Every wedding needs a point person who can direct the shows, take care of incidents, answer questions from vendors, guests and bridal party, as well as making sure what you had planned are actually executed accordingly.
Sometimes you have a relative or friend who will tell you that they could do it for you but this really means your relative or friend will not get to enjoy your wedding day as a guest (if he/she is actually doing the job of trying to coordinate your wedding). Also, they may or may not have experience in handling the emergency situations that arise at big events like a wedding. I would say every wedding I still learn something new as there is always a different incident that I had not dealt with before. It is hard to say I had seen it all because there is always some "surprises" at each wedding!
Some people choose to use the coordinator from their wedding venue alone to help coordinate their weddings. I have certainly worked with a lot of great venue coordinators and they are a great resources to suggest the best setup for your event because they are most familiar with what works and what does not work at their venues. However, their main concern is with the needs of the venue they work for. For example, it is not the job of the venue coordinator if your baker had not shown up on time.
I had also counted many times where the set up was not done correctly despite multiple reviews of the setup diagram before signing off the final version for the venue to set things up. When I walk the venue to check on the number of seats by tables, I almost always have to make a correction somewhere. One time I also found a chiavari chair without any cushion on it and another time I found broken glasses on the floor that was not cleaned up properly!
When hiring your own coordinator, you really want someone who can think on his or her feet to come up with creative solutions. One time we realized the printing company did not print 8 to 10 guests' place cards but we need place cards for each guest because it was a seated dinner that requires place cards on tables so that the servers can serve the correct entree to each guest. We happened to have some guests who did not show up so I cut up half of their place cards and used the blank side to hand write the names of the missing guests and their entree choices.
I also think it is important that you hire someone who really cares about getting things done for you. I know I put a lot of thoughts into creating the timeline when hired as someone's coordinator because I want the couple's day to flow well. I double check with other vendors and wedding day helpers to be sure everyone is on the same page. And on the wedding day itself, I consider myself someone who goes to bat for you.
It is not an easy job but it is a highly satisfying job for me when I get couples as well as their friends, family and vendors telling me that I had done a good job coordinating the day for them.
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| A photo of me before we started the setup at Freight Depot - a historic Downtown Atlanta Venue |
