Wedding Planner NYC
You got engaged! And now the next thing that naturally comes to your mind is what about the wedding? Whether you were dreaming about the perfect wedding since childhood or you never gave a thought to it before, the planning stage can make anyone nervous.
When you hear the term wedding planner nyc, what do you imagine?
Maybe, you’re thinking of Marion St. Claire from Bride Wars, the fanatic Manhattan planner, who, while fastidious at her work, was also unreachable and woefully indifferent to her clients’ needs? Or, do you remember the dedicated professional played by Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner? No matter how these planners were portrayed, you could see the amount of work they had to put in to make an event they were coordinating run right.
If you haven’t seen those movies and haven’t had any experience with planning a wedding, you may not realize how many different tasks or stages are involved in prepping for a wedding. So let’s dive right into the backstage world of what it’s like to be a wedding planner…
WEDDING PLANNING PROFESSIONALS
Wedding planning, depending on the type of event, often requires more than a single person to get all the things needed done in an efficient way. When it comes to big, full-day weddings or ones that might require different kinds of set-ups, it would simply be impossible for only one person to handle all the details of such an affair. Still, someone has to be in charge—and, that person would usually be the wedding planner.
WEDDING PLANNER
The wedding planner is thus the central figure in any good wedding planning team. The wedding planner would be the one who has been communicating with a couple during the stages of wedding planning and the one who would be responsible for making sure that all vendors contracted for an event performed their roles correctly; that all decorations ordered were delivered and set up right; and, that any other services requested were appropriately scheduled.
A good wedding planner will, therefore, have a team of reliable and professional wedding vendors ready who she or he will work alongside on a regular basis. Additionally, because finding the right vendors who can provide the special services a couple may want can be a stressful and taxing job, a good planner will also have on hand a wide range of vendors and service providers to recommend.
Professional planners should also be experienced in arranging the types of wedding events they are offering. You can always detect, too, whether a planner is trustworthy by asking a few questions related to their knowledge in the field. What, perhaps, is even more important to consider when choosing a wedding planner is to look for one who you might feel “speaks to you” rather than a person who overwhelms you with an “I-know-better-than-you” attitude.
At Perfect Wedding NYC, we would also say that one of the most distinctive talents of a good wedding planner is an ability to listen to the couple he or she works with - and to be able to understand their personalities. A good planner will listen to what a couple wants and will know how to provide solutions that can best work for that couple. Additionally, a good wedding planner will know how to provide the best service possible for a couple while still being realistic about what can be done effectively within that couple’s means.
WEDDING COORDINATOR
A wedding coordinator is a person whose direct responsibility would mostly be the local management of an event. Such a person would usually be in charge of the actual location set-up and would be the one who makes sure that all the big and little things at an event location are in order. A good coordinator might also be present to greet the guests and to escort them to their seats, or, to explain any pertinent details about what might be expected at a ceremony. A coordinator can also be there to resolve any unexpected situations that might arise at an event and can be regarded as the wedding planner’s “right hand” person.
WEDDING ASSISTANT
The wedding assistant can be referred to as a couple’s personal helper during an event.
A good assistant might stay around during an event and even carry a special “wedding emergency kit” that could include all those little things you might need at a last moment: mirror, band aids, blotting tissues, napkins, sanitizer, neosporin/tylenol, q-tips, hair pins, peppermints, and more. The wedding assistant’s job is to keep an eye out for a bride or bridegroom on the day of the event and can even be there to offer the bride or bridegroom a bottle of water or a cup of tea if needed.
Assistance can also be very beneficial during your after-ceremony photo shoot, as an assistant can be there to watch all your personal belongings while you’re busy being photographed or walking between locations or communicating with a photographer or guests who you might want in your images.
Depending on the event’s scale and your particular needs on your day, there can even be few assistants. There’s usually one wedding planner and one coordinator; and, if your event is going to be a micro-wedding or an elopement, the wedding planner and coordinator will likely be the same person.
ELOPEMENT PLANNER VS WEDDING PLANNER
Now let’s talk about the differences between elopement planners and wedding planners. The main difference is the volume of work these two kinds of planners are responsible for. While a traditional wedding planner would be in charge of making sure a ceremony and a formal reception run smoothly, because an elopement wedding will usually only include a ceremony and a photo shoot, an elopement planner will likely not offer planning services for any kind of reception or banquet. Nevertheless, most elopement planners will still be able to give good suggestions for restaurant options or places in an area where a couple could go to celebrate after a ceremony.
