In this guide9 sections
A wedding planner turns the idea of your wedding into a plan with dates, vendors and a budget, and then makes sure that plan actually happens on the day. Not every couple needs one, and no two planners work quite the same way. Here’s what a planner does, the ways you can hire one, how they charge, what to ask and what to check in the contract before you sign, with a focus on Peru.
What a wedding planner does
The job is managing decisions and people. Depending on what you hire them for, a planner can take care of:
- Budget: splitting it across venue, catering, photography, music and decor, and flagging anything that starts to run over.
- Vendors: suggesting options, getting quotes, negotiating and reviewing contracts.
- Timeline: what gets decided each month, in the right order. You can see that order in our month-by-month wedding timeline.
- Guests: managing the list, the RSVPs and the seating chart.
- The day-of schedule: when each vendor arrives, when the toasts, the first dance and the hora loca (the high-energy “crazy hour” Peruvian receptions are known for) happen, and who handles each surprise.
- Coordination on the day: being there with their team so the two of you don’t have to answer a single phone call.
One thing worth knowing: many venues have their own coordinator, but that person looks after what happens inside the venue and works for the venue. A wedding planner works for you and sees the whole wedding.
Three ways to hire one
Most planners offer some version of these three services. The names vary; what matters is when they come on board and what’s included.
| Service | When they start | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Full planning | From the very beginning, before you pick a venue | Couples short on time, living elsewhere or wanting to hand off almost everything |
| Partial planning | Midway, with some vendors already booked | Couples who got started on their own and need help with the rest |
| Day-of coordination | A few weeks before the wedding | Couples who planned everything and want to enjoy the day |
Full planning
The planner is part of every decision: budget, venue, vendors, style, guests and the day itself. It’s the most work for them and the most peace of mind for you.
Partial planning
You already have, say, the venue and the caterer, and the planner handles the rest plus the day-of coordination. Pin down exactly which parts they’re taking on, because this is where most misunderstandings happen.
Day-of coordination
Despite the name, a good day-of coordinator starts well before the wedding: reviewing contracts, talking to each vendor and building the schedule. If someone offers to just show up on the day without seeing any of that, they aren’t coordinating. They’re improvising.
How wedding planners charge
There’s no standard rate. These are the most common pricing models, and one planner may mix them.
Flat fee
A set price for an agreed scope. It’s the easiest model to compare, as long as you know exactly what’s included: how many meetings, how many venue visits, how many hours on the day and how many people from their team will be there.
Percentage of the budget
The fee is a share of the total cost of the wedding. If a planner quotes this way, make sure the contract says which costs the percentage applies to and what happens if the budget changes.
Packages
Bundled services (for example, day-of coordination plus decor design), with extras billed separately. Read the list of extras carefully before comparing packages from different planners.
What Lima wedding directories publish
Two Peruvian wedding vendor directories publish price ranges for Lima, in soles (S/). Neither explains where the figures come from, and they don’t agree, so treat them as a reference point rather than a quote.
| Service | Bodas Planner | Nupcia |
|---|---|---|
| Day-of coordination | About S/ 600 | S/ 1,200 to S/ 2,000 |
| Partial planning | About S/ 1,500 | Not listed |
| Full planning | About S/ 8,000 | S/ 4,000 to S/ 8,000 |
Sources: Wedding Planner en Lima: ¿cuánto cobra y qué hace? (Bodas Planner, updated August 21, 2026) and Wedding Planners en Lima: guía para elegir y precios 2026 (Nupcia, April 16, 2026), both in Spanish, accessed September 17, 2026. Nupcia adds that full planning for destination or premium weddings starts at US$ 1,500.
What you’ll actually pay depends on your guest count, the location, the planner’s experience and the size of their team. Get at least two or three quotes with the same level of detail so you can compare them fairly.
When it makes sense to hire one
A planner is usually worth it when:
- You’re short on time, or you both work long hours.
- You’re getting married in another city and can’t visit vendors often. That includes couples living abroad who are planning a wedding back home in Peru.
- The wedding is big or has several parts: a civil ceremony, a church ceremony, a reception and vendors who have never worked together.
- There are events around it that also need coordinating: the bachelorette party, the engagement party or the lunch the day after.
