Twelve to Nine Months
Budget built and agreed. Venue confirmed if it is not already. The major suppliers who book out first, photography, catering and entertainment, are secured. Overall direction for the look is set.
Full Service Planning
Wedding Planning Sydney
Full wedding planning for couples who would rather spend the year enjoying the engagement than managing it. Shabz handles the budget, the vendors and the timeline, and styles the day as well, so the person planning your wedding is the same person shaping how it looks.
Full planning is quoted on the scope of the wedding.
What Full Planning Covers
The whole arc, from first conversation to final pack down.
Most couples come to planning after a few weeks of spreadsheets, when it becomes clear that a wedding is a project with roughly forty moving parts and no project manager. Full planning puts one person across all of it.
- Budget structure
- Before any vendor is contacted, the budget is broken down by category with realistic Sydney numbers against each line. This is the single most useful thing planning does, because it turns an intimidating total into a set of decisions you can actually make. It also surfaces the trade offs early, while there is still time to choose differently.
- Vendor management
- Shabz sources, briefs and manages the suppliers: venue liaison, catering, photography, videography, florals, entertainment, celebrant, cake, transport and hire. You approve the shortlist. Shabz handles the quotes, the contracts, the deposits schedule and the follow up.
- Timeline
- A run sheet built backwards from the ceremony, covering supplier bump in and bump out, hair and makeup call times, photography windows, speeches, and the moments that need to happen before the light goes. Every supplier receives the version relevant to them.
- Styling
- Because Shabz styles as well as plans, the aesthetic decisions are made by someone who knows what the budget can carry and what the venue will physically allow. That removes the most common friction point in weddings, where the planner promises something the stylist then has to renegotiate.
Planning, Coordination or Styling
Three different jobs. Most couples need one or two, not all three.
These get used interchangeably and they should not be. Choosing the wrong one is how couples end up paying for work they did not need, or arriving at the week of the wedding with nobody holding the timeline.
- Full planning
- starts early, usually nine to eighteen months out, and covers budget, vendors and timeline as well as the look. Right for couples who are time poor, planning from interstate or overseas, or running a wedding complex enough that it needs a manager.
- On the day coordination
- starts four to six weeks out. You have done the planning. Shabz takes the handover, confirms every supplier, builds the run sheet and runs the day itself so you are not fielding calls in your wedding dress.
- Wedding styling
- is the look: the ceremony, the reception, the tables, the installations, the florals coordinated through a trusted network. No budget management, no vendor contracts, no run sheet beyond the styling install.
If you are not sure which you need, say so in your enquiry and describe where you are up to. It is a two minute conversation to work out.
How the Year Runs
A rough shape. Every wedding moves at its own pace.
Nine to Four Months
Remaining suppliers appointed. Styling developed in detail against the venue: ceremony, reception, tables, installations. Florals briefed to the right florist for the style. Contracts and deposit schedule tracked.
Four to One Month
Guest numbers land and the floor plan is finalised. Run sheet built and circulated. Every supplier reconfirmed in writing. Hire coordinated and delivery windows locked with the venue.
The Final Weeks
Final headcount, seating, dietaries and payments closed off. Bump in scheduled with venue operations. Shabz runs the day itself, so the questions come to him instead of to you.
Common Questions
Nine to eighteen months before the date is the useful window, because that is when the decisions that shape the budget are still open. Later than that is still workable, it just narrows the supplier availability. If your date is closer, on the day coordination is often the better fit.
Yes. Shabz is Sydney based and travels to the Hunter Valley, Newcastle and the Central Coast regularly. Regional weddings need more lead time on suppliers and accommodation, so book earlier if your venue is outside the city.
Yes, though most couples take both, because the value of one person holding the budget and the look together is the main reason to hire a planner at all. If you already have a stylist you love, Shabz will work alongside them.
Let's Create Something Beautiful
Tell Shabz about your event and a considered response follows within 24 to 48 hours.
Prefer to talk it through?
02 9191 7381