Most brides hire wedding planners well in advance of their weddings, in fact, the wedding planners whom I mentor usually have 8 to 12 months to work with a bride. But the current, November /December issue of Bridal Guide magazine has an article giving advice to brides who may have just started planning a wedding that will take place later this year. Not always easy to do, especially if the bride has a specific vision in mind. But, good news, they suggest hiring a wedding planner to help with the entire wedding, take over the tasks that she cannot seem to do herself, or manage things on the day of the wedding itself.
So, if a bride were to call you today for a December wedding, would you be prepared?
If you can answer “Yes” to these questions, you can easily plan a wedding in a short period of time:
1) Do you have a wide network of vendors you can contact who could be available on short notice?
This includes florists, caterers, bakers, musicians, DJs, photographers, and videographers. You should also know printers who can do a quick turnaround on invitations at a reasonalbe price.
2) Do you know the location of great venues that might be available?
You want to know about unique venues such as private homes, gardens and vineyards that are beautiful but not well-known and could be available.
3) Do you know where the bride may be able to order her gown and the dresses for her attendants within a few weeks’ time?
If your wedding vendor network includes seamtresses and tailors, you might check if they could quickly create something special for the bride or alter off-the-rack dresses for her and her bridesmaids to make them very special.
4) Can you get last-minute help for yourself if you need assistance during the planning process or on the day of the wedding itself?
If you are really in a time crunch, you won’t be able to do-it-all yourself and will need reliable help.
5) Are you good at coming up with alternate solutions when what the bride wants isn’t available?
When there is little time for planning, the bride will need to be flexible but you also need to be creative and quickly come up with alternate ideas so she can still have a beautiful wedding.
