What is the Difference Between a Wedding Planner vs Consultant?

Planning your big day in style is fun- or can be, if you keep the stress to a minimum! Finding the right vendors, planners, and coordinators to help you make your Big Day go off without a hitch is the easiest way to cut the stress and instead enjoy this special time in your life. But with all the different wedding ‘helper’ terms floating around, how do you know which specialist is right for your needs? Today we dive deeper into the
differences between wedding planners and wedding consultants/advisors, and what each can do for you.

What do Wedding Planners Do?

Wedding planners are a specialised wedding vendor that will be with you from the moment you start planning your wedding. Think of the role as something of a project manager- and that project is getting you to the altar! While wedding planners wear many hats, here’s some of their key duties:

Managing the budget you set
Running the ‘to do’ list from the first planning day to your wedding day
Visiting sites for the ceremony/reception
Joining you (or acting on your behalf) in vendor meetings to assemble your dream team. They probably can recommend superstars they’ve worked with before, too
Assisting in guest management
Floor plan creation
Managing transport and logistic for guests
Managing (and orchestrating) the rehearsal and wedding day events, ceremony to reception
Set-up and tear down for items you’ve brought into the venue.

While you will only really see them at full bustle on your wedding day, your wedding planner will spend upwards of 150 hours on your ceremony with you. They will become your go-to in the wedding planning process, and relieve a ton of planning stress from your shoulders.

So What is a Wedding Consultant/Advisor?

Wedding consultants and wedding planners occupy similar niches, and some wedding consultants will take on the more holistic duties of a wedding planner, too. So don’t worry if you’re a little confused!

However, strictly speaking, the wedding consultant occupies a more niche and focused role, offering in-depth advice on specific aspects of the wedding ceremony. For example, churches may have a wedding consultant to walk you through every aspect of using their property for your ceremony, or you may employ a wedding consultant who is a specialist in flowers or bridal hair and makeup. They can assist with:

Planning niche vending services, like photography or video
Planning decor aspects like flowers and more
Assist you with the attire for you and your bridal party
Set up gift registries

And there you have it! Think of the wedding planner as the overall ‘hub’ that makes the strands of the wedding come together in the beautiful quilt you’ll remember forever. Your specialist wedding consultants, however, are the people who help make each strand perfect in every way. While some wedding consultants overlap their duties with wedding planners, others remain niche specialist offering you the very best of their years of expertise to create the wedding of your dreams.