It’s time for Tall Tale Tuesdays! This week’s Tall Tale Tuesday: Hiring a Wedding Coordinator is too expensive.
Who ever said weddings are not expensive clearly never had to pay for one. Make no mistake there are certainly plenty of things you can do to lower the cost of the big day, but the coordinator is not one of them. I can not tell you how many brides have told me that they have decided not to have a wedding coordinator because of budget.
What they fail to realize what they save in money, they spend in headache…
…And then money.
I understand that the sticker shock of a Wedding Coordinators bottom line can be overwhelming, but really look at the services the wedding coordinator provides:
Overview of your dream wedding initial consultation
Compile a complete wedding day flip book for quick reference
Detailed Timeline
Guidance with setting goals & deadlines
Vendor meetings scheduled and attended
Reviews all contracts with vendors
Assist and guide wedding invitation coordination
Compiles all important contact information
Handles any insurance, fire permits needed for vendors and reviews venue rules and
guidelines to ensure all vendors follow proper procedures
Determine load-in schedule with all vendors
Floor plan & Event flow chart
Rehearsal dinner coordination, manage ceremony cue and procession
Works with photographers to ensure photo list is followed
Seating chart or escort cards design and implementation
Assistance with wedding favors, menu cards & seating charts
Cues procession for ceremony
Coordinates flow of event with catering manager & DJ
Organizes gifts & arranges for them to be properly handed off to the right contact
Follows up with any lost of left behind items of guests & helps with anything that needs to
be done to button everything up while the bride and groom enjoy honeymoon
Perhaps more important then all of the services that your wedding coordinator provides, is the the contacts she has and the knowledge of weddings. A wedding planner will help you avoid costly mistakes, they get industry rates that they pass along to you, and they will help put together a realistic budget right from the start.
Most wedding coordinators have been doing this for a while and have an intimate knowledge of what NOT to do that your favorite Auntie or Maid of Honor will know nothing about. (And thus can not protect you from those VERY expensive mistakes.) While it is very sweet of that family member or loved one to offer to help, they will be more focused on being a guest, drinking champagne, and crying at your ceremony to worry about the 10,000 details that go into a smooth flow of the timeline.
A wedding coordinator will also keep your new Mother-in-Law at bay. Everyone and their uncle have an idea of how your wedding should be and while it’s super sweet of everyone trying to help, they can get carried away in the process and a wedding coordinator offers a great unbiassed onion (and un-official therapist if it comes down to it.)
If even after all of that it really looks like a full on wedding coordinator is going to be outside of the budget, then I would STRONGLY recommend at least having a day of coordinator. Unlike a full wedding coordinator/planner, the day 0f coordinator will start working with you a week or two before the wedding day and mostly make sure that all the details that you worked so hard to put together actually happen. The last thing you want to be doing is chasing down the photographer and the catering manager in your white dress.
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