Wedding Planner payment schedule?

Maybe ask if your wedding planner would be OK with the final payment being made on your wedding day by the end of the night? That might be a fair compromise, since you wouldn't be paying her until she completes the work, and she doesn't have to wait until the days after the wedding to be paid.


Congratulations on your wedding next summer!!

I have honestly never heard of any supplier in this industry taking payment on or after a wedding.
How soon prior to the wedding does she request final payment to be made?

All my payments were due a week or a month before before my wedding. I had wedding insurance to cover vendors who didn’t show up although luckily I didn’t need it. Maybe she would be ok with the final payment the night of and I think that’s fair.

Unfortunately this became common when couples would spend thousands on a wedding then stiff the planer who's job is more behind a scene, and therefore they would say they dint deserve it and would have to drag those couples to court. Was thinking about becoming a planner but this turned me away from it. It is more common then the jokes of not paying the babysitter. So now they want to avoid this and most have all couples to pay beforehand.

Everything I've read from each of my vendors, final payment is due the week before. When you're having a wedding in a foreign country, I know it's even harder to trust that process, but you have to find a way to do so. Maybe you could offer to make the final payment in cash on the day of the wedding, (cash is always a strong word, and maybe even suggest USD - pending the exchange rate). Cash / USD is always a good leverage at least in my experience with European vendors.

In the US it's common for final payments, including the wedding planner, to be due prior to the wedding. The only thing that would be left to pay are tips. I wouldn't be surprised if that's common there as well. If you want to "feel out" some othe local planners to see what their payment timelines are, go for it. Seeing/hearing what's common for the industry and the area may help you be more comfortable with the payment schedule.

Totally normal. Aren’t you paying your other vendors’ final payments before they perform the job on your wedding day? The wedding planner is no different.

Yep! I was a wedding planner and it was sad how couples didn’t view the service as being as necessary as other vendors. When in actuality the planner is probably the most important vendor because they hold the entire night together, coordinate event and all vendors, etc. Some couples don’t see it that way, but I say... when your flowers haven’t arrived yet or venue doesn’t arrange the tables properly or it’s time to gather and line everyone up for the processional or you forgot your cake serving set or any other wedding need, just try asking your photographer or makeup artist or cake baker to handle those issues... they won’t! No, it all falls on the wedding planner. So they should be the main vendor you want to pay.

That’s common practice. In fact no only the planner, but most vendors require final payment the week before or the day of the wedding. If you are concerned about anyone not delivering their services according to their contract, I recommend you get wedding insurance.

Agree with others. Every single one of my vendors' final payments are due the week before at the latest. It is the tip that you can provide after the services are performed.

Most vendors request final payment prior to the wedding, however there are some that allow you to pay day of. My husband and I paid everything for our wedding up front expect for our food. We were allowed to pay the remainder of that the day of our wedding; they actually took some money off b/c they dropped a tray of something that I didn't even know about, lol. I understand what your wedding planner is saying. In reality, they are working throughout your entire wedding process to make sure everything will be set on the day of. I think you're going to find that most wedding planners are going to want final payment prior to the wedding. There may be a few that will allow it the day of, but most will want it before.

I had a full service planner in California and I had to pay the final payment before the wedding. None of my vendors accepted any payments on the day of or after. I think the latest was 2 weeks before the wedding.

I think it's normal but maybe you can work with her on a different payment schedule that fits you better

My wedding planner requires her final payment a month before the wedding. I think that is normal in this industry