If you think a wedding planner is all about flower choices, décor check and walking around the venue with a clipboard you are probably mistaken.
Professional wedding planning involves way more responsibilities than most people believe.
A wedding event planner in Mumbai may manage hundreds of little things that create your perfect celebration. Behind the scenes wedding planners are responsible for all the decisions to make sure that the whole thing looks organized.
So what exactly does a wedding planner do? Let us find out.
Understanding your Wedding Concept
Usually, wedding planning starts with a discussion between the planner and the couple.
Wedding planner is trying to figure out the couple’s personalities, wishes, expectations, preferred style of the event, number of guests and budget among other things.
Some couples have a clear idea of what they want to get while others are more flexible regarding their concepts and just know that their wedding should be enjoyable, cozy or luxurious. A wedding planner takes this information and creates a realistic plan around it.
This step defines everything else including the venue choice, décor, entertainment and general flow of the event.
Budget Planning
Wedding budget planning is quite a complicated task as it includes so many categories.
Venue, food, décor, artists, photography, invitations, hospitality, transport, production – all of these things require some money. Planner can help you with dividing your budget so that all of your spending corresponded with your priorities.
They can also help to choose the most optimal solutions and help you compare different quotations.
Professional planning does not mean spending less money.
Venue Selection
Venue is usually one of the most important steps in wedding planning process.
Planner can help you to make a list of suitable venues based on your guest count, budget, preferred location and type of the event.
Besides, they will consider various other factors such as:
- Accessibility
- Parking
- Rooms for the guests
- Restrictions related to the decorations
- Sound restrictions
- Backup options in case of rain
- Vendors access schedule
- Stage and production opportunities
Once you choose the venue, wedding planner can communicate with its staff during the whole planning process.
Wedding Decorations and Design Coordination
Décor is usually the most noticeable part of the wedding.
Wedding planner can help you with creating the visual concept of the event and coordinate the work with the decorator. Usually, they create stage designs, flower arrangements, entrances installations, table décor, lighting, signs and ceremony decor.
Professional wedding planner makes sure that all of these things are connected and create a common look.
Also they coordinate decoration decisions with the practical factors such as venue capabilities and budget.
Vendor Selection
Weddings usually involve multiple vendors and it can be difficult to coordinate all of them.
Depending on the type of the wedding planner can help you with shortlisting or managing the following vendors:
- Photographers
- Videographers
- Decorators
- Caterers
- Makeup artists
- Choreographers
- DJs
- Live performers
- Anchors
- Mehendi artists
- Transport companies
- Invitation designers
- Gifting vendors
Wedding planner usually has a network of the trusted vendors and it helps you to find good professionals faster. But still a good planner should take into consideration the couple’s preferences instead of proposing the same vendors for every event.
Entertainment Planning
Entertainment can completely change the atmosphere of the wedding.
Sometimes one function may require a DJ, another – a live singer and the last one – a celebrity performance or some special act. Wedding planner who has experience with entertainment can assist you with artist selection, booking, negotiations and scheduling.
But their work does not end up with the artist being booked. They will also coordinate sound checks, technical riders, stage requirements, artist hospitality, travel and entry times of the artist. And all of this should happen smoothly without distracting the guests from the celebration.
Wedding Hospitality
For destination-style weddings and weddings with the big number of guests hospitality becomes a huge part of the planning process.
The guests can arrive from different cities or countries.
Planning team can organize airport pickups, hotel check-ins, welcome desks, room allocation, itineraries and guest transportation.
This point is especially useful for Mumbai as the traffic between different places can differ greatly.
Good hospitality planning guarantees that your guests will always know where they need to go and how to get there.
Wedding Timelines
Although wedding seems to be spontaneous to the guests, everything is scheduled behind the scenes. There can be a timetable for décor installation, photography, family arrival, couple entries, ceremonies, performances, dinner service and venue close.
Wedding planner creates these timetables and coordinates them with each vendor.
On the wedding day they adjust timetables according to the needs of the moment.
For example, if the bride is running 20 minutes late or some performance started earlier – they rearrange the schedule of the day.
Family Coordination
Indian weddings usually involve many family members who have their responsibilities.
Wedding planner can coordinate with parents, siblings, relatives and close friends to ensure that everyone understands what they should do.
For example, they can inform the groom’s family when the baraat should leave or inform the right relatives that they should appear for the ceremony.
It helps to avoid making calls during the celebration for every occasion.
On-ground event management
Finally, all planning comes to its place.
Wedding planner’s team usually arrives to the venue long before the guests. They can control décor installation, stage setup, lighting, sound, signs, seating, food counters and vendor preparation.
During the function, the team members manage different parts of the event.
If there is something wrong – wedding planner solves the problem silently.
Their aim is quite simple – the guests should have a wonderful experience without noticing anything behind the scenes.
Solving Unpredictable Situations
No matter how well the wedding was planned, something unexpected can happen.
Changes in the weather, delays, technical or vendor problems, missing props – all of these situations require fast solution. The experience of solving problems under pressure is the main reason why families decide to hire a planner.
Instead of 20 people who are trying to solve the problem at the same time there is one professional team that manages everything.
Post-Event Coordination
Sometimes the planner’s job continues even after the guests leave.
They can supervise vendor dismantling, coordinate venue handing over, help to arrange outstanding payments or return the necessary items to the family.
For multi-day weddings the whole process starts again next morning.
Do You Really Need a Wedding Planner?
Not every wedding requires the same level of planning.
For example, small intimate function may require just the coordination on the day of the event.
Wedding with multiple functions, big number of guests and multiple vendors can greatly benefit from full-service wedding planning.
Real advantages of hiring a wedding event planner in Mumbai are not only in convenience.
It means that there will be one team that will connect all the parts of your event together.
Conclusion
Wedding planners manage people, vendors, budgets, logistics, entertainment, hospitality and unexpected problems and try to create the celebration of your dreams at the same time.
When everything is done professionally guests are not able to notice all this coordination work.
And that is the main aim of the planner.
Wedding planner takes care of the details so that you could enjoy the celebration.
