A DAY OF WEDDING COORDINATOR DOES NOT EXIST!
Lately I’ve received loads of inquires for a day of coordinator. I’m sorry to tell you that person does not exist! Rubbish you say? Not at all! Here’s what I mean – here’s the typical inquiry I receive for this service, “ Hello, I’m looking for someone to coordinate my wedding day and make sure everything runs smoothly.”
Sounds simple enough, right? WRONG! There’s no possible way a person can come on the day of your wedding and execute your wedding vision to perfection. You have been planning your wedding for the last 12 months, maybe more and you honestly think someone can show up the day of your wedding and execute your plans without a bit of pre-work? That’s a recipe for disaster.
Let me educate you on how the process really works. Typically, 60-90 days before your wedding is a great time for a planner to come in and provide wedding management services. Wedding Management is the term we use to describe what you need. You will need a planner to come onboard and do the following things:
· A deep dive conversation has to be had with the couple to understand the vision for the day, the logistics and the timeline of the day
· Get copies of all of your contracts
· Get the contact information for all of the vendors you’ve hired
· Introduce his/herself to your vendor team and clarify their role for your wedding
· Do a site tour of the wedding venue(s) – if ceremony and reception are in different locations, that has to be taken into account
· Get a glimpse of the floor plan and ask probing questions of the venue manager so he/she can understand the logistics of the day. (what time can vendors arrive, where do they load in/load out, floor plan setup, etc.)
· Gather all wedding party information including a solid point of contact for the day. (We don’t want our brides and grooms to be stressed at all so this person is important for day of questions)
· A workable timeline must be created. Typically at this stage in the planning, a timeline should be formulated by now. Most times its not so the person you hire will end up creating a very detailed timeline of the wedding day logistics
I come to find that planning consulting also comes with wedding management because some couples didn’t take into account some key elements of the day. For example, if you’re a DIY bride and you made all of your centerpieces, you believe that your day of coordinator should be able to do this. Asking doesn’t
hurt, but if it’s not included in their wedding management services that will come at an extra cost. Do not be surprised by that.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. All this pre-work comes along with the day of logistics. So it truly is safe to say that the “Day of coordinator” truly doesn’t exist. Wedding Management along with day of coordination is the best way to describe what you need for your wedding. I hope this was helpful!
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions!
Stay Fabulous,
The M.E. Events Team!