Paying full amount upfront to wedding planner??

If they require full payment up front, what is the last payment a month before, for?

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Yes, last payment of $4000 one month before, first payment of $1500 upon signing of the contract and second payment of $5000 due 2,5 month before our wedding day.

We didn’t hire a wedding planner, but this makes sense to me. For any other vendor, they require payment before providing their services. A wedding planner should be the same way. What happens if they only ask you for a deposit, they plan your entire wedding, then you back out a month in advance? They can’t unplan your event.

It’s pretty standard to owe vendors their money before the wedding. Why would they do a bunch of work for you without the guarantee of getting paid for their services? The contract you sign should protect you just as much as it protects them. Look it over to review what happens in the event of cancellation.

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This is similar to our package. Ours was like this:

25% Upfront

50% Due at 90 Days

25% Due at 30 Days

A lot of the vendors (i.e. photographers, flowers, etc.) required everything to be paid off 30 days prior to wedding, with various deposits ranging from about 30% to 50%. I would say this was normal, at least for my area.

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Ah ok. I read that as full payment up front as in 1 payment, not multiple payments. We didn't need a planner but that is standard for most vendors.

That’s how my wedding coordinator (and many of my other vendors) structure their pay schedules. Otherwise they’re providing a service *hoping* you don’t skip out on your last payment after the wedding.

We had to pay our wedding planner 50% of her total fee up front. Another 25% was due 3 months before and then the last 25% due a month before.