Today, I want to talk about full-service design vs. design lite (and share a little advice on which one I think YOU should offer as a wedding planner). While both have their benefits, the “right” choice is going to look a little different to everyone. And that’s a good thing!
And before you say, “But wait – I can’t call myself a designer,” let me just tell you that whether you’re a seasoned wedding planner or just starting out, there’s a good chance you are helping design the wedding anyway. Deciding to offer it as a service just ensures you actually get PAID for it. So let’s get into it, shall we?
What is Full Service Design?
What is Full Service Design?
Full-service wedding design is all about turning a concept into reality, from the initial idea to the final touches. It ensures that every detail aligns with the chosen theme or style, blending both looks and practicality. This means taking care of everything, from the way the tent drapes to how the napkins are folded. When something can’t be made in-house, designers bring in trusted partners like graphic designers, florists, rental companies, and event production assistants to make sure everything comes together perfectly.
What’s Included in Full-Service Design
A full-service wedding design package usually covers everything from picking a theme and colors to designing the layout, flowers, and tables. It also includes things like invitations, signage, rentals, lighting, and food choices to create a beautifully cohesive event.
Plus, for full-service design, you’ll often need to create a digital mood board, a physical mood board, detailed design dossier, tablescape mock-up, and illustrations, drawings, and sketches that will help “sell” your couples on your vision for the day.
Why I Loved Offering Full-Service Design as a Wedding Planner
Personally, I loved offering full-service design for my wedding clients for several reasons. First, comprehensive services justified the premium pricing I wanted to charge, ultimately leading to higher revenue (and providing great value to my clients). Second, having greater control over the wedding day outcome meant I could ensure the event aligned perfectly with the client’s vision from start to finish. As a wedding planner, I loved that level of control. Lastly, the personalized touch of full-service design often exceeded client expectations, resulting in happy clients, glowing reviews, and more referrals.
If you know, full-service wedding design is something you want to offer, but don’t exactly know how I break down everything you need to know (in detail) in my Ultimate Guide to Wedding Design.
What is Design Lite (For Wedding Planners)?
What is Design Lite?
If a full-scale design service isn’t a good fit for you or your clients, I always encourage wedding planners to offer a design-lite option. With design-lite, you still get to influence the creative direction, but it’s not a full-on service. This is great for weddings with smaller budgets and clients who can’t go for the full-scale design. In a design-lite package, you might offer things like a digital inspiration board and a simple design plan vs something like full-service where you will be creating more tangible design plans (that your premium clients will expect).
Design Lite is a perfect way for clients to have a beautifully designed wedding without breaking the bank. Whether you call yourself a designer or not, chances are you are going to help your clients like this along the way. You might as well be paid for it!
It’s also great for wedding planners who want to dip their toes into design. Maybe you’re just not ready yet to offer the full wedding design service, or perhaps you believe you need just a little more experience. Design Lite can be the right way forward, giving you some experience to take your services to the next level.
Key Components of Design Lite
- Digital Inspiration Board
- Simple Design Dossier
- Simple Design Direction
You’ll still need to recommend vendors and manage rentals, but since your clients have smaller design budgets, there will be less need to source unique decor. There will also be fewer design vendors to coordinate with.
Benefits of Offering Design Lite
Beyond the fact that you deserve to be paid for work you’re likely doing anyway, I see design-lite as a great service to add for several reasons. First, it attracts budget-conscious clients who are not of the DIY variety. Since it involves fewer moving parts, it’s also less time-intensive compared to full-service design, meaning it takes less time and resources (which can be especially great if you are building your wedding business as a side hustle). And it’s perfect for a wedding planner who is just starting out with design and wants more experience.
Comparing Full-Service Design and Design Lite
Cost and Pricing Structure
Because Full Service Design is all-encompassing, it comes with a higher cost. Clients need to be ready for a bigger investment, and as a wedding planner, you should consider using a percentage-based fee structure. Compared to Full Service, Design Lite is more affordable and is typically priced at a flat rate.
