Choosing a wedding planner

By Jennifer Greenberg and Donna Page

Jennifer Greenberg and Donna Page offer these tips on choosing a wedding planner:

• The right fit is imperative. Make sure your personalities are a good match.

• Make sure the wedding planner doesn’t charge a percentage of the overall budget or take commissions from vendors.
 
• The planner must understand how both the bride and groom envision the day. Do you want a late-night cocktail party? Candles everywhere? Barefoot in the backyard? The event must speak to who the bride and groom are.

• Does the planner consider your guests? If guests are left standing in 100-degree heat, it is not a successful day.

• Accreditation with a bridal consulting society like the American Society of Wedding Planners (www.aswponline.com) or Association for Wedding Professionals International (afwpi.com) helps insure ethical standards and knowledge of the latest trends.

• Ask how many vendors the planner works with. You want plenty of choices.

(Local resources are available from the Oregon branch of the Association of Bridal Consultants, www.oregonabc.com. Jewish resources are listed at www.jewish-wedding-planner.com )