Most planners sell three levels of help. The names vary a little from planner to planner, but the ladder is almost always the same: month-of coordination, partial planning, and full service. The difference is simply how much of the wedding the planner carries, and for how long.
Month-of coordination
You plan the wedding. The planner takes over the final stretch — usually four to eight weeks out — and makes sure it all happens.
- You do: the vision, the budget, booking every vendor, the design.
- They do: confirm vendors, build the final timeline, run the rehearsal, manage the wedding day.
- Best for: organised couples who enjoy planning and want a professional running the day so they can be present at it.
Despite the name, this almost always begins weeks before the wedding, not on the morning of — no one can run a day they only just learned about.
Partial planning
A head start, handed over. You’ve booked some of it; the planner fills the rest.
- You do: the early, big-rock decisions — often the venue and a vendor or two.
- They do: source and book the remaining vendors, help with design, and coordinate the day.
- Best for: couples who’ve started strong but realise they don’t want to carry the rest alone.
Full service
The planner leads everything, end to end, for twelve to eighteen months.
- You do: show up to decisions, and to your wedding.
- They do: budget, every vendor, the full design, all logistics, and the day itself.
- Best for: couples who want a true design partner and the least possible to manage themselves — and most destination weddings, where one person needs to hold the whole thing from afar.
What each costs
Pricing follows scope. As a rough national guide, month-of coordination runs about $1,500–$4,000, and full-service planning about $3,000–$15,000 or more, often charged as a flat fee or a percentage of the overall budget. These are ballparks — every planner in the Wedded collective quotes personally after a first conversation about your wedding, so there’s no guessing.
How to choose
Ask yourself one honest question: how much do I actually want to carry? If you love planning and just want the day run for you, month-of is plenty. If the thought of sourcing twenty vendors fills you with dread, full service will be worth every pound.
If you’re not sure, tell us about your wedding and we’ll match you with a planner at the right level — or read what a wedding planner actually does first.