Wedding Planner Client Questionnaire: The Intake Questions That Predict Who Books

A wedding planner client questionnaire is the short intake form a couple completes before the first call. Six of its answers predict booking: budget, guest count, date, service level, decision-makers and referral source. Score each 0 to 2. A couple scoring 9 or more out of 12 gets a same-day call; 4 or less gets a polite referral.

• Purpose: decide the next step for each enquiry before anyone spends an hour on a consultation.
• Length: ten questions, two of them open text. Budget and guest count as ranges, with a “not sure yet” option.
• The Fee-Fit Score: six scored answers, 0 to 2 each, total out of 12. Two knock-outs override the score: the date is taken, or the location is outside your area.
• The budget floor: your minimum fee ÷ your fee share. A $15,000 minimum at 10 to 15% of budget means couples spending $100,000 to $150,000 or more.
• The routing: 9–12 same-day call, 5–8 consultation offer within 48 hours, 0–4 polite referral.

What is a wedding planner client questionnaire?

A wedding planner client questionnaire is a pre-consultation form whose only job is to decide what happens next with an enquiry. It is not the planning questionnaire a contracted couple fills in about style, vendors and family dynamics. That comes after the contract and can run to dozens of questions. It is not a contract or a quote either.

The boundary matters because the two get merged. A couple asked about colour palettes before anyone has discussed the fee is doing unpaid work for a planner who may not be able to take them. An intake questionnaire should be short enough to finish in five minutes and decisive enough to route the enquiry without a call.

Which wedding planner questions should you ask clients on the intake form?

Ask the ten questions below, in this order. The table shows the answer format and why each answer matters for booking. Six feed the Fee-Fit Score. Copy the question column straight into your form tool.

Guest count is there because it is a published proxy for spend. In The Knot’s 2025 Real Weddings Study, as reported by Fox Business, 2024 weddings with fewer than 50 guests averaged $15,000 and those with more than 100 averaged $42,000. Guest count tells a planner more about budget than a budget question most couples have not answered yet.

The Fee-Fit Score: how to score a wedding enquiry out of 12

The Fee-Fit Score turns six intake answers into one number that decides the next step. Each answer scores 0, 1 or 2. The weights are a starting judgement, not a measured result. No public study links intake answers to booking for wedding planners, so calibrate them on your own enquiries using the method further down.

Two knock-outs come before the score: the date is already contracted, or the location is outside the area you work in. Either one sends the enquiry straight to a polite referral, whatever it scores. A knock-out answer is the cheapest disqualification a planner can make, because it costs no one a call. A luxury travel business would score different answers; our luxury travel enquiry score weighs past nightly spend instead.

Which couples get a same-day call, and which get a polite referral?

Couples scoring 9 to 12 on the Fee-Fit Score get a call the same day, because a couple who fits on every count is usually talking to other planners that week. The budget floor that drives the budget row is a single division:

Budget floor = your minimum planning fee ÷ the fee share you would charge. French Wedding Style’s 2026 guide gives percentage pricing as 10 to 15% of total wedding spend, based on planner pricing across its network rather than a survey. On a $15,000 minimum fee, that gives $15,000 ÷ 0.15 = $100,000 and $15,000 ÷ 0.10 = $150,000. Couples below $100,000 cannot pay your minimum without your fee taking more than 15% of their wedding.

Sending the fee starting point to the middle band is deliberate. It lets couples below the floor rule themselves out before the consultation, not after it. A polite referral costs a planner nothing and is often repaid as a referral back.

What should a wedding planner ask on the consultation call, not the form?

A planner should save the questions that need tone and follow-up for the consultation, because typed answers to them are short and guarded. Five that belong on the call:

1. “What have you already booked, and what was hardest to decide?” This shows how decisions get made.
2. “Who else are you speaking to?” This tells you what you are being compared against.
3. “At the end of the night, what would make you say it was perfect?” Your proposal is written from this answer.
4. “How do you two decide on spending that goes over plan?” This tests the decision-maker answer on the form.
5. “If we are the right fit, when would you want to confirm?” This sets the proposal deadline.

The form decides who gets a consultation; the consultation decides what the proposal says.

How do you know the questionnaire predicts who books?

You know the questionnaire predicts booking when couples in the top score band contract at a clearly higher rate than the middle band. Score your last 12 months of enquiries after the fact, then compare. An illustrative example, with invented numbers to show the arithmetic: 120 enquiries, of which 30 score 9–12 and 9 contract (30%). Another 50 score 5–8 and 4 contract (8%). The remaining 40 score 0–4 and 1 contracts (2.5%).

• If the top band converts at less than twice the middle band, the weights are not separating couples. Find the answer the contracted couples share and give it more weight.
• If many contracts come from 0–4, a knock-out or the budget floor is wrong.
• Re-score every quarter. Fees, seasons and referral partners change.

The same test applies to any service business that qualifies leads before a call; our lead qualification framework sets it out in general form. A scoring rubric that has never been checked against contracts is only an opinion with a form attached.

When does an intake questionnaire cost a planner couples?

An intake questionnaire costs a planner couples when it is long, when it asks for an exact budget, or when nobody acts on it quickly. Three conditions change the advice above:

• Referred couples. A couple sent by a venue or past client should get a call first and the form afterwards, or a shorter form. Scoring them is a formality.
• Overseas couples. Question 1’s country and question 10’s call times are what make a same-day call possible across time zones.
• Volume. Below about 10 enquiries a month, a planner can read and score every form personally. Above about 25, the same-day call for the top band is what slips. That first call can be handed to a coordinator or to AI calling and SMS that book the consultation, with the consultation itself kept by the planner.

Our guides to lead quality versus volume and high-ticket lead generation cover the wider trade-off. An intake form that scores perfectly but is answered two days later has lost the best-scoring couples first.

Frequently asked questions

What questions should a wedding planner ask clients?

On the intake form: date, location, guest count, events, budget range, service level, decision-makers, referral source, and when to call. Save questions about past decisions, other planners and what a perfect day means for the consultation call.

Should a wedding planner ask for the budget on the intake form?

Yes, as ranges with a “not sure yet” option, and always alongside guest count. The Knot 2025 Real Weddings Study, as reported by Fox Business, gives 2024 averages of $15,000 for weddings under 50 guests and $42,000 for those over 100.

How long should a wedding planner client intake form be?

About ten questions, finished in five minutes. Anything about style, vendors or family belongs in the planning questionnaire after the contract.

Is there a wedding planner questionnaire for clients as a PDF?

You can copy the ten questions above into any form tool. An online form beats a PDF because it can score the answers and alert you to a same-day call, which a returned PDF cannot.

How should a wedding planner turn down a couple?

Quickly and with a named alternative: a coordinator, a planner at a different price point, or the venue’s in-house team. Thank them, say plainly that you are not the right fit for the date or scope, and offer the introduction.