Periodically, Marnie Fidler gets calls from would-be wedding planners wanting
to know more about the business because it sounds like fun.
It can be fun, Fidler says. But she also warns that professional party
planning is physically demanding and stressful.
“Because that’s what my job is, to absorb the stress,” she says. “You’re
dealing with emotions and details, and there’s only one chance to get it right.”
Martin Short’s character in “Father of the Bride” notwithstanding, the
uninitiated probably would view party planning through rose-tinted lenses,
cloudy with visions of glamour, romance and that ultimate celebration party, the
big wedding.
That’s exactly the kind of party or wedding Aaron Warr likes to pull
together.
“I’m not there for someone who wants a wedding on a budget,” he says. “I’m
there for someone who seriously wants what I call a production, something that’s
over the top.”
One of Warr’s recent jobs entailed 700 guests, 2,500 pink and purple roses
and an English garden-themed wedding.
For another, he draped a civic center exhibit hall in acres of chiffon to
create a fairy-tale fantasyland for a wedding reception attended by more than
1,000 people.
Fidler, 31, owns Extra Effort, a wedding consulting and event coordinating
service in Peoria, Ill. Warr, 34, is the event coordinator behind Affairs You
Remember.
As event planners go, the two are as different as the names of their
businesses.
Warr specializes in grand productions, be they weddings or corporate
Christmas parties. He’s expensive on purpose.
“It’s $5,000 minimum, just to get me started,” he says. “When people book me
for an event, I become part of the family. It’s more than just my work.”
Fidler, on the other hand, will do as little — or as much — as her client
wants. Her minimum charge is $100. She tries to get across the notion that
wedding/party planners can be an affordable — even necessary — luxury.
Though Fidler specializes in weddings, she’s also planned or helped plan
retirement parties, anniversary parties, milestone birthdays and a baby shower.
Not surprisingly, Fidler’s own wedding was the beginning of her career as a
wedding/party planner.
Nothing catastrophic happened, she says, but she wished she had had someone
else to do all the small tasks.
Warr and Fidler have plenty of wedding planner war stories. For Fidler,
there’s the time the caterer served the wrong food. “I’ve been blamed for things
that were completely out of my control, and that’s hard.”
Warr experienced his worst disaster at that English garden wedding. The
church custodian wouldn’t turn on the air conditioning for the church ceremony.
“At one point, it was cooler to go outside than it was inside,” he says, “and
this was one of those near-100 degree days.” At times like that, it’s difficult
for the hardiest wedding planner to absorb the stress.
“But I can’t think of a greater feeling than bringing people together,” Warr
says.
