the journal

Wedding planners and coordinators are so amazing and they do more than I think we realize! I planned my own wedding and I planned my best friends wedding last January and both were pretty intense! So, how do you decide if you want to hire a planner or if you want to take it on yourself?!

My first piece of advice is to determine how organized you are. If you’re a person that likes lists and deadlines, then this might be perfect for you. But if you tend to get overwhelmed with either of those things you might want to consider hiring someone else to handle everything. … I am super organized and I love figuring things out and keeping deadlines. If I have a plan, I plow through it no matter what it takes. So, for me, planning the details of my wedding and organizing everything was great! However, my best friend is so much more free and just likes to go with the flow. She’s mentioned several times how grateful she was to have me plan her wedding so she didn’t have to worry about doing it herself.

The next thing that’s important to think about is your wedding vision and how you’ll bring that to life. I had VERY specific ideas for my wedding and knew exactly what I wanted. But I have had brides that weren’t so clear on the style they wanted and weren’t super worried about the details. And a planner can help you define your vision and bring it to life. Now, I am not a wedding planner by any means, but I do feel like I’m pretty good with details. And my best friend had SO many ideas for her wedding. Which was super fun, but also a little hard to figure out how it was all going to go together. So, if you have super specific ideas, I’d say, totally run with that and try to do it on your own! But, if you’re a little more unclear on your vision or you don’t necessarily worry about the details then I would definitely suggest a planner so that they can worry about those details and you don’t to!

The last thing to think about when deciding if you want to plan your wedding is the stress that it can bring. If you have a full time job or are in school full time or have medial issues or family struggles, then it might not be best for you to take on planning your whole wedding. It is definitely not easy and takes so much time and effort. Like I mentioned before, there are so many details to figure out and nail down. There are several different vendors to coordinate with. And let’s not forget setting everything up and you being totally responsible if anything goes wrong.

I will admit, it was a little stressful to plan my own wedding and I probably could have enjoyed my day a little more than I did. But, I am so happy with how all the details panned out. And I had so many family and friends that were willing to help if I was busy. So, my advice, if you’re not detail oriented and just want to fully enjoy your day, hire a planner! But if you have super specific ideas and want to see your vision come to life, get some close family and friends to back you up so that you can be in charge of planning your big day!