When you imagine your wedding day, do you picture a day filled with love and laughter and time spent with friends and family?  Do you want to feel relaxed, well rested, prepared? Do you imagine spending the morning with your wedding party, getting ready, sharing a few drinks, laughs, memories, maybe some tears.  Do see yourselves completely in the moment with each other, taking in all the details you planned.  Is everything flowing beautifully, just as you wanted it to – just as you hoped it would? 

Of course!!

But here’s the harsh reality – none of those things will be possible without someone taking charge on your wedding day and being the leader. And they’re extremely unlikely without the expertise of a Wedding Coordinator casting their eye over your plans ahead of the day.  You might have the best Vendors and an army of friends and family offering to lend a hand, but without a leader and someone who knows how to coordinate a lot of moving parts, you and your partner will have to take charge.

And what does that mean?

That means you working on the day before your wedding day and possibly on the day of it.  It means, question, after question, after question, coming your way  the well-meaning friends and family helping you and from Vendors who aren’t sure where they need to be, where to plug in, what the timings of the day are.   It means having to put your big girl or boy pants on when something goes wrong and sorting it out – even though you’re supposed to be getting married. 

And a ton of other stuff I don’t want to scare you with.

What’s the alternative?  A professional Wedding Coordinator by your side. And if the picture I painted above hasn’t convinced you below are four more good reasons why it’s worth investing in help for your wedding day.

A Wedding Timeline That Works

A Wedding Coordinator will collaborate with you and your vendors to design a timeline that guides you, your wedding party, and your guests from the beginning of your wedding day to the end.  The benefit of having a professional design your timeline is that they have the experience to know what a realistic timeline looks like and what details it needs to include to ensure your day is well planned and that there is only joy – no stress and no chaos.

Wedding day logistics aren’t always straightforward, and your Vendors may have their own preferences regarding times they start and finish and how much time they have to set up, pack down etc.  Without someone coordinating everyone’s needs and being an advocate for yours, it’s easy for a timeline to become messy with a lot of overlapping elements.  A Wedding Coordinator will work through the logistics and requirements of each Vendor, so they all have the time they need to deliver their service to the best of their ability. 

I remember a wedding where there was a significant conflict in timings for the ‘getting ready’ part of the day.  The logistics were such that there were considerable distances to travel between where the Bride and Groom and their attendants were getting ready and where the Ceremony was taking place.  The initial timings given to the couple by each Vendor were completely unworkable and would have seen the Bride being photographed before her hair was done.  After speaking with the Vendors our Melbourne Wedding Coordinator created a timeline that everyone was happy with and importantly allowed the couple to enjoy getting ready with the other members of the wedding party.  No one was late, the Photographer and Videographer got the shots they needed and it was a great wedding!

Wedding Planning + Logistics

If you’ve decided to plan your own wedding, you will already know that a wedding is made up a details and stages of the day.  And when you’ve never planned a wedding or event for this many people before, it’s normal to worry that you may have overlooked something or that the details may not ‘fit together’ in the way you hope they will.  This is where a Wedding Day Manager comes in.  At the I Do Crew we don’t just show up on the day.  Yes, we’ll be your On the Day Coordinator, but our Wedding Planners also meet with you several times in the months and weeks before your Wedding – which is why we like to call them Wedding Day Managers.  We take our couples through a process that ensures we have a full understanding of your wedding day plans and vision.  It’s through this process that we can highlight any potential areas of concern.  Your Wedding Coordinator will review your contracts, confirm details with your Vendors and do a site inspection with you as well as attend the Rehearsal if applicable. This process is what gives our couples the confidence to relax on their wedding day – safe in the knowledge that an wedding planning expert has gone through all the moving parts of the day and that everything has been ticked off.

Expertise by your side

You may have a friend or family member who has offered to step in and be your On the Day Wedding Coordinator and if they have event experience and are happy to not be a guest on the day, that could be a good option.  But if your friend or family member doesn’t have experience of managing a wedding day or large-scale event, it’s unlikely they’ll have the experience to handle any issues that arise on the day, without involving you.  And that also goes for the many questions that pop up on wedding day from Vendors, guests, and even your Venue.  There is always something that needs to be clarified or confirmed and I promise you, you don’t want to be answering those questions on your wedding day.  When you’ve spent hours, months, maybe more, planning this day you deserve to enjoy it alongside your guests.    You’ve invested too much time and money in it to spend the day doing anything other than celebrating. 

I will always remember an email I received after wedding where the couple hired us quite last minute.  The Bride emailed to thank our Sydney Wedding Coordinator and tell me that she now realised that every dollar she spent on her Wedding Day would have been a waste without us because she could never have relaxed and enjoyed the day without us there by her side.

The real reason you need an On the Day Wedding Coordinator

A wedding, like any large event, needs someone to step up and take charge on the day.  If you don’t nominate a person to do this, you will be pulled into this role, whether you like it or not.  And whilst your friends and family may want to help you and even save you money by taking the lead, if they don’t have the expertise, it’s likely that you will still be involved in decision making and trouble-shooting on the day.  Hiring an On the Day Wedding Coordinator who works with you in the weeks leading up to the day and on the day itself is an investment in a wedding that runs smoothly and allows you to enjoy the time and money you’ve put into it.

Which wedding professional do you need?  Check out this article which explains the different roles.  Or, contact the I Do Crew.  We would be happy to recommend a service that meets your wedding day needs.