Wedding Planner to the Uber Rich (w/ Stef Cove)

Stef Cove, an elite wedding planner who hasn't seen a wedding under a million dollars in years, charges 20% of the total budget as her fee. When Wall Street fathers question why that percentage doesn't just mean she'll pick the most expensive option to inflate her cut, she explains that she works from a fixed budget and has no incentive to blow past it. "If you are going to bring in Elton John," she says, "I'm not going to take a commission on him, but I am going to take a commission on that little piano getting in. Because that's a lot of time and effort."

The real cost breakdown

For a 200-person wedding at a five-star hotel, Cove estimates at least $200,000 on food and beverage before any rentals, $100,000 on florals, $50,000 on lighting and power, $40,000 on sound, $50,000 on a dinner band, $10,000 on string musicians, $50,000 on paper items (save-the-dates, invitations, welcome notes, maps, programs), $35,000 to $100,000 on photography, $25,000 to $50,000 on video, $75,000 on rentals (because nobody wants hotel plates and glassware), $10,000 on welcome gifts, $60,000 on fabrication for stages and bars, and $6,000 to $9,000 on a dance floor. Then add the planner's fee, labor (around $40,000 for a local wedding, more for destination), and gratuities of 10 to 20 thousand. "That's without even thinking about putting a floor on uneven ground in a field, a tent, making the