Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Costs
I always see posts about “What does a wedding planner/coordinator do?”, "Do I need a wedding planner?" or “Why do planners cost so much?” I have heard so, so many people ask about what we do and I have seen a ton of posts about what we do for you. Here are a few:
Do I need a wedding planner?
Do I need a wedding planner?
Please Hire a Wedding Planner
The other question, “Why do planners cost so much?” is not one that is addressed often (or at least how I am going to do it). I get countless emails from brides looking for a coordinator but do not want to invest in one, they just want something cheap (and that is all they look at). I may be overgeneralizing about brides a bit - but this is just what I have seen lately. I want to explain to brides/other vendors/parents why we cost what we do.
There was a very popular post (well, it was popular on twitter) about a month ago regarding a cheap photographer (I can't find the link right now but I will post it as soon as I get it). There was a bride not wanting to pay more than X amount and just wanted the CD, a TON of photographers got on her website and told her why professionals charge what they charge. It was definitely enlightening (I learned a couple things) and I thought it would be a good idea to do the same for a planner.
There is so much that goes into being a planner and a lot of it is behind the scenes! Here is just a glimpse of the time it takes to do our DOC (it is really longer than that more like 2-months-before-your-wedding-coordination-package) package.
1 hour getting materials ready for a consultation
1 hour spent emailing and confirming location/time
2 hours travel to and from the initial meeting
1 hour to organize client file – paper and computer – and input notes
1 hours (roughly) answering emails during the planning process
1 hour spent emailing to set up walkthrough
2 hours travel to and from walkthrough
3 hours conducting walkthrough and meeting
2 hours putting together your timeline
1 hour spent emailing to set up final meeting
2 hours travel to and from final meeting
1 ½ hour final meeting
1 ½ hour revising and making adjustments to final timeline
2 hour emailing all vendors
2 hour confirming all vendors
2 hours traveling to and from rehearsal
1 – 1 ½ hours for rehearsal
2 hours packing all items, printing materials and getting things ready to go
2 hours for travel to and from on your wedding day
8-10 hours on the wedding day – this is HARD labor
1 hour follow-up after the wedding
1 hour follow-up with vendors after the wedding
1 hour formatting and writing a blog post
1 hour uploading and getting photos from the photographer
Total of 45 hours spent just on our DOC package (this is an average DOC for me; it can be more and sometimes a little less). Take those hours and divide by the amount of the package, and you are just getting a glimpse of an hourly wage. And that is just the time – now think about gas and tune ups for the cars we drive (I put almost 15,000 miles on my car last year just doing weddings). There are other costs such as insurance, cell phone and internet bills, items for our emergency kits, materials for our packets, classes, putting together marketing materials, maintaining a website, etc. Not only that, but we take on the stress and responsibly on your wedding day – it is by far the most important thing we do. We are able to think quickly on our feet because of years of experience, come up with solutions outside of the box and make sure your day goes off without a hitch. After putting this all together, you can see why we charge what we do.
Being in demand, being well known for quality work, having a good reputation often costs time on the planner’s part. Their expertise comes at a cost, their time learning their craft and learning the intricacies of how to put together a wedding and the commitment put forth to build their business. These are all factors in our pricing. I hope this gives you a glimpse into what we do and why we charge what we do.
The other question, “Why do planners cost so much?” is not one that is addressed often (or at least how I am going to do it). I get countless emails from brides looking for a coordinator but do not want to invest in one, they just want something cheap (and that is all they look at). I may be overgeneralizing about brides a bit - but this is just what I have seen lately. I want to explain to brides/other vendors/parents why we cost what we do.
There was a very popular post (well, it was popular on twitter) about a month ago regarding a cheap photographer (I can't find the link right now but I will post it as soon as I get it). There was a bride not wanting to pay more than X amount and just wanted the CD, a TON of photographers got on her website and told her why professionals charge what they charge. It was definitely enlightening (I learned a couple things) and I thought it would be a good idea to do the same for a planner.
