Wedding Planner Job Description
Coordinating all the critical elements for a picture-perfect wedding and reception is not an easy job. In fact, it can take on similar characteristics of trying to herd cats, especially if the future bride and groom both work full-time and/or don't know how to delegate all their nuptial-related tasks to friends and relatives. The role of a professional wedding planner is to make sure everything runs smoothly and stays within budget.
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Active Listener
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During the initial consultation, the wedding planner discusses what type of ceremony and reception her clients want to have, how large an event it's going to be, where and when they want to have it and what their expectations are insofar as her participation in the process.
Budget Manager
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Based on her understanding of what they can afford to spend, the wedding planner presents a detailed line-item proposal of goods and services to be supplied for the ceremony and reception as well as a contract that specifies payment due dates and cancellation policies.
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Vendor Liaison
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The wedding planner uses her network of business contacts to secure the participation of florists, caterers, musicians and photographers in addition to coordinating facility rentals, menu planning and limousine services. She may also be involved in arranging transportation and lodging for out-of-state guests, assisting with bridal registry tasks or even working with a travel agent to help the couple choose a honeymoon destination.
Skilled Mediator
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In addition to hiring everyone who is going to be working behind the scenes, the wedding planner needs to make sure that they can work together as a team, not step on each other's creative toes and meet deadlines. She has to be able to resolve disputes quickly and fairly and may oftentimes find these duties extending to squabbling family members and bridesmaids.
Crisis Management
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Whatever can go wrong generally will, and a wedding planner needs to be prepared for anything from bad weather to ministers stuck in traffic to toppled wedding cakes to drunken DJs. If she does her job well, no one but a few insiders will ever suspect anything was ever amiss.
Working Hours
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Although much of her liaison with vendors is done during normal weekday hours, a wedding planner's main consultation time with couples and their families is done on evenings and weekends. Most ceremonies take place on weekends, and her busiest months of the year are February, June and December. Further, unless she is strict about her private time, she's also likely to have brides who don't think twice about calling her at all hours to chat, cry or make demands.
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- Photo Credit Image courtesy of morguefile
