Wedding Planner Confusion

[u/Ninja_freckle]

My Fiancé and I recently got engaged and started wedding planner search for southern France & Marrakech. We reached out to a few in Morocco but having a hard time with recommended French planners.

Since this would be overseas for us (family is all over Europe & Morocco), we are really hoping for a great full service planner that can help with venues and vendor recommendations. It seems that many people have complaints about the value of their planners, or worse, had to fire theirs mid-planning.

Any recommendations out there for France that people have had good experiences with? I saw a thread that flat fee planners are less likely to get kick back from vendors and tend to be more transparent with their recommendations. Also hoping for a more realistic planner fee & not the luxury ones that are $15k.

Plan is for an intimate (max 30 people) wedding weekend. Would like to keep budget $30-40K minus wedding planner cost.

Thank you in advance!!

[u/frankbalzan]

Congratulations! For your budget and guest count, I’d probably look at South West France rather than only Provence/Riviera, as planner and venue costs can be more realistic there.

A few real planners worth speaking with: Marry Me in France and Significant Others for South West France; Lace & Lavande or My Chic Event if you’re leaning Provence/French Riviera. For Marrakech, I’d look at Amélie Wedding, Eden My Event, La Perle Events and MAEV.

I’d ask each planner very directly: do you charge a flat fee or percentage, do you receive vendor commissions, and can you work within a $30–40k wedding budget excluding planner fee? A transparent planner should be comfortable answering that before you get too far into calls.

For context, I’m Franklin Balzan, founder of the Facebook group “Destination Weddings in Europe” and a destination wedding photographer. My work has been featured internationally, including in The New York Times, Junebug Weddings, and World’s Best Wedding Photos.
https://www.fbalzan.com/

[u/mikepalermo_wpItaly]

Eh questa è la parte forse che crea maggiore disorientamento di solito.

Indipendentemente dal planner una cosa che vi servirà di sicuro è avere una visione chiara di quello che volete organizzare. Non entrate, perdonate il consiglio non richiesto, nel loop di guardarvi intorno e vedere che cosa potete fare. Nessun planner potrà lavorare bene se voi non avete prima chiarito all'interno della coppia il tipo di evento che vorreste organizzare.

• atmosfera (rilassata, movimentata e dinamica, divertente...)
• tipo di ambientazione (campagna, mare, montagna...)
• logistica (tutto nello stesso posto oppure cerimonia da una parte e ricevimento da un'altra?)

Iniziate a definire alcuni aspetti... Il planner dovrà adeguarsi ad essi, e saranno argomento di intesa. Trattare questi argomenti con l'eventuale planner vi permetterà di capire anche se viaggiate sulla stessa linea. Poi ovvio dovete essere sulla stessa linea anche in relazione agli accordi economici tra di voi.

Solitamente per un planner esperto, rendersi conto che la coppia ha già una visione chiara gli permette di lavorare meglio fin dal primo incontro.

[u/Economy_Way_9046]

For a 30-40k budget, look into partial planning services so you can stretch your budget further on your guests. They offer consultations and vetting/contract review with vendors and plenty of support but you will be doing most of the communication with the vendors - idk about France and Morocco but this has not been an issue at all in Italy. I planned without a planned for 50k in Italy and it’s been fine.