One of the first questions we like to ask any newly engaged couple we meet with is about a wedding planner. Wedding planners and coordinators can affect a wedding in a great way, but a lot of the time it always comes down to budget. We wanted to share our thoughts with picking a wedding co-ordinator or planner, what they accomplish from start to finish, and can you budget it in?
We have worked with numerous wedding planners and coordinators over the years and have never seen one below amazing in quality. They are well organized, helpful, and usually have the best positive personality; this really helps on the day of your wedding. The real question is, are they worth it?
The first thing to think about is, do you have help? This can be a maid of Honor, your mother, or could be your best friend. Planning a wedding takes time, effort and help. If you need help getting started on what you need to plan and the timelines you need to plan a good reference would be; http://www.realsimple.com/weddings/weddings-planning/wedding-planning-checklist.
If you have help and can be a self-motivator with checklists, then it may not be needed in your budget to hire a wedding planner. This part can get overwhelming, so if you get overwhelmed easily and you need someone to draw support from then we definitely recommend finding a way to add a wedding coordinator/planner to your budget.
Now we skip up to the big day! Lots of people who cannot fit a wedding planner into their budget usually try and get a wedding day coordinator to help with the big day! We agree 100 percent with this decision.
The most stressful items that a coordinator can help with include:
- Wedding Timeline (or you can use google and create your own)
- Organizing your officiant, and music to ensure they are on time. (We experienced how important this was when a bag-piper didn’t show up until 45 minutes after the ceremony was supposed to start.)
- Placing out name cards.
- Putting your center pieces together.
- Ensuring all the vendors have arrived, including the flowers.
- Setting up your head table.
- Setting up your candy bar.
- Ensuring that the bride and groom do not see each other before it's time.
- Making sure both parties are ready to walk down the aisle while coordinating all the songs with the DJ.
- Confirming the space for the reception is on time.
- Ensuring that if anything goes wrong they are there to correct the problem (Like aunt Betty showing up even though she didn’t RSVP).
- Ensuring the timeline is being followed as well as coordinating with the catering team to ensure dinner is on time.
We hope this helps in preparation for your wedding. Remember this is the going to be the best day of your life. Don't let anything small ruin it, there will always be a support team behind you.
Jeremy Hawkins
Catering Manager
Tags: Wedding Tips, Wedding Planning