Indianapolis Wedding Photographer | Should We Hire A Day Of Coordinator For Our Wedding? (Spoiler Alert, Yes You Should)
The Importance of Hiring a Dedicated Day-of Coordinator for Your Wedding
Introduction:
Planning a wedding is undoubtedly one of the most exciting and memorable experiences in a couple's life. From choosing the perfect venue to selecting the ideal color scheme and menu, there are countless decisions to make. Amidst all the chaos and excitement, it's easy to overlook the importance of having a dedicated day-of coordinator to ensure that your big day runs smoothly. In this blog post, we will explore why wedding clients need to be sure to hire a day-of coordinator dedicated to themselves for their special day.
Stress Reduction:
One of the primary reasons to hire a dedicated day-of coordinator is to alleviate the stress and anxiety that can come with orchestrating a wedding. As the bride and groom, you deserve to enjoy your day without being burdened by last-minute details and logistical concerns. A dedicated day-of coordinator will handle all the behind-the-scenes tasks, allowing you to relax and savor every moment.
Professional Expertise:
While you may have a clear vision of your dream wedding, executing that vision requires professional expertise. A dedicated day-of coordinator brings years of experience and industry knowledge to the table. They know how to troubleshoot problems, handle emergencies, and ensure that everything goes according to plan. This expertise is invaluable in making your wedding day a success.
Vendor Coordination:
Coordinating various vendors such as florists, photographers, caterers, and musicians can be a logistical nightmare. A dedicated day-of coordinator will take charge of these interactions, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and that your wedding day unfolds seamlessly. They can communicate your preferences, timelines, and expectations to vendors, eliminating the need for you to play mediator.
Timeline Management:
A well-thought-out timeline is crucial for a smooth wedding day. Your dedicated day-of coordinator will create and execute a detailed timeline, making sure that each aspect of the event occurs at the right moment. This includes everything from the ceremony and reception to speeches, dances, and cake-cutting. With a coordinator in charge, you can relax knowing that your day is running on schedule.
Problem Solving:
Weddings rarely go off without a hitch. From unexpected weather changes to wardrobe malfunctions and more, unforeseen issues can arise. A dedicated day-of coordinator is a problem-solving pro, capable of quickly and discreetly addressing any challenges that arise. Their ability to adapt and make quick decisions can save your wedding day from becoming a disaster.
Personalized Attention:
When you hire a dedicated day-of coordinator, they are focused solely on your wedding. This means you will receive personalized attention and support throughout the day. Whether it's helping the bridal party with last-minute details, ensuring your guests are comfortable, or tending to any special requests, your coordinator is there to cater to your needs.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, hiring a dedicated day-of coordinator for your wedding is not just a luxury; it's a wise investment in the success and enjoyment of your special day. Their expertise, attention to detail, and problem-solving abilities will allow you to relax and fully immerse yourself in the joy of the occasion. So, as you plan your wedding, be sure to include a dedicated day-of coordinator in your budget, because having a professional in your corner will make all the difference in creating the wedding of your dreams.
Let’s hear from an actual Indianapolis wedding planner shall we?
Still need some convincing on why you need a day of coordinator? Hear from one of our favorite Planners/Coordinators to work with: All In The Details. Head on over to her site to learn even more! (She coordinated this wedding!)
“That sounds like a wedding planner to me. What's left?”
PLENTY. Onsite event coordinators are wonderful and I highly applaud any facility that offers this perk as well as the coordinators themselves. I do, however, have a few questions for you. Who will be picking up your gifts at the end of the night? Who will make sure that Aunt Ellen gets her nut free meal? What if your college friend bought a plus one on their own; who alters the seat assignments and notifies the caterers? What happens when something is going on with the venue and your onsite coordinator becomes temporarily unavailable? Who gets all your décor to and from the venue and sets it up exactly to fit your vision?
Most importantly, who has established a long professional relationship with you to know exactly how you envision your special day and will serve as your advocate to all other vendors so as to ensure that vision becomes a reality?
Tell us a little about you and your company. What sets you apart from others in your industry? How long have you been doing this?
My company is called All in the Details. We offer event planning services for weddings, corporate and other social occasions.
At All in the Details, we place great importance on getting to know each client individually by listening and taking into consideration their vision, budget, concerns and top priorities. Most importantly, throughout the planning process we strive to create a relationship of trust with our clients to let them know that the success of any given occasion means just as much to us as it does to them.
What makes All in the Details truly unique is that as the owner and executive planner, I have had experience in different facets of the industry such as venue coordination, nonprofit event management, event design as well as catering sales and assisting with planning official governmental occasions.
I like to think this diverse industry background makes me properly suited to communicate with not only the professionals associated within those areas of expertise, but also with clients. It’s not just me. Our entire team has backgrounds in different areas within the event industry. I’m so proud of our team and how far we have come. I’m truly lucky and honored to work alongside such a talented group of women.
