Yay – I’m so glad you’re here!
Let’s chat about your wedding and some of your struggles. I’m going to break it all down in this Q&A with Amanda session. Let’s dig in.
Q&A with Amanda – How much do weddings cost?
Every month I do a live Q&A on IG and Facebook. If you want to watch the full replay you can check it out over on our Facebook page.
I also like to break them down in writing for those of you that want a little reading and some actional steps you can even copy and paste.
I received some wonderful questions ahead of time and started the session off with that. I also like to pick a topic to chat through as well and this month was Venue Coordinators vs. Wedding Planners. What’s the difference, who do I need, and how do I know?
Because that’s a whole conversation to its self I’ll be doing that in another post (you can find here).
Now to all your questions!
Q: What is the best way to go about getting a budget if you don’t know general pricing?
A: (1:00m into the video) This is a little hard to answer but the short story here is that you can’t. You need to put in the time and research to know what things cost here in your market to know what is realistic. I know, this sounds like a lot, but if you really want to know how to budget you need to put in the time to understand costs or just hire us as your Wedding Planner and we’ll break down all pricing, ideas you have, and let you know what those inspiration photos you bring to us translate to in cost. It’s also a lot more fun and a lot less time for you researching and getting confused (there are SO many blog posts out there about budget but unless they’re market-specific and within the type of wedding you want it can be really hard to know if you can trust them). Our planning meetings are fun, even talking about the budget can be fun (I mean, I geek out over numbers and how we can make your ideal budget work with your desired vision and esthetic).
We’ve also put out a great blog post on What Weddings Cost in Manitoba.
Q: Struggling to pick a colour for our wedding!!! What are your favourite schemes?
A: (5:00m into the video) That is a hard one! I love love love colour! I love using all sorts of colours but I always try and have a thread of classic-ness in our designs. I want to make sure that our clients look back on their wedding in 5, 10 years and still really like it. I don’t go over the top trendy and also don’t recommend it. That’s just us, and historically what our clients love and also what can really ground the wedding design and keep you out of the kitschy zone.
I will say though my biggest thought (and conversation) when talking colour or design is “What do you love personally?” , “What do you love doing?”, “Where do you love travelling to?”. We get to know our couples so that we can be sure their personalities are represented in their designs.
We do personalized inspiration boards to help them hone in on their theme and colours as well. For more inspiration, I’d head over to our Colour Palette Pin Board.
Q: I’m not getting married till for another 2 years but I’m already overwhelmed. When should I hire a Wedding Planner?
A: (7:56m into the video) Right now is a great time! Not every Planner will work with you 2 years out but we’re happy to! We find the more time we have (generally) the better. We can take all the planning and break it down into smaller pieces to make it more manageable for you. It’s super important to us that you still get to live your life, have fun doing other non-wedding things, and not have your wedding take over. If you have a trip planned, want to take December off to really enjoy the holidays, or just generally have certain times in your work life that are nuts, we’ll work with that. We’ll adjust your planning to work with your lifestyle. SO yes, go ahead and hire now. We’d be happy to chat – head over to our contact page.
Q: How do you keep track of everything?
A: (10:19m into the video) We have some really great internal systems we use. I’m the huggest fan of well-created checklists and timelines so we use those to the max. We also use a great email/reminder management system called Bomberag and now are using Calendly for meeting bookings so we can make sure all our clients can book meetings when they want them and always have access to our meeting options.
Also, I use ical to the max. I have it colour coded really well. Really, I use all my tools to the max and take the time to organize all our systems so they flow, it’s low on time commitment (cause who wants to mess around with tech so much?), and make sense for our biz.
Q: How do you pick a Wedding Planner?
A: (12:45m into the video) There are some things that you should be considering with any vendor you pick and I’ve really dug into that and outlined it in this blog post.
With a Wedding Planner, you want someone you can trust and you really feel confident in their skills. This is a person you’re trusting with your wedding day, your money, your family and, your stress management. It’s a big load we carry for our clients, and not something we take lightly.
When you meet with Wedding Planners you should ask them about their experience, how many weddings they have planned, how many budgets they’ve managed, what are some elements they’ve had to troubleshoot on wedding/event days, what they love about the job and what package options they have that they think would be a great fit for you (you might have an idea of what you want but there might be something they offer that is much more suited for your needs).
You really want to know you can trust them, so we’d suggest starting with a question along that line.
After that, it’s all about personality. You want to make sure you like them! You want to make sure you can spend a lot of time with them.
We’re with our clients a lot in planning meetings, vendor meeting, site visits, cake tastings, you get the idea. If you don’t think you can have fun with them and they can handle all these details it’s time to meet with someone else.
Q: Why did you start being a Wedding Planner?
A: (21:42m into the video) Great question! I wrote a lot about this over here and here so in this post I’ll give you the short answer:
- I have done something in events as young as I can remember helping my mom with community events and dinner theatres
- I took leadership training courses and did internships at 16, 17 and 20. As well as an internship at a local wedding magazine when I was in school (at the U of W) for PR & Marketing
- I got some really bad advice (when I was 18) that you could “never make Event Planning a full-time income and living” so I put it on the shelf and pursed a 9-5 for a few years
- It kept coming back around and eating at me so after school (and discovering PR was not for me) I gave it a go and started my business
- 8 years later I’m still at it and loving it more than ever. It might sound too fluffy but it really is the perfect fit for my creative x organizational brain
Q: What is the one thing that gets forgotten at weddings?
A: (23:58m into the video) I find on a whole that our clients don’t forget a lot. We have amazing couples that trust us and follow our reminders (emails, checklists, telling them in meetings – you better believe we remind our couples A LOT) and make sure they pack their personal decor up for setting up on the day, that they get going on their speeches ahead of time, that they get their rings back from the jewellers, etc.
I have, however, had some funny situations where rings were forgotten (thank you Bestman), a couple forgot to purchase their marriage license, a friend forgot to bring the guest book they made for the couple. We do our best to troubleshoot and roll with it. Sometimes this means someone makes a trip to the store, or someone heads back to the hotel to get the rings. I always feel if these are the biggest “problems” on the wedding day then we’re laughing. Everyone is still there, you’re surrounded with your loved ones – it’s a glorious day.
Note: I don’t like to rely on friends or family bringing things in on the day. Get items in our position ahead of time. Get it packed with the rest of your personal decor (think party favours, pens, escort cards).
That’s it for this month’s Q&A with Amanda. Thanks for all of your questions. If there’s something you’re wondering about, need a little help on, or just want to hear another opinion I’m here to help! Leave a comment below.
If you’re looking for the right Wedding Planner I’d love to meet with you and see if we’re the right team for you. Send us an email – we’d love to chat!
