There’s a Difference Between a Planner and a Coordinator?

Congratulations, you’re engaged! How exciting! And now you’re starting to plan the big day! Although, I suspect you have been planning this day for some time now. I am sure you’ve heard the words ‘Wedding Planner’ and ‘Wedding Coordinator’ thrown about with wanton abandon more than once but did you know that they are actually two different roles?

“There’s a difference?” I hear you ask incredulously! Yes absolutely.

 A wedding planner is your wedding best friend. Your go to gal! Your right hand person! They are there with you throughout your wedding planning journey and will be there on the day to make sure everything runs smoothly. Their purpose is to make sure your wedding is everything you imagined it would be and more. You can choose to hire your wedding planner at any time during your planning journey. Your wedding planner will help you select your suppliers and manage your wedding budget and coordinate all the logistics.

Of course, you can be as involved as you want to be, maybe you don’t have time to plan all of it but you want to do certain elements, then your wedding planner will take away the stresses of the bits you don’t want to do or don’t have the time to do.

A Wedding Coordinator is mainly there on the day of your wedding.They are the main person behind the scenes making sure the day runs smoothly so you don’t have to worry about anything other than enjoying your day and taking it all in. The Wedding Coordinator will take all your plans and hard work and make sure that it happens on the day. Usually, you would engage with your Wedding Coordinator a couple of months before the big day to run through details such as  your timeline, guest numbers and supplier details. They will then make sure the reception is set up as per your plans, the ceremony starts on time and makes sure that everything is packed away at the end of the night.

Also, quite often, your wedding venue will offer you a Coordinator. Their services might differ from a traditional Coordinator so it’s worth checking to see what they offer as part of your wedding package. One of the main differences here, is that the venue coordinator is looking after your wedding from the venue side. They can also change. I see quite often couples getting upset that the person they have been speaking with, has left and now they have someone new who doesn’t know what has been discussed. The venue coordinator can help recommend suppliers who have worked at the venue previously but they are not likely to do the leg work of sourcing all the suppliers for you.

What are some of the things your wedding planner will assist you with?