A motto we live by at All in the Details is “It’s not our vision that counts, it’s yours.” Each couple is different and the industry influencing their decisions is constantly evolving as well. We take pride in sitting down with each couple early in the planning process to learn about their love story, what makes them unique and what they envision for their special day. It would be rather boring if all my clients were just like me. It’s the constant difference from one couple to the next that keeps this job interesting and challenging. Everyone deserves their wedding day to be a reflection of their love, style and what matters most to them.
From a couple's POV, why should they hire a planner/coordinator of their own if their venue provides a coordinator?
A venue coordinator is not the same as a wedding planner or coordinator. I should know as I have been both. A venue coordinator’s main job is to control the venue aspects that have been promised to the client. To be clear, I do not want to bash any venues or venue coordinators. That position is incredibly important to both the facility itself and the overall success of the wedding day, not to mention, it can be rather difficult at times.
Despite some venues saying that you don’t need a planner, I will never devalue the importance of a venue coordinator. I greatly appreciate and respect venues that offer venue coordinators as it shows that they care about the client experience. I always say that a combination of a wedding planner and a venue coordinator is truly a winning one.
In general, a venue coordinator is not going to assist with all of the nitty gritty aspects of the wedding day. They usually aren’t going to help you into your gown or answer your text at night when you’ve hit a planning wall or need to vent. A venue coordinator is also going to stay at the venue. If you are getting ready offsite, they are not going to be there to assist you or help organize professionals who aren’t working at the venue such as hair, makeup, accommodations and transportation.
Venue coordinators are often underappreciated. Not only do they have to keep the venue and the services that were promised to you up to par, but they also often have to assist multiple accounts in a weekend and sometimes on the same day. It’s such a demanding position that the turnover is often frequent as well. Many of our clients don’t end up with the same venue coordinator that they started with. In those circumstances I’m especially happy that we remain a constant presence for our clients and assist them with the transition to a new venue coordinator.
Our team will be with you from late morning through the end of the evening. We’re going to make sure Aunt Ellen gets her nut-free meal, that your college friend that brought an unexpected plus one gets a seat, that your gifts are properly stored, that all of your professionals are in sync throughout the celebration, that your decor has been placed exactly as your envisioned it, that your dress gets bustled, that all speech givers have something to toast with and so on. There’s a reason why our internal timelines as a team average over 40 pages. It’s All in the Details.
Tell us about how you develop relationships with vendors in indy and how that is an asset to your couples?
I’m a board member of the International Live Events Association, ILEA. My membership in ILEA has allowed me to develop relationships with people that I would consider to be the top local wedding industry professionals. It has also given me the opportunity to continue my education on trends, safety, etiquette and more. I always feel confident that we can provide our clients with top level referrals for their team of professionals. I also enjoy the opportunity to work with other ILEA professionals when we do out-of-state and destination events. It’s an automatic built-in network that we have the honor of being apart of.
Tell us about a time when you believe being there for your clients saved/made their day
There were so many times during the height of the pandemic where we had to help clients switch dates, adjust contracts, communicate changes and stay up to date with new regulations. That was already a very difficult time and I was often on the phone or texting with couples when they needed a shoulder to cry on and someone who understood what they were going through.
We had a couple book a beautiful gallery that unfortunately went out of business when the pandemic hit. We had to help them find another venue on one of the most popular dates of the year that fit their style and budget. I called a few of my industry friends and secured them a space that ended up being much better suited for them that they never would have considered prior to hiring us.
Can you offer a testimonial from a recent client?
Review from 12/14/23 given by Bride Ali
I thought my mom was crazy when she said she wanted to hire a wedding planner… another expense?! I WAS TOTALLY WRONG - HIRE SARAH. This was the best decision of my entire wedding (minus my husband). From the moment I met her, when she was cool as a cucumber dealing with another bride’s last minute crisis, I knew we would thrive as a team. Sarah was organized and professional. She met with us multiple times and was a text or phone call away at all times. She has an extremely organized online planning tool. She completely held my hand through the entire planning process and made sure I was at or ahead of expected timelines, which was fabulous because it can get overwhelming. She somehow wrangled our small (but chaotic) wedding party and made sure they listened at the rehearsal (they nailed it day of so they must’ve been listening to her) and were on time for the next day’s events. The day of our wedding she coordinated all of the vendors perfectly. Things flowed so smoothly that if there were any true issues, I didn’t know about them the day of. It was an absolute blessing to have her near me the whole day, because I knew I could trust her to be honest, helpful and advocate for what would be best (since she knew my husband, our families and me so well from our pre-wedding meetings). One of the only regrets of the night was not taking a picture with the woman who kept me calm and on time throughout my entire day. I think it’s safe to say Sarah and her team are THE reason my family didn’t have too many arguments over wedding planning issues. I would hire Sarah over and over again — hopefully one day we will have kids who need a bar/bat mitzvah planner or wedding planner!
