Episode # 28 What Actually Matters When Choosing a Wedding Planner

More Than Just a Wedding Podcast
Episode Title: What Actually Matters When Choosing Your Wedding Planner

Episode Overview

In this episode, Jennifer Starr breaks down what truly matters when hiring a wedding planner. With so many options, opinions, and visual inspiration flooding couples immediately after getting engaged, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. This conversation cuts through the noise and focuses on the real factors that impact your planning experience, your investment, and ultimately how you remember your wedding season.

Key Takeaways

1. Client Reviews Matter

One of the most reliable indicators of a planner’s true client experience is their reviews. Past couples can offer honest insight into communication, execution, and overall experience. Platforms like WeddingWire provide unfiltered feedback that cannot be controlled or edited by vendors, making them a valuable research tool.

2. Experience Is Everything

Experience isn’t just about time in the industry—it directly impacts problem-solving, vendor relationships, efficiency, and budget guidance. A seasoned planner brings years of lessons learned to ensure a smoother, more refined planning process.

3. Are They a Legitimate Business?

Wedding planning is unregulated, meaning anyone can enter the industry. It’s essential to confirm that your planner is a properly registered business with insurance and professional structure—not just a hobby or side project.

4. Reputation Matters

Ask around. Resort preferred vendor lists, fellow vendors, and industry referrals are strong indicators of consistency and professionalism. Reputation often reveals more than aesthetics or social media presence.

5. Backup Plans Are Essential

A professional planning company should have systems in place to ensure coverage if a planner is unavailable. Weddings cannot be rescheduled, so team structure, backups, and operational support matter significantly.

6. Accessibility & Communication

Clear expectations around responsiveness, office hours, and communication style are key. Couples also play a role—being responsive and engaged helps planners execute more effectively.

7. Don’t Be Fooled by Social Media

Follower count and curated feeds don’t always reflect real experience or capability. Social media is not a substitute for reviews, reputation, or operational strength.

8. Shared Values Matter

The best planning relationships are built on alignment—whether that’s service style, guest experience, aesthetics, or communication expectations. Shared values create trust and a more seamless planning experience.

Closing Thoughts

Choosing a wedding planner is not just about hiring someone to execute logistics—it’s about selecting a partner who will shape your entire wedding experience. Beyond aesthetics and online presence, the real decision lies in trust, alignment, and professionalism.

As Jennifer reminds listeners, your wedding is more than an event—it’s a season of life. Choosing the right planner ensures that season feels supported, intentional, and memorable.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

