We were hoping to get married on this date, but ...

It makes me sad when I hear of a couple who has wanted to get married on a certain date but have had to postpone their wedding, sometimes more than once.  Often it's due to the lack of money or an unfortunate set of circumstances due to changes in their employment status, health or family situations.  It makes me wish I could have spoken with them to see if there would have been some way to help them.  I can't help but wonder if they'd had some tips to cut down the expenses or solutions for saving time, if they could have avoided postponing their wedding.  Time and money, if only they were friends at the same time!  Who hasn't experienced the lack of one or both at some point?  Very few people.

I just read a recent statistic that the average bride-to-be spends 30.4 hours per week planning her wedding.  Does that sound too much like a full-time job to you?  I know right now that this person has no spare time and probably didn't feel like she had spare time even before she started planning her wedding.  She might not be aware of how much of her life she could get back by hiring a Wedding Planner.  If that same bride was to spend 30.4 hours with a Wedding Planner, I am certain that instead of feeling tired and overwhelmed, she would feel a sense of relief and a large portion of her planning would be out of the way. 

Perhaps you ask, aren't Wedding Planners really expensive?  As Wedding Planners, vendors give us discounts because they appreciate us bringing business to them.  I pass these discounts directly to the client.  Most of my discounts range from 5%-20%.  That adds up.  I won't recommend a vendor merely on discounts, however.  I think it's most important that your personalities and visions are a good match.  I love it if I end up saving a client more money than I cost them!  This is before you add in the value of a Wedding Planner's experience and reduced stress that comes with hiring a Wedding Planner.  We are up on trends, on the lookout for problems, and listening to everything you want.  We also act as a liaison or an advocate for you with a vendor, venue or even a family member or friend involved with the wedding.  We definitely can reduce time spent running around, searching on the internet or getting so many people involved in your wedding planning process that your head begins to spin.  

I like to think that we can shorten an engagement period.  Perhaps even by months.  Recently, I had the opportunity to have a video made for my business (one more thing I have to add to my website, but it's on my Facebook page!).  I thought that the best thing I could do was to show how I can coordinate vendors for a wedding.  Within 24 hours I had 14 vendors who wanted to participate, with just a promise of lunch and mentioning their business on the video.  We had 5 days to prepare for a shoot that would last for 2 hours.  The vendors that came forward are quality vendors and are very nice people who are passionate about their professions.  This is just an example of how nice it is to know so many people who would be just as eager to serve a client.

If you don't like long engagements, or you see someone struggling during the planning of their wedding, you might consider an inexpensive consultation with a Wedding Planner.  That might even be a nice engagement gift to give to a friend, or daughter or other family member!

Wishing you the Greatest of Days!

For more wedding tips, visit my Facebook page, Greatest of Days.