Hi everyone,
I am a bride-on-a-budget, meaning we only have about $2500 to spend on our July 2021 microwedding. We only have 20 guests. We will be holding the ceremony in the park in Orange County, CA, then moving to another location down the street for the reception. I have already found a venue that is affordable, and a caterer who is also graciously affordable. The only thing is our venue requires us to hire a wedding planner. My fiance and I are completely ok with ditching the typical wedding frills and just happy that our friends and family will spend the day with us. I will be DIYing the table decorations (only 3 tables lol), bouquets, boutonnieres, I already own table linens, and we won't be playing any music/having a dance floor. The caterer is the only vendor we have. This will have an intimate dinner feel lasting about 2-3 hours.
I have been asking around for different rates for wedding planners and most quotes are $600 or above, which is way too steep for us (which would make it the largest part of the budget). We would only really need someone to help with setup and cleanup, and I just don't know if that's $600 worth of work (unless I am WAY off then someone please set me straight---all this wedding stuff is so new to me). I've explained to the planners that we will only need the bare minimum and that it's only because it's required from the venue, but this all still feels very expensive.
Is it possible to hire a wedding planner for $300 or less? How do I communicate my needs with wedding planners that I will only need the basic?
Thank you!!!