July 7, 2012
“Today is 7-7! Feeling lucky? Here are 7 reasons why a coordinator can bring a little bit of
luck to your wedding day.”
7 REASONS TO HIRE A WEDDING COORDINATOR
1. Its more work than you can imagine. Think you know how to coordinate and execute an awesome shindig? Take the amount of work you think your wedding will be and triple it. Coordinating all the vendors, place settings, escort cards, DJ announcements, etc., is like conducting a symphony. There is no dress rehearsal for your wedding and a coordinator works with you several months in advance to understand all your wedding specific needs and uses their experience to make sure everything runs smoothly.
2. Your venue requires it. A hotel or banquet wedding is great because there are so many services included – rentals, staff, catering, and setup are all well-executed. They pretty much have it down to a science, and you can rest assured that the chances of anything ‘going wrong’ are pretty much nil-to-none. In-house coordinators or venue wedding directors have the interests of the venue in mind, not the bride, and understandably so, as they are too busy working with the catering department ensuring that everything is going perfectly to focus on your specific wedding details. In-house coordinators LOVE when you have a private wedding planner (and often require it), because they know how much additional work goes into a wedding and they want you to feel confident that someone else is looking out for your wants and needs. It makes their job, and the catering staff’s job much easier knowing that someone else has everything under control on the front end — so they can produce amazing catering and staff services for your event.
3. Your venue is a “blank slate.” Alternatively to a hotel, a “blank slate” venue (where you generally save money because you’re only paying for the structure/location, no staff or services) ends up being the most work. Rentals, catering, and décor all need to be brought in, which adds pages to your “to do” list. Hiring a coordinator for a blank slate venue is a MUST. You will drive yourself batty trying to keep track of all the logistics and ‘how-to’s’! As your day fast approaches, it’s calming to know you have someone (who does this everyday) helping you along.
4. You want your family and friends to be guests, not staff. Your BFF might be eager and willing to help out, but the amount of work it takes to put on such a big production will cause her to (a) be so overwhelmed with coordination that she doesn’t get to enjoy the party, or (b) she will be so focused on the party and having fun that she neglects her promised duties. It’s really doing both of you a favor to put the responsibility in the hands of a professional. Bitterness by those closest to you is not something to look forward to when it’s all over with!
5. You are creative, or not. You’re a control freak, or not. If you’re creative, you’ll have lots of details that need to be executed on your wedding day. If not, you need someone to guide you through color choices, theme décor, and table layout, etc. If you’re a control freak, you’ll be overwhelmed on your wedding day, preoccupied with the setup and not necessarily enjoying your time with family and friends as much as you’d like to. If you’re relaxed and easygoing, some of the details you had envisioned won’t get done. A coordinator fills in the gaps and works with your personality and organization style to help make it all come together so that you can feel relaxed and enjoy the entire day.
6. DIY does not equal “simple.” Doing a lot of prep and décor work yourself is the opposite of easy. You may be saving money but you’re likely making up for it in effort. It can be a ton of fun when you allow plenty of time to tackle each project, and a great way to make your wedding truly your own, however those DIY garlands are not going to hang themselves. You put in so much time and creative energy into each DIY project, you don’t want to risk anything being overlooked or not setup the way you envisioned. Having a coordinator who understands your vision and executes all your little DIY details the way you had planned (sometimes BETTER), makes staying up with the glue gun past midnight every night for 6 months totally worth it!
7. Of all your vendors, a coordinator offers the most value. Coordinators spend countless hours behind the scenes, prepping for your wedding, planning the timeline, directing your rehearsal, and communicating and confirming with vendors. We then work 10 to 18 hour wedding days setting up, coordinating, and cleaning up. Broken down by hourly effort and actual labor (hanging fabric from a ladder in 100 degree heat is not as glamorous as it appears), a coordinator is the best value of all your vendors. You wouldn’t stage a play without a director, and you shouldn’t put on a wedding without a manager. The coordinator makes sure all the pieces of the puzzle fit, working in harmony to give you the wedding day of your dreams.
Leave a Reply