Top Wedding Planner Interview Questions: What to Ask and Why It Matters
Planning your wedding is one of the most exciting and personal seasons of your life—but who you choose to partner with (and not just your future spouse!) is a critical decision. Finding a wedding planner who aligns with your vision and priorities can make all the difference in creating a seamless, stress-free experience. But how do you determine which wedding planner is the perfect fit? Asking the right questions is key.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the most important wedding planner interview questions and explain why each is essential to your planning process. Whether you’re considering a full-service luxury wedding planner for your Arizona or destination wedding, these questions will help ensure your big day is everything you’ve dreamed of and more.
1. What sets your full-service luxury wedding planning and design apart from other West Coast wedding planning and design companies?
Think of this as getting to know what makes them special. Each wedding planner brings their own unique approach, so it’s important to weigh your options and see who aligns best with your needs. A good planner shouldn’t just say they’re “better” than others—they should know what truly sets them apart, whether it’s their design style, experience, industry connections, or the way they handle details. By understanding their strengths and how they’re different from competitors, you’ll feel more confident in choosing the right match for your dream wedding.
2. We haven’t selected an Arizona or destination venue yet. Do we need a venue before booking your services?
This is a great way to start the conversation about logistics. Choosing the right venue is one of the most important decisions for your wedding, and a planner’s professional insights can make this process so much smoother.
If you’re planning a destination wedding, make sure they’re willing to travel and are either highly experienced in destination weddings or the specific locations you’re considering. Their familiarity with venues, local vendors, and logistics in those areas can be a huge advantage. Plus, you’ll want to clarify any travel-related fees upfront to avoid surprises later.
3. How many wedding couples do you serve each year?
When planning a luxury wedding, it’s essential to ensure your planner has the time and focus to dedicate to your special day. This question helps you understand if you’ll have their full attention rather than being one of several events competing for their energy during the planning process and the month of your wedding.
You’re not just looking for competence—you want their best ideas, creativity, and passion directed toward your vision. Knowing they’re not stretched thin will give you confidence that they can deliver exceptional results. For luxury planners, the average number of weddings they manage annually tends to be fewer, ensuring they can provide personalized attention and fully dedicate their skills and talent to each event. This can be a key factor in ensuring your wedding is truly one-of-a-kind.
4. How do you ensure you are appropriately staffed to handle every detail on our wedding day?
Picture the intricacies that could be part of your wedding day—you’ll want a team that can handle all the moving parts, from setup and styling to managing the timeline and striking everything down at the end. This question will help you understand if they have enough dedicated and experienced team members to make your vision and attention to detail come to life.
You might also choose to ask if they offer additional wedding planner services or have specific people to fulfill certain duties, like a bridal concierge. A bridal concierge typically offers personalized assistance to the bride, handling everything from wardrobe changes and touch-ups to managing last-minute needs and ensuring you’re stress-free on your big day.
Knowing their approach to staffing will give you confidence that they have the expertise to create a seamless, stress-free wedding day.
5. Are we required to book only from the list of vendors you recommend, or can we find & choose our own?
If you’ve already fallen in love with a particular photographer, florist, or other vendor, it’s important to know if the planner is willing to work with them. This question gives you the chance to discuss any must-have vendors or unique ideas you’re considering.
A good planner will be flexible and open to including your chosen vendors (after properly vetting them on your behalf). They should be willing to collaborate with your team to ensure everything integrates smoothly into your big day. (And if they caution you away from working with a particular vendor, they should provide a very clear explanation for their advice.)
6. I’m looking for a full-service wedding planner. What do your “full-service” packages include?
Every planner has a slightly different definition of “full service” that’s specific to their process and expertise. It’s important to ask what a planner’s services include and clarify anything that would be a separate expense to ensure you’re getting the services you desire.
Some “services” you might ask about specifically are travel for venue tours & site visits, any rentals & decor the planner has on hand, managing hotel & transportation accommodations, and attending attire-selection appointments for you and your wedding party.
7. Can you walk us through your wedding planning process?
Understanding the planner’s process is critical, especially when you’re planning a highly detailed wedding. A good planner will have a clear, structured plan that includes everything from timelines to vendor management and then ventures into more concierge services like RSVP management and payment reminders. This process is essentially the main thing you’re hiring them for—so it should feel impressive, dialed in, and well beyond what you’d be capable of executing yourself.
You’ll also want to get a good feel for their communication style and how it complements your own desire for information and being kept in the loop, ensuring you feel supported and confident that they’re thinking of all the little details so you don’t have to. Their organizational, logistical, and communication skills are some of the most important details when interviewing a prospective wedding planner—style and design matter, of course, but making sure you hire someone you trust and whose skills are complementary to your vision is key.
