Imagine this scenario:
You are considering booking your wedding at a specific venue and their package includes a venue coordinator.
“Great!” You think. “That’s one less vendor to book!” You proceed by booking your dream venue and begin communication with the venue coordinator.
Except…she’s not as helpful as you hoped she’d be. She answers your venue-related questions and sends a preferred vendors list. But you were really hoping for a wedding planning checklist. “Check out Zola,” she says. “They have a great checklist!”
And…they do have a great checklist—and so does The Knot by the way. But you were really hoping for someone to walk you through it.
You begin booking your vendors and you have all these questions.
Is this pricing industry standard?
How many hours should my videographer cover?
When should I schedule toasts for?
Your venue coordinator sends you a template timeline, a diagram for your floorplan, and briefly answers your questions, but she sounds busy, and you don’t feel supported.
Then you begin to wonder, “Is this what a coordinator is supposed to do? Are my expectations unreasonable? If my venue coordinator isn’t giving me a lot of attention leading up to the wedding, what will the DAY be like?!”
“OMG,” you realize, “is she going to set out my guest book? The table numbers I got on Etsy? Will she remember to tell my caterer that my mom needs a gluten-free plate brought to her at table 2? Will she fluff my train before I walk down the aisle?”
The answer is no, and it’s not because your venue coordinator doesn’t care about you or is lazy. It’s because your venue coordinator and a wedding coordinator have different job descriptions, despite sounding so alike.
So, what DOES a venue coordinator do?
Think of your venue coordinator as a facility manager. She is the point-person for all venue-related questions leading up to and on the wedding day, and will happily answer questions like…
“What’s the wifi password?”
“How do you turn on the AC in the reception room?”
“Where is the load-in zone?”
“Can my guests park here overnight?”
“How many reception tables can fit into this area?”
She may be overseeing your venue’s maintenance (parking, restroom cleanliness, deliveries) as well as handling other events happening during your wedding. Her job is to offer venue tours, answer questions, handle scheduling and administration, ensure contracts are signed and executed correctly, schedule staff to be available during each event, etc. She is being paid to ensure that all venue rules and regulations are followed for a safe and successful event. Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough bandwidth in that job description to also organize the details of your wedding and be emotionally available to walk you through the process. That’s where wedding coordinators come in!
Every time clients tell me that their venue comes with a venue coordinator, I get excited.
Venue coordinators make my job easier—they don’t threaten my job security. Any questions I don’t have answers to, your venue coordinator probably will. Any resources I don’t have, your venue coordinator probably has. The things that I am too busy on the day of the wedding to oversee for you, your venue coordinator probably takes care of already. Together on the day of your wedding, we will quiet the chaos and put out any fires before they start.
As a wedding coordinator, here’s what I do:
I begin working with you as soon as you hire me, whether that’s two years or two months before your wedding (but please don’t wait until two months before your wedding to secure your vendor team!) I am available via email to answer any and all questions. Some clients end up emailing me a few times a week, and some clients check in every few months; every couple is different, and that’s normal.
I will send you a bunch of resources as soon as you sign my contract, including a planning spreadsheet, a month-by-month checklist based on how many months out from the wedding date you are, a new client questionnaire to help me better work with you, and access to my preferred vendors list. I’ll devote time during our consultations to answering any and all questions you have. We’ll talk about how the wedding planning process is going for you personally. I’ll keep track of details like the decor you’re bringing and who will be setting it up.
On the day of your wedding, I am one of the first vendors to arrive and the last one to leave. I will aim to know everything about your wedding and your vendor team so I can answer all of their questions without anyone needing to consult you while you are getting ready.
You bet I will be cueing everyone down the aisle and fluffing your train! I will absolutely come up to you during dinner and ask if I can get you anything to drink. I will bustle and re-bustle your dress all night long. Need an emergency sewing kit? Zip ties? Double-sided sticky tape? I have them in my emergency kit. I will pack your table numbers and your makeup bag into your mother-in-law’s car if that’s where you want it to end up after the reception!
So! To re-cap:
Venue coordinators and wedding coordinators both have important roles and we make each other’s jobs easier. Without a venue coordinator, I don’t have access to someone who is an expert in your venue. Without a wedding coordinator, you may be expecting your venue coordinator to fill a role she isn’t paid to do, and while that may end up reflecting badly on her and the venue, it’s really not her fault!
So, what’s the bottom line? If your venue includes a venue coordinator, rejoice! And if you still don’t have a wedding coordinator…hi! I’m MaKenna! Reach out to me to share your wedding vision and let me help you bring it to life.