What You Should Expect A Wedding Planner To Cost
This morning I stumbled across an article from The Knot. Yes, THE KNOT that said couples should set aside a mere 3% of their budget to go towards a wedding planner…
To say this fired me up would be an understatement. I couldn’t believe that a wedding blog as large as The Knot with access to more information than any of us could ever dream of, was telling couples this completely inaccurate figure. Let’s break it down..
If a couple has a $40,000 budget then a planner should cost ~$1,200.
If a couple has a $75,000 budget then a planner should cost ~$2,250.
If a couple has a $130,000 budget then a planner should cost ~$3,900.
They stated 50% for venue, catering & rentals | 12% for photo & video | 9% for attire, hair and makeup | 8% for decor (florals, lighting, and misc decor) | 7% for entertainment | 3% for a wedding planner | 2% for stationery | 2% for your officiant | 2% for transportation | 2% for wedding rings | 2% for favors and gifts
First of all, the notion that each vendor should boil down to percentages when the service provider isn’t always charging a percentage of budget is garbage. It leads to miscommunication and misrepresentation of services.
The article completely glazes over the fact there are often different levels of service when hiring a planner - which is also the norm with many other wedding vendors.
There is a huge difference between PLANNERS and COORDINATORS. Planners are with couples through some or all of the planning process and execute those plans accordingly. Coordinators step in towards the end of the planning process to help wrap things up and execute the couple’s day according to the plans they made themselves.
They do state that this is merely a sample budget, so I’ll give them points for that. BUT there is so much uncertainty around planning a wedding that couples are just looking for answers and I don’t blame them! It’s a confusing process and I still learn new things every single day! So when couples see these percentages, they take them and run. Then they come to me to talk things through and get a quote and get confused when I’m charging double, triple, or quadruple what they thought based on articles like this.
Wedding planners were amongst the cheapest vendors in the list, right next to stationery, officiants, transportation, wedding rings, and favors. I truly don’t understand how you justify telling couples to budget only one percent more for a planner than for the personalized koozies you put out on the bar at your wedding. It’s just frustrating and sad to have your (countless hours of) work and passion be valued the same as a piece of paper you send to your guests or a cake pop favor.
I could go on for days about all of the things wrong with this article and why it’s so damaging. As a wedding industry and as wedding vendors, we’ve been fighting for couples to take what we do as our career seriously. What is it all worth if mega-blogs like The Knot are continuing to spread false information?
That being said, I’ve decided to cancel my paid subscription with Wedding Wire and The Knot. You’ll still be able to find me on those platforms, but I don’t think I can give money to a company that doesn’t value my services. So “Sayonara Sammy” as my man Nick Miller would say. If you need me I’ll be here fighting the good fight and trying to lift up all of my vendor friends and the wedding industry!