10 Signs You Should Hire a Wedding Planner

Planning your wedding day is something that most people have daydreamed about when they were younger. When reality sets in though, things change. It's no longer as simple a task as just looking on Pinterest and wishing it'd just show up at a magical venue.

Some people have a lot of experience in party planning and are ready to tackle all the planning effort that a standard wedding comes with. Others immediately see how much time and tedium it takes to put together a major party, and decide to hire a planner.

Then, there are people who are "grey area" folks. These people aren't quite sure whether they should hire a planner, or just go it alone. If you're like many other couples, you might not be totally sure whether hiring a planner is the right thing to do.

Speaking as someone who was recently married, here's my top list of signs that hiring a planner is the way to go.

You are tight on time and don't really care about every little detail.

Planning your big day is going to take time and effort—and if you're like a lot of couples, that's not something you have in spades. Moreover, many couples aren't totally caught up in the importance of trying to hammer out all the little details.

If nothing else, choosing to hire a wedding planner is the easiest way to cut the amount of time and stress that wedding planning takes on you. Wedding planners do the work for you, will let you sign off on the ideas they offer, and are great for a hands-on role.

That said, if you have a very specific vision for your wedding, you can still hire a wedding planner who will carry it out for you. After all, they want their customers to be happy.

The idea of hiring all those vendors makes you shake in your shoes.

I'm going to be blunt with you: Hiring wedding vendors is a lot like pulling a cow up a tree. Finding vendors who are actually good at what they do is difficult, and actually booking everything to a tee is even worse.

One of the better reasons to hire a wedding professional to plan your wedding is their vendor list. They know who works well, what they should be aware of when dealing with them, and even get specialty planner rates.

In many situations, hiring a planner will cut down costs for vendors immensely. At times, a good planner might be able to shave off as much as 20 percent from certain vendor contracts.

You've never planned a major party before.

We've all planned small parties with some success, but big parties are significantly different from a usual "pizza and chill" time with friends. Large parties actually take quite a while to plan out, and the coordination required really isn't something to take lightly.

From what I've seen, most first-time party planners end up botching their first big event. It's to be expected, and sometimes, the mistakes end up completely annihilating the party.

You really do not want to botch your wedding, trust me on that. If you've never planned a seriously elegant party with a lot of different elements, hire a pro.

Budgeting isn't your strong point.

Weddings are super expensive, and that's just common knowledge. They seem to have an almost supernatural ability to make people shell out thousands of dollars for an affair that, once, would be considered modest in many cases.

The weird thing about planning weddings is that guests are usually the ones who pressure brides and grooms to spend more. This can be a major problem, but a good wedding planner can help you out.

Planners are known for their epic budgeting ability and being able to work out deals on behalf of the happy couple. If you're worried about sticking to a budget, this is a great way to make sure you don't spend a penny more.

You're not detail oriented.

Attention to detail is crucial when it comes to planning a wedding.

Not being able to notice little things like times, dates, and deposits can absolutely demolish your wedding in its tracks. Even one, small detail left unturned can become a pretty epic failure, you know.

Oddly enough, the biggest detail couples sometimes overlook are the presents. I actually had a friend who left a $400 gift card at his venue because they didn't actually look on the tables when he left his wedding.

If you hire a wedding planner, they take care of all the details for you—including making sure that you don't end up leaving any presents behind.

It's a destination wedding.

Planning a destination wedding isn't the same as putting together a local wedding. A local wedding means you (somewhat) know the lay of the land, and have a somewhat clear idea of what accommodations are really like around you.

A destination wedding means that you will have to take a gamble when it comes to booking accommodation. Wedding planners will actually help you find the right hotel for your destination and will do in-depth research to make it all happen.

In other words, it's a way to guarantee quality control.

You want your wedding to be fresh and unique, but you don't really have any ideas in mind.

Believe it or not, there are some people out there that love the idea of having a modern wedding but just can't come up with good wedding theme ideas. I ought to know; I was one of those people.

Though I ended up eloping, our original plan was to hire a wedding planner to try to help us come up with a low budget idea for our gathering. Since wedding planners are always abreast of the latest trends, they tend to be creative powerhouses when it comes to party ideas.

You can do some reaching on your own about how to throw a unique themed wedding, but if you're stumped, go with a planner.

You're really not happy with dealing with followup and fine print.

And there is a lot of it. There's a lot of fine print with DJs, caterers, and one of the main things you need to consider when you're booking a venue is the fine print they have hidden up their sleeves. There are a lot of tiny rules that you might break without even realizing.

Wedding vendors aren't only difficult to hire; they're difficult to follow up with, too. There are so many little contracts and stipulations to deal with, it's enough to make most people who have a love of convenience to throw their hands up in rage.

If you're not good about follow-up calls or reading fine lines, it's often best to hire a planner to take care of it for you.

There's legitimate reason to believe you may need outside help with certain problematic guests.

Most people don't know this until they get married, but a major secret about wedding planners is that they often are tasked with making sure your wedding goes as smoothly as possible. This includes dealing with guests who stir up drama, or who may be making a scene.

I've personally seen wedding planners usher out uninvited wedding crashers at a ceremony, as well as diffuse arguments between a groom's ex and the bride. They are legit life savers—wedding planning is really hard work.

You want to be fully immersed in your big day.

When you don't hire a wedding planner, you end up being the people who have to care about every little detail. You have to be the one dealing with problem guests, you have to be the one making sure that the open bar stays open, and you have to be the one dealing with bridesmaids that aren't fitting into their outfits.

A wedding planner takes care of all of that for you, so that you can actually soak in all the joy of seeing your friends and family on your big day. Hiring a wedding planner can be the best decision you ever made when you want something beautiful that won't drive you absolutely nuts to coordinate.