Within each category of professionals, there are always a number of subcategories. And the reason is simply because many professionals realise they have a specific strength that fits more accurately into a niche market. Wedding professionals are no different.  Read on if you’ve been asking yourself; what is a Wedding Stylist, what is a Wedding Designer, what is a Wedding Planner and what is the difference between each of them?

Wedding Planning, Design & Styling are often referred to as the one person or the one service. But they are distinctly different roles and a wedding professional can choose to offer just one, or all of them.

What is a Wedding Planner?

A Wedding Planner is responsible for the planning, logistics, administration and execution of the Wedding. I go into much more detail about what a Wedding Planner does in this blog post where I’ve given you my Wedding Planner Job Description.

What is a Wedding Designer (Event Designer)?

Someone who works with a couple on the design of their wedding is most commonly referred to as an Event Designer.  Whilst many Event Designers specialise in the area of weddings, many more offer their services across a range of different styles of events.

An Event Designer or event design team is the person or company that is actively developing or creating the aesthetic design and vision for the wedding. 

Some people become Event Designers simply because they are drawn to being creative.  Others become Event Designers because they are also florists, set designers, or interior designers, and their skill set is highly transferable to event design.

What is a Wedding Stylist?

A Wedding Stylist is the person who styles the wedding, meaning he or she is responsible for creating/implementing the design on the day. If a couple has hired a dedicated Event Design company or person this person (and their team) will do the Styling for the wedding.  

If the couple have hired you as the Planner to manage the design process, styling will be done by the design vendors (floral designer, furniture and decor company and sometimes even the Venue) with you doing the finishing touches such as placing the place-cards, candles and menus on the tables.  Most Wedding Planners will have an assistant to help them with styling on the day too, so they can stay focused on the couple and manage the flow of the wedding day.

Which Wedding Career is Right for you?

The great thing about working at a Wedding is how many different roles there are. We’ve touched on three here but of course there are other professions; Floral Designer, Baker, DJ, Photographer, Celebrant and more. What I do like about Wedding Planning, Wedding Design and Wedding Styling is that it’s possible to be all three for the one couple, or for them to choose the speciality area they need. Or you may decide to specialise in one area. A great way to determine what your strengths are when it comes to Weddings is take our Wedding Planner personality quiz. This might just help you to unlock your hidden wedding planning, styling or design talent. You can take the Quiz here and make sure you hit reply on your results to let me know what your personality type is.