Wedding planners in Los Angeles

No planner listed in Los Angeles publishes a starting fee, which is normal at the top of this market and is itself worth knowing before you start calling. Nationally, month-of coordination sits around $800 to $2,500, partial planning $2,000 to $6,000 and full-service $3,500 to $15,000 or more. Ask for a flat number on the first call rather than a range.

Twelve to eighteen months out for full-service planning in Los Angeles, and earlier if your date falls on a peak Saturday. Month-of coordination books far later, commonly three to six months out, and several planners here take work inside 90 days. The top-ranked listing on this page is currently booking 12–18 months out. The constraint is rarely the planner's diary on its own; it is that the good ones are booked around venue availability, so the venue usually has to come first.

They do different jobs, and the venue coordinator works for the venue. Their responsibility is that the building delivers what the building sold you: the room is set, the staff show up, the bar runs. A planner works for you and manages every vendor you hired, including the ones the venue has never met. The question that settles it is simple: who confirms my florist, band and photographer two weeks out, and is that written into the venue contract? It usually is not.

Full-service planning starts at the beginning and covers sourcing, design, budget and the day itself, typically over twelve to eighteen months. Month-of coordination starts four to six weeks out, takes a wedding you have already planned, confirms every vendor and runs the day. 4 of the 10 planners in Los Angeles sell month-of coordination. True day-of coordination does not really exist: nobody can absorb a year of decisions in eight hours, and what is sold under that name is almost always month-of.

Nationally the mean sits around $33,000 – $35,000 with a median of $20,000 – $25,000, and the median is the more useful number because a handful of very large weddings drag the mean upward. Los Angeles sits above the national figure. Private estate weddings look like the cheap option and are usually the expensive one.

None of the Los Angeles planners listed here publish a starting fee. That is common in markets where most work is full-service and quoted against your budget. Ask for the flat-fee equivalent on the first call, and ask what the minimum engagement is.

Yes. Los Angeles planners work the whole metro, which here includes Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Barbara and Pasadena. This site is organised by metro rather than by town for that reason: nobody picks a wedding planner by driving distance, and a page for every satellite town would list the same businesses over and over. If your venue sits outside the metro entirely, ask specifically about vendor travel charges, because that is where a nearby-looking venue quietly gets expensive.

Four things, in this order: what is the flat fee, when does your involvement actually start, how many weddings do you take in a year, and who will be on site on the day. The last one matters most and is asked least, because at several firms the person selling is not the person running your wedding.

It is common at the top of the market and worth converting before you agree to it. At 12% to 15% of total spend, a $60,000 wedding carries a $7,200 to $9,000 planning fee for work that has not necessarily changed from a $40,000 wedding, and it ties the planner's income to every upsell they recommend. Plenty of excellent planners bill this way. Just ask for the flat-fee equivalent and compare the two yourself.

Off-peak and off-Saturday, and the saving is larger than most couples expect. Moving a wedding from a peak Saturday to a Friday or a Sunday, or out of the busy season entirely, cuts venue fees first and vendor rates second. A planner who has worked the market a long time, like International Event Company since 2007, will know which venues discount quietly and which never do.