If you are looking for a Toronto Wedding Planner to help you plan your Dream Wedding, where to begin the search? And what to look for?
Unless they know someone who used a Toronto wedding planner successfully for their wedding and are given a personal referral, most people will just start with a Google search. As with all searches, half the listings on the first page are not really going to be what you are looking for so keep going to page 2 and even page 3. Check out all the websites and then make your inquiries.
You want to make sure that your Toronto wedding planner has an excellent portfolio of weddings that they have worked on in the past, especially if it is for the type of wedding you are planning (e.g. a tented wedding or an Indian/Jewish/Chinese wedding, etc.)
They should also have extensive reviews of their services. In this day and age consumers expect to read reviews before buying anything, be it a hotel, a restaurant or a lawnmower. Reviews of wedding planners are easily available and worth the look. It’s great to have planners share “testimonials” on their site but a third party website where clients can leave reviews themselves and which are vetted before being published is especially helpful.
Both of these should give you confidence that she has experience and happy clients.
Your Toronto wedding planner should also be able to quote a rough price if you provide them with the details of what you are planning. Generally when you contact them provide the desired month for the wedding, the expected guest count, the city, the day of the week (as you may get a discount for a Friday or Sunday wedding), and if possible the expected budget. Also include any information about anything that you do NOT need their help with. For example, if you have already booked your hall but need help with everything else, any reasonable Toronto wedding planner should give you credit for that as it is work she does not have to do. After you provide all these details there is no reason a planner cannot give you a pretty good idea of their price – otherwise they are stalling to get you to meet them in which case it is probably a waste of their time and yours.
The wedding planner should offer you a free, no-obligation meeting. This is your opportunity to get to know her a little bit and see if you like her personality. You have to feel comfortable with her and confident in her abilities. You should not be pressured into making any decision or signing any contract during this meeting. If you are going to be working with this person for the next year or so, the relationship should be one of mutual respect and it should be a partnership. There shouldn’t be any bullying or there will be resentment and that’s no good!
She should go through all the details of her contract with you and offer you the ability to pay in installments divided through the time she will be working with you. There should also be a clear termination clause in the contract.
Make sure you ask (and it is in the contract) how many assistants she is bringing with her on the day of the wedding. A small wedding of less than 150 people still requires at least one assistant. Then beyond that, an additional assistant is required for every 100 people above that. That is to ensure that set up is done on time and that guests are properly taken care of. And make sure that she knows who her assistants are and that they are part of her team that she has worked with before! You would be surprised!
Finally make sure your Toronto wedding planner has a clear plan for what would happen if she were unavailable on the day of your wedding for any unforseen circumstances. Let’s face it, emergencies arise. Does she have planners on her team who can jump in and take over? How would she transition the information?
These are some of the questions you should ask and things you should look for when looking for your Toronto wedding planner.
Good luck!