8. Do you communicate directly with vendors, or will I need to handle those conversations?
Planning a wedding can involve a lot of back-and-forth communication—you don’t want to be bogged down with vendor calls and emails for every decision that gets made. A full-service planner-designer should be doing all the research, summaries, design, estimates, negotiation, contract review, and payment reminders. This not only lightens your load but also ensures that nothing falls through the cracks. It allows you to focus on enjoying your engagement and the special moments leading up to your big day.
9. What’s your approach to managing guest logistics, like RSVPs, accommodations, and transportation?
Your guests’ experience matters, and a full-service wedding planner-designer keeps that in mind through the entire process of planning & designing your celebration. Offering guest services within their full-service package means that your planner can take care of guest logistics, from managing RSVPs to organizing accommodations and transportation. You might also ask about their process for handling last-minute changes, ensuring your guests have a smooth and enjoyable experience from start to finish.
Follow-up questions might include:
How do you handle RSVP follow-ups for those who haven’t responded by the deadline?
What are some of the ways you can take guest experience to the next level when people are traveling for the wedding—how do you handle hotel room blocks, welcome bags, multi-event transportation, etc.?
10. How (and how often) will we communicate during this process, and what’s your preferred method of communication?
You want a planner who’s easy to reach and who keeps you in the loop throughout the planning process. Ask how they typically communicate and find out if they align with what works best for you—whether it’s regular emails, texting, phone calls, or even video chats. The right planner should be flexible and adapt to your preferred communication style, ensuring you stay comfortable and informed every step of the way.
Within reason, a full-service planner-designer should not have limits on communication with their couples except within the confines of respecting business hours and personal boundaries.
11. What is the average wedding investment for the couples you serve?
Budget conversations can be tricky, especially when you’re planning a highly-detailed, multi-event, and multi-day wedding. But, this question helps to understand whether your vision aligns with the planner’s experience. You might be tempted to ask, “what’s a realistic budget for my vision?” but that can be extremely difficult to answer from a preliminary conversation.
Instead of focusing solely on a total budget, consider asking about the cost per guest at some of the most recent events reflected in their portfolio. This can give you a clearer picture of how to plan realistically without feeling overwhelmed by all-in budgets.
12. What support can you offer for out-of-town or destination weddings?
If you’re dreaming of a destination wedding, you’ll want a planner who can handle all the logistics, like travel arrangements, room blocks, and even cultural tips for the location. A planner with destination experience can make your celebration even more memorable by taking care of all the details. They should be able to ensure that everything runs smoothly, allowing you and your guests to enjoy the experience without any hassle.
Ask if they offer any of the following:
Research (Vetting, Summary, Estimates, Negotiation, and Booking Process)
Personalized destination scouting trips (summarizing and reporting back with documentation)
Local vendor selection & vendor coordination with traveling vendors
Managing and setting expectations of services available at the destination
Both in-person and virtual meetings with venue and vendor partners
Room block accommodations, travel guidelines, & managing timeline and load-in/out logistics
Local culture guidelines and immersive experiences
Ideas on guest experience enhancements
Welcome gift coordination and drop-off
13. Do you plan social events other than weddings? Would you assist in planning the rehearsal dinner, welcome party, or bridal shower?
If you’re hosting multiple events around your wedding, it’s worth asking if your planner can manage those, too. When the same planner takes the reins on these pre-wedding events, it creates cohesion throughout the celebration and allows you to focus on enjoying the moments with your loved ones. Having one point of contact for everything makes the entire wedding planning process less stressful and more enjoyable.
In addition, you might be curious if your wedding planner is well-versed in events like bridal showers, engagement parties, baby showers, and more. Many couples find that once they’ve worked with a planner on their wedding, they don’t want to work with anyone else on other special occasions.
Final Thoughts - How to choose your wedding planner based on these questions
Hiring a wedding planner, the right one more specifically, is likely the most important decision you will make during your wedding planning experience—this decision impacts virtually every element of your celebration.
By asking these specific wedding planning questions, you can identify a planner whose expertise, style, and approach align with your vision, and the insights you gain will help reveal which of the planners you interview can guide you toward a seamless planning process and an unforgettable wedding day.
As you ask these questions, keep tabs on your instinctive reactions. Whose answers put you at ease? Who impressed you? Whose answers provided a greater understanding of the wedding industry that you didn’t already have?
Things like cost and itemized services should, of course, be factored into your decision, but don’t settle based on a few dollars or line items. Overall, it’s whether or not you feel you can trust your planner (and their team) to bring your vision to life and protect you from becoming overwhelmed with extra responsibilities in this exciting time.
If you’re interested in working with Mandy Marie Events to plan your wedding, we suggest reaching out to our team 9-18 months in advance of your desired wedding date. Of course, we can work on tighter timelines, but when possible, we like to make sure we can reserve your date at least a year ahead. Click here to inquire about our services. →