Day of Coordination: What It Really Means

Day of coordination is so much more than showing up on your wedding day to manage the day. We get many requests a month before wedding day, from brides looking for professional help with just the day of their wedding. They want a professional to come in for a few hours, and make sure that everything runs smoothly. What most brides don’t know, is that there is much more to just “coming in to make sure things run smoothly”. I want to share with everyone, what “Day of Coordination” is really all about!

Coordinating the wedding before it even takes place

The problem with using the word “day of” is that coordinating requires many hours of planning and coordinating before the day even takes place. We look over each of your vendor contracts and finalize details with them, re-confirm service hours provided, and where they will load in and set up. Confirming your final headcount with each vendor and making adjustments to your orders as needed will be an important detail to the day. They also rely on our help to finalize logistics with them such as who will place flowers on your cake, who will bring your personal flowers ahead of time, and so much more. We are in charge of creating your full production timeline and distributing it to you and your vendors. We will attend your final venue walk through to cover the layout details with you one month prior to wedding day.

Please note that this is all work being done at least one month prior to your wedding day!

Coordinating the actual wedding day

On your wedding day, we will likely be the first vendor to arrive on-site besides your venue coordinator. We will check in with you and your bridal party while you’re getting ready, steam dresses if needed, and handle last minute tasks that come up. Then, we will head to the venue space to oversee set up and also set out your personal decorations. Assisting your vendors with where to set up, and any last minute things they may need to properly do their job is an important part of the day. We will oversee your timeline to help keep the flow of the day, cue you and the wedding party for all formalities throughout the day, and will be by your side to ease your mind! We stay until the end of reception to help gather your belongings that we set out earlier, and help pack these into your car at the end of the night.

The truth is that “day of coordination” does not exist

We as planners/coordinators can not manage a pre-planned wedding, without knowing every one of those tiny, important details! This means, we have to do our own planning and research, to make sure your wedding day goes as planned! I refer to my “day of coordination” service as “wedding management” or “month of coordination”, because of the amount of hours going into the wedding day. Same goes for other vendors such as photographers! They put in time pre-planning the photo timeline and gathering important information needed to make sure photos run smoothly. Photographers spend the entire day with you for photos, then spend many hours editing those photos afterwards!

Why you should consider hiring a wedding coordinator for your wedding day

Do you think you don’t need a coordinator, because your venue provides one? Think again! A venue coordinator is much different than a wedding coordinator. While both jobs are extremely important, they are different. If you’re looking for someone to be by your side leading up to and on wedding day, that will likely not be your venue coordinator. A venue coordinator handles anything related to their venue. They manage their staff, prep the kitchen and bar for your meal, and make sure tables and chairs are placed according to the floorplan. However; they’re still busy running their venue on the day of your wedding. Many times, they have site visits scheduled for future couples in the morning, and often times they leave before the reception is over. The venue coordinator will likely not assist you with your dress if it tears, or track your vendors down if they haven’t shown up, etc. We love to team up with our venue coordinators; it’s that much more assurance that everything will be handled seamlessly!

You’d really like a “Day of Coordinator” but the budget is too tight to squeeze anymore?

A wedding isn’t just a celebration, it is a choreographed event. Think of a wedding the same as a show you go see on Broadway! A show has a set, music, lighting, a cast (all of which have cues to take), and a producer that runs the show! The wedding coordinator is the “producer” of the wedding; without one, it could get chaotic and end in catastrophe!

I say, contact a coordinator that you like, and set up a consultation! Don’t let the price tag scare you away. Go over your vision, and expectations from a coordinator. Most coordinators will do their best to customize a package that may accommodate you while still works for them!

You’re spending a lot of time and money to plan your dream wedding. So, you should consider hiring a professional to execute it as planned! Having a coordinator will allow you and your guests to thoroughly enjoy this day with you, as well!

What to consider when budgeting for a wedding coordinator

I get requests from time to time from Brides wanting to pay $25/hr. for a day of coordinator. That adds up to $250 for a 10 hour day. However, the reality is that is $250 for AT LEAST 25-30 hours of work. So we’re really getting about $8-$10/hr. for that $250. This is lower than minimum wage! This is not factoring in business costs that we endure, so that $250 is not a net income.

A wedding coordinator will put in a 12 hour day on average, and about 25-30 hours of work beforehand. There are usually some loose ends to tie up even after wedding day. An average planner will charge about $2,500 -$3,000 to coordinate a full scale wedding day. This will breakdown to about $50-$75/hour, but this is not a net income for us. This breakdown will need to cover our own business costs such as, liability insurance and licenses, software systems and more. We will also pay our team of assistants, cover travel costs, and supplies we use throughout the day.

If you’re considering a Las Vegas wedding planner or coordinator, contact us for more information!