Advice from Sarah Trotter at Lasting Impressions:
Why Hire a Day of Coordinator...
Of course like Any other service out there, I get a ton of inquires where people are looking for pricing and general information. The difference in the emails I get asking about day of coordination and full coordination is that the couples looking for day of coordination you can tell are not as sure if that is something they need. MY couples wanting full coordination, they get it.. they are either too busy to plan, realize that hiring a coordinator can save them lots of money (not to mention headaches), they know that the whole process will be worry free.. But couples looking for a day of coordinator maybe tried to save some money throughout the process.. they had a lot of fun planning all of the details and it seems like most of them heard that hiring a day of coordinator was a good idea from a friend or from the internet.
Now, I get it!! I did not even have a day of coordinator for my own wedding and this is what I do for a living (DUMB MOVE SARAH!!). I would say I am a very organized, precise, need to be in control kind of person and I just Assumed (wrongly) that I would be able to be that person on the day of the wedding. Now if this would have been after I would have started Lasting Impressions I would have for sure known to hire someone.... but hindsight is always wonderful....
I know that everyone of my couples that were on the fence on whether to have a day of coordinator absolutely agree it was worth the money.. or as I am told a lot (“Worth your weight in gold”) But I of course can understand why there are questions.. let me win you over.... with everything I see!!!
-First of all, you probably have a wonderful reception site (Most of them are in this area), but do you have someone to look out for you!? I know wonderful catering managers, but honestly they are so busy running all of the food, the venue, the staff, etc that they are not going to make sure that you have champagne in your toasting flutes, that your gifts get moved to your car (we move them to your house if you want!), make sure your dad knows when to go up and give his speech, bring you the toss bouquet when it that time of the night.... all of those little “reminders” go unseen a lot.. but that means you dont have to THINK on you’re wedding day , you get to enjoy...
-I know that lots of reception sites say that they will put out the placecards, the favors, etc. But will they know what your florist was supposed to bring, or what the rental company was supposed to decorate? Do they know exactly what tables you wanted your parents at? Will they call the vendors that are not there on time, or answer a lot of timing questions? Not only do we do all of this... but one of my things I really try and do is get to know you and what you want! I send all of my couples a day of questionnaire about months before you’re wedding that will detail out all of these questions and then we sit down and go over all of this! I want to go to your venue with you, I want to see exactly where you want your guest book, where do you want your placecards and I want to answer all of your questions to make sure I have a great idea of EVERYTHING that is going on and everything you have planned.
-Who is going to be around to take care of the last minute disasters (or mishaps), because they DO happen!!! I cannot think of one event where something did not go wrong.. And that is ok... it is my job to solve it, and in the process make sure that the bride and groom do not know about it or let it bother them. Linens that come in the wrong color, cakes that fall over, marriage license that are forgot, a shuttle that locks its keys in the shuttle while guests need to be transported, having to move a wedding inside and outside 3 different times because of weather, a missing DJ... you name it.. I have seen it.. and in that whole time we take care of it with a smile on our face and make sure we NEVER let any of this ruin the day. I always love to tell clients long after they’re wedding day the “funny” things that happened.
-Who is going to be there to send you down the aisle... Now if you have a church coordinator, They will! But if you dont... or the church coordinator is not involved in this.. we are there to do it. We are there to line you up, run through your ceremony at rehearsal if needed, make sure the musicians are cued, make sure your programs get handed out, EVERYTHING! I think the ceremony is the one thing that a lot of brides forget about. I know I did.. I had to tell my bridal attendants when to walk... that was a lot more stress than I wanted on the day of my wedding.
I really try and think of my job as the person hired to look out for you on YOUR DAY! You have hired a great venue, a great florist, a wonderful DJ.. But someone needs to be the glue that makes sure that it is a wonderful day... I am there to make sure they all “gel” together. This is a huge day for not only the bride and groom, but for the whole family...and it is only going to happen once, why spend all of that money and leave the risk that it does not go perfect?
Some of the things that we do for you, set us apart.
-I call the package day of coordination, but we start answering questions and being there for you right from the moment you hire us.
-I want to go to the venues with you and have a great long meeting to make sure that you are comfortable with our plan and that I know you inside and out.
-I create a day of timeline that puts everything in order, shows what are decor is going to be like, who is doing what, vendors arrivals, etc
-I touch base with all of your vendors to make sure they know we are going to be there, I send them the timeline and I let them know they can start to ask us questions.
-We pick up linens, rental item, cake stands, your place cards, your programs...… and on and on. Whatever we can help you with picking up and returning.… Let us know. If I can fit it on my SUV.… I am happy to save you $50 in delivery charges!
-We return all of your items to you.… Dont worry who is going to grab your gifts. I will bring them to your house. I just want you to come with what you have and leave with your husband. Dont worry who is going to grab the guest book. We are the first ones to the site and the last ones to leave. I clean up everything!
-You always have at least 2 coordinators on the day of the wedding and we have unlimited hours. I cannot do my job without an assistant.... Someone needs to be at the reception site when the ceremony is going on... and I am not sure how I can feel like I did a perfect job on the day of wedding without staying until the end. To me its very important.
So as you can tell.. I could go on and on and on... but I just want to put this out there to show you.... there are a lot of reasons to spend a little extra for piece of mind!
Here is an unflattering photo of myself with a good friend and my wonderful bride Anna - We were setting up for her big day (I always wear my dress clothes to set up... except when I am hauling hay bails :)
Sarah Trotter: Lasting Impressions
