Every woman's dream is to meet the perfect partner and have a perfect wedding. With an average wedding costing approximately ?20,000, planning a wedding now requires the professional expertise of a wedding planner. Brides and grooms are far too busy earning the money to be able to actually organize such a mega event. Hence the need for a professional wedding planner.

However, not any old event planner will do. No bride or groom is going to hand over the planning of the most important day of their life to just anybody.

Weddings are an emotional event that must be dealt with sensitively.

In addition to all the arrangements, meetings, schedules and finances to handle, there are also ruffled feathers to smooth.

The wedding planner is thus more than just a hired hand; they liaise between the bride and groom's families. They must balance the flaring temper of the bride's father with the unreasonable demands of the groom's mother as well as the sensitive emotions of the bride's mother.

If that wasn't confusing enough, the wedding planner is often called upon to act as judge and jury on debates raging within the family itself, and has to guide them on the proper wedding etiquette.

Weddings are no longer the simple affairs they were in the past. They have become lavish events geared to celebrate the couple's union.

Brides enjoy nothing more than the chance to plan and enjoy their fairytale wedding and spend the day being Cinderella.

Grooms who traditionally took a back seat when it came to wedding planning have now started seeing it as an opportunity to be the gracious host.

Is it any wonder then that weddings have taken on a larger than life dimension and require considerable time, effort and money to organize?

Any couple that approaches a wedding planner are looking to take away a lot of their worries away from them: a wedding planner can assist in the following ways:

- to prepare a Wedding Plan (schedule)

- step by step wedding planner list of all the tasks involved in planning a wedding

- picking the perfect wedding invitation cards

- Prepare a wedding budget

- provide advice for planning the wedding ceremony

- Selecting the wedding date

- Choosing where the wedding will take place

- Finding a wedding officiant

- Selecting wedding ceremony music

- obtaining the marriage licence

- The wedding ceremony rehearsal

- Planning the wedding reception

- Choosing the time of day

- Choosing a Theme and place

- working with the venue staff to create a fabulous

- Wedding reception activities (receiving line, speeches, first dance, bouquet toss, cake cutting, etc)

- arranging the details on the tables from name seating cards to favours and right down to cutlery placement.

On any first meeting, it is vital that the wedding planner comes across as being professional, in control and level-headed. Why not first present your business cards to them, containing all contact details, they just might keep it and hire your services.

In our busy society, an increasing number of couples need to hire a wedding planner to plan their special day.

According to the Association of Bridal Consultants, the percentage of couples using wedding planners has doubled in the past three years, from seven percent to 15 percent.

With more than 2.5 million weddings taking place in the US alone in 2006, there are more opportunities to become a wedding planner than ever before.

Whenever a couple marries someone is needed to oversee all the details to ensure the wedding is a success.