We all know the job of being a wedding planner, but no one really knows how things happen behind the scenes. What are the commissions from service providers? Are the bride and groom really winning financially? A wedding planner answers us.
Everyone who has had to organize a wedding knows that it is a real obstacle course. Choosing the date, finding the location, sending the invitations, negotiating with the caterer, preparing all the decorations, selecting the best photographer, the DJ, and of course dealing with the inevitable unforeseen events on the big day… The future bride and groom are overwhelmed by the important decisions to make and the phone calls to make, to the point of sometimes forgetting the joy associated with this great event. This is why more and more French couples are choosing to call on a wedding planner. SAlthough we know the benefits for future spouses, particularly in terms of stress management, we know nothing about the financial aspect of the profession.
What do wedding planners really earn? Prices vary greatly from one wedding to another, depending on the budget planned by the couple. You should know that most wedding planners do not take clients below a certain threshold: for Emma Perrin, wedding planner and founder of the Haute Signature Event agency, it is 40,000 euros. This amount corresponds to all wedding expenses, to which must be added the organizer’s commission. “We generally operate between 10 and 12 % of event”explains the wedding planner. “For a marriage between 40 000 and 60 000 euros, I take around 4 500 euros, which is roughly 11 % of the overall price, which includes the venue, caterer, decoration, music, etc.”she specifies. Her prices work in stages: the wedding planner will receive 5,300 euros for a wedding between 60,000 and 80,000 euros, then 6,200 euros for a wedding between 80,000 and 100,000 euros, and so on, up to 200,000 euros, a budget from which she provides a personalized quote.
Contrary to what one might think, Emma Perrin says she does not take “no margin on its service providers”. Instead of taxing 10% on the wedding dress, then 10% on the caterer, or even 10% on the reception room, she prefers to announce a global price to simplify understanding for her customers. But that does not prevent his expertise from allowing him to obtain discounts from the service providers in question, which the bride and groom would not have been able to obtain on their own: “When you have to bring their family, for example, I can negotiate with the airlines. When there are more than 30 people on a flight, I have advantageous rates. The same goes for the prices of hotel rooms, since I have several partner establishments.”
Besides of course the relief of not having to manage these details by themselves, the bride and groom can therefore find their way financially. Of course, the cost of the wedding planner is added to the initial budget, but her connections can potentially allow her to lower the overall bill. But the smaller the budget, the smaller the negotiation margins. On a wedding costing 40,000 euros, it is difficult to manage to save the 4,500 euros that the organizer costs. “I have not yet had very large weddings of more than 200 000 euros, but I have colleagues who manage to negotiate almost 20 000 euros on the final quote for this type of big event”explains Emma Perrin on the other hand. This is where the choice of a wedding planner becomes the most advantageous for the future spouses. And even for tighter wallets, there is one point that should not be overlooked: “It’s an environment in which quotes can be inflated very quickly. If you don’t know about it, you can quickly be fooled. The bride and groom are not aware of market prices, and they don’t have the advantage of knowing the service providers.”
Hiring a wedding planner therefore represents a significant amount of money, to be taken into account when establishing the overall budget. If prices vary little from one organizer to another, everything also depends on the region and the artistic direction chosen: Emma Perrin, for example, positions herself mainly on “premium” weddings in Paris and the south of France. But one thing is certain, the expertise of a professional in the field can avoid a lot of worries for the future bride and groom, who can therefore concentrate on their happiness rather than on the logistics of this big day, which is the most beautiful day of their lives.
