A Day to Cherish began in 2005 and has since helped with over 160 weddings for Phoenix-area clients. The company delivers services in planning, design, and coordination. Arizona Foothills Magazine voted A Day to Cherish as Best Wedding Planner in 2012 and 2015. The company was also recognized by the 2016 Wedding Wire Couple’s Choice Awards. Past clients highly recommend A Day to Cherish as helpful, attentive to detail, and responsive.
Amorous Weddings and Events specializes in planning culturally-themed weddings for clients in the Phoenix Metro area. Owner Stephanie White has expertise with Nigerian, Japanese, and South Asian weddings as well as classic and contemporary styles. Her available packages range from the all-inclusive full-service Honeymoon Package to day-of planning, small weddings, and custom-designed service packages. Amorous Weddings and Events has been featured online and in print by both national and local publications.
Amy Mancuso Events is an award-winning Arizona wedding planner based in the Phoenix Metro area. The wedding planner has been in business since 1996 and has since been featured by People, InStyle Weddings, The Knot, and The Bridal Circle. Amy’s services include total event supervision, consultations, budgeting, negotiating with vendors, scheduling, transportation arrangement, and making itineraries. She also plans destination weddings, birthday or anniversary parties, and other special events.
Apropos Creations specializes in planning multi-cultural weddings for clients throughout the greater Phoenix area. Clients have the option of several wedding packages, a la carte services, marriage proposal planning, and social or corporate event planning. Apropos Creations also manages destination weddings. Past clients have reviewed Apropos Creations as enjoyable to work with and attentive to every detail. Owner Jo Ann was certified in 2009 by the Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants.
Behind The Scenes Event Management is a wedding planning and design agency based in Scottsdale and Phoenix. The agency provides day-of coordination, partial planning, full-service, and hourly consulting packages. The BTS team also arranges birthdays and other special events. Owner and founder Trista Guzman started her career with a company specializing in event management for non-profit organizations and had her own destination wedding in Maui.
Celebrations by Amy Bacon has over 10 years of wedding and event planning experience for Phoenix and surrounding areas. Owner Amy Bacon emphasizes client satisfaction, respect, and fun. The highly-customized wedding package for each client includes unlimited communication, organization templates, vendor referrals, site walk, timelines, rehearsal, a lead planner, and assistant. Celebrations by Amy Bacon has won numerous awards from Wedding Wire, Wedding Industry Experts, Arizona Foothills Magazine, and Arizona Bride Magazine.
Imoni Events is a wedding, event, and corporate planning business serving clients throughout the Phoenix area. The company has been featured in Junebug Weddings, Wedding Chicks, Phoenix Bride & Groom, The Knot, and Martha Stewarts’s 2014 Top Wedding Planners. Owner Jennifer Thye has over a decade of experience coordinating weddings. Her team takes care of every detail from engagement to the wedding day, including vendor curation, design, timeline, and logistics.
Life Design Events specializes in planning weddings, corporate, and social events for the Phoenix Metro area. Past clients praise the fun process, impressive designs, and flexibility to clients’ needs. Life Design Events creates custom planning packages based on the level of involvement desired. The team will help with anywhere from full-service planning and design to executing day-of coordination for the plans clients have created themselves.
Lucky & In Love specializes in full-service wedding planning, design consulting, styling, and day-of wedding coordination for couples in Arizona and Southern California. The full-service package includes design and style consulting, event budgeting, vendor referrals and negotiations, venue walkthrough, timeline scheduling, rehearsal coordination, vendor coordination starting a month prior, floor plan, and event setup and supervision. Lucky & In Love has been featured on Style Me Pretty, Arizona Weddings, Arizona Foothills Magazine, Junebug Weddings, and more.
Outstanding Occasions is a wedding planning and event design team creating one-of-a-kind, modern weddings with character. Working in the Phoenix Metro area, the wedding planners enjoy collaborating with their clients and coaching other wedding professionals. Their past events have included themes from contemporary Indian wedding to art deco chic to country club classic. Outstanding Occasions provides free initial consultations and customized proposals. The company has been featured by Wedding Chicks, Style Me Pretty, Elizabeth Anne Designs, and other publications.
