Planning your wedding is likely something you’ve spent years dreaming about, but when it’s actually time to start calling vendors, booking venue tours, thinking about your food and decorations, it’s an incredibly overwhelming task.

That’s where a professional wedding planner comes in.

A wedding planner can be useful for a variety of reasons. It takes a lot of effort to arrange any event, let alone a wedding. What with having to schedule vendors, organize RSVPs, and manage a budget.

When regular life obligations are factored in, even the best-prepared engaged couples might feel overwhelmed! So, hiring a specialist may ease a lot of stress for you and your future spouse, allowing you to relax and take pleasure in the engagement process.

The biggest hang-up most couples encounter with hiring a wedding planner is the cost. Average wedding planner cost varies by location and the length of time they work for you, and most couples spend at least $2,000 for their wedding planner while some may spend more than $5,000.

In our opinion, the cost of a wedding planner is money well spent. But if you’re still deciding, let’s break down what a wedding planner costs and how much they do.

How Much Does a Wedding Planner Cost?

For starters, let’s dive deeper into wedding planner costs. After all, your wedding budget is one of the most important factors when it comes to your big day. 

As we said, the average couple will spend between $2,000 and $5,000 on their wedding planner. 

Let’s say you’re having an intimate wedding with fewer than 100 guests. In that case, you may select a planner’s day-of or month-of coordinator packages that ranges from $800 to $3,000 depending on the planner’s experience level.

For weddings with 100-200 guests, more help will be needed so you’ll want to select at least a partial wedding planning package (think someone who’ll be working with you for at least 3-4 months prior to your wedding date), the price ranges from between $2,300 to $6,000 depending on their level of experience and your wedding details. 

Finally, a full-service wedding planner package where your planner does everything from sending invitations to day-of management can cost anywhere between $4,500 and $12,000 depending on their level of experience, your wedding location, size, and date. 

Wedding Planner Cost Breakdown

As we’ve noted, the cost of a wedding planner is all over the map thanks to their vast array of services. The wedding planner cost depends on the planner’s level of expertise, the length of time they work with you, and more. Some planners charge a flat fee while others charge a percentage of the total vendor and venue cost.

Expect a range of fees from different planners, as no two planners are identical nor have the same approach to wedding planning. Make sure you have more money available if you wish someone to handle every last detail of wedding planning while you just relax.

So, are you wondering what the money you’ll be paying a planner will go toward? You can expect them to spend considerable time talking to you and checking in with you regularly, as well as with the vendors.

A wedding planner will also oversee making a wedding day timeline, preparing invitations, arranging the wedding favors to be given out, helping with the seating chart, handling vendor contracts, and countless other little duties that are all necessary to ensure your big day unfolds seamlessly.

On the day of the wedding, your planner will be there hours before the ceremony and stay for hours after to make sure that everything is going according to plan and that you and your spouse-to-be can unwind and enjoy the day.

After the celebration, some activities must be completed, such as cleaning up the venue, returning any rented goods, and giving out recommendations to the event’s providers. And as you already guessed, this day of coordination is included in the wedding planner cost!

Many wedding planners also offer various packages with different price ranges. Many have packages for a wedding coordinator, or day of coordinator, to help with last-minute wedding planning and organizing from about four weeks before up to your wedding day itself.

What Does a Wedding Planner Do?

When you hire a wedding planner, you won’t have to stress about the finer points of wedding planning, like locating trustworthy vendors, negotiating contracts, creating your wedding website, tracking RSPVS, or setting your wedding timeline for the big day.

Wedding planners are experienced professionals who know how to read venue contracts, have connections with various vendors to negotiate a good price, and most importantly know when you should book each vendor. They can even help you save money on wedding planning!

Hiring a pro makes the already stressful process of organizing a wedding much more pleasant. Your wedding planner will oversee your budget, coordinate with your vendors, and handle the logistics while you’re focusing on finding your perfect wedding dress, planning your bachelorette party, and more fun planning aspects. They’ll also remind you of things that could fall through the cracks like picking your wedding dress code, ordering thank you cards, getting your marriage license on time, and more.

A wedding planner also reminds you of things you may be forgetting and helps you fit them into your busy schedule—like engagement photos, reserving a hotel block, and more.

When your wedding day arrives, your wedding planner is there to help with all the logistics and timing, so you can worry only about having the most amazing day. They’ll coordinate with the venue coordinator that the venue is ready for the day, make sure vendors know where to go, address guest concerns, and more.

This is a broad outline of the wedding planner’s duties, and it is important to read your specific planner’s agreement and package specifics so you know exactly what they will be responsible for.

Ultimately, the right wedding planner will help guide you in planning your dream wedding. You’ll have final say in every decision, but your planner will help weed out options that won’t match your vision and handle the less glamorous aspects like payment schedules and vendor arrival times. Especially if you’re planning a more intricate theme wedding, your wedding planner can be a big help. 

One thing is for certain, though: the wedding planner cost pays off in the end!

 

 

Hiring Help for Wedding Planning Is a Must

Wedding planners are there to lift the wedding planning burden off your shoulders and allow you to both savor your engagement and be relaxed on your big day. We assure you the wedding planner cost will pay off handsomely in the long run, so pick the best one you can find!

Many venues, like Kendall Point, have partner wedding planners for you to choose from to help you plan your wedding, and many wedding planners offer various packages so you can budget appropriately.

Also like Kendall Point, many venues require couples to hire a wedding planner for their nuptials. This isn’t to drive up costs even more but to ensure you have the perfect wedding you’ve always dreamt of.

We’ve been in this business a long time, and we’ve seen how beneficial wedding planners are to both the couples and venues. Deadlines aren’t missed, calls and emails are always answered, and no one is taking on work that is outside their means.

A Dream Wedding Calls for a Dream Venue

If you’re ready to have your dream wedding, look no further than Kendall Point, a San Antonio wedding venue.

You and up to 400 guests have exclusive, full-day access to our gorgeous venue with indoor and outdoor ceremony and receptions locations, beautiful views of Texas Hill Country, state of the art bridal and groom suites, and much more.

Book a tour today and let us make your dream come true!