A: Anyone can hire a wedding planner. My
clients are either the Bride and Groom themselves, or the parents (either of
the bride or of the groom).
My clients range from those who are busy professionals, who
do not have a large amount of time to devote to the wedding planning, to
couples who do not live in Auckland
and will find it a challenge to plan the wedding from overseas.
I also have a large number of Chinese clients who wish to
have a Western style wedding, but are not familiar with the customs and
protocols, as well as those who find it difficult to deal with the suppliers
and contracts as English is not their first language.
Q: Should I hire a
wedding planner?
A: This is a tricky question to answer
as it depends on a range of different things like, the type of wedding, the
location, the budget, the number of wedding guests, as well as the brides
willingness to hand over her day to someone and trust that they will create,
plan and execute the perfect wedding for her.
Q: What are the
benefits of having a wedding planner?
A: This list could be endless, but I
think some of the key benefits are: Peace of mind and reducing stress – for many brides planning
a wedding is an incredibly stressful task, however if you have a great wedding
planner looking after you, you can relax and enjoy the wedding planning
process. Money – while there is a cost to employing a wedding
planner, a good wedding planner will help keep you within your budget and they
can often get good deals with suppliers for you. Time – for many brides, they simply do not have the time to
plan their wedding and hold down a career and carry on their normal day-to-day
lives like family, friends and other commitments. On the day – one of the biggest benefits is having someone,
who on the day of your wedding, will do all the running around checking that
everything is perfect, which means that you can relax and totally enjoy every
moment of your wedding day with your groom and friends and family.
Q: How much does it
cost to hire a wedding planner?
A: This is always a difficult question
to answer, because until you have sat down with the bride and groom and
established how they would like their wedding, what has been planned so far and
to what extent you as a wedding planner will be assisting them.
Wedding planners also charge differently – some charge the
client, some add on a commission to all the suppliers booked and some take a
commission from the suppliers that are booked, or a combination of these. As this information doesn’t answer the question – my
services generally start at $3000 (plus costs) per wedding and can go up to
$8000. I always sit down with my prospective clients for about an hour and a
half and then work out a quote specifically for them and their wedding needs.
Q: When should I hire
a wedding planner?
A: The best time to hire a wedding
planner is as soon as you decide to get married. That way the wedding planner
can guide you every step of the way with a holistic view of your dream wedding
day in mind. However, many of my clients come to me after they have
started booking a few suppliers and have discovered it is not as easy as they
had thought it would be, or have realized that it is taking up too much of
their time.
Q: Do Kiwi’s hire wedding
planners?
A: The
trend in New Zealand
is definitely changing with regards to having a wedding planner or not. While
in America, Britain and China (among other countries) it is very popular to
hire a wedding planner, many Kiwi’s still have a DIY spirit and are a bit
reluctant to hand over their dream day to a wedding planner. From my personal
experience, around 70% of my clients are not originally from New Zealand, so
come with the mind set that it is normal to hire a wedding planner, just as you
would hire a florist who specializes in wedding flowers to do your flowers for
you. However, over the last 2 years I have seen an increase in the number of
Kiwi’s who decide that having a professional wedding planner is the best option
to ensure their wedding is a success
