Did you know that the average wedding in the UK today costs in the region of £18,000?
A huge amount of money to spend on one day by any one's standards...
Did you know that the average age of a couple marrying in the UK today is 29 for the bride and 31 for the groom?
Much older than the average age our parents married at years ago, usually in their early to mid 20's...
Did you also know that over a fifth of couples are now enlisting the services of a wedding planner to help plan their big day?
And it's easy to see why, spending nearly £20,000 (an average yearly salary for many!) on this one day, paying a wedding planning on average 10% (£2000) of this is a small price to pay to ensure the total money is managed and spent well.... Just imagine spending all that money for something to then go wrong on the day!!
Most wedding planners also offer an On-The-Day Wedding Coordination Service for those couples who wish to plan everything themselves but then want to ensure all their hard work pays off on the day. The average cost of an on the day service is around £400 (less than 2.5% of the total wedding budget) is a tiny amount to pay to ensure total peace of mind and a stress free day.
As couples are on average now marrying later in life - means they are more likely to fall into what I call the 'money rich, time poor' generation who have extremely busy work, family and social lives and would rather pay someone to do the work for them - a wedding planner is similar in many respects to a cleaner, a financial adviser, or a gardener as people don't 'need' these services as they could easily do these job's themselves, but they prefer someone else to do them as it frees up time in their busy lives.
I remember years ago when I first started my business in 2008, all the wedding Fayre's I exhibited at in the first year, I was the only wedding planner there, but now you can usually guarantee that there will be at least one or two planners at every wedding fayre - you might think I'm mad, but I actually prefer doing a fayre when there is another planner there - why, I hear you ask..... It's because it shows to the couples that having a wedding planning is now the norm and more and more couples are choosing to work with us.
I've seen a huge change in the wedding planning market over the last few years as most wedding venues and suppliers now fully understand our role and more and more brides-to-be are understanding how a planner could benefit them.
I firmly believe that like wedding photographers (and there are thousands of them!!) that the quality and professional wedding planners will survive and thrive in the market and brides will always choose the planner who complements their style, personality and budget, or simply who they get along with the most!
Here is a photo of me in action at my clients Lucy & Duncan's wedding in December 2010
Blog post wrote by Mentor Lisa Hilliard of
Lisa Hilliard Wedding Planning
