Quick answer
Most Indian wedding planners charge a flat fee, a percentage of the wedding budget, a per-function or per-day fee, or a hybrid with a minimum fee. Whichever you choose, start from your floor: the hours a wedding really takes, multiplied by your true cost per hour plus overheads and a margin. Then write a clear scope and a payment schedule so the price holds.
Key takeaways
- Know your floor price before you quote. It comes from hours, costs and margin, not competitors.
- Percentage fees scale with budget but can feel like an incentive to spend; a minimum fee protects you on small weddings.
- Price by function when scope varies a lot between clients.
- A written scope and payment schedule are part of the price, not paperwork.
The common fee models
| Model | How it works | Works well when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat fee | One agreed fee for an agreed scope. | Scope is clear and you know your hours. | Scope creep. The fee doesn't move when the work does. |
| Percentage of budget | A percentage of the total wedding spend. | Budgets vary a lot and scale with effort. | Can look like an incentive to increase spend; define what counts as 'budget'. |
| Per function or per day | A fee for each function or each day you manage. | Clients want you for some functions, not all. | Shared work (guest list, vendors) must be priced somewhere. |
| Hybrid | A base or minimum fee plus a percentage or per-function component. | You want protection on small weddings and upside on large ones. | Harder to explain; keep the formula simple. |
| Day-of coordination | A fixed fee to run the day(s) from someone else's plan. | Couples who have planned themselves. | Handover risk; insist on a handover meeting weeks before. |
Start with your floor price
Before you think about what competitors charge, work out the lowest fee at which a wedding is worth taking. It has three parts.
- Hours. Track the real hours one wedding takes across the whole cycle: calls, site visits, vendor meetings, guest list work, RSVPs, the days themselves and the wrap-up. Most planners underestimate this badly until they measure it once.
- Cost per hour. Your team's salaries, plus rent, travel, software, phone and everything else the business spends in a year, divided by the hours your team actually works on weddings.
- Margin. What the business needs to earn on top of costs to grow, pay you properly and survive a slow season.
Choosing a model
If your weddings are similar in size and scope, a flat fee per package is simple to sell and simple to deliver. If budgets range widely, a hybrid (a minimum fee plus a percentage or a per-function fee) keeps small weddings above your floor and lets large ones pay for their complexity. Whatever you choose, make sure you could explain it comfortably to a client who asks how you are paid.
Write the scope down
A price is only as good as the scope behind it. List the functions you are responsible for, what is included for each (vendor sourcing, guest management, invitations and RSVPs, hospitality, on-ground team size), and what is not included. Agree how extra functions or added guests are charged before they come up, not after.
Payment schedule
Tie payments to milestones rather than to the end. A common structure is a booking advance, one or two instalments at agreed points (for example when vendors are locked and when invitations go out), and the balance before the first function. Put the dates in your payment calendar alongside the vendor payments; see vendor management.
Count your tools as a cost, or a deliverable
Invitations, a wedding website, RSVP tracking and WhatsApp messaging are things couples value and will pay for. You can treat the software behind them as overhead, or name it as a line in your package ("digital invitation, RSVP and guest management for every function"). On Baton, each wedding is a fixed per-wedding price that includes Wedence Signature for the couple, which makes it easy to price into a package.
Signs your pricing is off
- You win almost every proposal: you are probably too cheap.
- You lose most proposals on price in one budget band: that band may not be your market, or your package doesn't fit it.
- You are busy all season and still not profitable: your floor is wrong. Measure hours on your next wedding.
Tracking why you lose enquiries is what makes these signs visible. See the enquiry follow-up system.
Baton brings your enquiries, client weddings, vendors, payments and team together, with per-function RSVP and WhatsApp invites for every couple. Free for 2 months.
Try Baton freeFrequently asked questions
Common models are a flat fee, a percentage of the wedding budget, a per-function or per-day fee, a hybrid of a minimum fee plus a percentage, and a fixed fee for day-of coordination.