Wedding Consultant vs. Wedding Planner: What's the Difference?

Wedding-industry titles are not standardized perfectly. Some professionals use “consultant” and “planner” almost interchangeably. So do not hire based on the title alone. Hire based on the scope.

At Southern Flair, a Wedding Consultant helps you make the plan stronger.

LeaAnn can work with you on budget priorities, booking order, venue questions, vendor selection, proposal review, design direction, timelines, problem prevention and choosing the right Wedding Planner or coordinator when you need one. The consulting relationship can be deep and ongoing; it simply does not automatically mean LeaAnn owns the physical wedding-day execution.

A full-service Wedding Planner commonly owns more execution.

A full-service planner usually starts early, manages broad planning responsibilities and often continues through the final logistics and wedding day itself. That may include vendor management, timeline execution, setup oversight and troubleshooting while the couple is getting married.

A coordinator usually joins later.

Month-of and day-of coordinators generally take a plan that already exists, confirm the details and run the final logistics. “Day-of” can be misleading because good coordinators usually begin well before the actual wedding day.

So which do you need?

If you enjoy planning but want an experienced expert guiding the major decisions, consulting can give you a high level of support while you remain involved. If you want someone to own nearly the entire planning process and execute the wedding, full-service planning may be the better fit. Many couples can use both: expert consulting during planning and a strong local professional responsible for execution.

Can LeaAnn do both?

Yes, on a limited basis. Wedding Consulting is Southern Flair's primary service, but LeaAnn may accept select Wedding Planning engagements depending on availability, location, scope and fit.