What to Look for When Hiring a Wedding Planner

Happy New Year! Congratulations to you if you were engaged over the holidays! I know you want to run right out and tell the world (which you should do immediately), and you are going to want to begin planning right away, too. Please begin by signing up for our email newsletter to receive our top wedding tips before you do anything, as you will find those very helpful.

When you begin your quest to find just the right wedding planner for you, there are some considerations that you need to keep in mind. Of course you will want someone with experience – all brides ask that question; and, you will want your wedding planner’s personality to mesh with you and your fiancé’s personalities.

In addition, here are some other things to consider –

• What are the wedding planner’s credentials? Is s/he accredited or certified through a wedding organization such as the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC), who also requires their members to keep up to date through continuing education? 

Note: All Splash Consultants are certified through ABC, and I serve as the Virginia State Coordinator for ABC. Our Consultants are required to have 36 hours of continuing education every year. In addition, Splash has a monthly training session on current topics for the Splash Team.

• Does the wedding planner have a real business or is s/he planning weddings as a hobby? While there are no State or Federal regulations for wedding planners, every wedding planner should be able to show you proof of a business license and at least one insurance policy. Many venues will not allow a wedding planner to work at their venue if s/he does not carry liability insurance, so make sure you ask your prospective planner! 

Note: A Splash of Elegance Event Planning, Inc. maintains a business license in Fairfax County, carries a $2M Liability Insurance Policy and Errors & Omissions Insurance.

• Kickbacks are very prevalent in the wedding industry. Does your prospective wedding planner accept kickbacks from other wedding vendors? 

Note: A Splash of Elegance is held to the standard of excellence outlined by the Association of Bridal Consultants, and does NOT accept kickbacks from any of the wedding vendors with whom we work. It is our belief that your money is your money. It is our job to keep you within or under your budget, and any money we can save you by using our trusted professional vendors goes straight to your bottom line.

• Who will step in on your wedding day if something happens to your planner and s/he is unable to work? 

Note: A Splash of Elegance maintains a team of credentialed wedding planners. Our team meets on a monthly basis to discuss our weddings and how we can best serve our bridal couples. In addition, each Consultant maintains a Splash notebook for each couple – ask your Consultant to see your Splash “bible.”

Please call or e-mail us for your complimentary meeting and happy planning!

Victoria Wagner

President & CEO

A Splash of Elegance Event Planning, Inc.

703.888.8728

info@asplashofelegance.com

When a Wedding Planner is a Guest at a Wedding

The other week I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of a family friend.  It was the first wedding in a long time where I was just a guest and not working.  Having several weddings under my belt now I was able to pick up on a few things that a normal guest would have not noticed.

The most important thing to catch my attention was the fact that the venue coordinator pulled the father of the bride aside on a couple of different occasions.  I'm sure he was asking him questions related to the timeline of the day, such as "Are you ready for the cake to be cut, is it ok if we now start serving coffee, etc."  I knew for a fact that the bride did not have a wedding planner, and you can be certain that if she did the venue coordinator would not have needed to pull the father of the bride away to ask him timeline related questions.  If there had been a wedding planner, the venue coordinator would be coming to her to ask questions.  The father of the bride was catching up with friends he had not seen in many years; the last thing he probably wanted to deal with was when the cake was being served.

Seeing this interaction made me realize one of the many reasons it's a good idea to hire a wedding planner. A planner acts as a buffer between the venue and the family so that the family can enjoy the wedding and all their guests!

Happy planning!

Julie Daniel, Splash Consultant

The Splash Advantage

Why hire a Splash Consultant?  Here are the four reasons we share with Brides when they call to inquire after our wedding planning services.  We always assume they are shopping around for a planner so we want to let them know, even if they don't choose us, what to look for in a wedding planner.

Credentials:  Our Consultants are all members of the Association of Bridal Consultants and have completed their Professional Development Program in order to be designated as a Professional Bridal Consultant™.  Anyone can hang up their shingle as a wedding planner (sounds like a fun job, right?) but please make sure you are working with a professional who has the support and knowledge that comes along with an affiliation to a professional wedding association.  A Splash of Elegance is additionally a member of the Association of Wedding Professionals.

Flat Fee Pricing: When you sign a contract with Splash, you know what you are paying up front.  We choose not to charge a percentage of what your wedding costs so there are no surprises in the end.  Any discounts we receive from vendors are passed on directly to you- we take no kickbacks.  We want to make the wedding planning process as stress-free as possible!


Insurance:  A Splash of Elegance carries business insurance to make sure our Consultants are covered -- make sure you hire a "real" business. 
Back Up: With a large team of consultants, there is always someone available should you at the last minute need a planner (have you heard of our 911 service?).  In the unlikely event that your Consultant or the Assistant Coordinator becomes ill, we will always have someone available to step in and take over to make sure your event goes off without a hitch! 

Happy Planning!

Julie Daniel, Splash Consultant