Hiring a planner seems so expensive, what benefits are you bringing to the table for me?
There are many decisions to make when it comes to planning your special day. Couples have to prioritize whether certain elements and/or professionals are a necessity or merely a luxury. One of those considerations usually revolves around whether or not to hire a wedding planner.
I completely understand that debate. Creating a wedding budget and prioritizing is incredibly stressful. I’ve been a bride myself. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t sure if I needed any planning or coordination assistance. Especially being in the event industry, I thought it would be only logical for me to do all of that. I was wrong.
In the end, I hired a coordinator and both my husband and I agree it was one of, if not the most, important investments we made for our wedding day. Entrusting someone to take care of pop-up issues, (Reference: bus driver hitting a statue or best friend breaking toe), set-up and teardown, event flow, as well as vendor communication, among other things, was truly a blessing.
I want our clients to have that same relief and joy that I was able to experience on my wedding day. I got into this industry to help others alleviate the stress associated with planning significant milestones. It’s the knowledge that I can use my talents to assist couples to truly enjoy their wedding day, rather than stress about every detail, that motivates me daily.
Every wedding needs one point person on their wedding day and that should not be the couple, their family or a best friend. At All in the Details, we enjoy being that contact person for our couples so that they can remain busy creating last memories with their loved ones; it’s a privilege we don’t take lightly.
When is the best time to hire a planner/coordinator?
Many people rush to book the vendors that can only take one client for that day. The ones that tend to come to mind right away are the venue, photographers and videographers. What many don’t realize is that wedding planners are often within that group as well.
There are many local planning companies that will take on more than one client at a time for a weekend. While we have the resources to do so due to our incredibly strong team, I really try not to. If you book with All in the Details, I want you to know that our team is beside you for that weekend. We aren’t splitting our time between couples and events. We are solely dedicated to your celebration.
It’s best to reach out to a planner right after your engagement as we can offer a wealth of knowledge about venues and caterers that would fit your vision as well as help you establish a strong team of professionals. When a couple has booked us later in the process, I’ve often heard that they wish they did so from the start as we would have simplified planning and alleviated a lot of unnecessary stress.
We frequently get inquiries from couples who are a month or two away from their wedding and by that point it’s hard to find a planner who isn’t already booked.
It’s always so hard for me to turn someone away, but it’s especially difficult when someone that is so close to their wedding date is struggling.
Aside from budget, I often hear the other reason people debate whether or not to hire a planner is that they have family and/or friends who are going to take care of things. It’s incredibly thoughtful when loved ones offer to assist with your wedding, but do you really want to them running around and focusing on responsibilities when they could be enjoying themselves and celebrating with you?
On top of that, no one wants to tear down at the end of the night. I’ve seen many wonderful friends not end up not completing their tasks because they are too worn out or busy partying and that’s not their fault. This is a celebration of your love. Let your friends and family share in that celebration, regardless of how wonderful their initial intentions might have been.
Talk about how a photographer and planner can work together to make a good timeline for couples
Great communication between a photographer and planner is a key part of making your day run smoothly.
We always try to make sure our timelines work with all of the professionals involved, especially photography and videography. We want to make sure they have enough time to capture everything they want throughout different portions of the day without being rushed. After all, you can’t ask for a redo to capture more at a later date.
Unfortunately, we once had a client not follow our recommendation and they hired photographers outside of people we know and trust. For that event, the photographer would not respect our agreed upon timelines and they would not share their filming time with the videographer. That made things incredibly awkward for all and we had to watch over that professional to make sure they not only stayed on time and on task but also to help keep the peace between them and the videographer.
Working with Rogue Images Photography, however, is nothing like that. We always have a blast working with them and we never need to worry. Cody is always willing to collaborate on timelines and we know that he is going to capture everything without us having to remind him or try to find him. He also always works wonderfully with videographers by sharing filming opportunities with them and not stepping on any toes. He focuses on vendor collaboration rather than competition.
The bride and groom as well as bridal parties always seem to have some much fun when Cody is behind the camera. When your team of professionals gets along and works well with one another, the vibe for the day tends to be fun and relaxed. We always love working with Rogue Images Photography.
Anything else you want couples to know?
Trust your team of professionals. Everyone on your team has your best interest and vision in mind.
Friends and family will have opinions on who you should hire and how your day should look and flow. Your team of professionals does this for a living. Putting complete trust in them will deliver the best overall end result.
We know the local event industry, we know other professionals, we know trends and styles and after months of working with you, we know your vision. Let go where you can and trust that your team is going to deliver. That’s what you hired them to do and they really do want you to have the best day possible.
Also, take a moment as a couple and step back during the reception and look at all of the people who have come from near and far to celebrate the two of you. This is usually such a unique combination of people from different aspects of your life. You will never again have this group under the same roof. Appreciate it and take it in. The day will go by in a flash.
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