Your wedding ceremony and reception venues are some of the most important aspects of your wedding, be it a church, country club, or event space. Most all of your options will have a venue manager on staff, so you may wonder, should you invest in a wedding planner?
To summarize the below, your wedding planner will be with you to provide expert guidance and support through the entire wedding process on a wide variety of topics beginning with your invitation suite and ending with coordinating your send-off. While exceeding helpful, the venue manager focuses their energies specifically on venue-related matters.
Support and Guidance
Always a phone call or email away, your wedding planner will be a constant source of support for you throughout the life of your wedding planning process.
If planning a wedding out of town, your planner can facilitate meetings with all of your respective vendors on your behalf and address any concerns in your absence.
You may be hosting portions of your day at various locations, another venue, or a private residence, and your planner will be able to oversee the seamless coordination of all events.
Event Design
You have a vision for your wedding day, and your venue is the base of that vision that all other elements will build upon. Your wedding planner works with you to bring your vision to life by creating a custom look that represents you and your significant other.
Your venue may have certain items available as a part of their offerings like tables, chairs, plateware, flatware, and even linen. That said, these are typically basic offerings and not elevated selections. If you are looking to create a unique table setting with a unique chair, patterned linen, stylish chargers, and flatware with a flare - then your venue’s offerings will usually fall short. Not to fret as this is where your planner’s skills and expertise will shine.
Vendor Procurement and Management
With years of experience and a strong network of vendors, your planner will utilize a skilled team of experts to compose your day’s events.
In addition to procuring the team of vendors, your planner will schedule their individual services and monitor their performance on your wedding day.
Your planner will communicate with your vendors months in advance leading up to your wedding day and ensure all the details - big and small - have been considered, like making sure vendor meals are taken care of.
Conversely, your venue manager will be focused on the venue’s own team, whether it be housekeeping or food and beverage service. The venue manager is not responsible for managing outside vendors or their performance.
Day-of Coordination
Your planner will work with you a few months out to compose a detailed week-of and day-of itinerary for you and your significant other, your wedding party, and your family from the time you wake up on your big day until you are arriving at your final destination at the end of the night.
Come your wedding day, and your planner will be on-site to oversee the execution of the plan making sure that your hair and makeup team are onsite and setup, your photographer has all the detail items like rings and invitations, and your comfortable shoes for later in the night are in the changing room waiting for you after dinner, and the list goes on.
Your venue manager, on the other hand, will advise on the time you have access to the venue, the rules of the property, and when you, all guests, your personal belongings, and decor need to be removed.
In short, venue managers are a vital part of the planner’s vendor team, and they ensure everything taking place at the venue in their control is in order. However, if you are looking for support that relieves the stress of procuring and managing handfuls of vendors of various skills and overseeing their services on your wedding day to execute your vision, engage a wedding planner who will be your go-to professional for all things design and coordination.
Images by Chasity Posey Photography