It is important to understand the various roles within our wonderful wedding industry and the roles that always seem to get confused is the role of a wedding planner when providing ‘On The Day Coordination’ and a venue coordinator. Some will say, it’s just the language we use which has meant the line has become blurred, but having worked as both a wedding planner offering On The Day Coordination, and a venue coordinator, I have written this blog in the hopes it highlights the stark differences between the roles.
The Role of a Wedding Planner: they plan your wedding from start to finish. This includes working on tasks such as managing your budget, recommending and then liaising with your chosen suppliers and bringing your vision to life through mood boards.
This seems pretty obvious but what tends to cause confusion is that wedding planners also offer a service called ‘On The Day Coordination’. This service often has a much shorter lead time which means they will work with you in the last 6 weeks of your wedding planning journey where you will handover everything you’ve arranged so far, and they will take the reigns to ensure all runs smoothly so you can enjoy your special event.
This ‘On The Day Coordination’ service is partly why venue coordinators and wedding planners get mixed up BUT, their roles are very different. See below the ways in which these two roles both differ and hold significance on their own:
Wedding Planners role when offering ‘On The Day Coordination’:
- Ensuring they have a birds eye view of the event throughout the duration. This includes knowing the schedule of both guest and supplier arrival times and managing them accordingly.
- Point of contact for all suppliers involved (having previously introduced themselves to the individual suppliers in the lead up to the wedding) to make sure everyone has what they need in line with their contract e.g. correct power, food and drink etc.
- Finding resolutions when unpredictable situations crop up e.g. amending the order of the day due to traffic/logistical challenges and making everyone involved aware of the changes.
- Having been hired by the couple, their loyalties lie with their Client which means they are therefore able to provide an unbiased opinion.
Venue Coordinators role:
- Dedicated to ensuring the success of events hosted at their venue.
- Sharing their expertise which is specific to the venue they represent such as noise limitations, corkage rules, and curfews.
- Having a venue-centric approach to the tasks they are responsible for e.g. turning the heating on and restocking toilet roll.
- Being employed by the venue, their loyalty lies with the establishment they represent.
To draw on what I have experienced having been in both roles, when I was a venue coordinator, I had a checklist to run through with a Client which highlighted the importance of them not stapling things to the walls of our listed venue; discussions about where the photobooth could logistically go; whose responsibility it was to dispose of all rubbish collected from the event and where the evacuation point was in the event of a fire.
Comparatively, when I have worked in a wedding planner capacity; offering On The Day Coordination, I have had to source suppliers last-minute due to unforeseen circumstances; I gathered the VIPs at an event ready for group shots; I’ve been present onsite until the very end of an event to ensure the safe clear down of suppliers and I’ve also been known to cut wedding cakes – usually a caterers job by the way!
There is a clear difference between the level of involvement you can expect from a wedding planner who offers On The Day Coordination in comparison to a venue coordinator and rightly so. You can expect to be provided with a venue coordinator upon booking your venue, but wedding planners are an addition to this so be sure to consider them in your budget.
There is a common misconception that wedding planners who offer On The Day Coordination and venue coordinators are interchangeable roles but this is not the case. Wedding planners will only take on a number of events each year whereas venues have a team of coordinators who can share a bigger workload to host more events each year.
Understanding the unique roles of wedding planners and venue coordinators means that everyone’s expectations are met. Both roles are vital to achieve a seamless running event and both positions have a part to play in the huge job that comes with planning a wedding. Wedding planners offering On The Day Coordination aim to oversee the running of the event and work both proactively and reactively to ensure everything goes to plan based on their broad knowledge and experience of events in various settings. Venue coordinators facilitate the decisions made by the couple, in-line with venue rules and regulations.
- Venue – Ashridge House
- Photography – Brittany Painter Photography
- Styling – Lorna Marie Events
- Stationery – Love Flora Studio
- Models – George and Mia
- H/MUA – Natalie Danielle
- Tableware – Miss Carlysle and Co
- Flowers – Untamed Florals
- Bridal Gown & Accessories – Morgan Davies Bridal
