5 Reasons You Need An Expert Wedding Planner For a Stress-Free Wedding Day
If you’re reading this because you’re recently engaged—CONGRATULATIONS! The next few months will be filled with excitement. Your ideal concept and vision will soon be birthed, and many details and plans come with that realization. When the excitement evolves into overwhelm, or in some cases, pure fear of not having enough time to get everything done, brides and grooms turn to wedding planners.
Are Wedding Planners Worth It?
Wedding planner is a somewhat old-school term, but it’s still the most commonly used umbrella term for anyone whose sole purpose is to attend to the needs of the bride and groom. To anyone outside the industry, it doesn’t matter if your title is wedding planner, wedding coordinator, day-of coordinator, or production coordinator, all that matters is getting help with your wedding! But just so we’re on the same page, at Enchanted Events we’re production coordinators and our production team gets the job done with luxury and ease.
Before we get into all that production coordinators do, let’s address a question that nearly every newly engaged couple asks: Do I need a production coordinator if I have a venue coordinator?
Did I just read your mind? No, it’s one of the most common questions in our industry, and it’s a pivotal question to ask. Before you decide whether to hire a production coordinator you need to know what your venue coordinator does, and what they don’t do. So let’s dive in.
A venue coordinator is a professional who’s employed by your venue to coordinate venue staff, equipment, and grounds. That doesn’t exactly make things crystal clear so let’s break that down. Your venue coordinator will oversee things like meals, waitstaff, food service, linens, chairs, tables, and floor plans. They will almost always have a list of preferred vendors for your viewing pleasure, which can be helpful.
Pro Tip: A quick word of advice, before you go diving down that list, a good question to ask is whether vendors on their list can pay to be on it.
Venue coordinators are great professionals and vital to the success of your wedding. Think of them as your venue gurus. They most likely work over 100 weddings a year, so they’re experts on every nook, cranny, and process within your venue, and that expertise is crucial. But if you’re anything like the average bride, you’ve been scouring Instagram, TikTok, and perhaps Pinterest since the day your man put a ring on it. Those glamorous, seamless, gorgeous weddings you’ve saved, sent, and favorited most likely had one thing in common—a production coordinator. If you want a dream wedding, you need a dream team, and a production coordinator isn’t just a part of your dream team, we’re captain of your dream team.
Venue vs. Production Coordinators—What’s The Difference?
The fundamental difference between a venue coordinator and a production coordinator is that your venue coordinator acts in the best interest of the venue and a production coordinator acts and advocates for what’s in your best interest. Let’s take a look at the five areas that highlight the most important differences between venue and production coordinators: availability, ceremony, vendors, planning and timeline, and set-up.
1. Availability
Outside of your initial meeting, tasting session, and final meeting the week of your wedding, you’ll likely be communicating with your venue coordinator via email. Because venue coordinators are often the ones who conduct venue tours, attend tasting sessions, and prepare for and coordinate several weddings each week, they’re not always available to respond to your questions at the time when you need to make your decisions.
Should I hire one or two hair stylists?
What time should I offer shuttle service for guests?
What do we need to get done at my rehearsal?
A venue coordinator may have answers for you. They may not, but be sure that it’s not feasible to promptly respond to these types of questions for every engaged couple who’s set to be married at their venue.
Production coordinators, on the other hand, niche down. We take on fewer clients to provide individualized attention to each couple and wedding. While practices may vary across different businesses, at Enchanted Events, we meet with our clients as soon as we’re hired for an initial meeting. We meet again for an official meeting six weeks before the wedding day to solidify all details and timelines and ensure you’re feeling relieved and excited. Additional meetings are held 4 weeks out, 2 weeks out, and the week of your wedding. We also attend your rehearsal and your final meeting with your venue.
Like your venue coordinator, email correspondence is a key component of communication with your production coordinator. However, you can expect a much quicker response time. At Enchanted, we reply to emails within 24 hours and often much quicker, the only exception being if we’re on-site coordinating a client wedding.
The type of email communication is different as well. Because we construct a master timeline for your wedding day or weekend, emails will often include cc’ing with vendors you’ve selected and uploading contracts so that we can take over communication with vendors, communicate with them directly in the weeks leading up to your wedding, and advocate when necessary, so you don’t have to.
At Enchanted, you will also have direct access to your production coordinator by cell phone a week before your wedding. During your wedding, we’ll never be more than a few feet away. No calls or texts necessary.
Maybe at the present moment, you can’t imagine needing any human being, other than your future spouse, enough to warrant this level of availability and communication. Trust me, questions and concerns will arise as you draw closer to your wedding day that you are yet to fathom. What do you do when your uncle shows up to your rehearsal with an unexpected new girlfriend? Who’s going to keep your overindulgent bridesmaid away from the booze close to ceremony time? Your production coordinator will, with tact and finesse.