Client Expectations and Experience
Full-service design clients tend to expect a personalized experience, with you overseeing every aspect of the design. They usually prefer meeting in person and seeing physical samples instead of looking exclusively at mood boards and mockups online. Design Lite clients are generally fine with a less involved process and fewer customizations as long as you set clear expectations upfront.
Overall, full-service design demands more of your time and resources, while Design Lite is easier to manage, though it may not be as profitable.
Deciding to Offer Full-Service Design vs. Design Lite
Deciding whether to offer Full Service Design or Design Lite as a wedding planner really depends on your business and your clients—there’s no wrong choice here! Full Service Design is awesome if you can attract clients ready to shell out for a top-notch, all-inclusive planning experience. It lets you dive into every detail and make sure everything aligns perfectly with your client’s vision. But it’s a big commitment. You’ll need a talented team and strong vendor connections, and it can be pretty resource-heavy.
On the other hand, Design Lite is perfect for clients on a budget who still want a professional touch. It’s less time-intensive, so you can handle more clients at once and still make great money without needing to put on the white glove treatment every time. Plus, it can be a gateway for clients to experience your skills and maybe upgrade to full services later on.
In the end, it’s all about knowing your market and playing to your strengths. If you have a lot of clients willing to pay for a premium, personalized service, Full Service Design can be super rewarding both creatively and financially. But if your market is more budget-conscious or you want to scale up by serving more clients, Design Lite might be the way to go. There’s no bad option—just find what works best for you and your clients.
Offering Wedding Design as a Wedding Planner
As a wedding planner, offering design services is a no-brainer. It gives your clients a more cohesive and personalized experience, making sure their big day looks and feels just like they imagined. Plus, it boosts your portfolio with gorgeous, well-executed events. However, you need to know what you’re doing to make it all work. That’s where my Ultimate Guide to Wedding Design comes in. It’s packed with tips and insights to help you nail every detail. Grab it here and start creating beautiful, unforgettable weddings that will wow your clients and take your business to the next level!
Want more? Check out this video on my YouTube channel ↓
Explore More Wedding Industry Resources
- How Much Does It Cost to Become a Wedding Planner?
- How To Design A Styled Shoot As A Wedding Planner
- What You Need More Than Another Wedding Planner Course
- Is Month-of Wedding Coordinator A Niche? The Truth About This Wedding Planning Service
- How To Get Wedding Clients When You’re Just Starting Out
- Day of Coordination: The Pros and Cons as a Wedding Planner
- How to Start a Wedding Planning Business
- How Much Should You Charge As A Wedding Planner? Learn How To Figure Out Your Wedding Planner Pricing
- The #1 Reason Why You’re Not Booking The Right Wedding Clients (And How To Fix It)
- 5 Online Wedding Planning Tools You Need to Use
- How To Become A Wedding Planner With No Experience
- What Does A Wedding Coordinator Do? Here’s Everything They’re Responsible For
- Here’s What Every Wedding Planner Needs To Include In Their Wedding Design Proposals
- Bringing Color Into Luxury Wedding Branding: The Biggest Reason Why You’re Not Standing Out In The Luxury Market With Emily Foster
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I’ve come to realize that many of us want to have a village, but we don’t recognize that we have to be a villager first.
My friend carla @c10ike is one of those rare exceptions and I want to introduce you to her!
When I started my planning business, I had no contacts and no real idea what I was doing. I was so green it makes me laugh to look back on it now!
And somehow, I got lucky enough to be taken under the wing of this incredible woman who showed up for me then when I was a little baby business owner, and has kept showing up ever since in more ways than I could possibly count.
She’s taught me so much over the years, and I don’t mean in the traditional sense of teaching someone something. She simply lived her life, and I paid attention.
She modeled what it means to be a friend.
A sister.
A daughter.
A wife.
A mother.
A business owner.
A boss.
I learned generosity by watching her be generous.
Compassion, connection, leadership… none of it came from advice. All of it came from the way she carries herself and the way she treats the people around her.
