Venue vs Wedding Coordinator: What’s the Difference?

A lot of couples get confused when their venue informs them that they provide an on-site venue coordinator. They think great - one less vendor to hire…only to realize in the month leading up to the wedding how wrong they are! And by that time, most of the professional coordinators are already booked. So, what is a venue coordinator? And how do they differ from a wedding coordinator?

Well for starters, the wedding coordinator works for YOU and the venue coordinator works for (you guessed it) the VENUE. You can see the main issue already starting to form, right?

To break it down into bite size pieces, the venue coordinator will:

• make sure the venue is ready to go

• provide ceremony and reception table layouts

• make sure the layouts are being followed by the set-up crew

• handle any in-house lighting throughout the day

• handle any emergencies on the venue’s property

• oversee any of the venue’s personal vendors (for example if they provide in-house bar, catering, or rentals)

• provide very limited timelines, called BEOs, to the venue staff

• occasionally handle rehearsals, but not always. And certainly will not if the ceremony is being held off-site.

Your wedding coordinator will:

• set up & breakdown your personal decor

• oversee & organize all your vendors

• handle any vendor logistical concerns

• make sure you, your wedding party, & your vendor team are ready to go for key moments

• work with you to create ceremony & reception layouts, should the venue not provide this service

• creates an in-depth timeline for the whole day (morning to night)

• handle any emergencies on the wedding day

• assist with all wedding related matters (ex. bustle wedding dress, keeping the couple fed/hydrated, etc)

• handle rehearsals and wedding ceremony details

• most importantly, keep the couple on schedule!!