Wednesday Wedding Feature - Personalized Wedding Planner

One of the first things I give my clients is a wedding planner. Many people don't really understand why these are so important until they haven't used it - and are in panic mode 6 months before the wedding. My advice is this: don't even try to plan without a wedding planner. There is a lot of information in these books that can help every bride - despite the type of wedding she is having - organize and prioritize the many tasks that accompany planning a wedding.

What's funny is that after I have given a bride a wedding planner, I find that as we meet, the wedding planner becomes more personalized. I had one client who bejeweled the entire outside of the planner, and another who placed pictures in the front cover. I actually did the same thing by adding pictures to the outside of my wedding planner when I was wedding planning. So, today I am featuring a wedding planner that you can have personalized with photos of you and your soon-to-be hubby or anything else you like.

PhotoWorks offers personalized wedding planners and you can design the front cover any way you'd like. So instead of printing out photos and either gluing them on the front or sliding them into the front part of your wedding planner, try creating a personalized wedding planner that looks professional.

Don't really want to place pictures of you and your fiancee? No problem: you can upload any photos you like. Know what flowers you are using for your wedding? Put random pictures of those flowers on the front cover instead.




I think that this wedding planner is a great idea. Like I said before, and brides have proven this to me, brides want to personalize everything for their big day. So why not start everything off with a personalized wedding planner?

Organizing a Wedding

Planning a wedding can be fun and exciting, but if you are not careful and organized, it can also be stressful. There are so many details that you have to consider. It really can take almost a year to get everything the way you want it, and to ensure all will be how you want it to be on the happiest day of your life.

Whether you are having an at-home simple wedding, or a huge extravagant wedding, you will need to carefully organize and plan each step of the way. If you plan to hire a wedding planner to assist you, make certain you and the planner have identical wedding planners (books), including a wedding checklist that defines everything you need to do or even consider doing, and the best period in which to accomplish each activity.

If you hire a wedding planner with a lot of experience, depend on their contacts with vendors - florists, caterers, hotels, banquet/party rooms and so on - to get you the best deals for your wedding budget. Check the wedding planner's references before hiring him or her. Also watch some television shows like Whose Wedding is it Anyway and Bridezilla, to define how you are going to interact with your wedding planner and also behave during the year long process of planning your wedding.

If you are going to go it alone for the most part - and hire a wedding planner at the end, or ask a friend to organize events on the actual wedding day - you need to be extra organized. Get your own wedding planning notebook and start with that all-important checklist. Here is a site that can get you started with the wedding checklist. Then determine your wedding budget.

Once you've decided that wedding budget, list all the expenses that are typically incurred during a wedding (here is a site that can help you), and decide what is most important to you. Assign a percentage of your wedding budget to these items and stick to it. For example, you want to use printable wedding invitations, but you want the paper to be handmade rather than card stock. Compare the costs between these items.

The same goes for all your vendors. Talk to several and compare prices - what they offer, if there are any packages available, what time of year is most reasonably priced. I guarantee that if you hire a vendor for a late January wedding in the Northeast, you will be getting quite a deal, since winter is the worst time for weddings (except of course Valentine's Day).

Good luck with all your wedding planning. Just remember if you keep it organized, you will get through all the details.

Why Hire a Wedding Planner?

You are in love, you are engaged, and you want to have the best wedding possible for your wedding budget. You also have a job or live in a town other than the one where you will be getting married and time is slipping away from you as if you were in an hourglass. What can you do to alleviate the stress and actually get to your wedding on time, on budget and happy?

Hire a wedding planner!

This does not take you off the hook for major decisions, but it does mean that you have someone connected to the wedding and event planning industry. Someone in your locale who will assist you in navigating the shoals of the wedding sea.

The wedding planner (or consultant or coordinator - they have many titles) should be certified. One of the best ways to find a person who will meet your needs is to ask friends for recommendations or to contact the Association of Bridal Consultants for professionals in your area. Ask for references and follow up on them. To get a hint of what wedding planners do, check out a few episodes of "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" for a glimpse into their not-so-glamorous world.

There are many different kinds of services that a wedding planner provides. They can just consult for a couple of hours a month to keep you on task for your own wedding planning. They can be hired for just the day of wedding (and possibly rehearsal) to act as an on-site director for all details concerning the wedding day itself. That way you won't have to bother with a catering crisis as you walk down the aisle. But the most comprehensive wedding planner package is for full-service. This means the wedding planner will help you plan the wedding itself from start to finish and will be with you on your wedding day as the on-site coordinator.

The wedding planner you should hire, especially for a full service package, should:

• Listen to your ideas and research the options to satisfy your concept of your wedding

• Come up with an overall wedding plan that meets your tastes and wedding budget

• Make appointments with vendors (and go with you to get special deals)

• Help handle selection of bridesmaid’s dresses, wedding invitations, flowers, and caterer

• Organize and coordinate wedding programs, music for the ceremony and wedding reception, menus, place cards and table assignments

• Ensure that everything goes smoothly by staying in touch with the vendors and other service providers (this also means having an in-budget back up if the vendor screws up)

• Be on hand at the wedding itself to handle services and details

• Act as liaison between warring parties (parents, caterers, room providers) and find solutions to all difficulties

Make certain you can afford NOT to have a wedding planner, or budget one into your overall wedding budget at the very beginning of the planning process. A good wedding planner may be a necessity rather than a luxury, so think about it, and plan accordingly.