How we chose
We started from the event planners Google Maps shows across Telford, matched each one at Companies House, and read its own website for services, areas and terms, alongside the customer reviews on its public listings. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law is in place. Twelve firms met all three, and the ten highest scores make the table. We looked first at what customers say — the star rating itself, since beyond a small handful of reviews volume adds nothing — then proof of competence, then whether the firm has traded two years or more and whether its cover is stated, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated early September 2026.
How to hire
Match the help to the job before you contact anyone. A full planner takes the whole event from venue search to breakdown, a partial planner fills the gaps you name, and on-the-day coordination hands your finished plans to someone else to run. Stylists, furniture firms, DJs, bar teams and balloon artists each sell one piece of the day. Say in your first enquiry which one you need, with your date, venue, guest numbers and anything already booked.
Event planning carries no mandatory register, so there is no licence number to demand the way you would for gas or electrics. Two voluntary markers appear in this round: Academy accreditation for planners, where you should ask for the membership details and confirm them with the Academy, and Magic Circle membership for magician hosts, which you can check on the Circle's own find-a-magician list [4]. Where nothing is stated, our table shows Can't be sourced, and the enquiry has to fill the gap.
Sort the licensed extras early. Selling alcohol or putting on regulated entertainment at a venue without its own licence needs a Temporary Event Notice served on Telford and Wrekin Council at least ten clear working days before the event, for a fee of £21 [1] [2]. Ask your bar supplier or venue in writing who serves it, because a notice served late comes back void and the bar cannot run. For a bigger public event, the council's events toolkit reminds organisers that they carry the legal responsibility for safety, insurance, first aid and risk assessments [3].
Ask about insurance and kit in the same enquiry. Anyone bringing furniture, bars, speakers, lights or LED walls to your venue should give you their public liability details in writing, and DJs with their own rig should show current safety certificates for the equipment. Where a supplier brings staff, ask for the employer's liability certificate too. Firms that publish none of this are not necessarily uncovered, but you should hold the paper before you pay a deposit.
Get two or three itemised written quotes on the same scope, so you compare like with like. Each quote should separate the planning or coordination fee from supplier pass-throughs, and show delivery, setup and collection, travel, staffing hours and whether VAT is included. Treat an outlier far above or below the rest as a question rather than a bargain, and ask what is included or excluded. A deposit to secure the date is normal; full payment long before the event is not. If money goes wrong, Citizens Advice publishes template letters and steps for purchases that go wrong [8].
Close with paperwork that names everything. Your booking confirmation should show the date, venue, arrival and strike times, exactly what is supplied and who runs the day, plus cancellation terms and what happens if an outdoor setup faces bad weather. For weddings, agree the final timeline and one contact number for the morning itself. Keep every quote, invoice, receipt and certificate together where you can find them after the event.
Settle the venue rules before you book anything else. Telford and Wrekin Council hires out its parks and open spaces for events of all sizes, from Telford Town Park and Southwater to Bowring Park in Wellington and Hartshill Park in Oakengates, and every booking runs through the council's application form with the hire charge paid four weeks before the day [3]. Parts of the borough sit in conservation areas, including Wellington and the Severn Gorge around Ironbridge, [11]. For a home party, think about access first: older terraces in Wellington, Dawley and Madeley can mean on-street parking only, Ironbridge lanes are narrow, and newer estates such as Lawley can have management rules on shared space, so agree delivery, setup and collection with each supplier early.
A typical booking runs the same course whatever the job. First contact states the date, venue, guest numbers and what is already booked, and the reply covers availability and a sense of cost. Shortlist two or three on the same written scope, and meet or call the person who would actually run your day. The written quote follows, then a booking confirmation with arrival times, setup, staffing and cancellation terms. A week or two before, lock the final timeline and one contact number for the morning. After the event, check everything arrived and left as agreed before you pay any balance, and keep the paperwork together.
Fix who does what where suppliers overlap. Your planner, venue, bar team and DJ each assume someone else booked the parking, the power and the slots unless the paperwork says otherwise. Name one person in charge of the timeline, confirm load-in and sound-check times with the venue, and check who covers each piece of kit and each service for liability. Where the venue holds its own licences, ask which ones extend to your suppliers and which leave gaps for a Temporary Event Notice [1] [2]. Put every answer in the booking confirmation, not in emails you cannot find later.
Pricing
As of summer 2026, a national guide puts full wedding planning in the UK between £4,000 and £15,000 or more, usually charged at ten to fifteen per cent of the total wedding budget, with a minimum fee commonly starting between £4,000 and £8,000 [5]. Fees sit highest in London and the South East, so Telford bookings usually land below the top of those bands [5].
On-the-day coordination typically ranges from £1,000 to £2,500, with extra staffing costs for large guest lists or complex venues [5]. An evening DJ set runs £350 to £800 for four to five hours, or £600 to £1,200 for full-day cover from ceremony to last dance, with Midlands averages at the lower end of the national picture [6]. A standard professionally installed balloon arch for a party or wedding falls between £150 and £300 [7].
What moves the price is the shape of your day. Summer Saturdays cost most, while Fridays, Sundays and midweek dates come in lower [6]. Guest numbers, staffing hours, dry-hire venues that need everything brought in, travel and setup time across Shropshire, and extras such as uplighting, dance floors and photo booths all add lines to the bill [6]. Size, materials and labour do the same for decor: a simple garland starts far below a large organic arch with premium finishes [7].
Ask whether each figure includes VAT, since guides mix the two, and get the scope in writing before you pay anything: exactly what is supplied, which staff and hours, setup and collection, what changes the price, and the cancellation terms. Firms in this round mostly price bespoke through quotes rather than publishing rates, so treat any single fixed price for a large job with no breakdown as a question, not an answer.
Furnishing and entertaining the room are priced by the item and the hour. A 2026 hire index built from live day rates puts a hundred-guest wedding setup of chairs, tables, place settings and linen near £850 for the day, before delivery and VAT [10]. Photo booths mostly sit between £300 and £600 for the evening, moving with the booth style, hire length, prints and customisation [9]. Chair styles, lounge pieces, dance floors and attendants all shift the figure, so send the guest count with the enquiry and ask for delivery, setup and collection on the same written figure.
Red flags
Quotes full planning without asking your date, venue or guest numbers.
Cannot name the person who will run your event on the day.
Will not put the scope, price and setup times in writing before taking a deposit.
Asks for full payment in cash long before the event, with no written terms.
Brings bars, speakers or lighting but shows no liability cover or kit certificates when asked.
Plans alcohol or late entertainment at an unlicensed venue with no mention of the council notice it needs [1] [2].
Goes quiet after the deposit, with no timeline and no named contact in the final weeks.
Names no one person in charge when several suppliers share the day.
Shows styled photos but cannot say which pieces are its own stock.
Has no wet-weather plan for an outdoor setup when asked what happens in rain.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.