You’ve arranged the venue, the theme, the cake, the dress, but you’re still worried that your wedding day might not go as smoothly as planned – sound familiar? If this seems like you, the answer might be one you haven’t even considered yet; a Day of Wedding Coordinator.
What is a Day of Wedding coordinator?
Thinking a Day of Wedding coordinator is the same as a wedding planner is an easy mistake to make – but they’re actually very different job roles. A wedding planner is used from the start of wedding planning, and they conceptualise – and remain responsible for – the entire wedding. A wedding planner will help come up with your wedding’s theme, will organise vendors – anything that needs doing, a wedding planner will decide on and do. For many people, such as those who are time poor, are unsure of what they want, or simply don’t want the hassle of organising a wedding, a wedding planner is an excellent option – you basically hand over full control to an expert.
But with the rise of personalisation, and DIY weddings becoming a popular option for modern couples who want fun, memorable weddings for their guests (some couples even come up with a wedding day hashtag!) for many, a wedding planner is too impersonal, taking the fun out of the decision making. If you want to do all the planning, ordering and styling yourself, but still want to have an aid to guide you at the final hurdle, a Day of Wedding Coordinator might be your best option.
A Day of Wedding Coordinator will enter your life at the last few weeks or planning stages of your wedding, when everything’s been tied up and triple checked. You can leave this to the Day of Wedding Coordinator, who will make sure all the moving parts run smoothly. But a Day of Wedding Coordinator’s time to shine is – really – the wedding day. A Day of Wedding Coordinator acts as an aid on the day, making sure vendors are where they need to be, running the timings, ushering guests, ordering transport, working out when the cake needs to be cut, and when guests need welcome drinks – anything logistical, the Day of Wedding Coordinator takes over, so that you don’t have to be thinking about the ‘boring’ bits when your focus should be on enjoying your big day!
Here at St Audries Park, we go one better and provide a Personal Wedding Manager who will work with our couples to help throughout the planning process. Although they are not a wedding planner, they are able to support and offer their wealth of knowledge and experience, particularly about the specifics of the venue. Many venues supply an operations manager instead of a day of wedding coordinator. Our personal wedding manager is also your dedicated point of contact for the day, so you do not have to handle everything yourself.
Do I need a Day of Wedding coordinator?
Like any wedding day extra, this totally depends on your budget and what you decide to prioritise – what one person ‘needs’ another person might think is unnecessary. We would recommend taking the plunge if you think you might need a Day of Wedding Coordinator. This could be because you might be unsure of how a wedding day should run (and as it’s probably your first wedding, we don’t blame you!), and don’t want to have to deal with tricky logistics on your special day. Everyone hates admin – so if you’re asking yourself ‘do I need a Day of Wedding Coordinator?’, why not hire someone to take the pressure off this task for the biggest day of your life? It’s a luxury, but a luxury that will make you remember your wedding day for all the good parts – not the parts where you had to run around handling accommodation or catering or other things last minute.
What should I ask my Day of Wedding coordinator to do?
The main role of a Day of Wedding coordinator is to provide peace of mind that all the details on the day will be perfect. A Day of Wedding Coordinator will know exactly what needs to be done, so you can direct any technical questions to them safe in the knowledge they’ll sort them out. Because a Day of Wedding Coordinator’s main priority is to guarantee the smooth running of your big day, we would always recommend enquiring whether your wedding venue can supply their own Day of Wedding Coordinator. This can be very useful, as they take care of technical and logistical questions, so knowing the area, venue and even little things – like where the car parking is, or where the vendors should go – can make a huge difference to the smooth running of your day. If you are hosting your wedding with us at St Audries Park, you don’t need to wonder whether you need a Day of Wedding coordinator, or where you’ll source one from; we have one on site! Simply get in touch to talk about our extra wedding services, and whether you need a Day of Wedding Coordinator.