I'm your host, Jennifer Starr, and this is More Than Just a Wedding, the podcast where we celebrate real people, real moments, and respective budgets. Let's make wedding planning feel a little more human.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Hello and welcome to the More Than Just a Wedding podcast. Today's episode is about what actually matters when choosing your wedding planner. I can imagine someone planning their wedding steps into this space and feels completely, completely overwhelmed by all of the options. I mean, the minute you announce you're engaged, so many ideas come flooding right in front of you. So I wanted to talk specifically about what matters the most when you're looking to hire a planner. Whether you hire our planning team or another planning team, this information I think is really, really necessary to know. Number one, client reviews matter wholeheartedly. Oh my goodness, someone that has gone through the process, most likely a year, of working with a planning team is going to be able to offer the truest insights as to what it felt like to work with their planner. So I highly, highly, highly encourage you to research all of the reviews for any of your wedding vendors, but especially your wedding planner. We have our reviews. I mean, there's a lot of different review sites that are out there, but one that I know we have a lot of our reviews on is called Wedding Wire. Now, this we are not affiliated with Wedding Wire. We do not pay to advertise on this website. It is just a true review platform, and we don't we can't manage the reviews. We can't edit them. Um, I think there is a way to dispute a review if it's completely inaccurate, um, but it's not controlled by us. So it's a very real source of information for you to go and read about before you choose your wedding letter. Number two, experiences everything. Now, respectfully, I know everyone has to start somewhere. I certainly, certainly, certainly did. However, depending upon the level of experience you're looking for and the level of service that is required for your event and needed for your event, is really going to come down to the level of experience that your planning team has. The really wonderful thing about an experienced team is you're not hiring them just to work on your wedding day to do actions to bring it to life. You are hiring them for all of the experience they've gained years after years after years in planning events to make your event even smoother, even better, even more streamlined, even more beautiful, even more impactful, even more savvy in regards to trying to keep you within a preferred pricing range. The more experienced a planner is, the more valuable she is. And that is why you see a big difference in pricing across the board for different companies. Experience matters. Big time. Number three, are they a legitimate business? The thing about wedding planning or this industry as a whole is there's not a certificate. There's not a national certificate, there's not a degree that you have to have in order to own a wedding planning company. But let's make darn sure you're dealing with someone that is set up properly as a company. Are they carrying insurance? Are they a registered company? Um, you want to really protect yourself from ensuring that you're not working with the hobbyist, that you're working with a legitimate business. Number four, reputation matters. Ask around. Ask around. Um, you know, when a vendor is listed on a preferred list at a resort, that is a big indication that their reputation has um has been a good one because the resorts are very careful with who they select to be on their list because they represent the resort as well. And also in regards to personality fits, you can ask the resort who do you think would be a good fit for me based on what I've shared with you so far? You can ask other vendors. Um, you want to look for consistency in that reputation to make sure this is someone who you would enjoy working with. Number five, what is their backup plan? So businesses are set up different across the board. My company, thankfully gratefully, is a team. That means that we have backups in place for any event we produce, not only the event itself, but also meetings. When you're scheduling meetings for your wedding, a lot of times they're a little challenging to schedule because you have to factor in the venue's availability. And chances are the venue is producing events on the weekends. So, and a lot of the times our industry will take off Sundays and Mondays. And so that leaves you really with Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to host your meetings. So you want to make sure you're working with a company that that can be flexible and accommodating to your schedule, you know, as needed. And I I sleep much better at night, thankfully, knowing that we always have backup plans, whether it's me, another one of our lead planners, we're gonna make sure our clients are covered because wedding dates, um, wedding the wedding day itself, obviously, is never something that can be rescheduled. And even the wedding appointments can be a little tricky to reschedule. So you want to make sure that you're covered. Make sure they have someone in place who is their backup person. Because you're not just hiring a person, you are trusting an entire experience to keep moving and keep happening when perhaps something happens behind the scenes and changes need to be made. Number six, accessibility and flexibility. You want to make sure you have access to your planning team and you want to know ahead of time what is the expectation on the communication process? Are they going to be responsive within 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours? Do they have operating hours that they're in the office and out of the office? Is there backup in place if they are out producing an event, things like that, um, ensuring and asking ahead of time what the expectation is for receiving information? I should just say it as well, because this is something that's also equally important. Not only do you want to hire a planner that is accessible and you know flexible, you yourself will need to be accessible and flexible. Sometimes we run into situations where our clients are fairly non-responsive. And while we respect that, you know, they have busy lives or doing a lot of things in order to best set up your planner, you in turn need to be responsive in making sure that we have the information we need to produce your beautiful wedding. Number seven, this is a big one. This is a big one. Don't be fooled by social media. Okay, I think we all know now that there are metrics online that aren't accurate. Oftentimes, some companies will purchase followers just in an effort to create this illusion that their company is larger and bigger than it actually is, when truly those are just bottom bots. Um, I'm not I'm not shaming anyone. Everyone does things the way that they do things. And for me, that hasn't been a road that I've been felt, I haven't felt comfortable taking. I want um a smaller audience isn't a bad thing. It's a group of invested people that truly feel that you have information that is valuable to them. And especially with weddings, we are only in someone's life usually for a season. We're gonna be helpful for that season of their planning. After that, as much as I would like to think that everyone wants to keep in touch, and I understand that you may not want to hear about wedding planning after you have been married, and that's perfectly fine. So again, please don't be fooled by social media. Dig deeper. An Instagram account is not a website, an Instagram, an Instagram account is not a review platform, an Instagram account isn't reputation. You need to dig past that initial aesthetic to make sure you are working with the company that's best suited for you. Number eight, shared values. Okay. I love it when I know wholeheartedly that we have attracted the client that we're meant to work with. And that really comes down to shared values. Our shared values are we want to make sure that your event feels as seamless as possible. Um, we are very passionate about customer service, and our clients tend to hire us when they have that same level of responsibility that they want their guests to feel that. They want their guests to feel that it's a seamless experience. They want their guests to feel loved and cared for and appreciated for the time and investment they're making to come celebrate them. That is that is usually number the one of the number one reasons why someone will book us. Um and when you're looking at what your greatest need is in your planning company, think about that. Think about what that is. Is it is it the aesthetic? Is it the experience? Is it the customer um experience? What is it? And you want to ensure that those values feel, you know, really aligned with who you are. Maybe, maybe you want a very corporate-like planning company, maybe you want one that feels a little bit more like a professional extension of your family. Think about what that is, and you will enjoy working with your planner all the more when you feel like you have those shared values in place. Okay, so in closing, if you are in the process of choosing your wedding planner right now, I really hope this gives you more clarity on what matters most underneath all of the noise and shiny objects. Because, like I said, it's very easy to get overwhelmed by aesthetics, opinions, and what looks impressive on the surface. But at the end of the day, the decision isn't just about having someone plan an event. It's about you choosing someone you trust with an experience that's going to shape how you remember this season of your life. And that's that's really what it's all about. It is more than just a wedding. Thank you for listening or watching today.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

You've been listening to More Than Just a Wedding with Jennifer Starr. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to follow and share it with a friend. Until next time, real people, real moments, respected budgets.