Whether you haven’t got a clue where to start or have been planning your big day since you were five, the thought of putting together a wedding can be daunting. After all there’s a lot for you to consider when it comes to planning your perfect day. So why not hire one of Manchester or Cheshire’s top wedding planners? Not just for the rich and famous, the best wedding planners are worth their weight in gold and can help couples with everything from picking the perfect venue to creative ideas for the reception. Plus they will also source luxury suppliers for you. We have put together some top tips to help you make an informative decision and we list the 12 best wedding planners in Manchester & Cheshire.
For help choosing the perfect setting view our selection of Cheshire’s best summer wedding venues.
Why hire a wedding planner?
They are wedding experts! Wedding planners live and breathe weddings and events, so you know that you can rely on them to help you put together your perfect day. They have an impressive book of contacts across Manchester and Cheshire and they know the industry inside out. Not only that but they are bursting with creative ideas to help your wedding day go with a bang. A dedicated planner will also be there for the entire day with you, whereas a co-ordinator that works for the venue will usually leave after the speeches.
Looking for inspiration? View our featured wedding galleries.
Hire a planner for their creativity
While some brides have a long list of ideas, for others creativity doesn’t come naturally. Having one of the North West’s best wedding planners on board can transform your day. Great planners know how to get an understanding of what you want. From there they help you come up with different ideas – such as personalised stationery designs or a wedding venue you might not have considered. We always recommend hiring the best and then putting trust in them – that’s what you pay a professional for!
Read more wedding planning tips on our blog.
Make the most of your budget
While having an award-winning wedding planner on board is an expense, they can often save you money and help effectively plan your budget. Planners will take the time to get to know couples and understand what is important to them. Which will mean they can help you find the best options for your big day and provide all-important advice. More of the budget can be allocated to the most important services, whilst cutting back on costs for things that are less meaningful. Spending money on services that you don’t really need is a waste of the budget. There are also some unexpected costs that may arise and a wedding planner will know to factor these in.
View our Manchester wedding photographer prices and the packages we offer.
Hire a wedding planner for convenience
Having a wedding planner as a go-between for you and other suppliers can really help to take the stress out of the months leading up to your big day. Your planner will liaise with your venue, caterer, photographer – you name it. That means you have one point of contact when it comes to organising loads of wedding suppliers. Your inbox will thank you! 2020 has highlighted just how much time having a wedding planner can save. When it comes to postponing your wedding you only have one person to consult with. Planners have really proven their worth beyond a doubt this year! Simply making one call to your planner is super convenient and will save you a huge amount of time.
Planners will problem solve for you
If you opt for a full planning service – which includes event management on the day – you will be completely free to enjoy your wedding without worrying about any potential pitfalls along the way. Your wedding planner will be on-hand to make sure any last-minute issues are dealt with and their strong relationships with other suppliers will help to keep everything running as smoothly as possible. Any problem solving will usually be done without the bride even knowing! If a planner is out of budget consider hiring a toastmaster. A professional toastmaster can also help ensure the day runs smoothly but note that you will need to do all of the planning.
Full co-ordination is the best option
The beauty of hiring a wedding planner is that they can help you to pull an entire day together. This can be especially useful if you are planning to have multiple locations, i.e. a church ceremony followed by a reception venue. Your wedding planner will take charge of the whole day for you, leaving you stress-free. Even if your venue offers an events co-ordinator, your planner will be able to juggle every single aspect of the wedding for you and the service far exceeds the venues. We recommend opting for full co-ordination as this is the best option. Having professional help planning each part of the day will ensure you have the perfect wedding!
Finding the best wedding planner for you
Once you’ve decided that a wedding planner is for you, deciding who to work with is an important decision. Not all Manchester & Cheshire planners are the same, so you will need to understand exactly what each has to offer before saying ‘yes’. Planners will post lots of examples from weddings they have organised on their Instagram. So checking social media platforms is a great place to start. Their feed can also help you get an idea of the style of wedding photography that you like. Images should be consistent with your vision – for example, if you wish to hire a modern wedding planner then you should be looking for bright, stylish and colourful pictures. An important thing to note is that planners should be posting images from their own weddings and events on social media. Avoid any planners who are posting lots of stock images as they will not have been involved in creating these events and this may indicate a lack of experience. Check the ‘locations’ on Instagram – a Manchester and Cheshire wedding planner should have tags linking to venues within the North West UK. The best planner for you will be one who regularly plans weddings locally with a style that aligns with your vision.
Do extensive research
Finding the perfect wedding planner for you will mean doing extensive research in the first instance. You will need to think about what’s important to you when it comes to a wedding planner, so you can match up different suppliers with your requirements. Check their Google reviews in addition to feedback posted on any other websites such as Trustpilot. It may also be worth asking any friends who are recently married if they hired a planner. Recommendations are an excellent way of finding the best wedding planners in the local area.
We have put together a handy list of the 12 best wedding planners in Manchester and Cheshire to help you get started – just scroll down for our recommendations.
Questions to ask a wedding planner
Don’t be afraid to come armed with a list of questions for any wedding planners you are considering hiring. They will be more than happy to help and it’s important for both parties to get to know each other. Establishing a good relationship with your planner early on is particularly important and you should feel comfortable trusting them. Whether you opt for a full or partial service, asking the right questions from the start will help everything to run smoothly throughout your planning. Never be afraid to ask for reviews either. Good wedding planners will be more than happy to share these with you.
