To Hire a Planner... or Not Hire a Planner...

Still debating about whether or not to hire a planner?

Curious about what they will actually do for you?

An amazing photographer in CA - Sarah K Chen - wrote about her journey to the altar with the planner her husband insisted on...


wedding coordinator love
saturday, march 15th, 2008

"I used to believe that wedding coordinators were a total waste of money. When my husband insisted on hiring one for our wedding I just didn’t understand what they’d do for us since I was already active on the knot boards doing my own research. Well, that’s putting it mildly. I pretty much balked at his suggestion. Hello, what do we need a wedding coordinator for? We have ME!

We met with one coordinator and after the meeting, I still didn’t really have a good understanding of what she would be doing for us and I insisted that the money spent on a coordinator could go towards lighting or our honeymoon, or much needed furniture or anything else but a coordinator.

Then we were referred to Jeannie Savage of Details Details and all that changed. She explained what we’d be hiring her for, what we’d need her for, what she’d help with, why it’d be beneficial for us to hire one with our particular venue….and with that we were sold. And after everything has been said and done? Hiring a wedding coordinator was the best money we spent for the wedding. Seriously.

Wedding planning was an absolute breeze for my us. Jeannie made sure the vendors she referred to us were 1. available on our date 2. within our target budget and 3. fabulous at what they do best and then 4. set up meetings for us with said fabulous vendors. We met the florist. Loved her! Booked her. We met the DJ. Loved him! Booked him. We met the Officiant. Loved him! Booked him. Rinse. Repeat with all vendors. One meeting for each vendor and they were checked off our to do list. How easy is that?

And when it came down to creating the time line of events for the day of the wedding? Jeannie took care of it. And thank goodness, because I really am horrible with planning things like that. Because really, how would I know how long it will take us to get 6 up do’s and 6 makeovers done? Or how much time prior to the ceremony my photographer wants for pictures? Or when we should do the first dance and cake cutting and everything else? I swear, the closer it gets to your wedding date the more your brain turns to mush.

But that’s not even the best part of having a wedding coordinator. The best part of having a wedding coordinator is being able to truly enjoy your day. I (nor any of my bridesmaids, friends, or family members) had to worry about transporting or setting up DIY projects, alphabetizing place cards, keeping track of the time, paying or tipping vendors, coordinating with all the vendors the day of, putting away the card box….nothing. We were all left to just enjoy our day while Jeannie and her team took care of everything.

I never once had to ask for the time on my wedding day to figure out what was happening next. Jeannie and her assistants were all great with keeping everything running smoothly and on time. I could eat, drink, be merry with friends and family without a care in the world and Jeannie or her assistant would come up to me and let me know that in 5 minutes I’d be doing my next dress change (or whatever) so I could finish my conversation or drink before running off for one of my dress changes.

And at the end of the evening Jeannie even had our caterer, Craig’s Extraordinary Catering, pack us to-go boxes with food (I had three dress changes during the reception and didn’t get to eat much), slices of our wedding cake, and gifted us with a bottle of champagne and personalized luggage tags and put them all in our get away car.

Your venue or caterer may tell you that they have a coordinator on staff the day of, but that coordinator is working for the venue; not necessarily for you. And you really want someone who will be helping you out and taking care of everything from start to finish on the day of. Your church coordinator isn’t going to be coming along to the reception to make sure everything runs smoothly there, is she?

So, now that I know better I always always highly recommend that my couples look into hiring skilled day of coordinators for their big day. And seriously, I have to give it up to these girls for what they do! They make wedding planning and coordinating look like cake!"