What is a Wedding Coordinator?
A wedding coordinator is a lot like a wedding planner in that they help you organize and pull together your wedding details. The difference between the two is that the coordinator may not handle quite as much as the wedding planner would. For example, your planner may sit down with the bride and groom from day one and help you in every aspect of the wedding, whereas the coordinator may just stick to finalizing all your vendor business after you’ve made the major decisions. They typically aren’t as involved in the decision making as a planner. There are two different types of wedding coordinators: the traditional wedding coordinator and the day-of wedding coordinator. With both types of wedding coordinators, they normally earn their money on the day of the wedding.
With both a traditional coordinator and a day-of coordinator, both types help you get everything done on your actual wedding day. They will be in charge of handling all of your vendors and set-up on the day of your wedding as well as making sure everyone in your bridal party is where they are supposed to be. They are also involved with the post-wedding duties such as cleaning or securing facilities. Their main job is to make sure that everything is orderly and on a set schedule. What makes a day-of coordinator different from a traditional coordinator is that they are typically not involved more than a week prior to the wedding. These types of coordinators are a great option for the bride who plans to be very hands-on in her planning process, but hands-off on the day of the wedding.
As you can see, there are major differences between a wedding planner and wedding coordinator. Some companies will use these terms interchangeably, so it is the bride and groom’s responsibility to ask questions to make sure they can differentiate between the two in order to receive the services they require. Two quick tips to remember when trying to differentiate are to be sure you interview these potential vendors and have a detailed contract. This will help you to be clear on the extent of the services they’re willing to provide and to make sure you receive all the support you’re expecting.
Marcus Jones is a wedding videographer/photographer located in Memphis, TN. He has been doing videography for over 8 years with an emphasis on wedding videography for the past 5 years. Over that course of time, he has filmed over 40 weddings throughout the Mid-South. If you have any questions about his company or you have a question or topic you would like to be addressed in future articles, feel free to email [email protected].
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