What Does a Wedding Planner Charge?
Australian wedding planners charge a fixed fee - hourly, day-of or full-service - never a percentage of your budget, per Easy Weddings.
A wedding planner does not charge one standard fee in Australia. The charge comes in one of three fixed shapes - an hourly rate, a flat day-of fee, or a full-service package - and Easy Weddings prices them at $75 to $100 an hour, $1,500 to $2,000 for day-of coordination, and $5,000 to $6,000 for full-service planning.1 Confuse the shape you are being quoted and you will compare it against the wrong number, or book overlapping coverage and pay for the same hours twice.
The three fixed-fee shapes Easy Weddings publishes for Australian wedding planners.
The three ways a wedding planner charges
| Charge shape | What you are paying for | Typical price (AU) |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate | Advice on one detail - finding a supplier, checking a timeline | $75-$100 per hour |
| Flat fee, day-of | Running the wedding day itself and keeping everyone on schedule | $1,500-$2,000 |
| Flat fee, full-service | Supplier selection, budgeting, styling and logistics from the start | $5,000-$6,000 |
All three are fixed prices, not estimates that move with your total spend. No partial-planning or month-of tier is published in Australia, so if a planner quotes you one, ask what falls inside full-service and what does not, and get the boundary written down before you sign anything.1
Why there is no percentage-of-budget option in Australia
Every published Australian wedding planner price is a fixed fee. None of the three shapes is set as a share of your total budget.1 That is a genuine difference from the percentage-of-budget convention couples sometimes read about online, which describes pricing in other markets rather than anything published here. If you are quoted a percentage of your wedding budget, you are being quoted against a model that does not appear in any Australian planner pricing we could find.
Australian wedding planner pricing is a fixed fee agreed upfront, not a share of your total budget.
See what you are actually paying someone to run The run sheet generator builds the minute-by-minute document a day-of coordinator works from, and every free tool starts from the same ceremony time.
Which shape fits your wedding
Take a Saturday wedding with one venue, ninety guests and a single reception straight after the ceremony. Easy Weddings' day-of band of $1,500 to $2,000 covers a coordinator who arrives with your run sheet already built and keeps the room on schedule.1 Now add a second venue for the ceremony, a wedding party of twelve, and eight suppliers who all need the same timings confirmed. The job shifts from running a day someone else planned to building it from the start, and that shift is what moves a quote into the $5,000 to $6,000 full-service band.1 An hourly rate covers neither case. It is for one specific question - which caterer to book, how to sequence the speeches - not for someone holding the clock on the day itself.
Which charge shape typically fits which wedding, from the scope Easy Weddings publishes for each tier.
What to ask before you sign
Ask three things before you agree to a fee: which of the three shapes you are being quoted, exactly what sits inside and outside that scope, and what happens if your wedding changes shape after you have booked - a second venue added, a guest count that doubles. Australian couples typically book a planner third, straight after the venue and the caterer and ahead of the celebrant and the photographer.2 That means the shape you agree to this early has to survive decisions about the rest of the day that you have not made yet. Get the scope in writing, and compare three quotes against each other rather than against a number you read in an article.
If a quote does not name one of the three shapes, ask which one it maps to. A fee that is described only as "planning support" with no hourly, day-of or full-service label attached is not comparable to anything published, and you cannot tell whether you are overpaying for a day-of job dressed up as full-service.
Common questions
Do Australian wedding planners charge a percentage of the wedding budget? No. Every published Australian price is a fixed fee - hourly, day-of, or full-service.1 A percentage-of-budget quote is not matched by anything published here.
Can I negotiate the fee? Nothing published says either way. Ask what is included at the quoted price before you try to move the number - a lower fee on the same three shapes usually means less is covered, not a discount on the same job.
What if I only need help with one thing, like finding a venue? That is the hourly shape - $75 to $100 an hour for advice on a specific detail.1 It is the cheapest way to buy a planner's judgement without buying their time on the day itself.
Is a day-of coordinator the same as a full-service planner? No. A day-of coordinator charges to run a day you have already planned. A full-service planner charges to build the day from the start, including supplier selection and budgeting.1 For the full cost breakdown against the rest of the wedding budget, see how much a wedding planner costs in Australia.
Does the charge include the celebrant, catering or other suppliers? No. All three shapes charge for the planner's own time, not for the suppliers they book on your behalf. Supplier costs are separate line items whichever shape you choose.
The one thing to do today
Decide which of the three shapes you actually need: one answered question, a day you do not have to run yourself, or a wedding built from scratch by someone else.1 Ask for that shape by name in your next supplier conversation, and get it in writing before you pay a deposit. If you are coordinating the day yourself instead, PlannedBy's free tools start from the same run sheet a paid day-of coordinator would work from. For the full day-of price picture across three countries, see day-of wedding planner cost.