67% of brides stated that their top regret was not hiring a wedding planner for their big day. Wedding planners offer many wedding coordination tasks including overall planning and design of your wedding, helping you stay within budget, hiring vendors, and most importantly making sure the day of the wedding runs smoothly.
But you may be asking yourself, “What is the difference between a wedding coordinator, wedding planner, and wedding designer?” Well, lucky for you, I created a video of this exact topic that you can watch here. Or, keep reading and I’ll shed some light on the differences below.
#1) Day-of-Coordinator
Hiring a day-of-coordinator is perfect for the organized bride. If planning is your jam and you’ve done all of the planning yourself, you should look into a day-of coordinator specifically to help out the day of your wedding. But that’s not all. A wedding coordinator can’t possibly coordinate your wedding day without SOME preparation. So don’t be surprised when your day-of-coordinator runs the rehearsal and helps out with timelines ahead of time. It’s important that they understand how the day should run BEFORE they get there.
Day-of wedding coordination packages can still vary, but they are focused on final wedding preparations so your wedding coordinator can make sure the day runs smooth. Your day-of-coordinator will be there on your wedding day helping with what needs to be done on that specific day, so you can be stress free! From making sure that vendors are on time, managing the timeline throughout the day, and being on top of any last-minute challenges that may arise during the celebration, your day-of-coordinator is your problem solver. Even the most organized of brides should still have a day-of-coordinator, because you deserve to kick back and enjoy all the hard work you put into your wedding day!
#2) Wedding Planner
If you are looking for more hands-on wedding support throughout your planning, then you should look for a wedding planner. They will be there beside you in the months or weeks leading up to your wedding day. By hiring a wedding planner, you can take the stress off, kick back, and enjoy your engagement leading up to your wedding day. Most wedding planners are ALSO wedding coordinators and include day-of-coordination in their packages. Month-of-coordination, partial planning, or full service planning are also popular wedding coordination packages.
#3) Wedding Designer
Need some wedding design inspiration? By hiring a wedding designer, you’ll have go-to support for the design aspects of your wedding. They will help you with the color or theme decisions, floral choices, centerpieces, place settings, signage, and other elements of your wedding decor. A wedding designer will know the latest wedding design trends and will have tons of unique ideas for you, turning your Pinterest boards into a reality. Most wedding planners are also wedding designers, and offer wedding design services in their wedding coordination packages.
#4) Event Planner
If you’ve gotten this far, this one is probably more obvious. An event planner usually plans a variety of events such as corporate events, birthday or anniversary parties, baby showers, and weddings. Wedding planning is very nuanced, though, so many wedding planners just stick to weddings. And some event planners avoid weddings. But it’s not uncommon for event planners to offer wedding coordination services.
Customized Wedding Coordination Packages
So, which one do you choose!? Your wedding planning needs are going to be very unique, so most wedding planners offer customized packages for various needs. There are so many aspects of a wedding to plan, so it’s impossible to list out every single possible combination of services.
So, if you are in the market for wedding coordination services, you have to decide exactly what services you are looking for the wedding planner or coordinator to do for your big day.
Once you understand exactly what you're looking for when it comes to your wedding coordination needs, then the wedding planners you reach out to will be better able to assist you and direct you to the right package to fit your needs.
