What a wedding planner does depends on the scope you sign, not the job title. On a full plan, the planner runs your budget, suppliers, contracts and design. They handle guest logistics, the run sheet and the day, then close the accounts in the week after. A partial planner picks up part of that mid-way, and an on-the-day coordinator takes over a finished plan in the final weeks.
The legal paperwork, the guest list and the final creative sign-off stay with you at every level. Much of the rest can go to your Wedded Advisor at Wedded Concierge. If you are still deciding whether to hire anyone, start with why a planner is worth having.
Names vary between planners, so compare the task lists in each proposal before you compare fees. Those fees move with scope, guest numbers, events, travel days and any local planner, and the cost of a wedding planner sets them out for each scope in Australia, the UAE, the UK, the US, Italy and India.
A full-service planner starts with your first brief and finishes after the last invoice is paid, owning every phase below. You still make every decision, but each one arrives with the options already narrowed.
Partial planning has no fixed definition, so agree it line by line. A common version starts once you have booked the venue and one or two key suppliers, then covers the remaining suppliers, the timeline, the budget tracker, venue liaison, the rehearsal and the day. You keep design sign-off. Proposals differ most on guest rooms and transfers, so ask whether both are included.
An on-the-day coordinator takes over a plan you built, often in the last month or two. Over a few handover meetings they confirm each supplier's scope, finish the timeline and floor plan, and run the rehearsal and the day, without touching your budget, design or bookings. Book one early anyway, so gaps surface while there is still time to fix them.
To the first handover meeting, bring:
signed contracts for every supplier
final numbers, the dietary list and the seating plan
a floor plan and a draft run sheet
supplier contacts with arrival times
the weather and transport plans
a note of every payment due on the day
Your brief decides how well a planner can work for you. Leave it vague and they fill the gaps with their own habits, which is how a wedding ends up looking like the last one they planned. In week one, give your planner captioned reference images, the things you dislike, the real budget ceiling with your priorities in order, and the two or three moments that matter most.
Venue and date come next, since every other booking hangs on them. Your planner should read the venue's inclusions and tell you what is thin, such as hire furniture, lighting or a late finish, before you sign. For every other supplier, expect two or three options with a recommendation.
The planner reviews each contract for its commercial terms, flags cancellation, minimum spend, overtime, service charge and substitution clauses, and negotiates timings. You pay suppliers directly unless a written arrangement says otherwise, while the planner keeps the payment calendar and reconciles each invoice. They also collect each supplier’s proof of insurance for the venue, WeddingWire notes.
Where parents are hosting, they are clients too. At the first meeting, agree who may instruct the planner, such as the two of you plus one named person from each family, and on which channel, WhatsApp included. A mother's request for the flowers or a father's seating change then reaches you before it reaches a supplier.
You set the design direction, and the planner briefs the florist, stylist, lighting and hire suppliers against it. The caterer and the band are briefed too, though they still own the menu and the set list, and you approve both, including halal, kosher or vegetarian service where your guests need it. Wedding planner vs wedding stylist shows where those two roles divide.
Guest logistics are where a planner saves you the most email. Expect transfers matched to each arrival, rooms held for guests near the venue and one guest information page covering dress code, events and check-in. Ask whether guest flights sit with the planner, a travel advisor or each guest, and send dates early to anyone who needs a visa. Before you sign for held rooms, ask who pays for any left unbooked.
Ask, too, whether the planner sources welcome, farewell and family gifts and ships them to the venue. Choose pieces guests can carry home through customs. Some planners also suggest where to buy your wedding attire and come to the fittings.
Final numbers and dietary needs go to the caterer, the seating plan becomes a floor plan, and every supplier gets an arrival time, an access point and a bump-out time, reconfirmed in the final week. A planner can only hold a supplier to a schedule that supplier agreed in writing.
For any outdoor event, settle the call now rather than on the morning, whether the risk is rain, wind or heat:
the planner watches the forecast and recommends
the venue confirms that the covered space and setup times work
you make the decision
the deadline is often early afternoon the day before, inside your florist's and hire company's cut-offs
the fallback, whether a marquee, a shaded terrace or an indoor room, is booked or held in writing
If the kitchen serves at 7.30pm and the best portrait light falls at 7.45pm, your planner puts that choice to you weeks ahead, not on the night. They also prepare named tipping envelopes, after checking which contracts already include a service charge, and list which final payments fall due on the day. Abroad, ask the local planner what is customary.
On each event day, every supplier question goes to the planner's team, not to you or your family. The team works in this order:
Walks the site with the venue coordinator before suppliers arrive.
Checks setup against the floor plan, the place cards and the supplier sheet.
Lines up the processional, places the officiant, checks the microphones and cues the ceremony at the agreed or auspicious time.
Runs family photos from your list of names and times portraits to the sunset.
Keeps entrances, dinner and speeches to the agreed order.
Watches the finish time, so overtime starts only with your approval.
Counts hired items at bump-out before suppliers leave.
Once the wedding is over, a planner can return hired items, recover deposits and reconcile final invoices, including any overtime or damage. They send on lost property, gifts and your gown, chase photo and video delivery and check image privacy terms. Ask which of these are billed as extras, and get shipping home from overseas quoted in writing.
Abroad, the usual model is a lead planner plus a local planner who holds the permits and local suppliers, which means two fees. Either the lead contracts the local planner and bills you, or you sign with each directly and divide the work in writing. Expect the lead at the site visits, the final walkthrough and every event day, and agree how many visits the fee covers and a weekly call time inside working hours at both ends. Ask whether the local planner or a local lawyer owns translations, document legalisation and the registry appointment.
