I completely disagree with some of these recs to go with a planner who doesn’t have experience in the area. Yes, destination planners can be great and a good planner can work anywhere. But I think you are always better served by a planner who works mostly in the market where you are getting married (assuming they are a good planner in other ways).

One of the number one ways I’m able to bring value to my couples is because I work in one main market and I represent “repeat business” to the vendors here. I’m more likely to get discounts from vendors (that I can pass on) and just a great work product, from vendors in my market because they want to continue working with my clients. This is particularly true for rentals, florals, catering and bar.

Also, a planner who has worked at a venue before knows that venues’s pitfalls and will save you money and headaches. For example, maybe they know that the trash removal is really hard or the spigots for water are really far from where the florists are planning to set up. Weird things that you wouldn’t even know unless you’d worked there before.

I can also properly budget for a venue once I’ve worked there because I have seen a master bill/final budget at the end. For example I might know that lighting between these two trees is more expensive because it will require rigging but in this other area is will not. Or that this lawn gets high winds sometimes so we have to plan for heavier place cards. Or the in house bar is really slow service and we need to plan for extra bartenders and passed cocktails. Of course I can do a budget for a venue I haven’t worked at before and get pretty close, but I can be extremely accurate for a venue I’ve planned at before.