17 Questions to ask your destination wedding planner

If you are here, we can only imagine you are planning to hire a destination wedding planner! This is a HUGE decision as you will work closely with whoever you hire for the next 12-24 months. You want to feel comfortable, and you also want an expert who has been there before and is ready and with you every step of the way.

We hope these questions will be SO helpful when starting the process. Are you in Canada? Our boutique travel agency is based near Calgary and we would love to be considered. We have been in business over five years now and have personally travelled to hundreds of resorts and dozens of destinations. To schedule a consultation, click this link to contact us. We work with couples all over Canada.

 

 

1. How long have you been doing this for?
2. Who handles the travel for myself and my guests? Our destination wedding planners handle this directly for all of our couples but not everyone offers this service.
3. How long have you been doing this for? What is your background? 
4. Do you do this full-time or part-time? Do you work with a team? Will it be you planning my wedding or an associate planner? Knowing you are going to work with one person from the beginning is important if you value that personal connection and don’t want a “corporate” feel.
5. How many weddings have you planned? How many weddings do you take on every year?
6. What destinations are your favourite? What resorts do you love to work with? Why?
7. What is the average wedding budget you work with? 
8. What hours do you work? What is a typical response time? What is your preferred method of communicating? Phone? Email?
9. What is your favourite wedding trend right now? Not only do you want to hire someone who has similar taste than you (although a good planner will be able to execute your vision regardless of their personal style), this question often reveals how passionate your planner is about the industry.
10. Is it possible to incur fees down the road if my guest count/wedding budget changes? What is your payment schedule like? Cancellation policy? Make sure all of these answers find their way into the contract!
11. Do you travel with the group? For how many nights? Do you stay on-site?
12. What do you include in your wedding planning packages? Additional events? Are travel costs additional?
13. Do you have a list of preferred vendors? Most experienced planners will have vendors they love to work with although not everyone will have a formal list.
14. Do you help us stay on budget? Do you help us breakdown our budget? Who pays the vendors and keeps track of their payment schedule?
15. Are you available on our wedding date?
16. If I haven’t chosen a wedding date yet, what is your policy if you are already booked? Do certain dates have an additional charge? New Years Eve for example, typically has an additional charge because travel is more expensive.
17. What factors affect our planning quote? Do you offer a la carte services or planning packages only? For example, we offer destination wedding planning packages with and without us travelling to the destination with you.

BONUS: Not hiring a destination wedding planner? Here are 4 questions to ask a destination wedding travel agent:

 

• Which airlines/tour operators do you love working with? Why? Trust us, if someone is experienced, they will definitely have preferences.
• Are there any resorts running promotions now that would be a good fit for my group?
• What methods of payment do you accept? Do you sell travel insurance as well?
• If working from home (more and more common!), what hours do you work? Who takes care of my file when you are on vacation?

 

We are ready to put our money where our mouth is! Are you ready to ask us your questions? The easiest way is to set up a consultation here.  Wondering if we are the right fit? You can read more about us here and read our testimonials here.