Wedding Planning Services - CHOICE # 363

Can wedding planners be entrusted with the all-too-important task of organizing your wedding to be the perfect memorable event of your life?

A dream wedding on a helicopter or cruise ship? Or on the island of Santorini, romantic Rome or fabulous Las Vegas? Wedding planners are in the market to cater to your every whim and fancy.

The Consumer Council surveyed the market in a bid to help consumers in their choice of this newly emerging profession - the services they provide, their responsibilities when things go wrong, and the fee structures both locally and abroad.

For those who are on a tight budget, the obvious question they must think carefully is: do you really need to hire a wedding planner? Is it cost-effective? 

Depending on the size, budget and style of wedding - full planning service can commence from the initial scheduling of the event to handling the smallest of details on the very day - the scale of service charges can run from a modest $3,800 to a minimum of $20,000 or 8% of the wedding expenditure.

If you desire to move your wedding to an overseas destination, that too can be arranged with a different scale of service charges ranging from $15,800 to $60,000.

For destinations in the neighbouring region - Guam, Bali, Okinawa, and Phuket - the package is inclusive of airfare and hotel accommodation (usually 2 to 4 nights).

But for more faraway destinations - the Gold Coast and Melbourne, Christchurch, Paris, Santorini, Oahu, Rome, Geneva and Lausanne, and Las Vegas - the package covers only the wedding planning service. Airfare and hotel accommodation will be charged separately.

There may also be other additional charges for overseas wedding. For example, a wedding ceremony held in Gold Coast, Australia, during the weekend and public holidays, requires an extra AUD$600; while in Rome, marrying couples holding Hong Kong SAR passport other than BNO will be charged $5,000 more.

A point of interest to the would-be couples: the same law applies for wedding ceremonies performed locally or abroad; only monogamous marriage is recognized in Hong Kong.

These days, more and more people are now opting to marry under the Civil Celebrants of Marriages Scheme launched in April last year. Already over 8,800 couples were married under the scheme.

The market is quick to respond to this new rising trend, with one-stop package that includes both the provision of civil celebrant service and a wedding venue. Wedding service providers could arrange your own civil celebrant at charges ranging from $3,000 to $4,000.

For extraordinary wedding packages on a helicopter, tram, or cruise ship, which include wedding ceremonies celebrated by civil celebrants plus an intimate dinner for two, cocktail parties or wedding banquets, video/photo shooting service, the package fees and charges start from $17,888 upwards.

A few complaints have been brought to the notice of the Consumer Council in relation to wedding planning service providers. These concerned unreliable arrangements with frequent changes in date and time, the levy of surcharges for peak season, and unsatisfactory make-up and photographic services, etc.

Consumers are advised not to enter into any agreements without a written contract that specifies in detail the services, responsibilities and fee structures. Look for someone who has a background in catering or other wedding-related fields. Ask for referrals from satisfied customers. 

And allow plenty of time for the planning. It's best to contact a wedding planner a year or at least six months before your wedding day, especially if you're planning to marry in the peak season for wedding or on an auspicious day.