Ever since Jennifer Lopez played the role of a hopelessly romantic Wedding Planner in the film of the same name, the idea and role of the planner has very increasingly popular. 

What are the benefits of a wedding planner?  Well, planning a wedding can become a full time job for one person.  Think about it; there’s the wedding dress, the bridesmaid’s dresses, the outfits for the mother of the bride, your father, his suit, his best man’s suit, the cake, the food, the invitations, the favours, the venue…and on and on.  A wedding planner has a book full of contact that she or he can call on and knows the best deals, and the best places for your needs.  Yes your mum and best friend can advise but beware of falling outs over differences in taste.  The wedding planner is not there to convey his or her own sense of style, they are there to absorb your tastes and translate it into a wedding setting. 

A good wedding planner is also extremely creative; he or she will normally be able to add a creative edge to your wedding by finding out what your loves are; they will know what kind of personal touches are noticed and appreciated by the guests. 

What a wedding planner is extremely useful for is budgeting and keeping on schedule.  If you are a busy person then you will forget appointments sometimes; you may not realise how much time is necessary for say, printing invites, or how early you need to find a venue.  A wedding planner is paid by you to take care of all of this.

Also think about if you have help from your groom; not all men but some prefer to keep out of the palaver of wedding planning; now if you know your other half will be disinterested then the help of a planner could be idea.

But what about the cost?  Well, the prices vary greatly.  Some planners deal with people with lots of money to spend and are used to being given huge budgets.  If you can find someone who seems to offer a personalised service; ultimately the planner must gel with you and be able to make your life infinitely easier, listen to what you want and not cost you the earth.  For around £700 as a starting rate, a planner can help you with a schedule and suppliers, venues and invitations.  Sometimes for a higher fee they can become more involved and be there on the day for you.  A good planner can save you money because they have a relationship with the people who will provide you services. 

Having said all of that, some brides love to have all the control and have particular taste that they want to deal with every facet of their wedding themselves.  If this is you then there’s no question; you are the wedding planner!

Who pays for the wedding?

As time has passed, so have traditions and customs.  In the good old days, the bride’s family would give the groom’s family a dowry for taking in a woman, and they would also pay for all the wedding arrangements.  Nowadays, women stand on their own two feet and some traditions (in Western culture anyway!) no longer exists.  So how do you decide who pays for what without burdening others or causing offence?

There are no strict rules as to who should pay for what as there once was.  The bride and groom these days are often both working people and may be able to finance the whole event themselves.  

Traditionally there are some roles for people to assume – the parents of the bride, who traditionally pay for everything generally will cover the costs of the venue, the music, the flowers, food, invitations, cake, wedding dress etc. as well as a cash gift to the couple.  This varies greatly since many parents may not be together anymore and may not be in any financial place to provide all these things.  Obviously be a considerate bride and don’t put someone in a spot where they feel forced to pay.

Parents of the groom pay for a dinner before the event.  They may give a gift to the bride and groom.

The bride is supposed to pay for any party she has for the bridesmaids and a proportion of the dresses.  She is supposed to pay for the grooms present and wedding ring.  

The groom pays for the engagement ring and brides ring, and fees and legalities.  He should pay for the honey moon and gift (although these days it’s not unusual for the bride and groom to finance the honeymoon themselves).

The Bridesmaids will pay for a joint gift for the bride and also for their own shoes and bags, and a portion of the dresses. 

The best man will pay for his own suit and for a portion of the bachelor party.

None of these rules are set in stone of course; on one family is extremely rich then they may pay for everything and as mentioned before, the couple may be wealthy enough to afford to pay for the event without needing any support.  This may depend on the age of the couple and background.  Either way, do things the way you need to and don’t feel obliged or pressured.

Wherever you decide to get married, it is always worth trying to negotiate cost-saving options into each and every contract you sign. Here are some great places to get started:

Provide your own alcohol: Clubs and hotels that require you to purchase their alcohol do it for a reason - selling booze is their bread and butter. If you were to buy in bulk at your local supermarket or wine warehouse, not only would you get substantially better prices, but you should also be able to return unopened bottles after the event. Supplying your own booze for the reception and the toasts is definitely something to explore. In practice, most places that will agree to this will charge you a “corkage” fee (usually between £5 - £10 per bottle). Even with a corkage fee, it’s worth running the numbers, as the potential savings could still be quite large.

Choose an all-inclusive caterer: If you can get your caterer to includes china, tablecloths, and silverware in their price quotes, this can also be a real cost saver in the long run. Unless you’re obsessed with tabletop designs, it’s best to stick with what they have to offer instead of dealing with hiring outside rental vendors and coordinating the whole thing yourself. When all is said and done, do you really care about the difference between moss- or seafoam-colored tablecloths?

