The Truth Behind Day of Coordination

I’m about to get really honest with you. Day of Coordination doesn’t really exist. Not in the literal sense of those words. As a wedding planner, I cannot perform my best work by showing up and seeing the plans for the first time on the wedding day. And no matter how organized a couple is, I will always have questions and need clarification. Typically, the best time to get clarification is before the wedding because you hired me to make your day less stressful, right?

So what happens in those months and weeks before your wedding? Here is a quick synopsis of what we do that takes Day of Coordination beyond the day of.

Downloading the Details

Although we have a great workflow, it takes approximately 3-4 meetings over two months to pull out all of the details of the wedding. It then takes time for me to process these details, incorporate them into our event templates and documents, and make sure everything works together. Because if it doesn’t work together then the wedding day may not be that smooth. Also, it gives you time to finalize some of the details that you may not have thought about until you have the first meeting with me.

Expansive Knowledge

The breadth of my knowledge has come from doing over 100 weddings. So much of the education in the event industry comes from hands on experience. By having us involved before the wedding day, you get to tap into this knowledge, finesse your plans, and possibly save yourself from a lot of heartache and money.

Communicating with Vendors

Once we have most of the details and have a good working timeline, I need to confirm everything with the contracts you have signed with your other vendors and confirm with the vendors that the timeline I am proposing works for them. Together we iron out any problems and reconfirm everything. Your wedding is a team effort and I am the leader of the team, and my goal is to give your vendor team every opportunity to succeed.

Décor Plans

You have likely spent hours creating your wedding design and are now entrusting my team to make it a reality. For us to make this a reality, we need to have inspiration photos, list of all décor and where it is going, and work out the logistics of the set up and tear down. We also have to schedule our team to come in to assist with this depending on the scope of the plans.

Rehearsal

I love to be present at wedding rehearsals. On your wedding day, I have a lot of pressure on me and my team to call all of the shots during the ceremony. By being at the rehearsal, it gives us an opportunity to practice the ceremony details. We go over the cues, music changes, and what everyone has to do. This is also a great opportunity to make minor adjustments if something isn’t going as we imagined.

The Day of the Wedding

On the actual day of the wedding, my goal is to be like a bird in the sky surveying everything and catching any problems in their infancy. But that also means that I need to have an assistant who can do things while I manage everything. These assistants take time to train to make sure they understand the standard of work and details of the day. And depending on the requirements of the day, we can be on-site for 10-12 hours easily.