personality. Your wedding planner should be kind and attentive to your hectic schedules. They should be flexible and adaptive. It's also important that they are honest and realistic about your wedding vision and whether or not they can make it happen within your budget. This will prevent any unpleasant shocks later on.
10. Take into account the pricing structure. Your wedding planner should be completely transparent about how they compute their rates, as well as any unexpected expenditures that may arise later on. Example: If you are paying an all-inclusive flat cost, find out if they will handle everything relating to your wedding (not just the ceremony and reception, for example). If, on the other hand, your wedding planner is paid on a % or hourly basis, find out how many hours are included in the package. Will they give limitless consultations and phone calls? If your wedding budget changes and the percentage-based charge drops, would you be forced to manage a part of the wedding planning yourself? It is critical to have this information before committing to a wedding planner so that you are aware of precisely what you are getting yourself into.
11. Take into consideration their workplace philosophy. Are they a sole owner or part of a team? There is no right or wrong response since this is a highly personal decision. However, if the wedding planner works alone, make sure they have a contingency plan in place in case of an emergency. You don't want to find yourself in the position of having to supervise the wedding day yourself because the wedding planner is ill. If, on the other hand, they operate as a team, you will have the benefit of having a variety of individuals at your disposal, but you will also need to know who will be your primary point of contact. This individual should serve as your point of contact and should be available on your wedding day, together with the rest of the team.
12. Take a moment to consider how your vision has been understood. Your wedding vision is as individual as you and your fiancé are. A skilled wedding planner should be able to comprehend and incorporate your ideas and suggestions into a revised version of your ideal wedding.
13. Finally, and maybe most crucially, think about how well you get along with the wedding planner. The relationship that you form with your wedding planner throughout the first phases of communication will set the tone for how seamless the planning of your wedding will be, and you want to be confident that your wedding planner will always act in your best interests. This individual will play a significant role on your wedding day, and you will feel more comfortable dealing with someone you can trust and with whom you can place your trust.
These are only some of the most important considerations to keep in mind when selecting a wedding planner. But we really feel that these are the most crucial considerations when selecting a wedding planner since they will make the decision-making process that much simpler and give you peace of mind that you have selected the RIGHT wedding planner for your wedding.
