Are you sure you are talking to a professional?
After the famous movie with JLO the entire world discovered this fascinating occupation of organizing people’s weddings. The way it was presented looked amazing and so attractive to the viewers. But also quite easy: you meet nice couples, you visit stunning places, you help the bride choosing the dress and the setup for the wedding, you order beautiful flowers and then you wear a professional suit and a head-phone and it’s done.
And if the job of a wedding planner wasn’t new to couples in the US, the situation in Europe and Italy was quite different. During all these years a lot of things have changed. And now you just open the internet, and you are flooded with millions of websites of wedding planners. I mean literally millions (verified at the Italian Statistics Institute that confirms also that this position is constantly increasing). At that point a question arises: is it truly so easy to become a wedding planner? And especially: is it truly so easy to BE a wedding planner?
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WEDDING PLANNERS?
I think many people don’t really understand the real meaning of the job of a wedding planner. And unfortunately, many people think it’s just a hobby, a pastime that you can do during your free time. Actually, a lot of planners in Italy take it exactly as a hobby and maybe have a main job from Monday to Friday, while on the weekend they practice their second job – they plan weddings… After all most of the weddings are held over the weekend, so where’s the problem?
Actually, for an Italian couple it could not be a problem at all. You should know that most local couples hire a wedding planner to have a theme-wedding planned. Because they don’t have themselves enough ideas to create that kind of setup that follows the same style and also looks elegant and harmonious. And they hire “a professional”. This is the reason why in most pictures wedding planners are lighting candles up or fixing the flowers or setup on the table or putting a topper on the wedding cake. Classy, elegant and… easy….
HOW DO YOU BECOME A PLANNER?
Lately, many people passionate about decorating, hand crafting and styling go to one of the many courses held by well- or little-known wedding planners (depending on the money they have to invest) to become themselves a planner. They then proudly expose the certificate they get after 3-5 days of course, as it were enough guarantee for a couple entrusting their wedding to that planner.
And then there are former brides who after having organized their own wedding now decide that that experience is more than enough to plan other people’s weddings. After all they went through all that stress and hassle, they negotiated with vendors to get better prices, they spent time surfing the web to get inspiration for the style of their reception and then they put all the pieces of decor together. And they managed all that on their own. Why shouldn’t they be able to do that for someone else?
WHAT DO YOU NEED A WEDDING PLANNER FOR?
Of course, not all wedding planners are bad planners. Actually, there are a lot of good planners in Italy. If you need a stunning setup for your ceremony or reception, a theme or a color palette to follow to make sure that everything is perfectly coordinated, then you will be just spoilt for choice. You just decide on how much you want to invest, and you then choose a planner with the style you like the most. And it doesn’t matter if this is not their main job. What matters is that they create the setup you dream for your wedding.
However, what happens if your wedding car arrives late? Or if your guests get lost trying to find the way to the remote venue you’ve chosen for the reception? If the dishes come out cold because no one communicated to the kitchen there was half an hour of speeches in the middle of courses? Or if your in-laws forget the wedding gifts back home and your wedding planner is busy with setting the cut of the cake up and can’t help you? Whom is the fault? Actually, the only person you can blame in that case is yourself, I’m sorry. Because you were blinded by pretty pictures and entrusted your wedding to someone who is not up to the job.
THE REAL MEANING OF THE JOB OF A WEDDING PLANNER
Instead, those who take things seriously, make organizing weddings their main job and their primary occupation. They dedicate themselves full time to listening to couples to understand their expectations and priorities. They prepare then a blueprint to bring those expectations to life. Those planners work with the couple’s budget from the beginning, assigning a correct part to each spending chapter. They have a team of trusted suppliers not only able to deliver a perfect final product but who also understand that teamwork is the key. They elaborate a detailed schedule of the wedding day making sure that the timing works and that all the parties involved perfectly know what to do and when to do it.
And when they are on site during the wedding, they don’t light candles up – because that’s the florist’s job – but they coordinate every single moment making sure that everything runs smoothly according to the schedule, that the guests are looked after and that the couple is happy and relaxed enjoying their amazing wedding planned thoroughly in many months of constant dialogue with their planner.
This is what I mean as the job of a wedding planner. And this what we do for our couples, and much more than that. If you want to know more about our services and how we can help you – start here ⬇⬇⬇
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