Hello lovely couples! I hope you’ve had a nice weekend so far. Here in Barcelona we have had a nice weekend, just a little bit windy today!
Today I’m touching on a subject that couples wonder about all the time, which is; If my venue already offers a venue coordinator for our wedding day, why would I need a wedding planner?
I’m going to do my best to inform you in a good way about the differences, so that you can make an wise decision which alternative suits best for your wedding! I’m also doing this post so that you can fully understand what the tasks of a venue coordinator and a wedding planner so that you won’t get any unpleasant surprises later.
Firstly, let’s clear out who does what.
What does a Venue Coordinator do?
Almost every venue has a person who is in charge of weddings, working only for the venue. These are the venue coordinators. Their job is to plan your wedding reception at their venue. That means, that if you are having your ceremony anywhere else, for instance in a church or any other site, they will not be able to assist you there. Their job is to make sure that everything runs smoothly at their venue.
This means that you cannot ask them to coordinate other vendors that you are bringing in on your own. They will keep track of the timeline at their venue, but not the timeline for the rest of the day. If you bring in vendors that they usually don’t work with, they might ask you to pay an additional fee per external vendor. It’s up to you to make sure that everybody is there on time. You also have to handle the communication and meetings with those external vendors prior to the wedding. The venue coordinators are usually local people and depending on the venue they might have experience with only Spanish weddings. But there are of course also venues that have experience with international weddings.
What does a Destination Wedding Planner do?
A local destination wedding planner offers bespoke wedding planning and design of the decor for your destination wedding. Ideally, they are located at the destination full time but that’s not always the case. They will help you with everything you might need throughout the planning process. For example, sourcing venues and vendors that suits your style and budget and they are not tied to using specific vendors. They are used to working with international clients, and are familiar with the differences between Spanish weddings and international weddings. This makes it easy for them to communicate those differences to all the vendors.
A destination wedding planner will follow you closely during your wedding day regardless if you are having the ceremony at one location, and the reception at another. They will help you create a timeline and keep track of it, as well as managing the local vendors on the wedding day. The will help you to negotiate contracts and prices with local vendors if it would be necessary. Usually, they can also help you with arranging pre- and post wedding activities such as menu tasting, rehearsals, excursions, brunches etc. Here at Better Together Weddings Spain, we can help you with all that.
Who is venue coordinator for?
Venue coordinators are for you if you are planning to celebrate your ceremony at one specific place and if you don’t mind organizing many things around the wedding on your own. Normally, venue coordinators do not charge for their services because they are included in the price when you contract the venue. That is definitely a plus if you are on a tighter budget. An important thing to remember is that even if most venue coordinators are amazing and professional and do a great job, it’s still the venue who pays their salary which means that in the end they will always take the venues side if their would be any disagreements or problems.
Who is a wedding planner for?
A destination wedding planner is for you if you want to have support throughout the entire planning process and during the entire day on your wedding day. They will help you to keep track of everything, not only the venue but also everything else around the wedding. Transfers, timelines, be the point of contact to all involved vendors on the wedding day. It’s for you if you value having somebody on site who always will make sure your interests are being met, and who will stand on your side in case there would be any issues with the venue or vendors. A destination wedding planner will always stand by your side no matter what.
I hope you got a more clear picture of what venue coordinators and wedding planners actually do 🙂