I want to talk for a minute about Day Of Coordination. What exactly is a Day Of Coordinator? Someone who coordinates your wedding day, right? Maybe do a little setup, make sure things are in order? But here’s my question: How does she know WHAT to setup? And WHERE to put it? And what exactly your ORDER is? Us Day Of Coordinators are pretty amazing, but mind-readers we are not. So here's some insight as to how my Day Of Coordination service is different from others and what they may be offering you for "less".
Photo credit: Hilary B. Photography
Anyone who tells you that she can just come on the day of your wedding (no prior meetings, no rehearsal, no walkthrough), and charge you just a few hundred bucks, is NOT going to make you happy. She is going to have a million questions for you on the DAY OF YOUR WEDDING (and seriously, we’re supposed to make your day LESS stressful, not MORE). When someone asks me if I “just do Day Of”, I tell them “Yes, but it’s my Month Of service”. They often get confused and say, “Well, I just want you to come on the day of”. So let me break it down for you:
Well Before Your Wedding Day
Any time after you sign on the dotted line, we are happy to go on a walkthrough at your venue with you. Whether we’ve coordinated a wedding there before or not, we want to see YOUR vision and how you see YOUR big day playing out.
Photo credit: Brian Hatton Photography
4 Weeks Before Your Wedding Day
Weddings are complicated events with lots of moving pieces and people involved. You’ve done the planning, booked your vendors, made your own DIY centerpieces and signage, but now what? Who’s going to set all this up on the wedding day and make sure things are happening on time? You’re going to be getting your hair and makeup done and enjoying a mimosa with your girls.
Enter Pink Olive Events.
We get that you wanted to plan the most magical day of your life on your own, but we also understand how important it is to ENJOY it. About 4 weeks before your wedding, we will have a detail meeting with you to go over EVERYTHING. This includes getting copies of ALL vendor contracts, going over a rough outline of your day (what time is hair and makeup starting?), your ceremony processional (who should my step-mom walk down the aisle with?), and going over what I like to call my “inventory list”, which is basically everything that you have that needs to be setup by us (favors, place cards, family photos, candles, gift box, etc), as well as where exactly they all need to go.
Photo credit: Jessica Osber Photography
After this meeting and in the following weeks leading up to your wedding, we contact all of your vendors to confirm logistics such as timeline, delivery and arrival times, hours of coverage, etc. This is when any discrepancies may come up that you might not have necessarily seen before. For instance, I’ve had couples plan for certain events to happen AFTER the photographer is scheduled to leave because his hours of coverage are over. We will make sure that all important events are documented before the photographer leaves.
Photo credit: Hilary B. Photography
We then take all of this information and put it into one big day-long timeline that, once approved by you, goes to ALL vendors involved. This is the timeline we ALL work from on the day of. If anything needs to be improvised, we make sure to communicate any changes to everyone. I’ve had a bride get sick during dinner and spend some time in the ladies’ room. This pushed back cake cutting and parent dances, so we had to make sure to relay this information to the vendors so that the bandleader didn’t call for any of these events to happen while she was in the restroom.
Photo credit: Brian Hatton Photography
Rehearsal
Couples sometimes get so caught up in the fun of planning a wedding that they forget that the ceremony is really the most important part of the day. That’s why a rehearsal is so pertinent, and we find it just as pertinent that we be there. We make sure it’s included in all of our wedding services. If we have to coordinate any part of the ceremony on the day of the wedding (which is a PART of the the DAY, right?), then we make it a point to be at the rehearsal, too. You only get one chance to do it right.
Photo credit: Hilary B. Photography
This is also the time that we collect all of those items from our “inventory list” from our detail meeting. We check everything off as we get it and make sure that nothing is missing. The last thing we want to do is bother you on your wedding day because we can’t find your cake topper. If we can leave these things at your venue, that’s great, but if not, I take them with me and set them all up the following day.
Finally, your family and bridal party get a chance to meet us in person and they know who to go to in case any issues come up on the wedding day. They know our exact role and why we are there, and it’s just a good time to put a face to a name before the big day.
Photo credit: Jennifer Fiereck Photography
The BIG DAY
It’s here. The day you’ve been planning for months, maybe even years. You’re so excited! All the planning, organizing, stress and decision-making has culminated in what you hope to be the most perfect day of your life. But who will be the one to make sure all of that happens and goes according to your plan? A Day Of Coordinator is so much more than just someone who sets up your place cards. We’re one point of contact for all of your vendors, family and bridal party to avoid “too many cooks in the kitchen”. We’re a sounding board at 11:30pm the night before your wedding when you’re having a bit of a meltdown (yes, that actually happened, and yes I actually answered my cell phone). We’re there to make sure that you’re happy and that if anything goes wrong, you don’t know about it. We’re here to make sure you have an escape plan when you walk back down the aisle after saying “I do” because you don’t want a receiving line. And those are just a few examples. I could go on and on.
Photo credit: Hilary B. Photography
So what’s the point of this post? Like with anything else, do your research. Not everyone’s services are exactly the same. Don’t just look at the bottom line (price tag). Look to see what’s included. What are you getting for that price? I can’t stress this enough in the wedding world!
Happy planning!
xo
