The ONLY question I always say No to
One of the questions that pops up in our DM’s + inbox most often is—
“Do you offer day-of coordination? We have all the details sorted + vendors booked and we just need someone to run it!”
I get it—you’ve done the heavy lifting of planning, designing, booking, sorting + a million other things. You want to pass it off to someone to take it + run with it, and make sure the day you dreamed up is the day that you get to live.
So, of course - the most cost effective + best way to do so is hire someone JUST for the day-of right?
I beg to differ.
Month-of/ 45 day - 60 day packages are often comparable to the price of day of, if you’re working with quality vendors. (Between $1,200 - $$2,500; variation largely depends on experience + quality of work.)
Picture this: For the last 4 years, I have been in the midst of planning all sorts of events. From assisting at weddings, to planning housing for hundreds of high school students at a local university event, running multi-day events that are multifaceted for said university, overseeing and running a 5 day summer camp for 1,000 + people + designing and executing detailed weddings.
It’s safe to say that this isn’t my first rodeo. If anything it might give me reason to be like,
“Girl, yeah just hand over those details + I am YOUR gal.”
But, actually no. We don’t offer Day-Of coordination…and never will. But, our Month-Of coordination package includes coordination on the day of.
HERE IS WHY:
Your coordinator is running your WEDDING DAY. Details matter.
Not just another event or day, it’s your wedding day. So, details matter extra. You have sorted the song you’re walking down to, the color of the napkins, the font on the signs + the specific time you want your brother to give his toast. The sad news is that your coordinator can’t read your mind. You may have all the details sorted but, turns out, in order for us to make it the very best it can, we need time to get to know those details. Which can’t effectively happen day of.
Never, in all my years and all the events, have I ever been able to successfully run an event by just showing up the day of or 24 hours before. It takes TIME! It takes meetings, it takes prep to get it just right!You need to get to know your coordinator + they need to get to know you.
Can I be honest with you? Not everything will go perfectly on your wedding day. *gasps all around*. Hopefully something small, but something will go off track. And in that moment, you likely won’t be around to fix it. But, you know who will? Your coordinator. If you meet your coordinator the day of, how are they supposed to know what you like/ want/ care about?
Just like you need time to get to know a new friend, you will need time to get to know your coordinator and they, you.
Timeline makes a difference.
You probably can write up a mean timeline for what you hope your wedding day to be like. I don’t doubt it, actually. But, the truth is, your wedding timeline is more than just the times that things happen on wedding day.
It’s what tells your vendors WHAT they need to do, WHERE they need to be, and WHEN they need to be there.If they know those things and have been given the appropriate time to do their role, we’re golden. Harmony is on the horizon. But, if timing is a bit off, or they aren’t appropriately included for minor tasks that play a role in overall experience, you will feel it.
And if your vendors feel stressed, you’ll feel it. We don’t want that!We’ll catch those details you never thought of.
I’ve watched wedding days unfold from behind the scenes a hundred times, over and over. I see the little tasks your DJ needs to do to make sure it’s all set right + the amount of time he needs to set up. I know the general amount of time it takes to take family photos with a standard amount of people. I know what drives a caterer up the wall when we miss it. But, the truth is, I’m not sure any of our couples have ever seen those things.
I know that often there isn’t enough ice or a cake riser is forgotten.
In our meeting 4- 6 weeks before your wedding we’ll remind you of those things that just don’t seem to make the Pinterest lists + make sure YOU don’t forget them. But, what if I just show up on the day-of and they’re forgotten?
The real reason why we will never offer exclusively a day of is because you deserve better. You deserve a wedding day as wonderful as humanly possible and that can’t happen if we just show up day-of.
For now, we’ll keep offering Month-Of coordination + ending up with very happy couples and start praying for the ability to read minds… cause then, we could offer exclusively day-of.