2. Ceremony
Your venue coordinator will typically oversee the set up of necessary tables, chairs, tents (if they belong to the venue), and waitstaff if food or drinks are served. That leaves quite a few details up in the air. Your production coordinator will handle your wedding party order, procession timing and cues, reserved seating, any necessary officiant preparation, and recession music and timing cues. As far as music goes, your DJ or band is capable of handling the music cues, but they’ll usually want to touch base and confirm music, timing, and reception introductions upon arrival. Typically, the bride is busy taking photos at this time and may not have arrived at the venue. The groom, well he’s busy not being busy with the rest of the groomsmen.
Your production coordinator also manages a smooth transition from ceremony into photos and ensures whatever you decide for cocktail hour goes according to plan. Some couples want to make it to their cocktail hour. A production coordinator can help prep the wedding party and families to make sure the photographer can get all the shots you requested in the time allotted. Other couples forgo attendance at their cocktail hour to ensure they get every shot they want, but they still want some of those drinks and Hors d’oeuvres to make it to them. Your production coordinator will make sure you get to partake in all the food and drinks you paid for.
3. Vendors
This is a big one. Your venue coordinator will provide you with a list of their preferred vendors. They provide you with a window of time for your vendors to arrive and set up and make sure the venue is open for their arrival. This is a completely necessary role that only your venue coordinator can accomplish, however, there’s quite a bit more to do to keep 5-10 vendors on the same page.
If you don’t regularly work with florists, DJs, caterers, officiants, photographers, videographers, and rental companies, attempting to do so in preparation for the most important day of your life is guaranteed to be overwhelming. Production coordinators exist to take on that burden and allow you to be a guest at your wedding instead of an additional coordinator.
Your production coordinator will take over the entire vendor coordination process starting the moment you select and submit payment to your vendors, or can take a more collaborative approach, depending on your preference. Most couples prefer the collaborative approach. That looks like scheduling and attending vendor meetings with you, collecting vendor timelines and integrating them into a master schedule, providing a list of vendors and offering candid advice based on first-hand experience, and leveraging a network of professionals should any last-minute needs arise.
4. Wedding Planning and Timeline
Your venue coordinator will manage the timeline for food and beverage service. Their timeline is primarily created for the waitstaff and kitchen but will help in the creation of a master schedule.
That leaves…. everything else to be planned, scheduled, and coordinated. Your production coordinator creates a detailed timeline, often down to five-minute increments, from the time you wake up until your last guest departs. It will be reviewed with you extensively up until the day before your wedding. Then you’ll never see it again because from the time you open your eyes, until you arrive back at your hotel as a married couple, you’re guests, and guests don’t worry about timelines.
Your timeline will also include all off-site events and activities like your rehearsal, dinner or welcome party, off-site photos or ceremony, guest and wedding party transportation, and any post-wedding plans like an after-party, brunch, or beach day. The more off-site events you plan to have, the greater your need for a production coordinator. Fielding calls from vendors while you’re getting ready or writing your vows is not the best way to soak in every waking moment of your wedding day. It’s true what they say, it really goes by so fast!
5. Set-Up
When we receive an inquiry only weeks away from the big day, it’s often because of the realization that after spending countless hours folding special order napkins and learning how to use a Cricut to make signage and table numbers, there’s no one to set it all up and break it down. Some venue coordinators might graciously agree to set these items up for you, but most won’t. Their staff is there to set up tables, chairs, place settings, and linens and then prepare for dinner service. Your production coordinator is not only willing to set up personal items, we plan on it. At one of your meetings, you’ll discuss what personal items you’ll be bringing or having delivered to the venue and exactly where you want them to go and be moved to after the ceremony if applicable.
All the DIYing you so relentlessly plan to tackle on your own or with the enlisted help of your bridal party is crucial to your vision. It’s awesome to find and execute the perfect idea for a seating chart and welcome sign. It’s not so awesome to have to ask the groomsmen to set them up in between getting ready and taking photos and then hold your breath that they followed your instructions.
So, what do you think? Do you need a production coordinator and a venue coordinator? At Enchanted Events, we can’t imagine a wedding without one, but there surely are exceptions. But if you imagine a day of luxury, ease, and love there’s no question; you need a production team.
At Enchanted Events, we’re here for all the intangibles. We’re experts at planning, coordinating, and managing all of your vendors, but we’re also here to develop a relationship with you. That’s our philosophy: we get to know you, your style, budget, and personality so that you can lean on us with any questions of etiquette or preference and receive personalized advice. Our recommendations are custom to you and you alone. We’re here to protect your investment and help you get the most out of your budget.
Wait, There’s More! Know What to Ask Your Venue Coordinator with Our Wedding Planning Checklist
We’ve covered just about everything there is to know about wedding planning, production coordination, and venue coordination, but we wouldn’t feel right if we didn’t provide you with something tangible to help you in your wedding planning journey. We’ve created a list of 10 Stress-Alleviating Questions to Ask Your Venue Coordinator.
Although most venue coordinators generally stick to the responsibilities listed above, all venues vary. Some may do less and others may do much more. By asking the questions featured in our checklist, you can know with confidence whether or not you need a production coordinator by your side on the best day of your life.