Sip and Twirl provides wedding planning services for the greater Phoenix area with a variety of fanciful, artistic styles. Sip and Twirl offers full-service, month of, day of, private estate, and short-notice wedding packages as well as as-needed hourly consulting. Past clients have praised the Sip and Twirl team for an enjoyable wedding planning experience and amazing results.
Sterling Weddings & Events plans and designs weddings, corporate events, and celebrations in Arizona and California. The Sterling team focuses on personal service, carefully-chosen details, a streamlined approach, and creating the experience of a lifetime. Owner Care Schmidt started Sterling in 2007 and has over 16 years of event planning experience. Sterling Weddings & Events has since collected many recognitions and awards, including Wedding Wire Bride’s Choice Awards, Wedding Industry Experts Awards, and The Knot Best of Weddings.
A wedding planner can be a significant help on your special day. The happy couple and their closest loved ones should be able to enjoy their wedding day without worries. A wedding planner eases the burden off the couple, handles any problems that arise during the planning process and on the wedding day, and helps to put on a fantastic wedding.
There are courses and diplomas people can take to become a certified wedding planner; however, it’s not necessary. Regardless of if an individual gets a certification, the most essential step is to gain experience. Most wedding planners start by doing a few free weddings to build a portfolio. That portfolio can be used to promote the business and attract new clients.
The national average cost of a wedding planner in 2019 was $1,500. However, it should be noted that this can vary dramatically. Average costs can vary from state to state. Additionally, factors such as the size of the wedding, the level of planning, the extravagance of the wedding, and the wedding planner’s experience can all change pricing.
Yes, wedding planners can have specialties. For example, some wedding planners may specialize in destination weddings. Or wedding planners can specialize in the extent of wedding support they offer. A day-of-coordinator will only arrive on the day of the wedding and help during the day. In comparison, a complete wedding planner will help with the planning and execution of the wedding.
Hiring a wedding planner is a personal choice. Ultimately, the wedding couple needs to decide if they have the budget for a planner and if they believe the investment to be worth it. For example, some people enjoy planning events, so they wouldn’t need a wedding planner. Conversely, planning stresses other people, so it might be a task they want to outsource.
No, your wedding planner doesn’t need a degree. A degree in event hospitality can undoubtedly give new wedding planners an advantage, but ultimately, this industry is all about experience. If you want to understand how qualified your wedding planner is, ask for client referrals or ask to see portfolio examples of previous work.
A wedding planner book is a DIY guide that takes couples through the wedding planning process. This book reminds couples of every little task they have to do and suggests the order in which the tasks should be done.
A wedding contract should outline the terms of the working relationship. It should state what kind of work the wedding planner will do and clearly outline costs and deadlines. Many wedding planners will also put in restrictions or clauses to protect themselves. This could include what types of services they won’t do, the right to a meal at the wedding, and more.
Each wedding planner’s portfolio might be slightly different. In general, some of the common aspects of a portfolio are:
Wedding planners can quickly book up during the wedding season. We recommend hiring a wedding planner as soon as possible. A wedding planner should be one of the first bookings for your wedding as they can help you get discounts for future wedding items. They can also provide industry insights, such as the pros and cons of the venues you’re considering and vendor recommendations.
Tipping your wedding planner is a personal choice. Many wedding planners say it’s not necessary, and they would just prefer an online review. However, if you choose to tip our wedding planner, you can aim for 10-20% of their total fee.
Many people see a rehearsal dinner as an additional time to get together with their closest wedding attendees. And, while it is that, it’s also a time to rehearse. Therefore, your wedding planner should at least be a part of the rehearsal portion so they can make sure everyone is prepared for the big day.
This can vary from wedding planner to wedding planner. Some planners will decorate, but they’ll charge an extra fee for it. Other planners want to focus on running the event, so they’ll suggest you hire a decorator for the wedding instead. Ask your wedding planner if decorating is part of their services.
Most wedding planners work with small teams and will only do one wedding per day. Wedding planners that work with bigger teams may split their team up among multiple weddings in a day. If having your wedding planner there for you on the day is important to you, make sure to ask your wedding planner if they’ll be booking other events on the same day.
A wedding planner can be responsible for many things, such as:
Event planners should consider getting general liability insurance. This protects the wedding planner against claims of property damage or bodily injury. General liability insurance also covers the medical costs for any injured parties. You can ask your wedding planner if they have insurance.
