I was in Hong Kong for about 7 days and met up with one of my wife’s friends, who may be getting married next year or so.

It is really common for couples in Hong Kong to engage wedding planners to help plan their weddings.

It is of no surprise to me as wedding planning service is getting more and more common nowadays especially when both brides and grooms are working and it really take discipline to carfully manage their own wedding.

My wife’s friend, G told us that in Hong Kong, it may cost up to S$30,000 (at least!) to have their wedding. And friends around them often engage wedding planners.

Thus, it appears normal and common sensical to them to engage one too.

I’m not sure how reliable wedding planners are, especially I have heard stories of some wedding planners who screw up weddings rather than making them a success.

There is this friend of my wife who had engaged a wedding planner. The wedding planner often offer her expensive bridal service, so as to increase her commission.

This friend was so pissed off that she suffered in silence. How ironical!

She was given a gown that she didn’t like but kept quiet for fear of offending the wedding planner who may screw her wedding up.

She was also brought to high-end bridal studios which are simply too expensive.

Another story that I read from the press was that the wedding planner got into bad terms with the bridal service providers. One instance was that the wedding photographer and venue vendor back out from the contract just a few days before the wedding day.

Imagine this happening to your own wedding. No photographer and venue! I think I would have gone insane.

So if you are considering “outsourcing” your wedding planning, do screen your wedding planner carefully!

There are a few ways you can screen your wedding planner, just like how you select your life-long partner.

Attitude:

Does he have a good attitude towards his customers? Is his quality of service proportional to the money you pay? Talk to his ex-clients and find out how he treated them at different times, especially during stressful times. Did he maintain his composure or simply rbing their weddings to doom?

Responsiveness:

Does he answer your call promptly? Or he takes a few days to call you back? Does he inform your about changes such as price changes, time changes? Or does he keep you out of loop till it is too late? You won’t want to know only a few days before your wedding.

Reference:

Is the wedding planner referred by a friend who has engage his service before? Or is he new and inexperienced? How many of his customers are referred by his previous clients? If most of them are, it shows that his service is highly recommended.

Truthfulness:

Is he truthful enough to tell you the dos and donts? While screening him, did he tell you about some of the difficulties he had in the past or he says that “everything went well”. Did he help you to get the best deal and get you a customised package so as to help you save money or is he all out to squeeze you dry so he can earn more commission?