I recently wrote about the cost involved in hiring a Toronto wedding planner and how it is not as expensive as you might think. But for those couples who still have cost concerns or who actually enjoy the wedding planning experience and do want to take this journey themselves, consider hiring a Toronto wedding coordinator for Day of Coordination (aka Month of Coordination).
Quite simply, they will help to remove a mountain of stress off your shoulders in the oh-so-critical month before your wedding and will be there on the wedding day when you can’t, making sure everything goes according to plan.
This service is quite affordable, costing about $999 for the average 175 person wedding. Usually this will involve two certified wedding planners on the day, a Lead Planner and her assistant. You never want to have only one planner there simply because the Lead is often approached by other vendors and the venue staff on the day with questions and are often tied up with them. That means if you had anything that required attention such as putting out your guest favours, or setting up place cards or the receiving table items… another pair of hands is required to ensure everything is done on time.
So your Toronto Wedding Coordinator will become engaged with you about a month before the wedding and will spend up to three hours with you, getting to know every little detail about your day. She will go through all your vendor contracts and identify things that you may not have thought of or little “gotchas” you may not have considered. For example, perhaps the photography package you purchased was for 8 hours but after doing a comprehensive itinerary for the day, it appears that you really will need them for 10 hours. Or in reviewing your seating chart and floor plan it is clear that you forgot to allow for a vendor table (very common mistake). This allows you to make any necessary changes in advance and to alleviate your fears that maybe your forgot something.
Your Toronto Wedding Coordinator will be available to answer your questions and help you throughout that month with any questions you may have.
In the week before the wedding she will be contacting all the vendors to ensure that they are on the same page when it comes to expectations and that they have her contact information and know to call her in case of any issues on the day or beforehand.
And of course your Toronto Wedding Coordinator will be at your rehearsal to meet all the key members of the bridal party and to familiarize herself with the proceedings for the day. In many cases, couples ask the wedding planner to actually run the rehearsal in place of the officiant.
Finally as mentioned, on the day of the wedding, your Toronto Wedding Coordinator will arrive hours in advance with her assistant to make sure the vendors are all doing exactly what they are supposed to do and the setup is take care of.
There is no question that keeping the stress to a bare minimum before your wedding is priceless, but also think about hiring a Toronto wedding coordinator as insurance. You have spent so much money getting the right venue and the right vendors…. Having a wedding planner there to bring it all together and manage it on the day is just additional insurance that things will go as well as possible. As we all know, things may go wrong that are beyond anyone’s control but at least you have the peace of mind that things ARE under control as much as is humanly possible before the wedding and there is something to be said for that!
