Congratulations – you are engaged and ready to plan your wedding!

You’re engaged. You’re thinking about everything you need to do to plan your dream wedding. And you’re quickly realizing how essential it is to have a planner on your team. 

You’ve probably done your research and know all the reasons why planners are invaluable. But one thing you might not be completely clear on is when to hire one.

Should I book our venue first, then a planner? Or the other way around? We’re thinking about a partial planner, so we can get away with hiring them later, right?!

In all honesty, when you should hire a planner depends on the situation. For example, as a Little Valley Wedding couple, we become available for hire six months from your wedding date, so you’ll likely already have chosen your venue. 

But this isn’t always the case.

Either way, a wedding planner should always be one of the first vendors you hire. And here’s why.

They Help You Avoid Costly Mistakes 

For most couples, wedding planning is a classic case of “you don’t know what you don’t know.” There are many things to think about, many moving parts, and lists of questions you might not even know or think to ask. 

Leaving these things to chance can lead to costly mistakes. And we often see these mistakes happen with hotel room blocks, choosing venues, and working with unvetted vendors. 

If your planner is with you from the beginning, they can provide expertise on room blocks and venues from the start. They can walk into a venue and know how to map out the space according to your guest count. And they look for “holes” you may not know of to help you avoid pitfalls later on. 

Your planner will know the right questions to ask to avoid potential issues with contracts, cancelation policies, postponements, and other things that have become increasingly important over the past few years.  

For all of these reasons, we recommend couples who don’t have the time or experience to plan their event consider our sister company, Kelly Karli Weddings & Events, for full-service planning and design. But for those that do have the time and/or experience, Little Valley Weddings is a clear choice.

They Help You Choose a Venue

Couples often choose a wedding date, book a venue, then hire a wedding planner. While this isn’t the worst-case scenario, we recommend hiring a planner first. Then, securing the venue. 

When booking your vendors, the best order to follow is: 

1. Planner
2. Venue
3. Photography
4. Entertainment
5. Florist

Booking your planner first means they can join you on your site visits and help you choose the perfect one. But as a Little Valley Wedding couple, there’s a good chance you already have your venue booked since we are available for hire 6-months out. And that’s perfectly okay! We’ll still work with you to design a floor plan that reflects your style, priorities, and guest count.

They Connect You With Creative Vendors

If a couple came to us with all of their vendors booked but we don’t know any of them, that’s an automatic red flag. Why? Because we don’t know the caliber and quality of said vendor(s) work. And therefore, are not confident about the level of success in managing your event day-of.

The benefit of us providing a vendor list is that we know and trust each vendor. We understand how they work. And vice versa.

When you book LVW as your planning team, we’ll determine what stage you’re at in the planning process, then curate a list of vendors we think will compliment your style, personality, and budget. And before we ever present you with that list, we’ll ensure those vendors are available for your date.

They Clean Up Any Messes

Last but certainly not least, hiring a wedding planner or event coordinator first means messes get cleaned up before it’s too late. 

Whereas many month-of or event coordinators start 30 or 60 days in advance, this is why we specifically start 6-months in advance – as there is still time to make adjustments and fix things before the wedding day. 

Did the cater sell you on Hors d’Oeuvres for half your guests? Let’s increase that! Do the rental items not look as advertised? Let’s change that! Did the tent company not mention you need a generator? Let’s order one, stat! 

And since we’re able to see potential issues and make recommendations early enough in the process, you won’t have to untie other knots later on.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of hiring a wedding planner first is that it allows you to enjoy your engagement. We give you back time in your day-to-day lives to enjoy being engaged. And we ease the pressures of wedding planning, making it a more relaxed process.

And we’d love to help! Reach out, and let’s talk about how we can assist you with everything we’ve painted a picture of above.