Be aggressive with your negotiations: It’s tempting, especially when you are going through a quote with a different vendor for the 5^th time, but don’t just say OK when a vendor quotes a price. There are two types of negotiation techniques. Position based and value based. Most people only consider position based negotiation. That is to say, the vendor wants £100 but you are only prepared to pay £50. There is a lot of research that shows position-based bargaining will usually end up in the middle if a deal is struck is at all, so if you take this route, go in much lower than what you actually want to pay. Be advised though, position-based negotiation is really hard work and wears you down quite quickly. Value-based negotiations are always to be preferred as they are about creating win-win situations and creating value for both parties in the process. For example, the vendor may want £100 but only because it will cost them £25 to get someone to deliver and pick up the items. If you can get someone you know to take care of this, the vendor may well be a lot more willing to give you the discount. In practice, value-based negotiations involve coming up with creative solutions. In order to be successful you need to trade off what is valuable to you with what is valuable to the vendor. Where the value is not equal, there is room for negotiation.

Always read the fine print: You’re in the moment, everyone is dancing and you’re feeling the love. And the clock is ticking. When you signed the contract, you figured four hours would be plenty of time, but now the party isn’t nearly over. Don’t get stuck in that situation. Read the fine print well ahead of time and find out how much extra hours will cost you (if you’re allowed them at all). Some venues charge as much as £500 per hour if you go over your allotted time, not to mention service charges to keep people around. If you have your wedding at an off-time, perhaps negotiate an extra buffer hour as a “value added,” an option or service which is included for free in lieu of discounts on the services you’ve already requested.

Timing Is Everything

Once you’ve settled on the where, it’s equally important to figure out the second most fiscally important factor: the when. Sure, you may envision a lush spring wedding to savor the full bloom of that time of year, but so do thousands of others, so be prepared to pay top whack to see your fantasy come to fruition.

Best seasons: Summer and spring are the most popular seasons for weddings. Opting for the Autumn or Winter can save you serious cash.

Top Tip: Find out when the FA Cup Final Saturday is. This can be a money saver if you and your intended (and your closest friends and family) aren’t that into football!

Best months: In general, the most budget-friendly months for weddings are those between November and March, as they fall into the wedding off-season. Select any other month to get lower prices on rental items and from vendors. Off-season discounts can come in various forms, whether it’s a percentage off the total rental cost, or “value add extras” – i.e. extras included in the prices, like free sound system hire or free cleanup.

Best weeks: Most people don’t think of the week between Christmas and New Year’s as a wedding week, but that’s precisely why it’s a good time! People generally have time off work to travel, and prices are lower since it’s a slow time for weddings. Avoid the week around the super-popular wedding date of Valentine’s Day, when Cupid’s arrow strikes directly at your bank account.

Best time of day: An evening wedding is considered the classic, with dinner, dancing, and cocktails. However, if your budget will be super-stretched, shift the time of the event, and your prices will drop significantly. A late-afternoon wedding won’t call for the same quantity of food. You can have substantial amounts of appetizers passed around or a buffet, rather than a sit-down, four-course meal. Also, your booze budget will be far less, as people tend to drink less in the afternoon than they do in the evening. Similarly, a lunchtime affair will be less expensive than dinner. Avoid, however, pushing an event up to the morning just to save a buck. It will lose a certain degree of elegance if people have just rolled out of bed and are bleary-eyed as you’re walking down the aisle. Here comes the who?!

Top Wedding Planner cost-saving Tip:

Newlyweds are often eager to share their well-worn research, so why not put them to use? Hire a recently married acquaintance to be your “day-of coordinator,” to make sure the trains run on time at your wedding, to get everyone in the right place at the right time, to manage all of the vendor drop-offs, to pay all the people you’ve hired, and to do everything you’d rather not do. This can be really cheap – or even free - depending on how well you know the person. Or instead of paying someone to be your coordinator, swap services with another engaged friend - “I’ll do yours if you do mine. Deal!”

If you decide to employ a wedding planner, you should approach this task as you would any other major decision about your wedding: You should draw up a short list of candidates and then interview them. Probing their credentials is particulrly important. If some of your contenders brag about having graduated from the College of All Things Wedding with honors in 1978, find out exactly what that means. Some wedding-credential organizations only require a two- to four-day course, which doesn’t really do you much good - especially if it was completed when wedding fashion lived and died by lime-green taffeta gowns. Alternatively, the Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants requires applicants to complete hours of coursework and have at least six weddings under their belt before they’ll certify them.

Second, ask for references from other couples - and call them! Ask them everything. You need someone who speaks the same language, whether or not they’ve done five Royal weddings. Finally, find out exactly how many weddings they’re currently planning. If you’re paying someone to be your wing woman, you want to feel like priority #1 at all times. Make sure they will be available to you at the drop of a hat - or a tear.