"She Had Our Backs"
WHAT ARE YOU REALLY HIRING WHEN YOU HIRE A PLANNER? A bride recently wrote about an experience that stayed with me. She hired a planner to make the process easier. Instead, she found herself managing problems, worrying about things that should have been handled, and eventually wondering whether she should fire the person she had hired to help her. This happens far too often and I read about it every day. This is not how a planner should do the job!
This weekend, I received a review from one of my own clients. This is what my client had to say: "Working with Wendy was one of the best decisions we made for our large party. Wendy was responsive every step of the way, answering our questions quickly and walking us through the planning process with clarity and patience. On the day of our event, she coordinated all of our vendors and handled the setup so we could actually enjoy ourselves instead of worrying about logistics. She has a real gift for understanding what you want and making it happen exactly as you imagined. Wendy brought warmth and professionalism to everything she did, and we felt confident knowing she had our backs. We are so grateful for her partnership and would absolutely recommend Angel of Hearts to anyone planning a large celebration." .One sentence jumped out at me: “We felt confident knowing she had our backs.” THAT. I think those seven words may describe this job better than almost anything I could write.
Yes, your planner needs to understand timelines, vendors contracts, logistics, setup, budgets, floor plans. And the thousand details that have to come together before your guests ever walk through the door. But you're not really hiring a collection of tasks. You're hiring the ability to stop carrying all of those tasks yourself. You're hiring someone who answers the question. Not someone you have to chase for the answer. Someone who sees the problem coming. Not someone who hands the problem back to you. Someone who understands what you're trying to create and knows how to get you there. And when the day finally arrives? You should be able to walk into your celebration and actually EXPERIENCE it, not manage it.
That's what “we've got this” is supposed to mean. And I can't think of a better measure of whether you've hired the right planner than this: Do you feel confident knowing they have your back?
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