Often times, we get asked what a design-led wedding planner is. If you are planning a wedding, chances are you are speaking to and negotiating with lots of different suppliers. So, what is the actual difference between a wedding planner and one focused on design? Are they interchangeable? It’s likely that the tasks they perform will have an element of overlap, such as in our case. Let’s take a closer look at each, to help you decide where the best place would be for your investment.
What does a wedding planner do?
A wedding planner will help you arrange every aspect of your wedding from the beginning. Their goal is to take the pressure off you, reduce stress and anxiety, and negotiate budgets and prices. A wedding planner will stick with you throughout the process and on your wedding day to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible.
A wedding planner will be able to help with the following areas:
- Reviewing your budget, breaking it down, allocating chunks of your budget to different areas of your wedding, and reception, based on your priorities.
- Creating checklists so that everyone knows what needs to be done and by when.
- Liaising with suppliers and venues.
- Support with travel plans and accommodation booking for you or your guests.
- Set up and removal of different elements on the big day.
- And of course, day-of management, which includes everything from making sure the wedding party is on time and in the right place to handling guests, communicating with vendors, and managing any problems that may arise.
They will put in hundreds of hours into your wedding day, know you as a couple inside and out, and be there to support you and resolve challenges and problems. You should think of your wedding planner as your right-hand man/woman who is there to support you in every way.
What does a Design-Led Wedding Planner do?
In a nutshell they are there to help you with all the above tasks as well as the aesthetics of your wedding, bringing your wedding to life through colour, props, and layout.
They are going to help you finalising designing centrepieces, or sourcing that one ‘wow’ element that you have visualised but need help to bring to life. The role of a design-led wedding planner is also to create a cohesive feel and your desired atmosphere. They’ll offer guidance on fabrics, textures, colour palettes, props, furniture, and all décor elements.
Most design-led wedding planners will be able to help with the following areas:
- Finalising your colour palette.
- Making sure the aesthetic vision you had for your wedding comes to life.
- Recommending trusted creative suppliers.
- Designing ceremony, reception set-ups, table layouts and centrepieces, lounge areas, bar area, etc
- Creating visual renders o your wedding concept, from start to finish, in detail.
- Distribute your wedding sketches to your suppliers.
- Removing the stress from you having to explain your vision to suppliers that don’t get you.
- Saving you considerable amount of money by renting or purchasing only the decor that will be perfect for your day.
Should you hire a Design-Led Wedding Planner?
- If the décor and atmosphere of your wedding is important to you.
- If you want someone creative to convert a blank canvas into your dream place.
- You want someone to be wholly responsible for designing the event space for your wedding.
- If you’re detail-oriented and want to be 100% safe to visualise your event day in an easy and simple way.
- You have a specific, detailed theme in mind and need help developing and executing it.
- If you want to avoid renting too many decor elements “just in case”
- If you want to save money easily from decor
…then hiring a design-led wedding planner may just be for you. Due to the nature of their work, they like to book up early, therefore we recommend finding one 12 months before your wedding. This will also give your chosen supplier time to source any obscure or unique items for the day.
In Summary…
A design-led wedding planner has a very different role to play when it comes to the planning and execution of your wedding.
Several factors, such as your degree of involvement in the planning process, the time you want to spend planning, your level of creativity, your budget, will determine the planner you hire.
The choice is all yours but hopefully you now feel armed with the information that can help you to make an informed decision.
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