Do you actually need a wedding planner?

Even if this is shooting ourselves in the foot: no, you don't really need a wedding planner to be capable of planning your wedding. You're two people who can help each other, and you normally have a year or eighteen months ahead of you — evenings, nights or weekends. You're perfectly capable.

Being capable doesn't make it the best option. The problems don't show up at the start; they show up as the date gets close, and on the day itself. So here are the pros and cons of both routes.

Planning it yourselves: the upside

• You don't pay a fee, and that saving is real.
• You have complete control: information comes to you directly from the suppliers.
• If you enjoy planning and organising, this is going to be a lovely year for you.

Planning it yourselves: what it costs

You'll lose a lot of time and build up a fair amount of stress: coordinating every supplier, checking that none of them lets you down, keeping track of what's paid and what isn't, knowing what time each one arrives to set up or to do a run-through.

And there's a high risk something slips, simply because you aren't used to organising a wedding. You think something is settled and a detail is missing, a cable is missing, or that particular song you wanted at that particular moment.

The most expensive part is the last one: on the day, you never quite switch off. Instead of talking, laughing and enjoying yourselves, you're watching to see that everything is in place on time and that nobody makes a mistake.

With a wedding planner: the upside

• You save the time and the stress, because we do the talking with everyone and hand it to you already worked through.
• You get access to suppliers we trust, not just the ones you find online or on Instagram: a list of people we know do a great job, often with more affordable options than you'd find on your own.
• Everything is coordinated and the day flows, because we've spent months rehearsing exactly that.
• You genuinely enjoy it, because you handle nothing: not on the day, not the day before, not the week before.

With a wedding planner: what it costs

There's the fee, which depends on the planner you choose and the scope you book.

And there's the other thing, which costs more than it sounds: you have to delegate. A lot of couples still want to be across everything, ask about everything and know everything. If you've hired someone, give them that vote of confidence and let them do their job.

Give it some thought, make your own list of pros and cons, and see whether you really need one.

Based on a video published on TikTok