Dear Future husband, all you need to do for our wedding is show up on time. Cause everything else will be perfectly planned or magically coordinated, or maybe both. Who knows which method will bring a better outcome?
Do you need to hire a wedding planner a year before your wedding? Or a coordinator a month from your big day? Or maybe both? Or even plan the whole thing all by yourself? We know all these questions are running in your head right now. But before rushing into things, let’s first understand the definition of both. What’s a wedding planner? What’s a wedding coordinator? What’s the difference between these two? And which one do you need most?
As a bride, you will be very stressed before the wedding, and you won’t have the time to meet all the vendors; you can’t be in two places at once. Wedding planners will take care of those meetings, and they will attend them to choose what suits you best. Their duties will be negotiating contracts, scheduling meetings with sponsors, preparing site tours, setting timelines and deadlines for the staff, creating and drawing a wedding timeline weeks before the ceremony to ensure everything works smoothly.
It raises the bar for the day; all the pros you hired will be on the same page with you, receiving, delivering, and handling any contributions in between. The more knowledge and info they have, the less space for mistakes.
If you want to hire wedding planners, you should have the budget for it, and you’ll have stress-free days because they will take care of everything you don’t have enough time to do on your own.
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If you’re dreaming about having a fancy Cinderella wedding, they will bring you the best offers convenient for your budget. Or even if you want a lovely, cosy, small wedding by the sea, they can also arrange that. If you’re considering offering transportation for your guests and booking hotel rooms closer to the wedding venue at a great price, your wedding planner will get it done. And most importantly, overseeing everything on the big day.
As the wedding date gets closer, you don’t know where to start and what to start with. So, this is where the wedding coordinators come in. First, they will be meeting you 4 or 5 weeks before the wedding to assure you everything is going according to your plan. Your designed dress will be ready on time, salon appointments will be on point, and the buffet will be served how you planned. They’ll review all the side contracts you’ve made and coordinate with the staff to ensure everything is done according to the contract.
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They’ll address all the unaddressed issues like adding vegetarian dishes for the buffet or checking who has allergies. Things that might not seem to be connected at first, but in fact, they need to be coordinated. For example, the flower shop might need to know when the bakery delivers the cake if they plan to decorate it with fresh flowers. Nothing is worse than vendors crashing with each other, trying to do their jobs. These are essential details that you won’t have the time to pay attention to. So that’s what coordinators do.
Hiring a wedding coordinator means you want to be part of your wedding details and lead an active role in planning your wedding. If you’re obsessed with details, a wedding coordinator will be your best friend for the next five weeks.
Working with a wedding planner or a wedding coordinator can make your wedding preparation easier. Regardless of your choice, it’s important to know what to look for when hiring one to avoid problems. Here are some things you need to look for:
Timing can be critical whether you’re hosting a local ceremony for 300 guests or a wedding on the beach in Mexico for 30 guests. Emotions will be all over the place, and since you’re in the middle of it, it increases the chances that you’ll miss something important. On your wedding day, the coordinator works less closely with you than the wedding planner, especially if the wedding is taking place outside the city and a destination wedding company is in charge of all the arrangements. Still, you need the coordinator earlier to help smooth over any problem you might face.
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So, regarding our main question, which do you need? Planning a wedding involves lots of work. You want to make sure everything is perfect while keeping a positive vibe. After all, it’s the long-waited day! From our personal experience, we advise you to consider hiring both. Each one has its unique presence and highly important tasks. Let the professionals do their magic.
Many bad scenarios can happen for any reason, like losing your dress after a burning candle accident. How will you fix this? Your coordinator will have a backup plan. One of the vendors backed out last minute and can’t provide the amount of food you need; your wedding planner will have a list with all vendors that can provide last-minute work. Or your photographer can’t photograph due to technical issues. Well, that’s a disaster. See? All these scenarios might occur, but you won’t even know that such events occurred if you let professionals handle them. It’s all according to your requirements and budget.