Wedding Planner VS Wedding Coordinator
Unless you’ve been living under a rock most of your life, you’ll have likely heard about the stress of planning a wedding, so once you got engaged, you expected some of that stress to creep up. What you probably didn’t expect is the need for a dictionary to navigate through all the wedding terminology and industry specific lingo! One of the most important things to stave off wedding related stress is to know and understand the important roles of your wedding vendors and the crucial responsibility they will have in helping you create the perfect atmosphere. At Luxe Elopements, we want to take the guess work out of your journey, so here’s a little detail on the difference between a Wedding Planner and a Wedding Coordinator and how you can expect our team to operate while bringing your dream wedding to life.
The Wedding Planner
The wedding planner is a unique individual who thrives on pressure, creativity and timelines, (think of Jo-Lo with the headset and clipboard) and their role is longer in nature than most of your other vendors, because they are a couple’s main point of contact throughout their wedding journey. A wedding planner is responsible for helping you PLAN and EXECUTE all elements of your wedding day, from offering vendor recommendations, to contract negotiations, determining and maintaining your budget, offering styling and design concepts, coordinating travel and accommodation, to implementing all of the planned elements of your wedding day. According to Brides.com a wedding planner may spend anywhere between 80 – 250 hours organising and implementing your celebration and wedding planners on the Tweed Coast generally charge $5000+ for this service.
The Wedding Coordinator
The wedding coordinator, whilst just as savvy on the organizational and creative front, has a shorter-term, but just as crucial role in your wedding. They allow you the freedom to do the bulk of the planning for your wedding and will generally swoop in around 6 weeks before your big day to take over the reins and help you finalise the finer details of the day. A coordinator will bring all your hard work together, starting off with a run sheet of the day, reconfirming vendors bookings and requirements, become the point of contact for enquiries in the immediate lead up and with their keen eye and professional experience, ensure that there is no hiccups on the horizon for you. They take the pressure off you and your love one, ensuring things happen as they should, so the two of you can relax and make the most of your day. Brides.com estimate a coordinator clocks up around 25 hours per wedding and the standard pricing for a coordinator in the Tweed Region is $1000 – $1500.
Your Luxe Elopements Wedding Guru – Planner or Coordinator?
In true Luxe Elopements style, Sarah-Jane, owner and organizer-extraordinaire, has taken much of the guess work out of planning your wedding celebration. Through fostering relationships with quality vendors, to traversing beaches and parks all across Byron Bay, Tweed Coast and Gold Coast, she has handpicked a team of wedding creatives and crafted a fabulous directory of locations to bring your wedding dreams to life. So, you can say she’s already done lots of planning on your behalf. Knowing our Luxe Couples are searching for a luxury celebration at an affordable price tag, we include a wedding coordinator with all our collections, giving you the opportunity to liaise with our packaged vendors while planning any other elements to the day you wish to incorporate (like the perfect dress, rings and sparkling wine). After locking in your chosen package with us, Sarah-Jane will introduce you to your included vendors, you’ll get to know them as you get creative together and they’ll guide you through the process of their specific component to the day. As the celebration approaches, Sarah-Jane will connect with you and your Luxe Elopement vendors to reconfirm all the details of the day bringing it all together with a run sheet and making sure everything runs smoothly for you on the day.
What does our team do?
To keep your packages affordable without substituting luxury we have a streamline process to booking, planning and executing your elopement or micro wedding. Our packages include the following:
Wedding Co-ordination inclusions:
- Lead up – 1 hour phone or Face Time consultation
- Lead up – Our team will work together behind the scenes and lodge council permits, legal documents, mood boards etc
- 6-12 weeks out – Final consultation by email + delivery of your wedding day timeline + vendor coordination
- 6-12 weeks out – Vendor booking, contracts and payment coordination
- Wedding day – 3hrs x “On the day” wedding day coordinator
- *Times may change during peak and off peak times