04/25/2012
What Are You Really Paying For When Your Hire an Event Planner?
This is a question that most people think they know the answer to but they really don’t. Some people believe that event planners are only hired to handle the planning and organization process of their event. Although that is one aspect of an event planner’s job, that’s not the only one. An event planner is a person who is hired to take the “vision” of one’s special event and create a “memorable reality”. To me, an event planner should be considered the producer who turns dreams into perfect realities.
Event planning is the process of planning, organizing, and supervising events like weddings, meetings, conferences, and special occasions. The job of an event planner can consist of several different areas: creating and managing the event budget, choosing and reserving the event site, acquiring permits if needed, developing a theme, arranging for speakers and alternates, creating/selecting/arranging décor, coordinating location support, and coordinating transportation or parking. An event planner’s job is not to just plan and organize, but to also provide you with their expertise in all areas of planning if needed. Their job is listening to your vision and purpose for your event, as well as helping you set an event goal! Once that has been done, their job is to design a plan for your event that will present the purpose, while accomplishing your goal.
When you hire an event planner that person is your partner, who’s ultimately responsible for ensuring that the vision you have for your event is brought into reality. The event planner’s purpose is to relieve you of all stressful details that come with designing and planning events so that your schedule is free for your other responsibilities. You should feel comfortable with turning all aspects of the planning over to your event planner, with the trust that he/she will develop your vision to meet your set goal. Once you’ve made the choice to hire an event planner, the only areas of the planning you should be involved in are: making decisions when needed, drafting the guest list, answering questions when needed, and receiving updates. You should not be involved in the details of the planning process because that’s what your event planner was hired to do. Their job is to reduce your workload not add to it.
When hiring an event planner think of yourself as an employer who has hired an employee to help you plan the best event ever. If you’re the employer, then you trust your employee to do their job. There’s no reason why you should be involved in day to day duties of your employee. You shouldn’t be involved in negotiations with vendors, shopping for decorations, implementing the design of your chosen theme or maintaining your budget. You should not worry about whether or not you’re going to exceed your budget because your event planner is responsible for ensuring that during the planning process you stay within the pre-set budget. Your role is to sit down with your event planner and lay out everything you want for your day. At that time, you should provide your event planner with the specifics that you want incorporated into your event, such as theme, décor, venue, etc. At that point, your event planner will use their expertise and creativity to plan, organize and execute. The only thing you should do is show up to your big event with confidence that everything will run smoothly.
To answer the title question, when you hire an event planner you’re getting a partner who’s committed to helping you turn your vision into a reality. People that will dedicate their time to help you design, plan, organize and execute a fabulous event. That person will be there to relieve you of all the stress that comes with planning events! If you’re going to make the decision to hire an event planner, be sure to allow that person the opportunity to make your life easier. Remember they’re experts at creating, designing and planning events!!
