Hey lovelies! It’s me again with another installment of wedding planning series where I give you the 🙌 truth about the ins and outs of planning your wedding from a photographer’s perspective. Today I want to talk about free coordinators, vendor coordinators or any coordinator that isn’t an actual wedding planner by trade. I call these “off-brand” coordinators. These types of coordinators can definitely be an asset but only if used in conjunction with a skilled professional wedding planner and not used in place of a wedding planner.

I know. I know. You look at your venue and they include an event coordinator or your caterer builds a timeline for you and offers day-of coordination and you think to yourself… “This is AH-MAZE-BALLS, I can have a stress-free day AND save myself some money!”. Except it’s not.

Getting to the straight skinny on this… these vendors are not experienced with all the ins and outs of a wedding day and are only experts in their given field. Their number one goal is not to ensure you have an all-around stress-free day but to ensure that all the planning that they take part in works well with their services. I know that sounds harsh but think about it this way — when faced with a task that directly impacts the off-brand coordinator’s provided service, do you think they are going to side on what’s best for the overall day or the best for their provided service? Here’s an example. When photography (you know the record of your day for the next 100 years) is running late because it rained the morning of your wedding and you lucked out during cocktail hour with clear skies and an opportunity to do your images outside at the gorgeous location you have chosen. Does this go quickly and uninterrupted, no. 99 out of 100 times the caterer will interrupt the photos to bring you a tray of appetizers. Keep in mind, you will be eating within the next 45 mins and that 20 min window may be all you get to capture the photos of you day.

CATERER COORDINATORS.

These off-brand coordinators are on the top of my list of bad choices to make for added services. The dinner service is the number one issue when it comes to getting through a reception timeline. By utilizing a caterer coordinator you are essentially putting the reins of your wedding wagon train into the hands of the culprit. When timing becomes an issue (ie they are running late with dinner service), they will make an arbitrary decision to move things. My favorite is when we are an hour away from sunset photos (so 2 hours before sunset) and the caterer uses photography as an excuse to delay dinner “Oh, we are going to serve later so you can do your sunset photos now”. No, they are running late and I’m now not taking photos with a dreamy sunset lit sky to cover for it. If asked, I would not do sunset photos two hours before sunset.

I’ll leave it at that for caterer coordinators… you get the point. Don’t do it.

DJ COORDINATORS.

DJs are great. I love 99.9% of the DJs I work with. It’s one area of a wedding that couples typically really invest in so I get the pleasure of working with some really great ones who make me feel like dancing (disco reference). The thing is… the great ones would not even think of touching the rest of the wedding day. They have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders and building an entire day timeline or directing other vendors is not where their energy should be. It should be spent getting your guests up and ensuring they have an amazing time on your big day. And to be honest, I have never worked with a DJ coordinator that didn’t get into ALL the photos they could. I know you love your vendors but 40 years from now do you want to reminisce over your wedding photos and see the DJ whose name you can’t remember in all your photos as you wait to walk down the aisle, cut your cake, etc? I don’t think so. The other big downside to DJ coordinators is that they typically aren’t there for the earlier part of your day so if a real timeline issue arises they won’t be there to help and it gets put squarely on your shoulders.

VENUE COORDINATORS.

I always get excited when my couples tell me they have a coordinator. Two seconds later I am deflated when I realize that the coordinator they have named is the venue coordinator. Have I worked with some great venue coordinators… absolutely. More so than any other type of “off brand” coordinator. However, a venue coordinator is not the same as a wedding planner. Their concern is the timing and coordination of events at the venue. They are often not present if the ceremony is at another location. They won’t handle timeline issues or missing vendors. Think caterer or cake not showing up on time… they leave it up to the couple to handle as it doesn’t have anything to do with the venue. There is no buffer for other vendors. I worked with a venue coordinator that actually locked everyone out of the venue so they could finish set up… meanwhile the couple was outside in gale force winds. The couple wasn’t disappointed with the venue for locking the doors but at me because I didn’t come up with an alternative plan for photos as Dorothy and Toto whipped by us. The biggest venue coordinator snafu that I’ve heard about recently was when the coordinator left at the end of their work day… leaving the couple not checked-in to their room amidst timing issues with other vendors and dinner service. Remember venue coordinators are often hourly wage employees who may or may not be available on a weekend or after 5pm.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

Okay, so we can make a mean timeline, style a table so it looks amazing in photos and have buddied up with some of the best vendors in the area but when it comes down to it, we still aren’t planners. While we’ve probably handled numerous issues in the years leading up to your weddings, it’s not where our passion lies. We want to be free to document memories (and that’s not just corny sales line) without the stress of worrying about timing and herding 15-20 people from one event to the next. The bottom line is the more time I’m dealing with the logistics of your wedding day, the less time I’m taking photos. Plus most other vendors will just look at us as “just the photographer” so we carry zero authority whatsoever. I kind of like it that way personally. It adds to being able to be quietly out of the way as I photograph the real moments of your day.

So what can you do?

Hire a professional wedding planner or day-of-coordinator.

• Make sure they specialize in event planning (and it’s not just an off-shoot of their main non-related business). You deserve to have the very best vendors adding to your day.
• Ask them if they will be in person at your event. If they are not going to be in attendance on your big day, request the name, age and experience of the planner who will be.
• Ask the planner how many events they do per weekend. A good planner will not do more than one event per day unless they have a strong, experienced team. Steer clear of any planning service that contracts for 3-4 events every weekend without a dedicated (over 21) planner in attendance at each.

To help you get started, here are some of my favorite local planners:

Events to a T | POC: Letitzia | www.eventstoat.net

Wedding Planning Plus | POC: Eliza | www.weddingplanningplus.net

Candice Grace Events | POC: Candice | www.candicegraceevents.com

I Do Event Design | POC: Andrea | www.idoeventdesign.com