The Difference Between a Wedding Planner and a Wedding Coordinator…
… and do you need either?
I’ve been blessed to be a New York City wedding planner for 6+ years. I actually started out in corporate event planning, and transitioned into Wedding Coordination back when we lived in Connecticut. In the years since, I’ve worked extensively with many clients, in various capacities ranging from full start-to-finish wedding planning (where we legitimately go through everything), to some intermediary planning, and finally to only coordination. What exactly is the difference between all these capacities?
Let’s start out with the big one: Wedding Planner.
A wedding planner begins the planning process with you, and is with you until the very end. From the moment you’re engaged, until you’ve sent out your Thank-You Cards, we are by your side. What are some of the tasks that we do?
We’ll begin by determining your Total Budget & Breakdown, making sure we’re aware of the budgetary guidelines during the whole process.
We’ll create a Timeline & Checklist to keep us on track of monthly to-dos, and get things checked off the list.
We help to create your Wedding Style Guide, which we’ll use when planning decor, fun extras, choosing your stationery, and selecting your florals with the florist.
Depending on the Wedding Planner, we might help throw your Engagement Party, including securing the venue, getting the decor, sending out the invitations, and managing the guest experience.
We’ll do all your Vendor Research & Outreach for you - based on your budget and style, we’ll reach out to our network of vendors, and present pricing and options to you. We’ll handle any kind of contract negotiations we think you need. You’ll make the selections and we’ll get to work!
We’ll secure the Guest Accommodations and Transportation for you, ensuring a streamlined guest experience.
Although we cannot create your Guest List FOR you (since only you know your guests!), we’ll help you choose exactly what kind of wedding you want to have, and how many people you wish to invite. We’ll also help with etiquette - who gets a Plus One, how to invite children, etc.
We’ll help guide you through the wedding dress, bridesmaids dress, groom & groomsmen attire process, so you have verified, trusted sources to get all these things done! If my clients are in a situation where their friends/family are unable to join them in the wedding dress process, I LOVE to tag along and cheer them on as they try on different styles of attire! We’ll also help with the selection of wedding-day extras, like wedding bands, jewelry, shoes, veils, headpieces, even hair extensions!
We’ll help with choosing the Save the Dates, and we’ll even mail them for you.
We’ll create your Wedding Website for you, with all the information about Guest Accomodation and Transportation on there, so your guests have an easy time figuring out the wedding details.
We’ll also help you choose and create your Invitations, and send them for you as well. Your guests will be able to RSVP and the RSVPs will come straight to us, so we’ll handle ALL guest management.
If you’re doing a Bachelor/Bachelorette Party, or a Bridal Shower, we might plan that with you if it’s in our contract. Or, we’ll make sure you’re aware of timelines and will suggest ideas to you to help you out.
We’ll do your Floor Plan and Seating Chart with you. While we can usually tackle the Floor Plan on our own, we’ll need your input for the Seating Chart so you can group your guests however you want. Then, we implement those decisions by creating either your Seating Chart, Seating Cards, and/or Escort Cards for you.
We’ll get all your details printed - the programs, menus, seating chart/escort cards/place cards, Welcome Sign, Guest Book Sign
We’ll order that Guest Book, Gift Card Box, Polaroid/Instax, and anything else you might need for you.
We’ll put together your Guest Hotel Gift Bags for you, and deliver them to the hotel a few days before the actual wedding day
We’ll put together all your Guest Favors for you
We’ll deliver all these goodies to the Ceremony and Reception venues for you - so you get to enjoy your guests!
We’ll help you with choosing your Song List - all the music you want to dance to and have at your ceremony and distribute it to your entertainment vendor team
We’ll help you create a “Must-Shoot List” for your photo/video team, and distribute it to them
We’re also available after the wedding date, to ensure that all your questions are answered, and help coordinate Thank-You cards and even send them out for you, if you’d like!
Whew, that’s a lot that a full-service Wedding Planner handles! Wedding Planners also do everything that’s listed below, since we also act as wedding coordinators.
So, now that you understand what a Wedding Planner does, let’s take a look at what a Tri-State Area Wedding Coordinator does:
We’ll come in approximately 1 month prior to your wedding day, and learn all the beautiful details of your wedding!
We’ll help create the Day-of Timeline & Itinerary with you and your vendors, putting together a really beautiful run-of-show for you and your guests
We’ll contact your vendor team ahead of time, introducing ourselves and making sure all details are aligned. We also like to make sure the vendors have our contact information so they call and bother US, not YOU, on the actual day of the wedding.
For a lot of clients with larger bridal parties, we like to make sure there’s a wedding ceremony rehearsal involved so that the actual processional goes on without a hitch. So, we’ll talk through your ceremony choreography and run your rehearsal with you the day before, if applicable.
We’ll help collect things that venues need, such as Certificates of Insurance, and (most recently) Vaccination Verification, from your vendor team to your venue, so that we can all enjoy a safe event.
On the day of, since we’ve been familiarizing ourselves with your wedding, we help the day to flow seamlessly, taking care of all the little tasks that you and your families don’t want/need to:
Steaming dresses
Picking up bridal party breakfast/snacks (trust me - feed everyone)
Ensuring photos go off without a hitch and checking off your Must Shoot List alongside your photo/video team
Keeping everyone on time, according to our predetermined Day-of Timeline
Prepping all the details for the ceremony - programs, flower girl baskets/ring bearer pillows, florals, decor, aisle runner
Prepping all the details for the cocktail hour and reception - escort table/seating chart setup, sweetheart table decor, guest book & gift box details, guest favors, moving around and repurposing any florals from there ceremony into the reception
Coordinating the Schedule of Events with your catering team, photography/videography team, and entertainment team during the event, so it all flows seamlessly.
We’ll handle final vendor payments in the evening, so you can boogie on the dance floor all night long.
We’ll keep an eye on the ever-important gift area, making sure your gifts go to the correct person at the end of the evening
We’ll hydrate you (trust me on this one, too)
My personal favorite - we’ll have a chat with the accommodations management team, and ask them to please ensure a beautiful, clean room upon your arrival at the end of the evening. No one wants to come back to the bridal suite to a mess!
We’ll send you off at the end of the night, safely, and make sure you’re happy.
Most importantly, we’ll take care of any issues that crop up on the actual day alongside the vendor team and your family/VIPs (hopefully so you don’t even notice anything has gone awry!)
Now for the big question: Do you actually need a wedding planner or a wedding coordinator?
Well, if you’re hands-on and have the bandwidth to do all your vendor research, contract negotiations, guest experience management, and you have a handle on your guest list/RSVPs, then truthfully, a wedding planner might not be necessary for you. Of course, if you need guidance for some details, and not others, then maybe a Partial Planner might be something you’re interested in. Reach out to some wedding planners in your area and see if that’s something they do! I certainly create custom packages depending on my clients’ needs.
Even if you’ve gotten everything done and tied a bow on the event, I highly recommend hiring a Wedding Coordinator. A coordinator will be there for YOU and YOU alone, and be your best friend, ally, and advocate for you during the entire day. You won’t have to worry about all those tasks I listed above, and you don’t have to delegate some mundane, not-so-fun things to your bridal party/family. I’m sure you want them to have a wonderful, fun day as well.