Have you decided what will your wedding be like? Is it going to be simple, middle of the road or over the top? Whatever fills your cup best, there is no question that you want your wedding day to be memorable and wonderful. Planning your wedding without professional help is just like producing and directing your own movie and casting yourself as its lead actor. Well, Mel Gibson pulled it off, but hey, let's face it, Mel Gibson is a seasoned actor who has been in the film business for years! So unless you've been married several times and already knows the ins and outs of wedding ceremonies and receptions, then it is wise for you to hire a wedding planner. This may sound like an oxymoron, but when you're on a tight budget, hiring a wedding planner is even one of the best ideas to cut on costs. When you hire one, you not only save on costs, but also time and costly mistakes that can never be rectified unless you wed again.

So what do wedding planners, do?

No, they don't steal your fiancée as J. Lo did in the movie, "Wedding Planner". Rather, they can be your savior and a hundred different other things.

• Wedding planners will smooth the progress of everything related to your wedding such as the invitations, wedding cakes, the venue, guests and gifts, jewelry, flowers, stationary, articles, accessories, physical arrangements, limo service, photography, food, music etc.,
• They ensure that the wedding theme is reflected in everything, from the bouquets and the entourage's outfits down to the table cloths and napkins.
• Wedding planners are highly skilled negotiators, so they can get you the best service and the best deals at the least price - well, they should, for their reputation depends on their performance.
• They are experts about colors, flowers and music; knowledgeable about churches, customs and traditions; and can keep up with the latest wedding trends, so they can save you from being bogged down with details.
• They do all the legwork, tons of phone calls, paperwork, visits, follow-ups, confirmation, arrangements and take the stress off you.
• There are a hundred things that could not work according to your plan. From previous experiences, wedding planners already have an idea what sorts of problems may come up and they already know how to deal with the issues. When things go wrong at some point as they sometimes will, wedding planners are there to smooth out the troubles so you can continue walking down the aisle.
• If you get lucky to find a good wedding planner, she will afford you perhaps the most expensive commodity of all - peace of mind - and sometimes, this alone is worth the price.

To sum it up, wedding planners are facilitators, mediators, artisans, finance managers, dream weavers, therapists, shock absorbers, negotiators, consultants, confidantes and trouble-shooters rolled into one.

In other words, wedding planners are fairy godmothers who are there to make your perfect, dream wedding become an enchanting reality.