How much does a UK wedding planner, coordinator or stylist cost?

If you're thinking about getting a wedding planner or stylist on board to help you with your wedding (smart move), look around to see styles and prices and set aside some money towards their services in your budget, if you can of course.

Not for a minute will I claim that stylists and planners are the most important supplier for your wedding, like the venue or photographer for example.

We are that smart bonus that is nice to have and will elevate your event to something special. Giving you the stress-free memorable time you deserve with your family and friends on your wedding day.

As with all services, prices might vary with planners, from as low as £800 for on-the-day coordination to thousands for various packages.

The price of a wedding planner or stylist reflects their experience, talent, resourcefulness and capability.

For full wedding planning; for someone to take over all the logistics and do/book everything for you and run the day itself, deal with all the suppliers, wedmin, budget handling etc, expect to pay between 10-15% on top of your total wedding cost. For example, if your wedding budget is £30K, your planner will charge you £4,500 on top of that.

Different planners offer different styles and packages to suit different couples, so you got to find the right one for you. There's no such thing as one size fits all!

My package prices and what's included in them are clearly displayed on the weddings page. They reflect what I bring to the table to help you achieve your dream wedding.

My prices are carefully calculated, with consideration to my client's needs and the services I'm offering, my time I spend designing or planning, my extensive training, the time and money I've invested in running my business (I'm insured to the brim!), my passion, experience, dedication, connections and expertise. I strive to be the best at what I do and that's worth every penny.

There is so much that goes into designing a wedding.

It's not just me turning up on the day and doing a quick styling job.

I have to design your mood-board. Nail down your style and colour palette. Get the right suppliers on board so that it all goes together. This all takes time, design knowledge, knowing which suppliers will be best for the job, giving you an easy to follow wedding road map, design instructions to your florist, props people, stationery designer, sourcing your crockery, glassware, linens etc for table scaping, venue visits, venue styling/dressing, on-the-day supplier coordination and loads of correspondence in between. So you see, this isn't just a quick styling job.

I'll try to explain with an example:

If you've already sourced everything yourself, booked suppliers, made things yourself, asking a stylist to come on board at that stage and make it all work could be next to impossible.

Firstly - the venue interior will massively influence the style of your decor set up. Think of it as your base. Plainer the base, easier is to achieve the desired look. A strong coloured fussy base requires you to balance it out with your decor. It will considerably limit what you can achieve.

Secondly - stylists are not magicians (I wish I was!). We can not create something incredible with suppliers and props that don't go together or with a venue that doesn't suit your style. We are only as good as the tools we use!

Thirdly - Unless you're a designer yourself and know what you are doing when it comes to wedding design, dressing/styling and all that is needed to achieve the desired look, not I or anyone else can help you make it look amazing! Some will certainly try, but chances are you will be disappointed, they will feel awful and it can result in a bad review. Because of this, I'd rather say no to a job than do it badly.

For my coordination package, I take over the responsibility of running your wedding day. And that's not only on the day itself. I make sure I know the schedule inside out. We visit the venue together to discuss your day. I get in touch with all of your suppliers so they know I'm the only point of contact on the day. I look through your schedule and fill in the gaps where needed - like if I notice that you missed an important supplier or the timings on your order-of-the- day schedule are off.

I'm there first thing on the day making sure everything gets delivered on time and take action if anything goes wrong, leaving you stress-free to get ready with your pals. Not to mention the long exhausting day of running around in the background making sure everything runs according to plan.

Do shop around to find the right stylist or planner for you and your budget. Talk to a few to see if they are your people. Choose them carefully. You might think some charge too much and opt for someone cheaper, but at the end of the day (and we all know this), you get what you paid for.

Whole Lotta Love,

Zuza xx