Money Worksheet

Can wedding planners do it all on a tight budget?

We are on a tight budget, about $5000. We have not decided if we would like a destination wedding, or a more local one, but although I am crafty and would like to handle certain aspects of the wedding (ie, Flowers, invites), I don't even want to think about the location(s), rentals, food, details, music etc. Is a wedding planner in our budget? Or would it be too much of a loss to our tiny budget?

Public Comments

1. Call a few and ask.
2. You are looking at probably $1000 for a wedding planner. And that is with them doing minimal work, as in "day of" work. Ask some of your friends, your mother, etc to help you out. You two really won't be able to afford a planner if you want money to actually HAVE the wedding. Good luck.
3. A wedding planner usually takes 10 percent, so judge if you could put in the hours to do the planning yourself. For example, that $500 could pay for your flowers.
4. YOU can do it all on a tight budget. If you have $5000 and hire a wedding planner you are losing about $12000 of that to her already. go to sites like www.theknot.com (100% free and SO MANY IDEAS) and use people's advice on here to find cheap alternatives to a lot of things. (and there are PLENTY out there) we are doign a wedding with 50 - 60 people and it's costing us $6700 and that's with a $2500 photographer (it was the one item I wanted to splurge on). It is not tacky or "cheap" looking wedding either. everything is gorgeous about it. Good luck and congrats
5. There are some planners that work with a percentage of your budget, say 10% that would be 500 just for them, then they would have the remainder to work with, which should be do-able. If they charge anymore than that I dont think you will be able to get everything you want.
6. If your on a 5,000 budget then the wedding does not need a wedding planner. You can do it yourself. Now if you were planning on spending 25,000+ then yes, hirer a wedding planner.
7. A wedding planner can definitely save you money. They have the experience to find venues and vendors at lower costs and may be able to buy supplies in bulk. Call around and let them know that your budget is firm, see what they say.