2009 Wedding Lessons Learned: An Effective Day Of Coordinator

2009 Wedding Lessons Learned

I will start this post off with a bit of clarity - a Day Of Coordinator isn't just for the Day Of. It is the worst description ever. If I was truly just a Day Of Coordinator - I would literally know nothing and show up on the wedding day and try to figure out what was going on. So, since that isn't the case, I refer to "DOC" as Month Of Coordination, as we would together for the month before the wedding to educate the planner on what you've planned, create a timeline, do a site visit to ensure that your "Day Of" Coordinator is clued into everything that you envisioned happening.

I find that most brides that hire a Month Of Coordinator do so because they want a smooth, flawless day. They realize that they want an insurance policy that has their best interest at heart {trust me, the in-house coordinator at your venue does not have your best interest at heart - they are on the side of the venue} and who will go above and beyond to make sure that your wedding day goes off without a hitch {or at least hide the hitches}. Therefore, in order to make your Month Of Coordinator work effectively - please give them all the information they need for your wedding day. Every contract, every bit of expectations, every vendor {no matter how insignificant} should be handed over for your coordinator to run through and get educated. To be honest, I am not reading your contracts trying to figure out how much money you spent, I am reading them to make sure that I know what has been promised to you by the vendor.

The lesson learned here is that you, the bride, need to tell your coordinator everything! I had a near unfortunate incident this year when a bride failed to mention that she was having an ice luge delivered for the wedding. Well, not that an ice luge was a big deal, but she never told me, the venue, the catering firm and the irony of all ironies, she had chosen a beverage package that didn't include vodka {apparently the ice luge drink of choice} ... which meant that the waitstaff had to scramble to rustle up some vodka and we had to re-arrange the room layout to accommodate the ice luge. Obviously everything got sorted out, but it set the vendors back in their timeline. Had I known about this element, I would have prepared everyone for it. Clearly, the bride didn't appreciate what else went into having an ice luge. So please, inform and educate your Month Of Coordinator.

Day Of Wedding Coordination: Misleading

For anyone whose ever had a consultation with me, they've heard this: I planned my own wedding, but I did hire a Day Of Coordinator. I wanted to be a bride that day and given the logistics of a tented reception during a hurricane, having an advocate there to act on my behalf was just invaluable. If I had to get married that day AND oversee all the logistics, I wouldn't have had as much fun as I did. Therefore, I can definitely provide a logical and personal opinion for hiring a Day Of wedding coordinator. My only issue with the "DOC" is that in fact, your planner isn't just there for the Day Of.

If your Day Of Coordinator literally showed up on the day of, it'd be chaos ... she/he wouldn't have any clue what was happening. When you hire a DOC, you're actually hiring someone for Month Of Coordination. Roughly 4 to 6 weeks prior to your wedding day, you will sit down with your wedding planner and go through all the vendor contracts and details that you've worked so diligently on. By doing this, your planner will get the full picture of how you want your wedding day to proceed. During this meeting you'll also start to construct the wedding day timeline (check out my past post on timelines). After a few weeks of editing/tweaking, the wedding timeline will be complete and your MOC will distribute it to the relevant vendors.

By hiring a Month Of Wedding Coordinator, you're ensuring that you and your soon to be will actually be guests at your wedding ~ something truly invaluable!

Join me on my mini crusade to educate the wedding world on the misnomer of the Day Of Wedding Coordinator!