DIY or Hire a Pro? We Asked 3 Black Wedding Experts If You Should Hire a Planner

Whether you’ve got dreamed of your wedding since childhood or are only wondering where to start out, hiring a wedding planner will be the most significant decision you make.

For couples who grew up in families where easy cake-cutting with Polaroids was enough, a planner can seem to be an expensive luxury. But with so many couples facing an countless supply of selections, especially within the age of social media, where latest trends and concepts spread quickly, planning a wedding can sometimes feel like a full-time job.

So what are the advantages of hiring a wedding planner? Are all wedding planners the identical? We asked three black wedding professionals to weigh in on the choice to rent a wedding planner and break down an important considerations before hiring anyone. Meet the professionals and watch our one-on-one interviews with them edited into one Q&A below:

Suzette Spann Scarborough is the founder An imagined event by Suzettea full-service event planning firm based in Brooklyn, New York, with deep expertise in wedding planning, travel experiences, and etiquette coaching. Spann Scarborough officially began planning weddings after a successful profession in human resources and an inspiring conversation with Monique Greenwood, creator of the black-owned Akwaaba Mansion. With a long time of experience under her belt, Spann Scarborough brings purpose and mission to her work, with the goal of “showcasing the beauty of life through celebration, travel, and knowledge that inspires and empowers.”

Marc Wilson is the founder and inventive director of Marc Stylea luxury event and design studio offering full-service floral and wedding design. Wilson began his adventure in event design and floral art when an unexpected job change in the house textile industry gave him the financial freedom to travel and consider starting his own business. He was brave enough to persuade the owner of a New York florist to let him do an unpaid internship, gain experience in floral design, after which began booking top corporate clients.

Today, Wilson’s Harlem-based firm designs all the things from private parties to bat mitzvahs, corporate events and weddings worldwide. He recently served as a board member for The National Society of Black Wedding Event Professionals.

Jazmine Boutte is the founder Events & Design Dulcea full-service event and wedding planning company based in New Orleans and now in New York City. After spending her childhood and teenage years planning birthday parties, Boutte’s love of event planning reached one other level seven years ago when she organized her cousin’s baby shower.

With a background in public relations and marketing, Boutte works to create events that transcend the fundamentals and include unforgettable moments. Her experience planning festivals and conferences sharpens her expertise, and she or he strives to satisfy the varied needs of her clients.

First, what forms of wedding planners are there?

Wedding planning isn’t one size matches all. While some couples will want a planning partner from the moment they get engaged, others will wish to hire a planner afterward. What are the most well-liked roles?

Bottle: There’s the planner, the designer, after which there’s the day-of coordinator (I occur to be all three). So your planner is someone who literally works out all of the logistics. They make it easier to plan your day from start to complete.

A designer doesn’t do any of that. A designer focuses on how your event goes to look and the way all of it comes together. So they will just give you the look of the ceremony and the look of the reception, they usually literally are available in there to brighten and leave. They just do the design process.

And then the day of coordinator… They just are available in on the day of the show and just make sure that all the things happens on time.

Spann Scarborough: (Day planners) plan, organize, and arrange things in order that your day is organized and runs easily.

Then you have got planners who plan and design. That means they will transform the space… They can create design decks, they will create visualizations.

Then there are planners who plan, design, produce. Production is something completely different… production is at a high, extreme level… They can predict things before they occur, but in addition change into MacGyvers amongst things that occur.

I can only imagine what happens on the marriage day! Great! So if a wedding planner on the day of the marriage can assist my day run easily, and the marriage venue already offers that, then I do not need a full-service wedding planner, right?

Wilson: I don’t think in “day.” It’s a month. planner cannot come to you a week before your wedding and make it easier to in the event that they have not taken the time to know who you might be and what’s necessary to you. If you do not know exactly what it’s, you give them a list and tell them these are the things you must care for, and that is it, then high-quality. But this is not our client, our customer, our individuals who care about making not only their personal moment special, but the general experience for his or her guests special. That’s why planners are so necessary to me.

