A Columbus Event Professional Explains the Importance of a Hiring a Wedding Planner

Wedding planning is no walk in the park. Whether you’re having a small, intimate wedding with close friends and family or an elaborate affair with every acquaintance you’ve ever come across, every wedding must undergo specific details and planning to accommodate guests and ensure everyone (the couple included) has a knockout time. 

Denise Rosby, founder of Annie Rose Events, has been planning weddings for 15 years. Her love of wedding planning grew from celebrating and organizing all five of her kids’ birthday parties and other special events over the years, plus numerous friends’ baby showers, graduation parties, weddings and much more.  

You could say planning special events is built into her DNA. As she says, “My mind breaks everything down into a plan every morning when I wake up. I love the planning process.” Like most successful small businesses, Annie Rose Events blossomed from the support of close friends and family members who saw not only the passion behind Denise’s wedding planning spirit, but the undeniable talent alongside it. “It’s the best gift you can give yourself,” Denise says of hiring a wedding planner. “You take all of that anxiety and stress out of your own wedding planning and put it on someone else’s shoulders.” 

When organizing a couple’s wedding day, Denise is careful to ensure the couple’s vision, and most importantly, their budget, is carried out efficiently, as sticking to the wedding financials is “by far” the most stressful part.  

She emphasizes that all vendors are equally important, from the venue to the caterer to floral and design to hair and makeup to transportation to cake and “maybe even an espresso bar.” Her tried-and-true process fits the couple’s budget and personalities to the vendors’ services while going through every aspect of the wedding along the way. 

“You have to, as a planner, hit it all,” she says. “So you don’t have a frustrated couple. I try to keep up with all of the changing trends, but I will always fully support whatever the couple wants. That’s who I’m working for and who I’m working with.” 

In addition to thoughtfully creating a couple’s dream vendor list, Denise says that much of wedding planning is about listening. “I want them to tell me everything,” she says of her couples. “Tell me how you met, what you like, what your non-negotiables are for a wedding, even what you like to do in your free time.” 

While a year is the ideal amount of time for wedding planning, Denise says she works with clients who plan nine months out as well as clients who plan 18 months out. Specializing in both full planning (where a wedding planner starts and finishes with you from day one to the night of the wedding) and day-of planning, Denise says that “no wedding is alike.” No matter what, “the couple remains the center of their own wedding.” 

From executing on the couple’s wants, desires and visions to securing the perfect vendors to managing high-running emotions from family members, Denise reiterates that earning trust is key. “If you’re in the wedding planning industry, you’re really a strong figure in the wedding,” she says. “This day starts the rest of their lives. It’s a team effort among the florist and photographer and planner and everyone else.” 

Denise advises other planners to fulfill duties that aren’t necessarily their own, on top of their expected responsibilities. “If there’s a lull in dancing, bring the flower toss in to bring people back in,” she suggests. “Fill up the bride’s drink if you see that it’s empty. This business is all about helping one another and has been the greatest gift to me—I truly want the best for the couples I work with.” 

This story is from the Spring 2024 issue of Columbus Weddings.