It is very common in the wedding industry to confuse (and sometimes interchange and overlap) the roles of a wedding planner and a venue coordinator. Although they must work hand in hand, there are still distinct roles between the two that we should be knowledgeable of.
1. The wedding planner sees the bigger picture.
A wedding planner’s scope of work runs throughout the whole course of the wedding. From pre-wedding to post-wedding arrangements, he/she takes care of literally everything. From planning your wedding theme, guest list, suits, souvenirs, bouquet, and up until your wedding video compilation. Your venue coordinator, on the other hand, is one of the many important point persons that your wedding planner must coordinate with. In some cases, couples have limited interactions with the venue coordinator (except of course when they first check out the said venue), because the wedding planner is the one who does most of the talking and coordinating. This is the reason why clients spend more time working with a wedding planner. Think of it this way, your wedding planner is like a one-stop-shop wherein they are tasked to relay your messages to all the other vendors and services for your wedding.
2. There is a clear distinction of interests.
Generally, the wedding planner is employed by the clients, while the venue coordinator rests upon the employment of the venue’s management alone. Simply put, the wedding planner protects the client’s interest, while the venue coordinator is more concerned with the interests of the venue and its owners.
Related: Why Should I Hire a Wedding Planner
3. A wedding planner develops your ideas into reality.
Your wedding planner is in charge of conceptualizing your visions and ideas about your wedding. He/she strategizes a plan and executes the plan accordingly. For some instance, a planner can even conceptualize a whole design that translates into a design team. his/her experiences and expertise pulls out a designer hat that can make a full experience of design.
4. A planner works out within your budget.
Even at the onset of your wedding preparations, your planner already works within your allotted budget for the wedding. With this in mind, the planner assists in venue selection and vendor recommendation. A planner makes sure to recommend vendors and venues that suit the budget of the couple.
5. A wedding planner sticks with the event calendar.
As some of you may already know, a planner is the one who creates and maintains planning and events calendar, checklists and assigns duties as needed. More than the organizational skills it requires, the wedding planner is expected to keep track of schedules, attend meetings, tasting, rehearsals, and on-site inspections.
6. Your wedding planner is your partner in negotiation.
A wedding planner’s craft is more than their weight in gold. Particularly, they constantly review your contracts and negotiates when necessary. They are the go-to persons when it comes to negotiating with other vendors.
7. The venue coordinator takes charge of your reception.
While we mentioned earlier that the wedding planner has the most chunk of work, the role of a venue coordinator is essential nonetheless. A venue coordinator takes charge of the reception area (in some cases, even the place of ceremony) by ensuring that the place is ready – rain or shine, the electricals are safely working, there is proper ventilation and lighting, there are enough chairs, the tables are all sturdy, and the caterers come on time. Simply put, your venue coordinator takes care of the minute details of the wedding reception that your wedding planner may have missed.
8. Your venue coordinator is your host.
Think of it this way, your venue coordinator is like a host that welcomes your guest to make them feel like home during your wedding reception. The host makes sure that everybody is safe and comfortable. Your venue coordinator also takes the role of managing the time for celebration and packing up and also ensures safe parking spaces for you and your guests.
9. Both of them work hand-in-hand
Although these two have a very distinct scope of work, they share one goal in mind, and that is to give you your dream wedding that you deserve. During the wedding ceremony, your wedding planner coordinates with the venue coordinator to prepare for your arrival at the venue. Much more than that, they make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible when you arrive.
At Mimi Ebichi Events, we specialize in full service (white glove) wedding planning and also offer wedding management services for the couple that has no time to do it all. We pride in building and maintaining meaningful working relationships with venues and vendors so our mutual clients enjoy a seamless event.
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