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I was recently asked by a DJ friend of mine to compile real world examples from clients, and my own experience in events, about why at least a day of coordinator is vital to a smooth running wedding day.  He occasionally runs into a client that thinks they can do without; of course, this kills him because it means more work for him, and there are so many other things he can’t handle on his own that the client still has to deal with.  Here are a few examples of how coordinators and planners are crucial to the process:

  1. – Recently at a wedding, the banquet manager stopped me cold during setup and told me quite rudely that the dessert table was going to trigger a $500 ‘outside food’ fee.  I told him this had been waived by the catering sales manager and that certain verbiage listed on the BEO (banquet event order) designated this.  He said that wasn’t enough notation and he insisted upon charging the clients.  Had I not been there, the bride would have had to have dealt with this guy’s attitude, and it would have ruined her day.  We worked with the original sales manager to make sure it was not charged, and the bride had not a clue about the showdown till after (when she begged us to tell her about any hiccups that day).  I have written a letter in complaint as well to make sure the property is aware of this gentleman’s (ha!) attitude.
  1. – A client had a makeup test prior to her big day; the makeup artist got a parking ticket, and tried to get my client to pay for it! I knew the artist and called her immediately.  She admitted she would pay for it instead, and my client didn’t have to deal with it or pay the fine.
  1. – A bride and groom booked a DJ company with a bridal show discount.  It allowed for additional hours without extra charge.  When the date got closer, my contact at the DJ company switched from the sales department to the operations manager; the manager wanted to charge them FOR the extra hours because he did not technically approve the original rate.  I got on the phone with him (the Friday the week before the wedding,mind you!),  armed with email confirmations from the sales associate, and spoke with him for 20 minutes to get him to remove the charge – saving my clients $200.
  1. Timing and logistics:  We’ve caught everything from strict venue curfews that would have triggered removal of  the bride off property for the ‘first look’ shot, to resolving conflicting vendor time frames that would trigger photographer overtime fees, to permit issues that would potentially cause the city to shut down a wedding.

Dee on the job, chatting with the maid of honor at a Lindley-Scott House wedding. Photo by Wasserlein Photography.

Clients say:

“We had absolutely no stress on our wedding day because we knew all of the logistics, details, and coordinating were all taken care of.  It is also extremely important to have a coordinator so that your family and friends can enjoy the day alongside of you.  No member of the wedding is running around fixing problems on that day.”

“As a Mother of the Bride living out of state, I had plenty of time to help, [but] could only do online research or make phone calls. That quickly became discouraging with so many vendors, price points, services, reviews and testimonials to consider but no ability to meet people and see places for myself.   A few friends whose daughters had recently married in destination weddings were full of advice and tales of woe over the costly mistakes they had made and the regrets they had, and their budgets were much higher than ours. One excellent piece of advice was to hire a wedding planner or at least a day-of coordinator so that I could enjoy being the MOB while someone else handled the logistics. From that moment I was able to relax and enjoy the whole process.  The wedding was the beautiful, enchanted event we all hoped it would be and I have not a single regret. Nothing went wrong!”

“Thank you for making my dream wedding come to life.  I’m still getting comments about how relaxed I seemed that day and it’s all thanks to you!!! I couldn’t have done it without you!”

We also provide a complementary consultation to every potential bride and groom, no cost or obligation.  If you want to hear more war stories and how we prevented so many form happening to our own clients, give us a call at 310-562-3306.  Happy planning!