For an important social occasion to go off without a hitch, many of us choose to turn to an event planner for help and guidance. Whether you are looking for someone to help you organize a sweet sixteen bash or a large formal wedding, finding the right person for the job is crucial to your event's success.

There may be a bewildering number of names in your local business directory who are offering event planning services, so how do you make a decision?

Some event planners may specialize in certain kinds of events, so make sure they have plenty of experience in organizing the kind of occasion you have in mind. You may want to call several of the possible candidates and ask them what events they have arrange that were similar to yours, and perhaps even ask if they would be willing to let you speak with one or two of their past clients.

Word of mouth is always a good way to find a good event planner too. Ask family, friends and colleagues if they have used the services of an event planner, and if so, how would they rate that person's services? Would they recommend them for your event?

If you head to the internet for guidance, which most people do in this day and age, try to find a website that offers consumer reviews of local businesses. There are a number of such sites and the reviews and comments are usually written by people who have used a certain businesses services in the past. They are usually not being paid to share their opinions, so the comments may be more fair and objective than those of a site that is being paid to make good comments and say positive things about a certain business.