Is the On-Site Coordinator Enough?

I recently heard from a newlywed who opted to leave the bulk of her wedding plans in the hands of the coordinator provided by the venue.  To the bride's credit, she contacted the on-site coordinator and reserved her date more than a year in advance.  She took the advice of the coordinator and went with the florist, catering and design companies recommended by the venue.  This too, was done more than a year before her June 2010 wedding date. 

This bride's story should end happily, right?  She started planning early enough.  She kept records of deposits, contracts and details that she discussed with her on-site coordinator.  The bride and the coordinator worked so well together that  the bride felt comfortable letting her tweak some of the final decisions with the florist, caterer and designer.  After all, they had discussed everything and the coordinator knew what the budget bottom line was. But, the one thing they did not talk about was the on-site coordinators resignation to start her own event planning company...1 week before the wedding. To make matters worse, the venue did not communicate the change in staffing until the night of the rehearsal.

24 hours before the wedding was to begin, the new on-site coordinator could locate the bride's file, but none of the notes taken by her predecessor.  And while she had a good amount of experience, she had no information about the vendors, delivery schedule or details of the wedding taking place the next day. She did not want to alarm the bride, who was visibly upset already.  She also did not want her employers to doubt her competence, but she was in a really tough spot.

The good news is, that June bride had a beautiful day.  The vendors had plenty of experience with the venue, so they were able to come in and do what they said they would. They worked well together and helped the new on-site coordinator work through minor issues.  There were a few changes that had to be made last minute with the floral design, but the bride liked what was chosen.  Overall, she was happy.  She was also very, very lucky

On-site coordinators are exactly that.  Their job is to coordinate the logistics of your wedding, as it relates to the venue that they work for.  Guidance on attire, invitations, budget, guest list management, bridal party coordination are not details they typically handle.  There are many who are excellent at what they do, and invaluable to you and your wedding team.  However, they can only help you, while they are working for the venue. If anything happens to change that, so does your plan. Your contract covers use of the space, typically not who is staffed there.

This story could have ended in horror.  The bride admitted that she did not sleep at all the night before her wedding trying to put as many details as she could on paper.  In fact, she was a wreck until she saw everything in place before the ceremony started. Even though everything turned out okay, she mentioned wishing that she had spent that time with someone who worked for her and not the venue.  "Peace of mind would have been priceless that night" she says now.

Spend time planning your day with someone who works for you.  The average wedding takes over 250 hours to plan.  The bulk of those hours are spent on details that happen before you even get to the venue. It makes sense that you would build a plan to manage them with someone who has the time to handle them from start to finish.  On-site coordinators are a great bonus for many venues.  Make sure that you have someone who can dedicate the time and attention you need to your whole wedding plan...and you.