There is so much that goes into being a planner and a lot of it is behind the scenes! Here is just a glimpse of the time it takes to do our DOC (it is really longer than that more like 2-months-before-your-wedding-coordination-package) package.
1 hour getting materials ready for a consultation
1 hour spent emailing and confirming location/time
2 hours travel to and from the initial meeting
1 hour to organize client file – paper and computer – and input notes
1 hours (roughly) answering emails during the planning process
1 hour spent emailing to set up walkthrough
2 hours travel to and from walkthrough
3 hours conducting walkthrough and meeting
2 hours putting together your timeline
1 hour spent emailing to set up final meeting
2 hours travel to and from final meeting
1 ½ hour final meeting
1 ½ hour revising and making adjustments to final timeline
2 hour emailing all vendors
2 hour confirming all vendors
2 hours traveling to and from rehearsal
1 – 1 ½ hours for rehearsal
2 hours packing all items, printing materials and getting things ready to go
2 hours for travel to and from on your wedding day
8-10 hours on the wedding day – this is HARD labor
1 hour follow-up after the wedding
1 hour follow-up with vendors after the wedding
1 hour formatting and writing a blog post
1 hour uploading and getting photos from the photographer
Total of 45 hours spent just on our DOC package (this is an average DOC for me; it can be more and sometimes a little less). Take those hours and divide by the amount of the package, and you are just getting a glimpse of an hourly wage. And that is just the time – now think about gas and tune ups for the cars we drive (I put almost 15,000 miles on my car last year just doing weddings). There are other costs such as insurance, cell phone and internet bills, items for our emergency kits, materials for our packets, classes, putting together marketing materials, maintaining a website, etc. Not only that, but we take on the stress and responsibly on your wedding day – it is by far the most important thing we do. We are able to think quickly on our feet because of years of experience, come up with solutions outside of the box and make sure your day goes off without a hitch. After putting this all together, you can see why we charge what we do.
Being in demand, being well known for quality work, having a good reputation often costs time on the planner’s part. Their expertise comes at a cost, their time learning their craft and learning the intricacies of how to put together a wedding and the commitment put forth to build their business. These are all factors in our pricing. I hope this gives you a glimpse into what we do and why we charge what we do.
Danielle
Colorado Wedding Planner
Friday, March 5, 2010
Hiring a Wedding Planner - Fact or Fiction?
I saw this great post on Twitter! I just had to share - click here!
Danielle
Broadmoor Wedding Planner
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Wish Upon A Wedding
I love love love giving back, being a part of something greater than myself, and planning weddings. This is an awesome organization combines all three of these things. The Colorado chapter is coming soon and I can't wait to be involved in this organzation.
Wish Upon A Wedding was founded in San Francisco, CA, in January of 2010, by a group of wedding and business entrepreneurs and is America’s FIRST nonprofit wedding wish granting organization, producing weddings and civil union ceremonies at destinations across the United States for individuals facing terminal illness, regardless of sexual orientation.
Chapters:
Wish Upon A Wedding is now boasting twenty chapters nationwide, headed by some of the industry’s most renowned leaders with plans to expand to over 40 chapters worldwide.
Presidents:
Sasha Souza, National President & SF Bay Area President
Kevin Covey, LA/Orange County
Stella Inserra, New York
Ivy Robinson, The Carolinas
Eliana Baucicault, Atlanta
Mary Alice Sublett, Tennessee
Mark Kingsdorf, Philadelphia
Saundra Hadley, Indianapolis
Heather Hamilton Sims, Houston
Shelby Tuck Horton, DC
Elisa Delgardio, Orlando
Ali Phillips, Chicago
Daniela Isabella Ferdico Fagét, Seattle
Forming Additional Chapters:
Other chapters opening soon include Boston, Colorado, Arizona, Portland, Miami, St. Louis, Ohio and Nevada. We are also planning to open to chapters in other areas depending on need including international chapters. If you wish to start a chapter, please fill out the online form for consideration.
