I met the lovely ladies of By Design Wedding and Event Custom Creations last November. I was impressed by their knowledge and enthusiasm for their craft as we shared stories of our roles on the wedding day. Katie McLaughlin and Brittany French, owners of By Design and certified wedding planners, share some insight here about the benefits of a wedding planner and how they can help with your wedding.
Wedding planning is one of those careers that is surrounded by so many misconceptions – and let’s face it, a lot of those romance movies out there make wedding planning seem like a service reserved for the rich and famous. So, let’s start this blog post off with a bit of rumour control – we ARE affordable to everyone, no matter how big or small your budget…and we think you should hire us. I know, I know – of course we want you to hire us. Hopefully after you read this, you’ll see why!
Time
Time is perhaps one of the biggest reasons couples today hire a wedding planner. On average, it can take a couple over 250 hours to plan a wedding. In today’s world, finding that kind of time can be difficult, and it can be very easy for couples to feel overwhelmed and stressed. Planning a wedding should be fun; it shouldn’t become a chore or a stressful task. Wedding planners can help you enjoy the process, they can help keep you on track, they can help you focus on vendors that are actually within your budget, and they can ensure that no small detail is missed.
Budget
This may seem like a contradictory reason to hire a planner – if you’re sticking to a budget, why spend money on someone to plan a wedding with you? Well, think about it this way – we are wedding professionals. We have connections with local vendors, and in many cases we can bargain a deal or take advantage of vendor discounts that we pass along to our clients. We also help clients keep track of the budget they set out. It’s far too easy to go over budget – the dreams you have of your perfect day can easily sidetrack you from making tough budget decisions. Having an unbiased planner remind you of your budget and your goals, and find alternative ways to help make your dreams come true can really benefit you. In the end, you’ll be glad you spent the money on a planner instead of letting your budget skyrocket.
An Unbiased Referee
A wedding causes excitement in a lot of people – the couple, as well as the family and friends. Sometimes it can be easy for family and friends to become too involved in the wedding plans, and the lovebirds can lose focus on what this wedding is really about – the love and union of the happy couple. Too often they want to please everyone else, even if it’s not exactly what the couple envisioned their wedding to be. They don’t want to say “no” or put their foot down at the risk of hurting someone – especially if that person is paying for part of the celebration. A planner is a couple’s advocate – we were hired by you, to help you and plan your day. We have experience dealing with this kind of scenario, and it’s easy for us to professionally intervene and remind everyone what the wedding is about. We play many roles – friend, mediator, financial advisor…this is just one of the many hats a professional planner wears that’ll benefit you.
Chaos Controller
No one wants to think about it – or admit it – but every event has its share of chaos, and yes folks, this includes weddings! No, it doesn’t always mean disaster, but there is usually something going on behind the scene that wasn’t exactly planned. This could be anything from a vendor not delivering something on time – or, God forbid, not delivering the correct item – to a time delay in the wedding, indecisive weather, a decoration disaster…the list goes on. You don’t want to spend your special day worrying about anything – you want to focus on your love, your family, your friends and most importantly, yourselves. Hiring a planner can relieve you and your loved ones of this stress. We are there to deal with everything and to make sure that nothing interferes with your special day. We know how to deal with chaos and crises – and while we’re doing it, you’ll rarely ever know they existed! You can rest assured knowing that a professional is making sure everything is going according to plan…even if the plan involves a detour.
There are so many more reasons we can think of to justify why you should hire a wedding planner, but these are some of the top reasons. We can’t speak for all planners, but we absolutely LOVE what we do – helping a couple plan their wedding day and ensure everything goes smoothly is very rewarding for us. We also love that our involvement on your special day means the couple and their family and friends can focus on the wedding and not on the behind- the-scenes details. One of our recent brides summed this up by saying, “Being able to be a guest at your own wedding is priceless”. We agree!
So consider it – hiring a wedding planner could be one of the best investments you make for your wedding day! And just to squander another wedding planning myth (thanks to those romance movies): unlike J-Lo, we won’t be stealing your groom 
Katie McLaughlin, WPICC | Brittany French, WPICC
Owners and Certified Wedding Planners
By Design Wedding & Event Custom Creations
For more information on By Design Wedding & Event Custom Creations visit their website at www.bydesignvictoria.com or check them out on Facebook!
“Credit to Marion (the lovely bride) at ma_luxe for creating the overall theme pictured above.”
Being able to be a guest at your own wedding is priceless!
