Many popular wedding venues employ their own full-time wedding coordinator to take care of all the couple’s needs from arranging the decoration to overseeing the catering. There can be definite benefits to having someone who really knows the venue and with previous wedding experience there to help, but is it always best to have a coordinator or better to go it alone and take full control of your day? Time to find out!
In the Red Corner, fighting this week for self-coordination, for her own destination wedding the lack of a wedding co-ordinator along with a bit of a language barrier meant that everything really was self coordinated right down to buying the fabric to make the drapes and tablecloths (although being the first wedding ever to take place at the venue it did also mean she had no idea how many guests could be seated at a table until they were arranged the night before the wedding) it’s Dom “The Tog Bride”.
In the Blue Corner, fighting for a little extra help from someone who knows how to get things done at their venue, well after all he was the one left trying to coordinate the transformation from a restaurant to his wedding reception venue ready for the following day with all the little headaches that go along with that, it’s Matt “The Gormless Groom”.
Venue Coordinator Vs Self Coordination
FIGHT!!!
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image by York Place Studios
Dom: Often the best ideas come when you look at a room with a fresh pair of eyes and no preconceptions about how things should be done. Venue coordinators of course always do their best to help with everything and want it to be perfect for every bride and groom but sometimes having seen the same venue over and over can start to restrict rather than enhance your ideas for how best to use it.
Matt: Occasionally that may be the case but many coordinators are very open to new ideas from the bride and groom and are happy to just stand back from the creative process and simply facilitate and make the dream a reality.
Dom: Venue coordinators often impose rules on the day or may only allow you to use their own recommended suppliers who you may not really want. Choosing a venue that is simply a blank canvas allows you to really make it your own and use the suppliers you want to use rather than the ones the coordinator has a relationship with.
Matt: Sometimes though those relationships can be incredibly useful! Wedding coordinators work with a wide range of suppliers and immediately know who to go to in the local area to help with different requirements. They will know that one particular supplier’s tablecloths have a slightly more vintage feel than the others, they will know that one particular band always gets the guests dancing long into the night whilst that particular DJ thinks he’s in Ibiza. Sometimes a little experience and local knowledge pays dividends and can help you to avoid making the wrong choice.
Dom: Experience does count for a lot but if you choose your suppliers wisely you don’t necessarily need that experience to come from a wedding coordinator. The local coordinator might well feel they know the best spots for the group photos from past experience but only the photographer is actually equipped to make that call. The coordinator may believe that the speeches can be heard perfectly through the in-house sound system but it’s the sound technician who has the greater experience at knowing whether extra speakers should be used
Matt: There are so many little details that go into a wedding that you may not even have considered such as is there enough power for the band and caterers, how do you facilitate disabled access for those elderly relatives and their wheelchairs, how can the maximum number of seats be achieved in this particular room? It’s not always the big decisions that can cause real problems, it’s the little ones that no-one else would think about until the day itself but that will be second nature to the resident wedding coordinator.
Dom: You only get to plan your perfect day once and (without becoming a bridezilla about it!) it can be so much fun to put together. Passing so much of the responsibility on to a professional coordinator can rob you of some of that experience which is all part of what goes into the buildup to the day!
Matt: Most people live busy lives and there’s plenty of big decisions to deliberate and worry over without having to concentrate on all the little details too!
Dom: Venues sometimes charge extra for the privilege of having a wedding coordinator which can increase the cost of the venue hire whether you wanted a coordinator or not.
Matt: Sometimes certain venues (particularly heritage sites) have certain rules that need to be observed to protect the venue and the coordinator can help to make that happen without you having to worry about it.
So those are our thoughts but where do you stand? Would you prefer a venue to have a specialist coordinator or to be let loose to work it out for yourselves? Leave a comment to join the debate or simply place your vote in our poll below!
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