About Us – Coordinators & Planners

Coordinators & Planners

For your special day's every detail

Wedding Planners

Wedding planners are all about the logistics, from vendor referrals and contract negotiation to day-of execution of your vision. Some planners also provide design or styling services, helping with the creative specifics of your wedding day, while others opt to leave those details to a wedding designer—which means you’ll need to hire two professionals to create the day you’ve dreamed of.

Planners take the guesswork out of the process, making planning a wedding as seamless and smooth as possible. A planner will keep track of your budget and handle the logistics. This is a skill that many can learn, but only the best planners have the years of experience and credentials that set them above the rest.

Be sure to discuss whether your planner offers design services beforehand. If they don’t, you may want to hire a wedding designer as well.

Duties

Puts in 80 to 250 hours.
Provides vendor referrals and negotiates contracts; schedules and attends all vendor meetings.
Creates detailed timelines and floor plans.
Helps determine and manage your budget.
Attends site tours and menu tastings.
Brainstorms style ideas and coordinates design details.
Coordinates hotel room blocks and transportation.
Manages the rehearsal.
Oversees everything on the wedding day:
- Makes sure everyone adheres to the timeline.
- Handles snafus.
- Manages vendors.
- Executes your vision on-site.

Hire a wedding planner if…

You have the budget for it.
You want the least possible amount of wedding-related stress.
You have no free time because of a demanding job.
You have no clue where to start when it comes to planning, and your organizational skills aren’t the greatest.
You have a very short time frame for planning.
You’re throwing a destination wedding and/or a wedding weekend involving multiple events.
You’re hosting your wedding in an unusual space (read: not a hotel, restaurant, or banquet hall).

Wedding Designer

It’s a special type of planner whose role is purely aesthetic and doesn’t include things like contract negotiations or attending appointments alongside the bride. They specialize in design, consulting on everything from floor plans and lighting design to the flowers, furniture, linens, and attire, and they help with the decisions that will give your event a cohesive, stylish, and sophisticated look. A designer has an artistic eye that allows them to conceptualize the whole event and truly transform a space.

Designers normally put in less time than general wedding planners. They carry out the following duties:

Creates the wedding’s design concept.
Provides color palette guidance.
Oversees the decor budget and vendors (florist, rentals, lighting, stationery).
Sources special props and equipment.
Attends a site visit to visualize where you want everything to go, devise a layout, and identify potential problems.
Creates detailed floor plans.
Ensures all of the decor elements are in place on-site at the wedding.

You should hire one if:

Decor is an extremely important element of the wedding for you.
You feel you need help boosting your creative skills.
You have a million style ideas that you can’t narrow down.
You’re trying to pull off a very specific or complex theme.

Wedding Coordinators

A wedding coordinator (also referred to as a day-of wedding coordinator) is logistically focused, and works on a shorter timeline than a planner. They usually begin helping you prepare a month before the wedding and function as the point person on the wedding day. They will confirm vendor contracts and create a day-of timeline, as well as make sure things like payments and guest counts are in order, but won’t be involved in the earlier planning phases or keeping track of your budget.

Coordinators make sure everything you’ve done up until they take over is in good shape. Hiring a coordinator to take over the month before your wedding gives them time to tweak any details and follow up on loose ends. Everything is in order, nothing is forgotten, and you’re free to enjoy your wedding day.

Duties

Puts in approximately 10 – 20 hours.
Meets with you before the wedding to get a handle on what you’ve planned.
Checks in with your vendors to review confirm logistics.
Reviews detailed timelines and floor plans.
Completes a final walk-through of the ceremony and reception sites.
Addresses any overlooked details (e.g. if you forgot to hire a coat check attendant).
Manages the rehearsal.
Oversees everything on the wedding day.

Hire a wedding coordinator if…

You want to play an active role in planning your wedding but would like someone to take care of the last-minute details and make sure you haven’t missed anything.
You’re extremely organized and detail-oriented.
You don’t have the budget for a full-service wedding planner.

NOTE

For liability reasons, our coordinators cannot serve food or drinks to guests, bus tables, hang anything decorations that require a ladder or move anything that is heavy enough to require machinery.

