1. Experience.
Look at the wedding planner’s website, portfolio and dates of uploading pictures and posts – the more experience the specialist has, the more confident he feels in dealing with force majeure situations. An experienced professional knows the wedding market, the pitfalls, current trends, and the downsides of all banquet venues perfectly. The organizer who works in the wedding sphere for several years will be able to assemble a good team of professionals, competently distribute the budget and plan the timing.
2. Portfolio and social media pages
Carefully review the professional’s work and personal social media pages. While studying weddings in the portfolio, try to understand – how much you like them in terms of feeling and style. If the work created by the organizer evokes conflicting feelings – it is better to refuse the services of such a specialist. Pictures of past weddings should evoke anticipation and admiration! Read texts and posts on social networks – on them, you can understand a lot about the principles of work and personal views of the specialist.
3. Professional qualities.
First, the wedding planner should be a professional in his case. The specialist should know the answers to all your questions about the wedding and create a sense of confidence and peace of mind. You can pay attention to publications in magazines and wedding publications. And awards for participation in competitions can show that the specialist has a good reputation and experience.
4. The cost of services and price segment.
Before making an appointment with the organizer – clarify on the phone or in personal correspondence information about the cost of work and the average budgets with which he works. Do not be shy to voice the amount you have allocated for the organization of the holiday. A professional working in the right price segment will best allocate the budget and help you save on unnecessary expenses.
It is very important at the first stage to find out the average cost for the services of other wedding contractors that the organizer works with. More often than not, the cost of organizing a wedding is 10% of the total wedding budget.
5. Face-to-face meeting.
Make an appointment for your first meeting-consultation, and try to have your questions ready in advance. Face-to-face communication is essential, because you have months of preparation ahead of you, tons of personal emails and phone calls. It is important that you feel easy and pleasant to be around the organizer. Try to understand if the specialist has prepared for the meeting, if he has caught your wishes and is able to remove all your worries and concerns.
Questions to discuss at the first meeting:
- the list of services that are included in the terms of service
- will the planner be personally present on the day of the wedding
- Is there a limit to the number of meetings and personal correspondence
- whether the specialist will be able to allocate an outlined wedding budget in such a way that funds will be sufficient for all your wishes
- how will your work be structured
- whether there will be a contract
- stages of payment
6. Reviews
A wedding planner is a key specialist in the creation of a wedding, a lot depends on his work. Try as much as possible to study carefully the reviews about the work of the specialist, not only on his website, but also on other Internet resources: social networks, wedding forums and portals. You can write to the organizer’s past clients and ask if they were happy with his work. Happy clients will definitely not refuse to share their impressions.
7. Working on a contract
A competent contract in duplicate is an indicator of the responsibility and professionalism of the wedding planner. Remember, prepayment and the contract are not only the wedding professional’s guarantees, but yours, too.
Carefully read the contract and pay attention that the document contains the following information: cost of services, prepayment amount, guarantees, algorithm of actions in case of force majeure situations, rights and duties of the specialist and customer, personal data and address of the contractor, conditions of termination of the contract and return of the advance payment.