- You want performers at the reception, such as an hora loca, which has to be lined up with the DJ, the photographer and the venue.
- You want someone else to negotiate and to act as a buffer when the family has lots of opinions.
If your wedding is small and your venue includes nearly everything, the venue coordinator plus some solid planning of your own may be enough. For full planning, hire the planner before you book a venue, since that’s the decision everything else hangs on.
Questions to ask before you hire
Bring these to your first meeting:
- What exactly is included, and what costs extra?
- How many weddings do you take on for the same date or week?
- Who will be there on the day: you or someone from your team? How many people, and for how many hours?
- Do you get commissions from the vendors you recommend? That’s fine if they say so upfront; it’s a problem if they hide it.
- Can I talk to couples you’ve worked with recently?
- How will we communicate, and how often will you send a progress update?
- What happens if you have an emergency on the day?
- Will you issue a proper receipt for your services?
Red flags
- There’s no contract, or they say they’ll send it “later.”
- They want the full fee upfront, with no payment schedule tied to progress.
- Their portfolio has no real weddings, or they can’t tell you who took the photos.
- They push specific vendors without offering alternatives or explaining why.
- They take days to reply before you’ve even hired them. It rarely gets better.
- They promise anything is possible on any budget.
What the contract should cover
A good contract heads off arguments when there’s no time left to have them. Check that it includes:
- What’s included and what isn’t, in as much detail as the quote.
- The date, the venue and the hours they’ll work on the wedding day.
- The price, the payment schedule and accepted payment methods.
- What happens if the date changes or either side cancels, and how much is refunded.
- Who replaces them if they can’t make it.
- How vendor contracts are handled: whether you sign them or the planner does.
Read it carefully before signing and, if the amount is large or anything is unclear, have a lawyer look it over.
Questions before you sign
Is the planner’s fee part of the wedding budget?
It’s a separate cost, on top of what the venue, the caterer and the rest of the vendors charge. Put it in from the start rather than at the end, because a fee that shows up late eats into something else. Ask as well whether they take commissions from the vendors they recommend: there’s nothing wrong with that as long as they tell you and you can compare options they didn’t propose.
Will hiring a wedding planner save me money?
There’s no way to guarantee it. An experienced planner negotiates better, keeps you from paying twice for the same thing and flags overruns early, but their fee comes out of the same pot. Decide based on the time and the risk it takes off your hands, not on a promised saving. If someone tells you they pay for themselves, ask to see the numbers behind that.
Can you hire one for only part of the wedding?
Yes, and it’s the most common arrangement once a couple has made headway on their own. You can hire day-of coordination, partial planning of whatever is left, or single pieces such as decor design or building the day-of schedule. What matters is that the contract names exactly what’s in and what’s out: partial jobs are where “I thought you were handling that” lives.
What if I want to change planners midway?
Read the contract before you have the conversation: it should say how the agreement ends, how much of what you’ve paid comes back and how much notice is required. Then ask for everything already decided in writing—signed vendor contracts, deposits paid, vendor contacts and the schedule—and confirm with each vendor who their new point of contact is. Without that, the next planner starts blind and you pay twice for the same work.
Your planner and your registry on parati
On parati you and your planner work from the same wedding page:
- You assign them from your wedding editor. If they already have an account, look them up by name or by their referral code. If they don’t, send them an invite link on WhatsApp; once they sign up, they’re assigned to your wedding. The link expires after 30 days and works only once.
- Your planner sees what they need in their dashboard: the wedding date, a link to the invitation, how much has been raised toward your gifts, progress toward the goal and the guest list.
- Invitation and registry on one link. You share it on WhatsApp, and guests RSVP and give gifts from their phone without creating an account, paying by card or Yape (Peru’s popular mobile wallet). You can split a gift into parts or set up El Sueño (The Dream), one big gift with a goal and a minimum contribution. Still deciding what to ask for? Here are some wedding registry ideas.
Creating your celebration is free. And if you’re the one planning weddings, sign up at app.paratipe.com/register and choose Organizo eventos de otros (“I organize other people’s events”; the sign-up page is in Spanish). If you’re just getting started, read how to become a wedding planner and our guide to digital tools for event planners.
