Hiring a Wedding Planner? Ask these 7 questions first.

1. How many weddings have you planned?

This is more important than asking “how many weddings have you done?” They could have done no weddings officially but have helped friends or their church with coordination. This is good experience. What you want to avoid is the consultant who tells you she did her own wedding and decided to start the business. Too many times, this consultant is still full of the romantic and fun part of the process and has no clue about the brick and mortar it takes to build a wedding to accommodate someone else’s taste.

2. Have you had any education relating to wedding planning and coordination?

Have they had any professional training from one of the major associations: ABC, ACPWC, Weddings Beautiful, June Weddings or similar? There is no industry standard certification program for wedding coordinators, the definition of certified varies from organization to organization. You just want to look for someone who has taken the time to get some sort of education.

3. Are they a member of any of the major professional organizations?

ABC, ACPWC, Weddings Beautiful, June Weddings and ISES are all excellent organizations supporting the wedding and special event professional. They provide on going education and networking. (question 5 explains why I think this question is important)

4. Is this your full time job?

Generally, if a coordinator isn't full time, their availability during the day is going to be limited. Plus you want to make sure this isn't a hobby for them - who is to say they won't get bored with their new hobby before your wedding and leave you high and dry?

5. Did you start this business of buy an existing one?

You want to make certain that when a planner says their business has been around for 5 years, they have been the one around for 5 years! Anyone can buy a business and start meeting clients 2 days later all the while saying the business has been around for X years!

6. How do you charge for your services?

Some wedding planners charge by the hour, some do an estimate of time your wedding will require and some charge a flat fee and still others work on a percentage of your wedding budget basis. Make sure you know what is included and what is not. If it is a percentage based fee, get in writing which budget items that is based on. You don't want surprises down the road.

7. Do you receive commissions or referral fees from vendors?

Ethics dictate that the consultant is paid only by the bride, thereby devoting loyalty to the bride. When consultants accept finders fees from vendors more often than not they will pressure you to use the vendor that gives them the largest finders fee. ALWAYS get an answer to this question - if they refuse to answer, end the interview and find a coordinator who will answer it. When you are introduced to a vendor it's a good idea to make sure that they didn't pay a finder's fee for your referral?

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