The Cost of a Wedding Planner

Botanica & Bloom is much more than a lifestyle brand – it is a planning, design and floral company for free-spirited, wild-at-heart, barefoot brides who stop to smell the flowers. Botanica & Bloom is for those who admire simplicity and appreciate the art-of-gathering. Our brides have a desire for a streamlined, stress-free planning process and a flawlessly executed once-in-a-lifetime-celebration.

At the center of Botanica & Bloom is the joy in life’s celebrations. The soul of the company is intimate and lively. When Botanica & Bloom is involved in an event, guests will feel as if they were invited to a gorgeous dinner party overflowing with great conversation, artistic floral interpretations, exceptional food and curated details.

Botanica & Bloom’s one mission is to create a wedding that is effortlessly unique to you. Your celebration should resonate with elements close to your heart and personality. Through unparalleled service, personal design and intentional detail, any event Botanica & Bloom works on is not only unforgettable, but meticulously tailored to you.

It’s obvious that potential clients want to know the cost of a wedding planner but lately, on more than one occasion, I’ve been asked how I set my fees. The current trend amongst the industry would be to respond with ” I don’t have to justify my pricing or my value.” but friends, it is my job to educate my (potential) clients. That’s the role I choose to take on, and it starts with helping to understand the investment you will make while hiring your service-based wedding vendors and the return you will receive. Unlike product-based business’s where you can see exactly what you are getting in return for your money spent, understand the pricing for a service-based business can be a little tricky. When you invest in a service-based business you are getting time and value in return. Does the cost of a wedding planner make up for itself in value?

There are many variables that factor into the fee I charge.

1.Time & Client Experience

The most important piece of my service is the time that I dedicate to each client. I strive to provide an experience that leaves each client feeling like they are my only clients. To do this, I have to set and take on a limited number of clients per year. With that being said, in order to work full time as a wedding planner, with the ability me to give my full attention to one job, my pricing has to reflect that. The lower my pricing, the more clients I have to take on, the harder it becomes to give the degree of attention each client deserves.

2. Work Experience & Education

As Botanica and Bloom has surpassed it’s 5-year milestone (April 2017) I’m filled with stories, great ideas, unpredictable mishaps, and saved-the-day solutions. The best way to gain experience is to be out in the field taking action. My experience in planning a wedding and managing the day-of means my clients are hiring someone they know they can trust to handle anything that comes our way. Hiring someone with experience is like buying a “safety-net” for your wedding. As a WPIC wedding planner, I am educated in the field of wedding planning. Not only am I certified by WPIC but I continue to grow and expand my knowledge by attending workshops and conferences, and constantly reading and practicing what I do.

3. A Relationship

It’s important for me to establish a connection with my clients. I want to be fully invested not just physically but also emotionally in my client’s wedding day. Building a relationship means I get to know my clients on a deeper level. Not only does that mean I can do a better job by understanding my client’s wants and needs, but I also tend to work outside the scope of the package because of the friendship we have built.

4. Network & Business Building

When I’m not working specifically on a client project, I’m networking with other industry vendors. My work time outside of a specific wedding is still spent on bettering my business and my client experience. Taking the time to get to know other vendors means I have friends and colleagues who I’ve personally vetted for my clients. Clients don’t have to take on the task of trying to decide who is going to be a good vendor for them and for their budget because I will do it for them. Time spent behind the scenes means writing posts like this to inspire and educate couples, putting new systems into place to streamline the process for my clients, updating reviews and galleries so couples can see my recent work and not have to guess if I’m still in business or what my current style tends to be, etc. Every decision I make in my business is to better the client experience.

5. The Cost of Running a Business

While the above factors all contribute into client experience factors, this one is a huge one too. Running a business isn’t free. Hiring and training a staff (at no cost to our clients) that fits in perfectly with our brand also isn’t free. I’m not going to turn this into a “look at how much it costs to run a business post”. (If you’re reading this and you want to know the costs associated with running a business, and you want more detail, send me a message!) I have to be able to cover my costs and make a profit that I can live on. Lastly, I don’t even want to talk about how much I paid in taxes this year but it was enough for me to have questioned, is running a business really worth it? The answer, by the way, is yes.

At the end of the day, this is what I want to do for a living. I do want to run a business and I do want to plan weddings because it’s my passion. When you hire me, you get a new friend, an advisor, and one heck of a dedicated planner.

First Download this FREE Getting Started Guide here.  👈

IFWhat are some of your questions regarding the cost of a wedding planner? Leave them in the comments below and we can chat about it!