When your wedding date is slowly sneaking up on you, it can be tempting to consider taking over every aspect of planning the final details, or delegating to close friends or family. You may already be overwhelmed with everything that’s still left to organise: final payments, schedules, meetings, handling RSVPs and working out who will set up your venue. Often the venue coordinator will not be responsible for all of these things in the lead up to your big day. So, it makes sense to look for someone who can take care of everything behind the scenes. You may be tempted to ask a friend or family member to fill this role, either to save some money or not have to go to the trouble of hiring another vendor. But with this role comes a lot of responsibility, time and pressure to ensure that everything runs smoothly come the wedding day. In this blog, I wanted to highlight some of the reasons why you should consider hiring a professional Wedding Coordinator and not rely on friends to take over this coveted role in the lead up to your wedding day.
The first reason you should consider hiring a professional Wedding Coordinator and not just rely on your friends is because of the huge responsibility that entails. You are asking someone close to you, to manage the logistics and work behind the scenes of your day, which will mean that they will not get a chance to relax or take time to celebrate you. This person will have to constantly be checking their phone and checking in with staff that everything is running to schedule. If you are planning on decorating your venue, this person may have to give up most of their morning setting up your venue, which will minimise the time they have to get ready for the ceremony. They might not even get to witness the entire ceremony if they have to duck out to finish setting up for your cocktail hour and reception. And even after you’ve said ‘I do’ and walked back down the aisle, during the reception, you may need this person to prep the people who are doing speeches, watching the time so that the next person doesn’t go over. During all this, this person cannot relax or enjoy the food and drinks for fear that they will miss something or they will be checking in with the wait staff, catering staff, DJ and MC. This means that the person you choose to do all of this work for you, is missing out on food, drinks, time with you and the other guests, and is doing all of this work for free. Ultimately, there is a lot of work that goes into coordinating a wedding and there are a lot of moving parts, so asking a friend to take over this role is a huge responsibility and puts a lot of pressure on them, when they are not a professional and they have to miss significant parts of your day. Hiring a professional Wedding Coordinator means that all of these things are taken care of, and that all of your guests can focus on you and your partner, and enjoy the celebration.
A big part of wedding coordination is the timeline. Having a solid timeline will ensure that you and your partner can relax whilst getting ready, and not feel rushed at any point during the day. The timeline also ensures all suppliers are where they are meant to be at the appointed times. A professional Wedding Coordinator will be able to create a timeline that walks you through the entire day, communicating this timeline to every supplier. The Wedding Coordinator will also act as the point of contact for all of your suppliers, so if there are any questions or changes to the timeline, the Coordinator can adjust it accordingly and make sure that everyone knows what is expected of them. This can be a lot of admin work in the lead up to your wedding day, so you need to consider if this is what you really want to be doing over the last few weeks before your big day, or even if you want to burden a friend with being in charge of these changing schedules. On the wedding day itself, a professional Wedding Coordinator will always have one eye on the clock, constantly checking the timeline and re-arranging as necessary. For example, if your formal portraits are taking longer than expected, someone will need to notify the catering team that entrees need to come out later. Or the Cake Maker called to say they are stuck in traffic, so won’t be able to deliver the cake on time, so your Coordinator plans your speeches and first dance to occur first. These are all things that an experienced Wedding Coordinator has seen and can take care of, but it is a lot to ask of a friend at your wedding to constantly monitor.
The final reason to hire a Wedding Coordinator and not rely on friends, is that a Wedding Coordinator is someone who you have hired, you are paying, and that you have a signed contract with listing everything that is included in their service. There are clear expectations of what the Wedding Coordinator will do for you, and during your meetings with them, you can ask them questions about how they will fulfill these duties and details about how you want your day to look like. Things may look different if you are just relying on a friend. You may feel guilty asking a friend to take on extra jobs at the wedding, or to spend more time setting up, because at the end of the day, they are still your friend and a guest at the wedding. It can be difficult to have a conversation with a friend who is not keeping up to your expectations of helping you for the wedding, for example, that they are having a drink during cocktail hour instead of folding napkins, lighting candles or setting up décor for the reception. When you hire a professional Wedding Coordinator, that is their job, and you can rest assured that they will be on top of all the details for your wedding day. The lines can become a bit more blurred when you rely on a friend.
When considering the decision as to why you should hire a professional Wedding Coordinator, it is so much more than just a financial decision. There is a lot of hard work that goes into ensuring that that all of your suppliers come together seamlessly to produce the wedding that you had imagined. It is a big responsibility, and one that takes away from being a guest and enjoying the celebration.
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