But, I Have An On-Site Coordinator!

Anyone in the planning business is very familiar with this statement.  If your venue provides you with a site coordinator then why bother with a Day Of wedding planner right?  Its basically the same thing. Wrong!  However, many venues promote their On-Site Coordinator as a wedding planner or wedding specialist which gives couples the idea that they do not need an additional outside wedding consultant.  In reality though, the two have very different roles and actually end up complementing each other quite well if utilized correctly.  For those brides who are on the fence about whether to take that Day Of Coordination leap I want to talk about the differences between the two.

The Site Coordinator – Site Coordinators are great.  100%.  They know their venue inside and out.  They know what works and what doesn’t and exactly what restrictions you may run into.  These are items that the wedding planner would not know off the top of their head without having to do some research.  However, that is usually where the expertise of the On-Site coordinator stops.  While they can recommend vendors that they are accustomed to working with, they will not coordinate with the vendors for you, leaving that up to you.   The week leading up to the wedding it will still be your job to call all your vendors and confirm all the details with them individually and make sure that it all fits into an overall timeline.   For example, you want to know that the DJ knows the timeline of the caterer in order to announce the first dance, dinner, cake cutting, etc.  The photographer then needs to know this schedule as well to make sure they are readily available to shoot those moments.  An On-Site coordinator will not handle those little details.  While they may be in touch with the vendors to confirm what time they will be arriving at the venue for set-up, they assume the rest is taken care of by you.

The On-Site coordinator also will not be by your side all day.  Usually they will be there a little before the ceremony/reception starts.  They can cue things for the ceremony as well as the reception, but once dinner is over their job is done and they often go home.  Therefore if there is any breakdown or items that need to be taken from the venue it is up to the bride to appoint someone to gather those items.  These can be gifts, centerpieces, extra favors left behind, special champagne flutes or cake cutting knives, etc.   I have been to a few weddings where at the end of the night guests themselves have offered to help with these tasks because there was no one there specifically appointed to tend to these items.

Overall, the On-Site coordinator is great as far as the venue is concerned.  But the little extras are not covered.

Outside Wedding Planner – The outside consultant has a much broader scope of responsibilities.  Although it is called “Day Of” it actually extends way beyond that.  The outside planner really starts prepping for the wedding about two months beforehand.  They will research all the vendors to familiarize themselves with who the bridal couple has chosen.  In the weeks leading up to the wedding they will contact each vendor to confirm and go over all the final details.  They will take all the separate puzzle pieces (florist, photographer, caterer, etc) and form them into one large finished picture that maps out the entire day.

The outside consultant will be there with the bridal couple all day, as well.  They will be there in the morning during hair and make-up and stay through the end of the evening to help with the breakdown of the venue.  While the On-Site coordinator will be cueing the ceremony, or cueing the bridal party’s grand entrance, the outside coordinator can be off ensuring the caterer is set and ready to go with table service as soon as the entrance is completed.  If your ceremony and reception are not in the same place, the On-Site coordinator will only be at the venue they are affiliated with.  So, while they may be there to assist with the reception, they will not be there to cue the ceremony, or vise versa. 

The outside consultant will also be concerned with prep work that the On-Site coordinator is not.  Most wedding planners come armed with a plethora of supplies that often come in handy i.e earing backs, clear nail polish, extra hairspray, breath mints, scissors, etc.  If you need items taken from the hotel to the venue and back at the end of the night your consultant will provide you that service, as well. 

For some people the On-Site coordinator is all they need, but I prefer to make sure all brides are educated on the difference between the On-Site coordinator and a wedding planner so she can make that decision with confidence.  I have spoken to way too many brides who opted out of the Day Of coordination services due to the On-Site coordinator being available, and they say it was the one thing they would change if they had to do it all over again.  Myself included!