Given that nearlyall of today’s modern brides are employed full time, they don’t have a lot of free time to devote to their wedding plans. That’s why if you’re a busy, working bride, a wedding consultant may be your best investment in your wedding.

By budgeting a couple thousand dollars to pay for her services, you will save time on your plans and you may end up saving money in the long run. Consultants have established relationships with vendors, and can often get you better deals than you could get on your own.

I recently spoke with Joyce Scardina Becker, a certified meeting professional and experienced wedding planner who owns Events of Distinction in San Francisco. Although she has a vested interest in promoting her profession, I thought she had some very valid suggestions for why a wedding consultant may make sense for today’s busybride:

• If you’re planning a long-distance wedding, you need someone nearby who can help you with the details. Unless you can travel to your location every weekend to tie up loose ends, a wedding consultant who knows venues and vendors in the area can do all of your legwork for you. “If you have 150 people on your guest list, I won’t waste your time showing you places that can only handle 100,” says Scardina Becker.

• The consultant will know the right vendor for your needs. Most reputable wedding consultants do not take kickbacks from their vendors, but you should always ask. Instead, they develop relationships with these caterers and florists and other vendors over years of working together, and know the best in the business—or the best for your budget. One kind of vendor that Scardina Becker likes working with is a vendor who does both corporate and social events like she does. “Vendors doing both markets are more experienced,” she says. “The corporate market has a quick turnaround time, and a company that can do a conference in three weeks will do a fabulous job with a wedding[that takes longer to plan].”

• With a consultant you won’t have to deal with impersonal “packages.” The easy way out for many wedding vendors is to create a limited number of packages (whether they’re menus, song play lists, or photography offerings) and not to stray too much from the tried and true. If
you’re looking for unique elements in your wedding that reflect your personality, you likely won’t find that in packages  and consultants know that. A consultant custom designs every wedding to reflect the couple. Also, because “we’re asking [vendors] only for what they want,” says
Scardina Becker, “the couples end up  getting more value for their money,” because they’re not paying for extraneous package elements that they’re notinter ested in using.

Many wedding planners or wedding consultants (the titles are synonymous) also plan corporate events. Those who do both are usually the most experienced in the business. There are two organizations that these kinds of professionals belong to the International

Special Events Society and Meeting Planners International. Both have websites worth checking out. They are www.ises.com and www.mpiweb.org.