PB & J
I love a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I really do. The perfect combination of creamy and rich peanut butter paired with sweet and light jam or jelly working together to create a scrumptious bite. Why are we talking about PB&J, you ask? Most likely because I'm hungry, but it is also an analogy for venue coordinators and wedding planners.
On the surface, it may seem that a venue coordinator will be the leader in planning your wedding day, especially if you book your venue before your wedding planner. The venue coordinator will answer questions about where the food stations will go, what wine pairings are best, and how many tables create just the right layout for your reception. A knowledgeable venue coordinator will be able to aid in all aspects of your venue and sometimes even more. They can provide a preferred vendor list (folks they have worked with and trust) of florists and bakers and DJs, oh my!
All of these wonderful skills of venue coordinators are fantastic, and they will play an important role in your wedding planning process. While it is important to have a good relationship with your venue, however, they play an extremely different role than a wedding planner. Here are just a few side-by-side examples of how a wedding planner's role differs from that of a venue coordinator...
| Wedding Planner | Venue Coordinator |
|---|---|
| Full wedding budget planning | Venue related budget planning |
| Attends all vendor meetings | Attends on-site meetings at venue |
| Creates full wedding weekend timeline | Creates venue setup timeline |
| Maps out, plans and conducts ceremony rehearsal | Prepares venue for rehearsal and ceremony |
| Plans, designs and executes wedding design & details | Plans and executes wedding layout setup |
| Answers vendor, design, planning, timeline, and etiquette questions | Answers venue logistics questions |
| Manages vendors, guests, and family (and family drama) | Manages venue staff |
| Chooses best vendors for the client based on their needs | Provides a preferred vendors list |
In summary, your venue coordinator will make sure every single detail about the event space is perfect; your wedding planner will make sure every detail about the whole weekend is perfect. These two people and the rest of your wedding team must work together hand in hand to create the wedding you have envisioned. Everyone is a working piece of the puzzle (or sandwich), and we like to say that the wedding planner is the glue (or peanut butter) that keeps it all together. Not to mention, a great venue coordinator is sweet as jelly and makes the job of the wedding planner much easier.
So - remember, your venue coordinator rocks and will work hard to make sure the venue is everything you want it to be, but he/she will not be the person to...
...sew a missing button onto your wedding dress
...make sure Aunt Edna stays away from her ex Uncle Joe
...hold up a floral arrangement from behind the wall during an entire windy ceremony
...have a mobile detailing service come clean the getaway car because the groom forgot.
That person, my friends, is your wonderful, fabulous, and most talented wedding planner, who bends over backwards in every detail of planning and execution of your beautiful wedding day. And yes, we have done all of the above, and more. Let us be your peanut butter.
'Til we Gather Together again...
- Samantha