Planner Package Price Check
How to use it
Wedding planners underprice because they quote the wedding day, not the 60 to 200 hours around it. This calculator prices packages from real hours. Pick a preset: Month-of (40 planning + 12 day + 8 extras hours at $2,000), Partial ($4,000), or Full service ($8,000), all editable starting points. Enter your minimum hourly bar ($100 default) and yearly take-home goal. Planning hours cover meetings, emails, timelines, and vendor calls; wedding-day hours run setup to send-off; unpaid extras cover travel, overtime, and extra meetings. Out-of-pocket costs for an assistant, travel, and supplies come off the top before your rate is measured. Results show the big effective hourly number versus your bar, a recommended price (hours times bar plus costs, rounded up to the nearest $100), and PRICED RIGHT, CLOSE BUT LEAKING, or UNDERPRICED verdicts with the exact raise needed. The year planner converts your goal into weddings needed. The retainer card turns your retainer percent into dollars and splits the rest into monthly installments. The gut box shows what your instinct quote pays per hour and the dollars left on the table. No signup; runs on your phone.
Worked example
Example only, not typical pricing. Month-of preset: $2,000 package, 40 planning + 12 day + 8 extras = 60.0 real hours, $300 out-of-pocket costs. Net revenue is 2,000 - 300 = $1,700. Effective rate is 1,700 / 60 = $28.33 per hour against the $100 bar, so the verdict is UNDERPRICED: the package needs $4,300 more to clear the bar. Recommended price is 60 x 100 + 300 = $6,300. A $60,000 yearly goal needs 60,000 / 1,700 = 35.3, rounded up to 36 weddings. The 50% retainer is $1,000, leaving $1,000 / 6 months = $166.67 x 6 mo installments. A $2,500 gut quote pays (2,500 - 300) / 60 = $36.67 per hour, leaving $6,300 - $2,500 = $3,800 on the table.
FAQs
**Q** What is month-of vs partial vs full service?
Month-of is day execution plus the final timeline, partial adds vendor help and design guidance, full service is end-to-end from venue search. The presets scale the hours and price together.
**Q** How much retainer should I take?
Enter your percent and the tool converts it to dollars and schedules the rest. 50% at booking with monthly installments is a common starting point.
**Q** Should I charge travel separately?
Either fold it into out-of-pocket costs or count it in unpaid extras. The key is that it is counted somewhere, not given away.
**Q** What about overtime on the wedding day?
Put it in unpaid extras or add an overtime rate to your contract. Twelve-hour days that stretch to fifteen need a line item.
**Q** Why does the planner say 36 weddings for a $60,000 goal?
Because each package nets $1,700 after costs. 60,000 / 1,700 = 35.3, and you cannot book a third of a wedding, so it rounds up to 36.