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Yesterday, I posted about wedding planners charging for “day of the event” services.  While I enjoyed reading all of your comments, my favorite was posted by Jolie.

“I have no idea what any of this. I’m confused.  I know it’s written for those in the industry, but who knew you needed a Law of Finance degree to be a wedding planner?  What a migraine.”

Thanks for your candor, Jolie.  I can empathize with your frustration.  When trying to conclude the many blogs on pricing and transparency in the wedding planning industry, one can easily go crazy.

In writing these kinds of blogs, one thing has become very clear to me: we are testing our own market to find out what is the best way to charge for planning our planning services in our respective city.  What works in New York City might easily not work in other cities.  With this in mind, I think the best way to charge for planning services is by the hour.

This brings us to the big question:  As a planner, how much do you think you are worth?

The truth is there can never be “day of” planning.  As many of you commented yesterday, the shortest amount of time is “the month of” and even that takes careful consideration. This is true even in cases where the client has hired and paid all of the vendors.  In order for things to run smoothly, planners need at least a month to familiarize themselves with the details and participants of the event.

To keep it simple, we’ll do a bit of simple math–no finance degree required, I promise!

Imagine you give your client 24 hours the day of the event.  You manage your client, organize the instillation, manage the wedding itself and then oversee the breakdown.

If you charge a fee of $100 an hour, that alone is $2400.00

Let’s say you spend another 10 hours meeting all the vendors and learning about the job before the event. That is another $1000.00

The answer yesterday was D.

With these pricing points in effect, an event in New York should cost no less the $3400.

Charging for any service boils down to worth and value is gained with experience over time.  The problem with most planners is that they forget that they need to put in the time in order to charge the big bucks.  I have seen many planners come and go because they had more ego than experience.   Be patient and develop your own market by offering great service.

There are no short cuts. 

 In concluding our series, I’d like to ask you the following question:  If you had to change one thing in the way you charge, what would that be? 

On a more personal note, have you decided your hourly rate?  I do not expect you to share that information, a simple yes or no would do.