Best-Kept "Big Day" Secrets

6. Your wedding-day vision is not original.

While a planner's job is to help the couple's distinctive personalities shine through at their event, she probably won't let on that she's seen your favorite "unique" ideas a million times. "Brides say they want their wedding to be different—and in the same breath also say they want a 'shabby chic' or 'vintage' wedding with Mason jars, wildflowers and old barn doors as props," says Heather Dwight of Calluna Events in Boulder, CO. "That style is so overdone. It's beautiful and fitting for many venues, but it's not unique. If you want something different, don't mimic every idea you've seen in wedding magazines or on blogs."

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7. I may not be the one who shows up on your wedding day.

Big firms employ multiple planners, and while the majority of them will be upfront about who will be there running your event, it's possible that you could be surprised. "If you fall in love with a certain planner, make sure he or she will be available on your wedding day and that an assistant won't show up instead, unless you agree to that in the contract," says Jenne Hohn of Jenne Hohn Events in Marietta, GA. "The planning industry is competitive, and a planner may not want to turn business away, so she'll find someone to help if she's not free. But brides have the right to know who will be with them when they get married."