WEDDING PLANNER

Importance of Being Earnest’... I think it might be nice to steal the idea and personalise it into ‘The Importance of Having a Wedding Planner’ to show how, thanks to my figure, newlyweds can arrive at their wedding day with a stress level within the norm!
This is because working closely with a Wedding Planner allows the bride and groom to focus only on the fun aspects of planning all the services, which aim to make any wedding, your wedding. As I always say, ours is a team effort, a sharing of ideas, dreams and desires that will lead to the creation of something unique.

The job of Wedding Planner is also growing in Italy now, but there are different opinions about it. Many people do not consider the Wedding Planner to be a necessary figure, while others understand its importance and usefulness and decide to rely on a professional, also in order to understand well how to invest the budget allocated to the various aspects of the wedding and optimise it with intelligence and originality.
Don't be afraid of arriving at your big day thinking that you have done nothing: that will not be the case. My brides and grooms know this and you can ask them if you want (several of them ask me to talk to other couples so that they can have an honest testimony about my work) I do not organise anything without your opinion and approval. I can't, it's not my mission, it's not what I want because marriage is yours and my role is to help you achieve it. 

The most important thing for me is to get to know my couples well and to understand what they desire and it’s for this when they do not provide me with enough detail of what they are looking for , I ask them lots of questions, not necessarily in this order:

• When do you want to get married?
• Is there a date or month you have in mind?
• Do you prefer a civil ceremony, religious or symbolic?
• Do you need help with all the documentation?
• How many guests are you looking to have?
• How do you imagine your reception to be?
• Do you have a particular style in mind?
• What are the main services you want to invest in?
• Do you have a budget in mind?
• Is it flexible?
• What does it include?
• Do you have any ideas for the floral arrangements you want to share?
• Have you thought about photographers, videographers, transfer, music…?
• What venue style are you looking for?
• What is the feel are you looking for the wedding?
• Do you have Pinterest to capture photos and ideas?
• Do you want to use Whatsapp for quicker communication?

There are couples who as soon as they write, tell me all about themselves, starting from when they got engaged to the wedding favours they would like after the wedding breakfast. Others are more reserved, but slowly they let me enter their world and then never let me go. The beauty of this job is to get in touch with people from all over the world, learn about new customs, traditions...for example, for the people of South America there are rituals during the celebration in church that we Italians do not have, and so on with so many different other details. I am very happy to work with couples that come from all over the world so that they can get married here in our beautiful country… each time they make me grow and their testimonials are concrete proof of this.

Obviously even the couples themselves have a series of questions that they ask before choosing a Wedding Planner to place their trust in, its an important decision and unfortunately there are people who improvise and pretend to be a professional wedding organiser. So be careful and choose well. Here are some suggestions on what might be useful to ask:

• How many years have you been working as a Wedding Planner?
• Can I see photographs from weddings you have already helped with?
• What are the services you offer?
• Is it possible to get help with only some of the services?
• There are pre-packaged offers, is there any flexibility with these?
• Is there a one-off cost or does every service you provide have its own cost?
• Is there a contract that formalises are working conditions?
• Is there a minimum budget that you work with as Wedding Planner?
• How high is your fee?
• How will we stay in contact?
• Is there a sort of agenda we can draw up to remember what to do and when?
• Is there a timing for payment deadlines of the services requested?
• Is it possible to write to your previous couples to ask about their experience?
• Who are the suppliers you work with?
• Can I use my own suppliers?
• Will you be present on the wedding day?
• Will there be a team working with you?

As you can see, there are many questions to ask each other!
This allows us to get to know each other better and to work more fruitfully, without misunderstandings and waste of time, yours and mine. Come on then, well begun is half done... isn't that what they used to say?
Also because while for some services we can postpone the choice, some are fundamental and need to be booked in time: the church, for example, and the location for the reception. If, on the other hand, you want to get married in a municipality, the timing changes depending on the municipality you have chosen to become husband and wife. I would also always suggest choosing the photographer and videographer well in advance, because the best ones always sell out. Obviously, it also depends on the period in which you plan to get married, whether in high or low season, during the week or at the weekend... Furthermore, you have to consider whether you want to rent the location only for the wedding or whether you want to organise a ‘wedding holiday’, renting a villa in the Umbrian, Tuscan or Lazio countryside for a long weekend. We are truly spoilt for choice in Italy!