What Is A Luxury Wedding Planner?
The blog is back! This latest post is a big one: the subject of what luxury wedding planning really means. There are a lot of conversations happening in the wedding industry about the shifts we’re seeing these days: rapidly cycling trends, the loss of the middle market, constantly changing Instagram and TikTok engagement, and of course the rise of AI. The elephant in the room for a lot of these conversations is that client trust in our industry is at an all time low. How does anyone know who’s real anymore? Where are the guarantees that someone is not only legitimate, but that you will actually get what you want when you work with them?
As someone who follows wedding content very closely, I’ve noticed that there suddenly seem to be a lot more “luxury” wedding planners. I think there are a few reasons for this:
1. It’s SEO-based marketing. Using this term increases visibility in searches. If you don’t use it, you’re less likely to be seen.
2. The middle market truly is changing. It’s still there, but gone are the days of easy-to-achieve 60k weddings for 150 guests in high cost of living areas. This shift is driving a lot of planners to push for luxury events.
3. It’s aspirational. The idea of working with big budgets and lots of resources is appealing! Going back to point 1, planners feel the need to brand themselves as luxury in order to court those bookings, even if they haven’t really developed the skills and experience for that market yet.
The goal of this post is to help anyone looking for a wedding planner—or for any wedding vendor, really—with information to help them sort through the marketing and figure out what all this really means and how it can affect their event.
Luxury wedding planning is:
Experience
There’s no shortcut for this one. A good planner didn’t just get a planning certificate, or work for another planner for a year or two, or plan their own wedding or a friend’s wedding. A good planner will have many years, if not decades, as a lead planner executing the kinds of events their clients want to see. Most planners take years to build up enough experience to stop being entry level, let alone to level up beyond that. Working in every market, from budget to ultra-luxury, comes with a different set of demands and skills.
Process
There is no winging it. There is no “I’ll figure it out later” The planning process needs to be clear from the beginning. There is structure, organization, and communication. Everything is accounted for. Your planner can answer every question you throw at them during the inquiry stage with confidence and clarity. Your planner needs a process so good that their backup plans have backup plans.
Customization
A luxury planner is not going to be formulaic. They will take time to figure out where their clients are and to guide them smoothly through the planning process in a personalized, calming way. Whereas a budget planner might have to strictly limit time, meetings and communication, or put the burden of many management tasks on the client (filling out questionnaires instead of having a meeting, creating their own timelines, having them source vendors on their own), a luxury planner will hold the client throughout the process. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach at this level, and the burden is on the planner rather than the client.
Vision
Luxury planners have an achievable, creative vision for what their client’s event can be. Their experience will allow them to consider complex logistics, the budget and any number of other factors in creating a truly bespoke wedding day and wedding weekend. Whether a luxury planner is a designer or not, they will have the skills and the relationships to bring a monumental occasion together from the ground up.
Time
Opportunity cost tends to be part of luxury pricing: luxury planners charge more, in part, to be able to take on fewer events and give more focus to each client they do have. This is immeasurably valuable throughout the process as a luxury planner will be able to give more of their time and attention to each couple. No matter how experienced, smart or talented someone is, things fall through the cracks if they are overbooked.
Personal Touch
This isn’t always part of every luxury planner’s process, but for me this means working very closely with my clients and their families. When I take on a new client, I’m personally doing as much as I can to manage their event from top to bottom. I handle every detail: budget management, venue scouting, vendor sourcing and negotiations, ongoing vendor management, design curation, timeline creation and far more. When I’m booked, I don’t suddenly introduce a client to an assistant and let them know that the assistant will be handling a large portion of their event; it’s all me! I’m doing all final execution in the months leading up to the wedding and I’m the one personally on site the longest all weekend. My clients are guaranteed to work with me—I’m going to be there and I’m going to nail it. My support team for wedding weekend management is also incredible, they’re just not stepping in for my role.
Predictability
To the points above, luxury isn’t really about flash, spend or reputation. It’s about peace of mind. It’s about ease. It’s about investing in a planner who will guarantee a truly incredible and unique event, executed beyond expectations.
How can you find the best fit for you? Aside from considering the factors above, here is what you can look for:
- How long have they been doing full service wedding planning full time? How many full service events do they take on each year, or how many other events?
- Do they plan anything other than weddings? What percentage of their work is weddings? Most luxury planners will primarily plan weddings, with many such as me planning weddings and wedding-related events exclusively.
- What is their design process? Does this align with your goals for how involved in design your planner will be?
- Are they willing to share references from past clients? Ideally these will be clients you can see face to face who also have shareable images.
- Do you spot any AI in their social media presence or website images? If you do, run. No legitimate planner will use anything but their own portfolio for promotion.
- Regardless of whether they are on any “best” lists, how many of these are paid? How many of their features are paid? It’s not a red flag to be on a list or to be published in high end publications, but it may not mean much either. Consider whether their work consistently speaks to you, regardless of publication or lists.
- Can they walk you through their planning process and planning tools in detail?
- If privacy and NDAs are a concern, or if you or your guests have high profiles, what is their experience level with this?
- Do their values align with yours? Is their language and choice of images affirming and inclusive?
- What will be your obligations as the client?
- Does their communication style align with yours?
- Do you feel comfortable and at ease when speaking with them?
- What is their emergency plan if an emergency arises and your lead planner becomes unable to service your event?
- Do they seem to have positive collaborations with a wide variety of vendors? What is their approach to working with new vendors?
- What is their approach to, and experience with, destination wedding planning if yours is a destination event? How do they establish local relationships, including with local planners who may provide support?
While a lot of the list above relates specifically to luxury wedding planning, it can be useful for a wedding planner search at any level!
I think the “luxury” in weddings really comes down to peace of mind, for clients and for guests. Do clients consistently receive a service that offers them peace? Is there a demonstrated return on their investment? Is the final product seamless and enjoyable? Of course not every luxury planner is created equal, but for any good one the answer will consistently be “yes,” with the data to back it up.
- What Is A Luxury Wedding Planner?
- Real Wedding: Anna and Andy
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