So many books are written, thousands of articles are published, endless blogs are overpowering the net, new trends are set every day, thousands of ads of wedding services are listed; Where do we go? How do we select? How do we make a decision which wedding professional would be the best for our special day that we have dreamed of for years? How much time do we need for preparation? The list of questions is endless. It is too overwhelming - isn't it?

You want to have fun planning your wedding, but let's face it, you are busy. Many things are going on at the same time. You have a lot on your mind. You need to get started and select the vendors for your big day. It's difficult to organize all the appointments and to accommodate hectic schedules. The scary thoughts that we all have on the back of our mind are "did I make the right choice", "is this person or company that I just hired reliable enough to do my wedding?" Well, from here on it might start getting aggravating.

Don't worry. There are thousands of great professionals with solid reputation, who are recommended by their prior clientele, friends, venues and other vendors. So don't be afraid, they are out there! The only thing left to do is to find them and after hours of research you probably will. Now let's sit back and think. You just visited three photographers, who all are compatible in their work, and pricing. How do you choose? What criteria should you use to decide who to trust? If all factors should match, then most likely you would choose the person you established a bond with and feel most comfortable with.

Here is where an experienced and knowledgeable wedding/event design company comes in. For countless years they have been working with many professionals from different categories, evaluated their performance, professional attitude, personality and collected references. Their job is to look out and protect their clients from costly mistakes, from series of disappointments and frustration. A good wedding/event designer is much like a Broadway show producer, sometimes even more like a combination of a doctor, a coach, a mentor and what's most important a friend. Planning a wedding is much like crafting a piece of jewelry. You are the jewel of the crown and everything else has to be built around you.

Hiring such a company eliminates your worries of choosing wrong wedding professionals who might not show up for your wedding on time, or send invitations out too late. In case you don't know yet what you are looking for, or have not picked your venue, theme and decor, again they can help. Most companies will provide a FREE initial consultation service, where they will explain you the procedure of wedding planning, give you appropriate vendor referrals, and more.

Some states, like for instance New Jersey, has the Wedding Guild, a guild of wedding professionals who, after decades of working side-by-side with other wedding vendors, have identified those whose standards are worthy of recommending to their own clients. They have observed the expertise and professionalism (or lack thereof) of hundreds of florists, caterers, photographers and videographers, jewelers, makeup artists, musicians and entertainers, officiants, rentals, transportation, and even travel agents.

You probably would ask why is this necessary if all the vendors could be found on the internet. You are right, but unfortunately in nowadays internet era anyone can create a beautiful website in a matter of minutes, write some raving reviews from imaginary couples and pay a few dollars in order to be listed in the top wedding sites.

The task of the Wedding Guild is to assist and protect the newly engaged couples from unqualified people by evaluating their work, determine the level of their expertise, reliability and experience.
Wedding Guilds, Wedding and Event Planners will save you time and money by doing this time consuming legwork for you. Now you are asking yourself, why would anybody do this? What's the catch? Nobody works for free. And you are right! However, all the members of Wedding Guilds, and highly rated wedding professionals refer one another to their clients. This is their highest reward. They all work together much like a good mechanism. They know how to assist each other, how to make the special day go flawless. They believe in "word of mouth" referrals, which only occur when you make your client completely happy.

By Michael Heifez
The Wedding Maker