12 Newlywed Questions We asked Couples about their Wedding Planning Experience

The topic for Wedding Network meetings in March is a Newlywed Panel. Each Chapter invites in some recently married couples and asks them the burning questions you all want to know – how to get chosen out of the pack of wedding professionals.

In Portland, Oregon there was an equal number of couples that had no planner, month of planners and full service planners. Not surprising the ones with no planners indicated that they had a lot of stress managing all the details and creating a timeline for the event day.

Question 1: What service did you book first? The Planner, Venue & Photography were the top answers.

Question 2: What was your highest priority for your wedding services? The top answers were great photography, food and beverages, dancing and a stress free day.

Question 3: What was the most frustrating thing/things about dealing with wedding pros?

Hands down the answer was communication. They couldn’t get timely responses or any responses. All stated that if they called or emailed, they expected a response in 24 hours or they moved on. An auto responder that was friendly and clearly stated they would hear from the wedding pro shortly, was acceptable, if they actually heard from them

They also felt that if you sent them a quote that you should follow up in 3-5 days with them, no longer.

They wanted to connect by texting too, and many wedding pros would not use texting.

The other frustrating thing was no pricing, or even a “starting at….” on your website. They did not want to waste their time or yours contacting you for the information or booking an appointment if you were completely out of their range. They all said that if your price was top of or out of their budget but other factors were in your favor, they would still meet with you and then make their decision. 2 of the 3 hired wedding pros over their budget in a couple of categories after meeting with them.

Question 4: After price, what was the biggest factor in your choice of wedding pros? All said it was how you related to them. If there was a personal connection, if they felt comfortable with you, that was a big contributing factor.

There was a lot of discussion on this topic. They wanted to have their feelings and ideas heard and discussed. They leaned toward the people that listened instead of those that told them what to do.

Question 5: Did online reviews from national sites help you choose your wedding pros. The unanimous answer was NO.

Question 6: Did you use Facebook of their website for research? The websites.

Question 7: How did you find those wedding professionals to add to your list? Google! So, if your Google ranking isn’t up there, you might not even get in the game.

Question 8: Did you find family and friend referrals to be helpful – yes to a point. The couples who had planners relied more on them to help them start their lists. And if the planner had a good experience with them, that had huge value.

Question 9: Did you attend any bridal shows or open houses and were they helpful? A small percentage did, but in most cases found them not to be beneficial.

Question 10: Did you stick to your budget? No, not one couple stayed on track with their original budget. Partially because they were uneducated as to actual costs of services, partially because some things became more important to them and they spent more to achieve the dream.

Question 11: Regrets? They didn’t realize how fast the day would fly by.

Question 12: Who did they think had the hardest job – the Wedding Planner! Who had the easiest job – the DJ.