Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Percentage-of-budget fee
$6,750
Flat-fee package price
$5,500
Hourly-billed total
$7,650
Effective hourly (% model)
$75.00
Effective hourly (flat-fee model)
$61.11
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How to use this
- 1Enter total wedding budget ($).
- 2Enter percentage-of-budget fee (%).
- 3Enter flat-fee package price ($).
- 4Enter hourly rate ($).
- 5Enter estimated hours (full planning).
- 6Read your percentage-of-budget fee on the right — it updates as you type.
- 7Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Wedding planners typically price one of three ways: a flat fee for a defined service tier, hourly billing, or a percentage of total wedding budget (commonly 10%-20% for full planning). This calculator runs all three models against the same wedding so you can see which one actually compensates you fairly for the hours involved, and flags when a percentage-of-budget fee would pay below your target hourly rate — a common trap on smaller-budget weddings.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Total wedding budget: 45000 $
- Percentage-of-budget fee: 15 %
- Flat-fee package price: 5500 $
- Hourly rate: 85 $
- Estimated hours (full planning): 90
Results
- Percentage-of-budget fee: $6,750
- Flat-fee package price: $5,500
- Hourly-billed total: $7,650
- Effective hourly (% model): $75.00
- Effective hourly (flat-fee model): $61.11
What each field means
Inputs
- Total wedding budget ($)
- The total wedding budget used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 45000 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Percentage-of-budget fee (%)
- The percentage-of-budget fee used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 15 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 5–25 %.
- Flat-fee package price ($)
- The flat-fee package price used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 5500 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Hourly rate ($)
- The hourly rate used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 85 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Estimated hours (full planning)
- The estimated hours (full planning) used in the calculation. Starts at 90 so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Percentage-of-budget fee
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Flat-fee package price
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Hourly-billed total
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Effective hourly (% model)
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Effective hourly (flat-fee model)
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Why does percentage-of-budget pricing sometimes pay less than hourly?
A full-planning wedding takes roughly the same number of coordination hours whether the budget is $30,000 or $70,000 — vendor meetings, timeline building, and day-of logistics don't scale down proportionally with a smaller budget. That's why a flat 15% fee on a modest budget can land well below what the same hours would earn billed hourly.
Which model do most planners actually use?
Tiered flat fees (day-of, partial planning, full planning) dominate the market because clients find them predictable and easy to compare across planners. Percentage-of-budget is more common in the luxury segment where budgets are large enough that the percentage naturally clears a strong hourly rate.
How many hours does full-service planning really take?
Industry estimates run 200-300+ hours across a 12-18 month engagement for true full-service planning including vendor sourcing, contract review, budget tracking, timeline design, and day-of management with an assistant. Day-of/month-of coordination is much lighter, often 20-40 hours.
Should I ever mix models?
Yes — many planners set a flat base fee for their service tier and add a percentage-based fee only on top of vendor payments they directly manage (a design/procurement fee), which better matches effort to income on complex, vendor-heavy weddings without penalizing budget-conscious clients.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
Related tools
Day-of Wedding Coordinator Fee Calculator
Price a month-of/day-of coordination package from prep hours and event-day hours.
Wedding Vendor Profit Margin Calculator
See real profit margin after COGS, labor, and overhead on any vendor booking.
Vendor Deposit & Cancellation Policy Calculator
Model refund amounts and retained revenue under a tiered cancellation policy.
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Wedding Planner Fee Model Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/wedding-planner-fee-model-calculator
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/wedding-planner-fee-model-calculator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wedding Planner Fee Model Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Wedding Planner Fee Model Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/wedding-planner-fee-model-calculator) (2026).