Who Is Behind Wish Upon A Wedding?
Many influential people in the industry are beginning to endorse Wish Upon A Wedding & you can find those endorsements on the website. There are also amazing people sitting on the Boards and Advisory Panel throughout the US such as Dana Larue Stiebel “Broke-Ass Bride” {LA Chapter PR Chair}, Leila Khalil {National PR Advisor}, Beth Helmstetter {National Outreach Director} just to name a few. They would love to have you join as well either as a board member or wish granter!
How We Grant Wishes:
To qualify for Wishes, applicants must be unmarried legal citizens of the United States, over the age of 18, who have been diagnosed with less than three years to live. Couples can be granted wishes either in the chapter where they live or in a chapter of their choosing as long as they are able to make the trip.
Couples can simply apply online to request one of three wedding types:
URGENT (Up to 10 guests, in hospital or at bedside);
BOUTIQUE (up to 25 guests, in home town of applicant);
ROMANTIC (Up to 50 guests, at any WUW destination)
How Can You Grant Wishes?
As the organization is building, Wish Granters are needed in all locations. Please apply online today to start helping Wedding Wishes come true. In two weeks, Wish Upon A Wedding will be granting the very first wish. To read more about that wish and the couple please visit the website.
Danielle
Colorado Wedding Planner
Monday, March 1, 2010
Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!!
WOW!! I had such a great response to the giveaway - more than any other year. As I was reading each entry, I could sympathize with each couple - I have been there. More than a couple brought tears to my eyes and made me want to be a part of each wedding day. Thank you all for sharing your stories with me. Please know that I wish I could help each and every one of you.
Now onto the winner...clearly I was not going to be able to pick a winner based on stories alone so I (well random.org, picked a number for me) randomly picked a number... and the winner is...
Emily and Jake!!
Congratulations to the lucky couple! I also have posted a TTD (trash the dress) Giveaway from a local Colorado photographer. Check out the post here.
Thanks again to everyone that entered.
Danielle
Colorado Wedding Planner
TTD Giveaway
Networking is a big part of any business, including wedding planning. I am on twitter (SCEvents) and have been able to network with many people from around the country, as well as Colorado. You are able to share about yourself and your business without leaving your house. I have had the chance to meet some awesome people and learn from them.
One of the people I recently met on twitter was Scott Stebner from Scott Stebner Photography. He has been shooting weddings for 4 years and recently moved from California to Colorado. He is continuing his photography business here. Here is what Scott has to say about himself:
"I'm a wedding, documentary, and editorial photographer who just moved out from California to marry my fiance and can't wait! While I was in California, I photographed weddings that were on TLC's Rock the Reception and worked for a number of magazines and newspapers. I also work as a documentary and relief photographer for an organization I helped start called "FCC Ethiopia" where we raise money for rural villages in Ethiopia providing them with drinking water, irrigation, technology, school supplies, food relief, and life-saving medicine. 10% of all my photography goes towards providing children and mothers with clean, safe drinking water and food supply. To date we have raised over $250,000. "
We chatted over email and he informed me that he would like pair up with Something Classic Events to do a TTD giveaway!! Scott is going to give away 5 Trash the Dress sessions!
You might be asking, what is a Trash the Dress shoot? Well let me give you a short rundown. This is fun session where you are willing to do more with your gown than you might have been on your wedding day because you aren't worried about getting it dirty. From laying on the ground in dirt to jumping in a lake, these are things you might not do on your wedding (especially jumping in the lake!!). You dress won't get "trashed" but will get dirty. I have had many brides say everything comes out when the gown is taken to the cleaners.
Sound like fun? You bet it is! All you need to do is shoot Scott an email (scott@stebnerphotography.com) with your name and email address by Sunday March 7, 2010 and then 5 winners will be randomly selected. How easy is that! I wish you all the best of luck!
Danielle
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