Here's the truth of it: weddings are expensive. Wedding coordinators or planners are expensive. The average coordinator or planner is about $2,000. Some coordinators or planners with less experience may have much lower prices, while planners or coordinators in big cities might cost a whole lot more. The price tag attached to these services often raises eyebrows, and I get it! But, their expertise is worth the investment.

You might be thinking, "I love to DIY and craft and plan things, so I can handle the wedding planning before hand." and "I have plenty of family and friends who want to help on the day of the wedding! I don't need one!" So yes, you may be able to DIY all of the things...and ask for all the help and orchestrate it yourself -- but do you WANT to?

The average wedding takes 200-500 hours to plan, depending on how elaborate it is, and how much experience you have in doing it. Everyone has 168 hours every week. If you sleep for 6 of those hours every night, then that gives you 126 hours left. If your job is 40 hours a week, plus a half hour lunch and a half hour total commute, you've lost another 45 hours. That gives you roughly 80 hours left. Minus meals, showers and scrolling socia media, that's maybe 50 hours a week or less to plan. If you sleep more, then that gives you even less time - closer to about 40 hours a week or less to plan your wedding. And if you compare that to a job...you can see that wedding planning becomes almost a part-time job!

So, the question becomes - do you pay someone to take at least some of that work off your hands, or do you take a part-time job for the next three, six or nine months to get all the planning done yourself?

That's the question you need to ask yourself when you start planning - is it worth it to pay someone (who is an expert) help me with this, or do I take on all the stress myself to save the money?

Wedding planning is a complex project, with lots of parts, pieces and details. Do you have the time or brainpower to keep track of all that? A wedding planner does!

You're paying for expertise and experience when you hire a wedding coordinator or wedding planner - I've done almost 30 weddings in the first two years of my business. How many have you planned?

Most planners and coordinators invest time in getting to know their clients for a reason - your successful day is our successful event! I also make a lot of accomodations for my clients, working long hours, being available and giving my attention to my clients when they need it.

Another big reason a coordinator or planner is expensive is because they've networked and gotten to know the businesses in their area - and they can recommend the ones to work with (and who to avoid!). This takes a lot of hassle and disappointment away from you, because you'll get great vendors right from the start!

Want to take a deeper look into pricing for a wedding planner or coordinator?

*Keep reading if you want a breakdown of the financials of hiring a coordinator or planner!*

(I got this idea from two other articles - https://www.aislelesstraveled.com/why-are-wedding-planners-so-fcking-expensive/ and https://www.firstcoastweddings.com/blog-posts/why-do-wedding-coordinators-cost-so-much)

Let's take my Premium Coordination package, which is a good middle package. I currently have it at $2,000.

$2,000 minus business expenses, like my client portal software ($40 a month), random supplies (like scissors, zip ties, etc), my website ($16 a month), gas ($25-$50 a month, depending on where my weddings are located) and my car insurance ($100 a month). Let's estimate that these total up to about $500 a month. That leaves me with $1,500.

Then subtract money toward taxes, because I'm self-employed and I have to take those out myself, so now we're down to $1,200.

If I have to hire an assistant, I don't let them work more than 6 hours, but I pay them about $250-$300, depending on how complex the wedding is. That leaves me with less than $1,000 in "profit" from one wedding.

Now, let's talk hours of work for that remaining $1,000:

- Initial communication, contract, invoice, questionnaires, setting up an in-person meeting or video chat - 5 hours

- Venue walkthrough with couple - 2 hours

- Emails with couple/bride, family members who are helping, vendors and venue - 10 hours

- Wedding day timeline - 3 hours

- Transportation to various events regarding the wedding - 3 hours

- Rehearsal - 1 hour

- Set-up time delegating tasks to others or doing the work - 2 hours

- On site, leading ceremony and reception - 7 hours

- Follow-up with vendors and couple, social media - 1 hour

Round that up to about 35 hours for one wedding. $1,000/35 hrs = $29/hour

What job pays $29 per hour?

I had 17 weddings in 2024, which is absolutely great for my second year! But, if I only have about $1,000 in "profit" for each wedding (and not every wedding is at that package price), that's only $17,000 for the year. Can you imagine living on that? In most places in the US, you can't.

If I charged $4,000 per wedding, then some of my business costs would go up, especially marketing (in order to attract those clients), but my profit might be closer to $2,000 per wedding. Even then, with 17 weddings, that's only $34,000 a year.

While the cost of hiring a wedding coordinator may seem steep, the value we provide is immeasurable. Just because we are charging you a certain price does not mean that ends up being our profit amount. So, are wedding coordinators or wedding planners really that expensive? I say no - we really should be charging way more for the things we do for our clients!