Tuesday, April 25, 2023
If you’re newly-engaged and starting on your wedding planning journey, you probably are learning a hard truth - getting married can be expensive! As one of the top Chicago wedding planners, we know exactly what you mean! From relatively straightforward, or at least expected, costs like the venue and your gown to much more wide-ranging costs like florists and your honeymoon, the price tag for all the items on your to-do list sure can add up quickly! Even if you have a sense of how much you expect to pay, when it comes down to swiping your card, many brides gulp and get that sinking feeling in their stomachs.
The good news? It doesn’t have to be quite so painful. From our decades in the industry as wedding planners in Chicago, we’ve collected tips and tricks along the way to save where it counts and stay on budget through this time of excitement and hope leading up to your big day.
Read on for six of our top ways of collaborating with Chicago wedding planners (like us at Bweddings!) can help you stay on budget.
When you set out to get married, what you may not realize initially is that you’re likely going to be working with a number of different companies that provide services of all kinds and together form your vendor team. For most typical weddings, with the exception of some micro wedding packages in Chicago, you’ll have a venue contact, a catering team, a cake baker/decorator, stylists for your hair and makeup, florists, a wedding planner or day of coordinator Chicago, and a photographer. You may have a designer as well - that’s a lot of people, and a lot of services to manage!
If you are having a micro wedding, you’re still likely to work with a team of vendors, even if it’s on a smaller scale. Many of our couples still, for example, work with photographers and venues, and perhaps a Chicago day of wedding coordinator.
How much you spend in each of these categories varies widely, and is very dependent upon your preferences, values, and logistics for the event. However, getting off to a good start by making a wedding budget is crucial and may even keep you from making decisions that cause you financial anxiety down the line.
Your budget categories should work in tandem with your vision for the day. If having live music is important to you, but you don’t feel excited by having a fancy wedding cake, you may want to allocate more money into the entertainment category and less into the cake category. But having a hefty music category doesn’t mean you have to use all that you allocated! A Chicago wedding planner may be able to help you save on vendors for your wedding so that you can re-allocate that money into other things, like your honeymoon! At Bweddings, we do not take referral fees from vendors but instead we ask that fee to be converted in discount for the couple
This is because many top Chicago Wedding planners have networks of relationships with vendors in the industry, and these allow for great value without sacrificing quality. Many of our couples have enjoyed amazing services and products because of the trusted relationships we’ve developed over the years.
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We hate to say it, but the ugly truth is out there - there can be times when couples are slapped with late fees and other penalties because of oversights like forgetfulness, late payments, and their failure to read the fine print in contracts. Working with a professional Chicago wedding planner is like insurance against these easy mistakes.
A wedding planner can help you stay organized and keep track of deadlines to avoid the kind of unexpected mistakes that can end up hitting your budget hard. If you’re asking yourself, “how much is a wedding planner in Chicago?” it can be helpful to remember that you might be saving yourself money in the end by working with one.
Planners frequently act as liaisons between couples and their vendor team. This can be especially helpful in situations like the ones we described above, but they can also help to negotiate contract and payment terms that are best for you.
For example, if a one-time payment isn’t comfortable for you, they can advocate for payment terms that spread out costs over a period of time. Having a wedding planner also provides you reassurance that someone is working for you who has your best interest in mind.
Chicago wedding planners who have been helping couples say “I do” in Chicago know the vendors that do a great job; the vendors who move quickly and save on setup and tear-down costs; the vendors that always go above and beyond when it comes to coming through for couples on their big day.
Full wedding planners and partial wedding planners are well-versed in events. They are professionals at understanding everything from how to know how many passed apps to order to understanding which decorations make the most difference in transforming a space into one that shines in guests’ memories. They can help you save on ordering extra alcohol (which sometimes can’t be returned or refunded); making decisions about whether those beautiful (but pricey) table linens will make the impact you imagine, and so much more.
No matter what timeline you’re on to plan your wedding - whether you have six weeks or ten months - a wedding planner is crucial to staying on track with managing your tasks. You can save big and have the wedding of your dreams simultaneously if you work with a Chicago wedding planner who is well-respected and has a strong network of vendors in the area.
Choosing a venue can be paralyzing for couples (so many amazing options in Chicago!) and a professional wedding planner can help you make the tough decision and keep things moving. If the Chicago wedding planner has a good network of vendors, it can save you time searching for florists, photographers, and all of the other services you will need. You’ll end up saving time searching for vendors, and perhaps even saving money on vendors who wouldn’t be offering the same quality services!
We know weddings can be costly. For an event as important as your wedding, you want nothing but the best! So what’s the in-between - the sweet spot that finds balance between beauty and not breaking that budget? It’s different for everyone, and working to achieve it is one of the skills of a top planner. We’ve offered six of the ways a wedding planner in Chicago can help you stay on budget, and from making that budget to staying on your timeline to avoid penalties and unnecessary costs, we hope our advice is helpful!
If you’d like to set up a consultation with our team to start working through how we can help you achieve the wedding of your dreams, send us an inquiry today. We’d love to hear from you!
