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You have questions? We have answers!
Interviewing a few planners to make sure you have the perfect fit? We are all for it! We recommend asking this very important list of questions to make sure you can make the most educated decision on your soon-to-be planning BFF
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When should I hire a planner?Most of our couples hire us for Full-Service Planning 9-18 months before their wedding! Couples looking for a coordinator will typically book 6-10 months before the big day. In all reality, as soon as you know you want to hire a planner or coordinator, sooner is always better!
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Aren't a "planner" and a "coordinator" the same thing?Wedding planning companies actually serve a few different functions during your wedding preparation process, and we have different packages to accommodate each role: 1) Coordinator | Our Sapphire Package | We recommend every couple hire a coordinator for their wedding! A coordinator truly “coordinates” all of the details that you have arranged on the front end! We work with the vendors you have hired to build a schedule that works well for everyone, ensure all of your vendors have the correct information, and are there to make the event run smoothly on the day of! Your family and bridal party will be able to enjoy the day with you (as they should!) and we will handle everything behind the scenes. 2) Designer | Our Pearl Package | For the bride that needs a little help with making design decisions and reigning in your vision, you might consider hiring someone to design your big day! A designer will help you choose flowers, vases, linens, place settings, layout designs, bridesmaids dresses, invitations (literally anything that you will look at during your wedding) and make sure they are cohesive and reflect you as a couple! 3) Planner | Our Emerald Package | When you think of Jennifer Lopez in “The Wedding Planner”, that is what a true wedding planner does! A planner will go to all of your meetings with you, manage budget and payment schedules, negotiate contracts and services, organize hotel blocks and transportation schedules, all of the things!
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How many weddings do you take on at a time? How can I know my event is a priority?Our Full Time Lead Planners only take on a maximum of 20 events each in a calendar year. By limiting our overall event count, it gives us the time to give each of our couples the time and attention that YOU deserve in this process!
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How do I know who my Lead Planner is? Will she stay the same the whole time?The planner who you first meet with at your initial consultation is going to be your girl all throughout your planning process! No passing between planners or last minute changes. You can have full confidence that your Lead Planner knows you as a person and has all of your details locked down! On wedding day, your Lead Planner will personally be the first person at the venue and the last one to leave after clean up is over. Your Lead Planner will not leave after dinner has started and she is with you until that last sparkler burns out!!
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Do you have a backup plan in case you get sick or can't be at my wedding?In the very rare or unlikely circumstance that your Lead Planner who you have been working with all throughout your process could NOT be there on wedding day, we have a backup already in place! As soon as a contract is signed, we have a Lead Planner sign up to be the “Backup Planner” in case anything were to happen! This is the beauty of a planning team!! We use a cloud based information sharing system that allows our entire team to have access to all questionnaires, timelines and layouts at the drop of a hat. We got you! **Since TH started in 2016, we have only ever had to make the switch to the Backup Planner two times! One was due to a COVID postponement and the other was a baby girl who decided to make her debut a few weeks early...pretty good track record!!!**
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Do you accept referral/finder fees from other vendors?NEVER NEVER NEVER! Our goal is always to refer the BEST vendors to you based on your style, budget and personality! We will never take a commission or referral bonus from another vendor for having sent “business” their way. You can rest easy knowing that we are recommending the best people to fit your special day--no sneaky incentives!
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What is a "normal budget" that you typically work with?We work with all ranges of budgets! There is no “requirement” of a minimum budget for us to serve you during your planning process. That being said, most couples spend anywhere from 10%-20% of their total wedding budget on a planner or coordinator, depending on how important a planner is to you and how much help you are needing. Most of our clients have budgets from $40,000-$80,000, but we have worked with smaller and larger budgets as well!
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Are your prices really a flat fee?For our Event Management and Design services, yes ma’am, they sure are! For our Full Service couples with wedding investments over $80,000 our fee switches to 10% of the event budget to account for additional work, time and attention required for these larger scale events. We are upfront with our pricing and services because we value clarity. We don’t charge per email or phone call, we want you to know that we are here to be a sounding board and a friend through this process! All taxes + costs for assistants planners are included in the flat fee you see!
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If I hire you as my planner, you're going to get me a bunch of discounts, right?Oh how we love this question! Yes and no. Let me explain. There are a few financial perks of working with Treasured Heart Events (of course!!) like suit discounts, name change discounts with our preferred partner, and a few vendor-specific small discounts with vendors we have deep friendships with! Recently, we have heard a saying floating around that says, "hiring a planner will save you more than they cost", and while we love the heart behind this, it proves to need a bit of education as to HOW we save you money! One of the ways planners provide value is through our vast knowledge of the industry of what a variety of vendors charge and what certain vendors specialize in. Many people overspend on their projected wedding budget by an average of 20% (what!!!), but planners come in, assess the situation, and make educated and refined recommendations for you based on your budget, what is the most important to you, vendors we think that you will click with on a personal level, and so much more!! When we "negotiate contracts", this doesn't mean we tell the vendor "give them the same service for less money" (our vendor friends need to eat, too y'all). Instead, negotiating a contract consists of ensuring that you are getting all that you are expecting, the vendor is providing a fair service, and you are spending an accurate amount of money for said services. We can often save you money by recommending the correct services/products that give you all that you want on wedding day, while taking out the smaller things that we know you won't personally miss (TH has a vast set of questionnaires to help us take out the right things and splurge on the right things, so we got you, girl). Wedding vendors won't give you a discount just because you are working with a planner, but they WILL heave a huge sigh of relief because they know they can just focus on THEIR job on wedding instead of having to do some of ours! We deeply value our vendor friends, what they charge and why. We also all need to realize that the cost of doing business has gone up significantly over the last few years (hello floral industry prices skyrocketing out of nowhere), and that some vendor prices will reflect those changes. It is our job as your planner to keep you in or under budget for your big day, even with all of those crazy circumstances and price spikes over the last year. At the end of the day, keep in mind that wedding vendors are some of the hardest working people around! We choose to work nights and weekends (and let's be real, during all normal work hours, too) because we truly love what we do! We sacrifice time with our families and friends because we love LOVE so stinking much, and we want to play a small role in your best day ever. We deeply encourage a "seek to understand" approach to wedding vendor costs--as your planner, it is our job to help educate YOU on why vendors charge what they charge. We love answering questions, so PLEASE always ask if you are curious about a price! We are here to help!
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