She has taught me more than she will ever know by the sheer act of living loudly and joyfully in every corner of her life.
I am so lucky to call her my friend. So lucky to be one of the many, many people she has been a villager for.
Carla thank you for letting me grow up right beside you. I love you. 🤍
DAY ONE // WPI Spring Retreat 💜
This was our first real day together! The theme of this whole retreat was refinement, so we wasted no time getting into it on Day 1!
The women shuttled up to my home, walked through the gate to mimosas and the biggest hugs, and got their welcome totes filled with goodies I curated from female owned businesses that were mostly local!
Then we settled in, did some tapping to manifest all the answers we needed for the week, courtesy of our very own @ashley.peraino (who couldn’t join us this year, but was SO THOUGHTFUL to record a video for us!)
I opened with a talk on complexity, discernment, and self-trust (today’s podcast episode, BTW) simplifying your business and actually trusting yourself to lead what’s left.
From there the room took over. We had three incredible member gives: @c10ike on trusting your creative instincts, @ininkweddings on refining your creative POV, and @welldressedevents on generating real revenue through Google Ads (it’s giving… LEADS 😉).
In between we had small group discussions, hot conversations about where instinct and POV are out of sync, a homemade Caribbean lunch, and an afternoon of poolside snacks and conversation.
This is what the WPI room looks like. A talented group of women who came with one big business question and spent day one getting closer to the answer while having fun and getting their brains stretched!
All these gorgeous moments captured by our retreat photographer + my business bestie @c10ike 💜💜💜
Do it or delete it.
I said this recently to a coaching client, and now it’s sort of become our mantra inside WPI, because almost every business owner I know has a to-do list with 47 things on it (the same 47 things that were on last week’s list, and the week before that).
They don’t get done. They just travel from week to week collecting guilt, and that guilt somehow makes it even harder to get anything done at all.
After years of coaching women through this, you start to realize that most of those tasks don’t actually have dire consequences if they never happen. They just feel important because they’ve been living on your list rent-free for six months.
I want you to look at your to-do list right now and choose.
You do it… meaning you do it right now or at the very least put it on the calendar with a real deadline.
You delegate it… but only if it’s actually worth someone else’s time, not because you’ve been avoiding it and want to make it someone else’s problem.
Or you delete it… and I mean actually delete it, not shuffle it to a “someday” list where it will haunt you until 2027.
The guilt you feel about your undone tasks won’t go away if you magically “get more productive.” Instead I want you to see it for what it is: a list-curation problem.
What’s one thing you’re deleting today?
PS: I can confidently say these @aritzia sweatpants are 10/10
Syd from @ininkweddings spent $$$$ on a rebrand... and a year later, her gut told her to do it again.
She listened, and that’s how Messy Luxury™ was born.
The Behind the Brand series is BACK on the podcast, and this episode is one of my favorites yet. I’m excited to introduce you to Sydney Meyer (AKA ya girl, SYD) – a talented, vibrant, and dynamic wedding designer / planner based in Austin but serving clients worldwide.
I’ve been coaching Syd inside WPI since 2022, so I’ve had a front row seat to her evolution.
I’ve gotten to watch her build an iconic brand from the inside out, and it’s been one of the great joys of my coaching career. I’m so excited for you to hear her journey and some of the interesting twists and turns she’s encountered because boy, are they RELATABLE.
In this episode, we get into:
- What inspired her to start In Ink
- Why her first rebrand still didn’t feel right and how she knew
- The rock-bottom moment that forced her to build a business for HER, not everyone else
- How she trademarked Messy Luxury and turned it into the most recognizable design philosophy in Austin
If your business doesn’t feel like you anymore or if you’ve been searching for your unique creative POV, you’re going to LOVE this week’s episode!
Drop MESSY LUXURY in the comments and I’ll send you a link to listen!
A special shout out to all the photographers whose images reflect Syd and her great work: @alicialeighphoto @anastasiastratephotography @fallonstovallphoto @lightasgold @natalienicolephoto @haleyfolkman.photo @c10ike
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