Listen to the interview as you read the transcript.

 

[Begin Wedding Planning]

 

[Music]

 

Interviewer:   Welcome. You’re about to learn the inside details and little known secrets of wedding planning.

 

         We’re here today with Catherine Porterfield, who is a wedding planner out of the Washington, DC area. Catherine, thank you so much for joining us.

 

Catherine Porterfield:  Oh thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

 

Interviewer:  Great; now you know a lot of people think that wedding planning is such a--a comprehensive process and it--and it can be. You know there’s a lot of details that you need to pay attention to; so let’s start with the basics. What is it exactly that you do?

 

Catherine Porterfield:  As a wedding planner and it--it varies from planner to planner depending on if they’re full-service or not--you basically can do anything from you know there’s wedding planners who just work the day of an event and just make sure that everything runs smoothly--that the bride has already kind of coordinated and--and done herself, or then there’s wedding planners who are there from the very beginning, sometimes even before the engagement, when--you know couples know that they’re going to get married and that they basically--you know so you’re there from the very beginning to work with the families on the budget, determine those things, and you--you do everything. You help with the flowers, you help with the invitations, the wording on the invitations; you basically take every--take care of everything as well as helping pick a caterer, the dresses both for the bride and the bridesmaids, flowers, music and going to all these appointments with the bride to check and make sure that you know she gets everything--and the family gets everything that they--that they want.

 

         Some wedding planners also help with the bridal showers, the bachelor(ette) parties, the bachelor parties; they also help with the rehearsal dinner as far as handling all the logistics of that, as well--sometimes now there are you know toast wedding brunches and stay afterwards; so anything that is associated with the wedding some wedding planners take on all of that work.