Spann Scarborough: Hire a great planner because they will prevent money and time and provide you with rather more value in what you might be in search of on the day, including venues that offer you service. There are some things a venue won’t do, like in case your ceremony isn’t at a venue, they won’t go to your grandmother’s church, they usually won’t make it easier to together with your wedding rehearsal.

I had a wedding (where) we literally needed to be in five different places on the identical day. The bride was in a single hotel. The groom was in a different hotel, in several parts of Brooklyn… This place is just not going to enter that detail with you. They’re not going to do hair and makeup schedules.

All of those things, just remember… I don’t want people to feel prefer it’s inconceivable. It’s not — when you have got the support and the knowledge that’s available to you.

So with regards to saving money… How spending money on a wedding planner can actually work out Your money?

Bottle: Your event planner can negotiate higher deals for you. When you’re taking a look at a venue, there are particular belongings you don’t think to ask.

A planner might think to ask, “Okay, if my date gets canceled, what’s the process for rescheduling?” Most places don’t even allow rescheduling inside the following date(s). Some only do it throughout the 12 months. So as a bride or someone who’s not used to parties, you don’t all the time take into consideration those questions.”

Spann Scarborough: Planners can prevent money… I’ve had clients who went to a place I actually have a partnership with that didn’t tell me beforehand, or hired me later and paid me greater than they’d have paid in the event that they had are available in and I had introduced them.

There are relationships that planners have that may prevent money and mean you can reap the advantages. And by virtue of relationships, there are vendors that can do something for our clients due to relationship they’ve with me or the planner themselves.

And it also saves time. Time is money, time is a non-renewable commodity. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. As someone who’s getting married and attempting to construct this life with their future partner, you do not have time. And it is not your storehouse of data either.

I’ve done it a whole lot of times, while you will have done it five times. So there’s value that I feel is undervalued and underrepresented when couples, and particularly couples of color, are planning their wedding and their decisions about not having a wedding planner are very costly.

Besides saving money, is there anything wedding planners can do to enhance my wedding?

Wilson: I all the time tell those who you really want a planner because why would you as a bride want to sit down there and cope with all these little nuances? Because the list might be 15, 20 pages of nuances of things that you have got to do. You know, who’s going to carry your bridesmaids? Who’s going to be the ring bearer? Are you going to have a ring bearer? Are you going to have a dog? The possibilities are countless and there are tens of millions of them. So wedding planners, in my view, are essential.

Bottle: You don’t desire to emphasize out about what time the DJ goes to announce the cake cutting? Or you would possibly have a cousin (or) aunt they usually wish to party too. So they do not really concentrate to their responsibilities. I actually think the profit is that the couple stresses out a lot. You want to indicate up and luxuriate in your day. You don’t desire to think in regards to the little things.

Spann Scarborough: I all the time try to arrange my couples because that is when people in your life start to drag on you. So it becomes very emotional. And so I had to assist couples through that by being their confidant, you already know, calming them down. Sometimes giving them the language of learn how to react to certain things.

Many persons are surprised by the intensity of activities and the needs of guests that come up right before the marriage. Having the suitable people around you to support you on this will probably be extremely helpful. And setting boundaries.

None of this is supposed to be depressing. There are so many sides to the road to marriage. When you have got someone (who) knows what often comes and learn how to handle it, you have got support in ways you could not imagine. This relationship together with your planner is like nothing else.

Okay, you’ve got really got us pondering… Let’s say I’m all in on the planner. Is there anything I want to do on this process?

Bottle: Definitely set a budget because I do know people – they all the time say, “Oh no, I don’t have a budget.” Everyone has a budget. So a budget is literally the very first thing you do, even before you select a planner, because you furthermore mght need to put aside money on your planner.

Definitely budget after which hire a planner, just because these are things that planners pick up on that you just won’t think to ask, after which allow them to make it easier to find a venue and find other vendors, but definitely set a budget and hire a planner first.