One benefit, however, of the elopement planner over the wedding planner is that because the elopement planner doesn’t have to worry about providing planning services for large reception events, he or she will be able to focus more on the ceremony part or your wedding - and, you can, therefore, be more confident that that part of your wedding will go right.
As long as the elopement you may be planning can be considered a “micro” or “mini-wedding”, the planner will also likely be your on-site coordinator, a factor that can make your experience a more comfortable one. This is because the person who was leading you through all the planning processes leading to your special day and, who likely knows you best out of everyone you worked with can then be there to calm you down or to encourage you if needed, like your own guardian angel, when the event finally does take place.
Furthermore, an elopement planner’s commission is usually significantly lower than that of a wedding planner’s. This means that you can get excellent service for your ceremony when using an elopement planner over a wedding planner - with no need to break the bank.
DO I NEED A WEDDING PLANNER?
Sometimes, when a couple is tight on a budget (especially here in New York - where things are so costly) they may doubt if they actually need a wedding planner NYC. They may think it will be easy to find vendors online or to ask friends or family to help with coordinating tasks but in reality it’s often quite the opposite.
In New York City, it seems like there are hundreds of different individual vendors offering their services for weddings. How could you be sure that a vendor you pick is going to be the professional you need, especially if you’re looking for workers within an affordable price range? Your wedding day will happen only once (we hope!), so there won’t be a chance to book a different vendor for a future event, in the case that the first one you found didn’t work out.
Working for years in the elopement industry, we at Perfect Wedding NYC, have heard many stories about bad experiences people have had with unreliable vendors who were booked separately from wedding studio packages. We’ve heard tales of photographers who were late, only to finally arrive in sweatpants well after a ceremony was over.
We’ve also heard of photographers who never sent the photos taken or maybe only sent a few of them or instead mailed unedited or unusable shots. Additionally, we’ve heard stories about makeup artists that did such unacceptable jobs that the brides themselves had to re-do their make-up just moments before a ceremony was due to start; and, we’ve heard, too, about bridal bouquets that arrived looking old or wilted or even ones that contained completely different flower types than what was ordered.
My heart breaks every time I hear such stories, as I give exceptional thought and care to every wedding I work at. Even in the case that you might find great vendors yourself, coordinating with them and discussing your preferences for such things as arrival times for deliveries or any set-ups can be quite overwhelming. This is why using a wedding planner can bring great peace of mind to creating an event, because you can trust that a good planner will be there to work out all the small details of your event during a planning stage that you will likely not have time to deal with.
If your first thought was to make some of your family members or friends your wedding planning assistants, ask yourself first: are they punctual, cool under pressure, and responsive when you need them? And, are they even knowledgeable about the tasks you’re thinking of trusting them with? Furthermore, ask yourself, do you really want your loved ones to be present as helpers when your big day happens - or, would they rather arrived as honored guests, so that they could best enjoy the festivities?
And of course, in case your family members or friends do want to be assigned to some wedding preparation tasks, you will need to describe these tasks to them in advance and manage their work, all of which can take added time. So, if you don’t want to add stress to your wedding planning, Perfect Wedding NYC would be honored to become the “godmother of your wedding” so to speak and to take on the role of being your wedding planner NYC for you.
WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT YOUR NEW YORK CITY WEDDING PLANNER?
At Perfect Wedding NYC, we know we need to be extremely flexible in how we plan events as the couples who get married in our city come from so many different cultures and backgrounds. It is, therefore, important for a planner to try and get a good sense of each couple at the earliest stages to see how he or she might best be able to help.
When you work with Perfect Wedding NYC, we give out a questionnaire when you place the booking and then a second one after you choose a specific package. Given that we collect personal details from you, you can be confident that the event we plan for you, as your trusted wedding planner NYC, will be in accordance with what you expect.
Additionally, if you have something unique that you want to make happen for your event or have certain traditions that you want to include in your ceremony, just tell us - and we will do our best to plan your wedding as desired.