Take a weekend of welcome dinner, ceremony and farewell lunch. The lead planner writes all three run sheets and attends each event, the local planner holds the permits, local suppliers and transfers, and the venue team runs its own kitchen, rooms and staff. You keep the guest list, the design sign-off and the legal paperwork. A henna, mehndi or sangeet night gets the same treatment, with its own run sheet, crew, finish time and named lead.
Do you really need a planner for a destination wedding weighs up whether to hire one. For a wedding across several days or countries, add these to the plan:
Two currencies: One budget sheet in your home currency with rates noted, and in writing who pays foreign deposits, who bears transfer fees and who carries any rate movement.
Hotels and heritage venues: Which suppliers must be in-house, and what outside suppliers pay to work there.
Self-catered villas: A named owner for power, water, refrigeration and the field kitchen, so you know who answers if the generator fails at 7pm.
Noise curfews: Set by the venue and local rules, including fireworks and late music, so confirm the finish time at contract stage.
Arrivals: Pick-ups for every flight, older relatives met first, and a map of who sleeps where.
Separate celebrations: Two rooms with their own crews and timings where women and men celebrate apart. For women-only events, female crews, phone rules and no public galleries or supplier tagging without your written approval.
Some tasks stay with you, your lawyer or the venue, whatever you pay. Knowing them early saves a difficult conversation later. Agree who covers each of them before the contract is signed. A wedding planner will not:
give legal advice or religious rulings, or lodge your legal paperwork
pay suppliers from their own account without a written arrangement
decide your guest list, your budget ceiling or your final creative sign-off
replace the venue coordinator, who works for the venue and its house rules
What a planner does do is build your legal notice deadline into the timeline, so the paperwork is done before anyone books a flight.
Before you pay a deposit, get these in writing:
Scope: Every task, and what is excluded.
People: The named lead, the team size at each event and cover if the lead is ill.
Hours: Daily start and finish times, and when overtime starts and its rate.
Meetings and travel: How many site visits, and whether travel is included.
Response times: How fast messages are answered, and on which channel.
Payments: How suppliers are paid, and who holds each deposit.
The day-of split: Who owns each task on the day, venue team or planner, and who has the final say when house rules and your running order clash, signed by both teams.
The week after: Which closing tasks are included.
On the first call, ask these three questions:
Who exactly is on my team, and how many people are on site at each event?
Have you run a wedding like ours, in this place, for families like ours and in our language?
What does the fee cover and exclude, including travel and overtime?
No single licence proves a planner's skill, so judge one by references and past weddings. Ask a past couple what went wrong on their day and how the planner handled it. More interview questions are in how to hire a wedding planner.
Each of these planners is listed on the Wedded Marketplace, and each suits a different kind of wedding from this guide. The details below come from their own listings. Ask for a proposal with the task list set out above, and your Wedded Advisor can introduce you to any of them.
Alysia Bridger plans luxury weddings around the world from Brisbane, and her listing names her among the Top 20 Global Wedding Planners. She works with high-profile and design-led couples, from multi-day destination weddings to small, intimate ones. She has spoken at Karen Tran’s masterclasses and at Wedded Wonderland’s The Wedded Experience in London. View Alysia Bridger Events.
Director Christopher Ibrahim began as a stylist in 2017, dressing homes and events in Sydney, before founding Christopher Joseph Events in 2022. The team now plans as well as styles, so the design and the running of the day sit with one company. They work in English and Arabic, which helps when families on both sides want to be part of every decision. View Christopher Joseph Events.
Destination Snob plans luxury South Asian weddings in places such as Santorini and Dubai. Its approach is discreet and built around the traditions of each family, with a network of premium suppliers abroad. Choose it for a celebration that runs over several days and honours your heritage. View Destination Snob.
Based in Lucca, in Tuscany, Italian Style Weddings plans multicultural weddings across Italy for international couples. Every wedding is designed from the ground up rather than from a template, and the team works in English, French, Spanish and Italian. Its listing puts clarity and peace of mind for couples planning from abroad first. View Italian Style Weddings.
Founder Johanna and a small team in Mallorca take on a limited number of weddings each year, so every couple gets close attention. They plan everything from a clifftop ceremony at golden hour to a weekend across finca estates and beach clubs. As a local planner, they know the island’s venues and suppliers first-hand. View Lane Productions.
Tash Heyder founded Plan A in Bali in 2012 and pioneered made-to-measure weddings on the island. Plan A offers no packages, so you decide how simple or how grand the day is without paying for what you don’t want. Its team is multilingual, with decades of events experience between them. View Plan A.
Led by founder Sharon Sacks, Sacks Productions produces celebrity weddings in Beverly Hills and destination events in Europe and Mexico. It offers full-service planning, from the first concept to the last guest leaving. Choose it for a large-scale wedding where the guest experience matters as much as the design. View Sacks Productions.
If you are hiring a lead and a local planner abroad, a Wedded Advisor at Wedded Concierge can recommend planners on the ground, manage suppliers across countries, and coordinate guest travel, accommodation and the currency and international payments behind them.
For a wedding closer to home, your advisor can take on venue sourcing, supplier selection and negotiation, and the timeline and budget, then support you through the event week. Begin with a discovery call or a 60-minute consultation, and browse photographers, stylists and other suppliers on Wedded Marketplace.
Written by
Content and Creative Manager | Wonder Group
Joseph Joshua is the SEO & Content Manager at Wedded Wonderland, bringing an editorial and search strategy perspective to the publication’s coverage of luxury weddings, destination celebrations and bridal lifestyle. His approach to content centres on helping readers move from inspiration to informed decisions, with attention to the design, craftsmanship and personal details that give a celebration its character.
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