Here are some questions that you should ask your wedding planner:
• Ask what’s included in each of their packages?
• If you have already booked a venue, see if they have planned any weddings there before?
• Are there any extra charges for site visits over a certain distance?
• Your planner will probably be VAT registered so check if prices are including or excluding VAT?
• Find out if your wedding planner will add a commission on top of the fees your suppliers charge?
• Ask if you can arrange your own suppliers – such as your wedding photographer – if they are not on the planners recommended list?
• Will they be there on your wedding day from start to finish?
• Do they have staff? A team will give you extra reassurance in case your wedding planner gets ill on the day.
• Ask how many weddings they have previously planned – experience is key!
Full planning vs partial planning
You’ve taken the plunge and chosen your wedding planner, now it’s time to consider your requirements. Do you want someone to take care of every little detail for you, or do you just need someone to help things run smoothly on the day? Many of the best wedding planners in Manchester & Cheshire will offer both a full and partial planning service. So you will need to think about what you want before making your decision. This will depend on the level of support you think you’ll need throughout the process and of course your budget. Guest numbers are also important – if you’re having a large number of guests then full planning will likely be the best option. Ask your planner for their advice too as they should recommend the package which suits your requirements. Below we explain full planning vs partial planning in more detail.
What is full wedding planning?
A full wedding planning service is perfect if you simply don’t know where to start when it comes to putting together your big day. By choosing a top wedding planner you will take away stress and hand over the task entirely to them. This is a great option if you have an incredibly busy life with plenty of commitments which take up most of your time. Having one of Manchester and Cheshire’s top planners on board is also a great option if you are having a wedding further afield.
Full wedding planning services will help you right from the word go, helping source everything from a perfect venue to the best photographer for your big day. A full wedding planner can co-ordinate sending invitations to tracking RSVPs, liaising with other suppliers and will be there on the day to make sure the whole thing runs smoothly. The top Manchester and Cheshire wedding planners will sit down with a couple to really understand their vision before they get started – so make sure you’ve thought about this before you meet them. Full wedding planning services are definitely the most expensive option, but the help and support will be amazing. Brides and grooms who struggle to find spare time will certainly benefit from this.
What is partial wedding planning?
Maybe you just want someone to help co-ordinate things on the day, or there’s another aspect of the wedding that you’d like an award-winning planner to support you with – this is a partial planning service. It’s a less comprehensive option which is offered by most wedding planners. Partial planning will help to take some of the stress away from you while leaving you in charge for the majority of tasks. Brides who prefer a more ‘hands on’ approach should select a partial planning service. It’s the perfect balance of taking away stress whilst also enjoying the exciting elements of planning a wedding day. However it’s important to mention that partial planning is only recommended for couples situated close to their venue.
‘We cannot recommend hiring a wedding planner enough! We work with the best planners in Cheshire and Manchester. They always create the most stunning weddings.”
SHANE WEBBER PHOTOGRAPHY
The best wedding planners in Manchester & Cheshire
If you’re thinking about hiring a wedding planner in Manchester or Cheshire we have put together a list of the very best in the area. Many of the planners are award-winning and they will all be able to help you plan the perfect day. Each company has their own unique vision and style. Availability is usually strictly limited as most planners can only take on a small amount of weddings each year due to the extensive work involved. So we advise booking your planner 2 years in advance where possible. All of the businesses below have fantastic attention to detail and several years experience in the wedding industry.
The 12 best wedding planners in Manchester and Cheshire are:
8) Taylor Lynn
9) Abigail Lucy
11) Qube Events
Luxury wedding photography
The most important choices a bride will make is her venue and photographer. These are the first big decisions to tick off the wedding checklist. Our award-winning wedding photography is bright and elegant, ensuring couples get stunning contemporary images to remember their big day. We have over 10 years of experience photographing weddings and work with the country’s best planners. As such we offer luxury wedding photography across Manchester and Cheshire. Our uncompromised coverage of your wedding day captures special moments for you to treasure forever. Photography is a priceless investment and we are so passionate about what we do. Browse a selection of favourite images in our portfolio.
Stunning wedding albums
We know just how much our couples love to look back on pictures of their big day so we offer the very finest wedding albums. Recommended by the best wedding planners, our luxury wedding albums from Queensberry are available to pre-order as part of your photography collection. These high-quality flush mount albums are handmade and personalised making them truly unique. We also offer bespoke parent albums so you can share your memories with loved ones. Speak to your wedding planner to ask their advice on the size of album you should order as this will vary depending on your plans for the day. Our most popular options are 75 or 100 image albums, but we also offer 50 images or 150 images to suit weddings of all sizes.
Booking your wedding planner and photographer
We hope our list of Manchester & Cheshire’s best wedding planners helps you to make the all-important decision of who to hire. The best wedding planners and photographers always book up really early, so definitely make this a priority on your ‘to do’ list. When booking your wedding planner remember that reputation and experience is key – but also trust your instinct and ensure you feel comfortable and at ease. The same principles apply when booking your wedding photographer. You should love their work and also have a good read of their about page to find out more about their business.
We are extremely proud to be listed in the ‘Top 50 UK Wedding Photographers’ for the past two years and have such excellent reviews from our customers. Providing an exceptional service and stunning products is at the heart of what we do. Couples can hire us through their wedding planner or book directly. We recommend enquiring at least 12 months in advance to avoid disappointment – we often take bookings around two years in advance, so please get in touch early to secure your date. If you’d like to find out more about us or would like to make a booking enquiry, please contact us.
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