What is the difference between a day-of wedding coordinator and a wedding planner?

Wedding
Planner

Wedding
Coordinator

A full-service wedding planner basically handles everything for the couple, from start to finish. A wedding planner’s tasks include the overall design and vision of wedding, keeping the couples within their budgets, contract negotiations, the hiring of vendors, as well as execution of the event vision on the day of the wedding.

In contrast to planners, a wedding day coordinator will jump into the process a few weeks prior the big day, usually to help those couples who are planning the wedding themselves. Yes, there is help for those couples who are planning their weddings on their own!

A coordinator will be logistically focused and available to you to get everything organized as you lead up to the day of the wedding. They are there to take over on the day of the wedding to ensure that all details that are planned, are executed. As we like to say, a day-of coordinator is essential for any couple who wants to do most of the planning themselves, but when their wedding day arrives, they need a professional to execute all of their hard work and planning. Having a professional such as a day-of wedding coordinator there to handle the logistics is so essential because a wedding couple should be able to enjoy themselves at their wedding and not worry about anything!

At what point in the wedding planning process does a day-of wedding coordinator come in?

A coordinator really comes into the process depending upon the needs of the couple. We have couples who book our services a year out from their wedding date because they already know the value of having a day-of wedding coordinator and want to ensure we are available for them on the day of the wedding. We also have couples who call us closer to their wedding, like two months out let’s say, which usually happens as their stress begins to mount and they realize they need help. They start to worry about details and aren’t sure how it will come together in the end so hiring us helps to alleviate that.

What does a day-of coordinator do to help the couples who are choosing to plan their own weddings ?

Weddings by reverie will take the day-of coordination a step further in these situations to help guide our couples through their planning process. We become a resource for them and remove some stress as they know we are just a phone call or text away! From the time of the contract, we do monthly check-ins, provide amazing vendor recommendations, give advice and guidance through their planning process while providing wedding day management on the day of the wedding. Our main goal is to ensure that our clients feel like actual guests at their own wedding!

Organization and attention to detail are key! This is a first time process for most wedding couples so that they are truly flying blind through the planning. With this in mind, we always recommend helpful ways to simplify planning. The guest list, floorplan design, seating arrangements, and timeline tools are invaluable throughout the planning process.

As the wedding day approaches, we construct a detailed timeline and run of show for the day of the wedding, confirm and manage all wedding vendors, and become their point of contact on the wedding day. We monitor and setup the wedding details, organize the bridal party and family for the ceremony as well as do damage control for anything that might come up on the day of the wedding. Think of day-of coordinators as your own personal wedding day ninja! Basically, we take the wedding you have spent the last year or so diligently planning come to life and without a hitch!

1. Book ahead of time

Whether you’re hiring a wedding planner, designer, or coordinator, it’s best to secure them as soon as you know your wedding date—even if they aren’t getting involved until the month before. This tactic also can help you get the most for your money. If a couple books us early, we’re happy to provide them with our list of performance-driven vendor recommendations.

2. Consider the cost

For the most part, full-service wedding production and design runs approximately 15% to 20% of the total wedding cost, depending on the planner’s experience, what region they’re based in, and how much time your wedding demands.

3. Vet your pros

Always read reviews and politely ask for references from other vendors and couples. We take great care in ensuring our collaborators are only the best in their expertise, and clients are free to make sure of that on their own. Furthermore,

4. Always put someone in charge of day-of tasks

Someone needs to make sure the wedding day itself runs smoothly and that everything you’ve planned is executed properly. But what if a professional wedding planner is not in your budget?

While most venue coordinators and catering managers are happy to handle basic on-site logistics and simple setups, keep in mind that they’re there for a task they were hired for. This means that they’re making sure the food is served on time, not that the DJ is playing the right songs or that there are enough pens for the guest book.

It’s helpful to tell them that you don’t have a planner and won’t be securing one, as they will do as much as they can for you. However, the best option is still to ask a responsible, trusted friend to handle a few important tasks, like managing the timeline or handling any issues that arise with vendors, and then to thank the person with a gift or favor.