What's the Difference Between Designer and a Planner?

The Evolution of a “Wedding Planner”

10 years ago, the title “wedding planner” meant one thing: you plan weddings. As with anything, over time, the role of the traditional “wedding planner” has been split apart, expanded upon, and artisianized. In today’s industry, we have multiple professions living under this titular umbrella. I’m talking about the specialized jobs that are generally lumped into a catchall “wedding planning” bucket that deserve to be broken down into what they really are: designing, styling, planning and coordinating. 

While each of these roles have their own nuances and responsibilities, I want to focus on the two main career choices that often get mistaken for one or the other: the designer and the planner. Yes… these are two very different things. Some planners also design and some designers also plan (like our team!), but it’s important to equip yourself with the knowledge on both of these roles so that you can better understand what you're looking for when you’re planning a wedding, while giving you invaluable insight into what your team is doing in the days, weeks, and months leading up to your wedding day. This will help you better understand your vendor’s process, and, hopefully, it will shed some light on how much work actually goes into planning and designing a wedding. 

Here’s a quick breakdown between the roles of a planner and designer:

A planner is your backend mastermind. They work closely with other vendors to assemble a day-of timeline while handling all the logistics of your wedding day. Planning and coordinating go hand-in-hand, as a planner will work closely with a coordinator to handle day-of implementation of the plan. 

A designer creates the look of your wedding day. Every detail from the color palette to the texture of materials to, from the dimension of a ceremony design to the feel of your tablescape is intentionally curated by your designer. Designing and styling serve as counterparts, too, as a designer will rely on a stylist to physically bring the design to life on the  day of your wedding. 

Demystifying the Hours of Planners and Designers

While these roles serve different functions for your wedding day, both designers and planners invest so many unseen hours before the actual wedding day. On average, a team will spend about 250 hours on planning and coordinating and another 200 hours on design and styling. That's 450 hours ON AVERAGE for ONE DAY. This doesn't even include a rehearsal day or a farewell brunch. Does that seem crazy? Well that's why it's a full time job and that's why you might feel overwhelmed when you start to try and plan your own wedding on top of your full time job. 

Remember when you look to hire a wedding planner that you might just be getting a planner and that planner might need to outsource your design and styling needs. Or you might find a planner that does all of it (again, like us!) but when you hire a full, full service planner and designer - keep in mind that you are hiring one team to work four jobs, putting in an average of 450 hours for your day. It's no joke. 

Hiring a Full Service Team Makes all the Difference

While these two professions are often mistaken for one another, we hope this breakdown helps you see that the role of a planner and a designer are completely separate jobs. There are a lot of planners out there who will outsource your design and vice versa. But there are full service companies that offer planning and designing with a full suite of styling and coordinating. That’s right, it’s four jobs in one. And that’s exactly what we do here at Mae&Co — with us you’re getting all of these jobs in one, not just a planner or a designer. 

At Mae&Co we have strategically and thoughtfully built out a full team of planners, designers, coordinators, and stylists who work together in tandem to make magic for our couples. We believe your relationship and those sacred moments with each other should be the most important part of your wedding day and you shouldn't have to worry about another damn thing. And by hiring Mae&Co to design and plan your wedding, we’ll assemble a dream team of our in-house specialists to make sure everything comes together seamlessly. 

And by hiring a full service team with all of these roles in one company, you can be sure every element of your wedding day will be orchestrated thoughtfully with open communication across roles. We have a team of experts who understand the nuanced roles of a planner and designer, and they will work together to create a foolproof plan for your wedding day while making sure there isn’t a single detail out of place. Trust us, this is a game-changer for the rest of your vendors and it’s going to be one of the best decisions you could make for your wedding day. 

Want to find the perfect planning and design package for your wedding? Click below to get at us!