5 Reasons to Hire a Wedding Coordinator
Written by: Jonah Otto & Megan Adams
If you are reading a blog about wedding planning, you’re probably pretty far into thinking about wedding prep yourself. And if that’s the case, it’s highly likely that you feel like your drowning in a sea of wedding-specific terminology and lingo. So much so that it can be difficult to tell the difference between what you need and what you don’t to execute your perfect day.
Nowhere is this more evident than in understanding the differences between a day-of coordinator (an all-around wedding day specialist, such as A&BE) and a venue coordinator (a staff member from your wedding/reception venue that exclusively works on events held at the venue).
While one or both could play a major role in your wedding day, you can generally expect different attention and services from each of them. Broadly speaking, in most cases a day-of coordinator will provide you with much more hands on service and individualized assistance than a venue coordinator has the capacity to do, resulting in a less stressful experience for you and your partner.
Photo Credit: Adams Photography
To help you out in determining exactly what you need for your big day, we have outlined the top 5 differences between a day-of coordinator and a venue coordinator.
Disclaimer: We would like to note that these differences are not universal for all venue coordinators and day-of coordinators – some provide more assistance and services than others. However, in our experience of working with countless couples, these differencesare crutial to your overall day. Almost no venue coordinator provides all of the services that day-of coordinators, like A&BE, can provide for your wedding experience.
Photo Credit: Jenny Mundy Photo
1. At Arbor and Bloom Events we closely plan & coordinate the deliveries of your vendors, while most venue coordinators simply track the delivery times.
We are meticulous in making sure that the delivery schedule of you vendors actually makes sense! For example, if you’ve chosen to decorate your cake display with carefully chosen elements from your
florist, it’s important that the cake is delivered and ready before the florist arrives with your decorations. Without a day-of coordinator like A&BE, you’d be left to cross your fingers that it all works out!
Photo Credit: Hannah Crabb Photography
2. A day-of coordinator controls all of the audio and visual aspects of the wedding ceremony while many venues don’t provide this service at all.
One of the last things that you could want during the most important ceremony of your life is for the wrong song to come on at the wrong time or for the timing of other multimedia cues to be off. Walking down the aisle is not the time for distractions! A&BE ensures that this does not happen by thoroughly planning before and during the rehearsal, then maintaining calm focus during the ceremony itself. With us, each member or your bridal party will know where to be and when to be there. You don’t have to worry!
Photo Credit: Hannah Crabb Photography
3. Most venues are not responsible for any decor set up at the venue. Unless you want to task your family members to help with your big day you will likely need a day-of coordinator to help set up and arrange your vision.
In fact, some day-of coordinators won’t go to this length either. Here, A&BE is truly unique! We will arrive early during set up and will help with tables, linens, napkins, centerpieces, table settings, signage, and any other specialty tables you may need. No matter what planner you use please be sure to ask if they will help with this!
Photo Credit: Hannah Crabb Photography
4. Not all venue coordinators will manage the reception schedule, but this an essential part of what the day-of coordinator brings to the table.
Many couples think that they can simply count on the venue coordinator or the DJ to be on top of this, but the truth is that you can’t make that assumption! Many venue coordinators won’t even be there when the reception starts and the DJ is often more focused on their playlist than your schedule. There are so many elements that need to go off without a hitch – the introduction of the bridal party, releasing tables for food, the special dances, the bouquet toss, your special send off, and so much more! The day-of coordinator sees to it that everything happens according to plan, and that you don’t have to give it a second thought.
Photo Credit: Jenny Mundy Photo
5. When the reception is over, most venue coordinators will be long gone, but a good day-of coordinator will still be there, making sure that everything is picked up and packed away.
Picture it: you’ve spent the most memorable day of your life marrying your special person, eating a delicious dinner, enjoying beautiful desserts, and laughing and dancing with your closest family and friends. Now the reception is over and it’s time for you to run off to your honeymoon or join your night-owl friends in keeping the party going. But wait!!! Who is going to help clean up and make sure that you leave with everything that you brought? If you decided to work with a day-of coordinator like A&BE, you’ve got nothing to worry about! If not? Grab your dustpan and broom. Kidding, but seriously, you or a family member will have to gather everything you provided and return the rentals.
Photo Credit: Adams Photography
While these are the top differences, there are actually many more! All of them result in a day-of coordinator making your life easier, bringing you tremendous value, and allowing you to keep your focus on simply enjoying your wedding.
In short, a day of coordinator works with you before, during, and after your wedding to make sure that every single ‘i’ is dotted and ‘t’ is crossed. You can count on people like those at A&BE to know exactly what is supposed to happen, when it is supposed to happen, who is supposed to do it, and when they are supposed to do it. Most venue coordinators simply can’t offer you that kind of peace of mind.
While it might be easy to get the terminology mixed up, don’t be confused – they are NOT the same thing.