Special

A day in the life of a
Wedding Planner

Rajesh Mehta
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Every couple dreams of a perfect wedding but few realize just how stressful it is to plan the big day. There is the venue, the cards, the decorations, the food, the drinks and an endless list of other details that needs to be planned and organized. A wedding planner makes the wedding hassle free so the bride, the groom and their families can relax and enjoy the wedding.

Have you ever thrown a party? Do you remember all the effort and time you put into making the selecting the right venue and decor, making sure the food was perfect, and the drinks sufficient? Well, multiply all of these things by 1,000 and you get an idea of what a wedding planner deals with on a daily basis. The job of a wedding planner is no easy task and requires a lot of hard work and extreme organization.

Planning a wedding is a high-stress profession. A major part of a wedding planner's job is dealing with people. Organization is a wedding planner's primary skill but a wedding planner must also possess exceptional people skills since he will be dealing with the couple and two families who will want everything to be perfect. In addition to the interpersonal skills a planner must also have impressive negotiating and business skills to haggle with the numerous vendors he depends on to supply flowers, music, food, and so forth. Research to know all the service providers in the industry, is extremely important. Wedding planners must also have professional relationships with photographers, hotel and restaurant managers, musicians, and videographers. A solid reputation and connections to vendors and suppliers are crucial. Wedding consultants couldn't perform their jobs without these key elements. A wedding planner must also keep up to date with styles and trends and constantly innovate in terms of theme and décor ideas.

In India weddings are a big event. Every couple wants their wedding to be special and unique and people are willing to spend large amounts of money to ensure the perfect wedding. A wedding planner takes all the stress out of a wedding by getting everything organized and ensures the couple gets the dream wedding they wanted.

Many venues and photographers are booked as much as a year in advance so it is better to start with planning a wedding as early as possible. Typically a wedding planner would need a minimum of 30 days to plan a great wedding, however there have been some weddings that have been planned in a weeks time as well.

Every wedding is different and it is important to know the couples likes and dislikes before putting together an idea of what would make the wedding unique and special to them. Typical clients would normally include, NRI's, busy professionals, those wanting to celebrate their weddings in dream locations like Goa, Maldives and Rajasthan etc, those who want to outdo the last big wedding they attended, and finally those who just want to relax and enjoy their own wedding.

There are no set educational requirements in this profession. However, business professionals and MBAs are at an advantage, because organizational and financial skills are a must. However, experience pays off more than anything in this profession. It is a good idea to shadow a wedding consultant before starting out on your own.

Why become a wedding planner
Depending on the size of the wedding, income can be quite high. Wedding planners usually charge 10 to 15 per cent of the cost of the wedding.

Most wedding planners are self-employed, and work as many or as few hours as they choose, depending on how much income they want to earn.

It is also extremely satisfying to be appreciated by the family and the guests and a successful wedding more than makes up for all the hard work, long hours and stress that dealt with on a daily basis.

And finally if you are passionate about weddings, you have great people skills and organizing excites you, then a career in wedding planning is something you should seriously consider.