About half of the business of a typical wedding planer is to function on the actual day of the wedding as a Toronto Wedding Coordinator.
But while we love it, it is sometimes not the easiest job. Here is why:
Most commonly where couples often run into problems is when they get “friends” to act as their vendors. For example the ever-popular “friend who is a DJ”. This is a recipe for disaster because friends expect to be part of the guest count and so you can expect that they are drinking and enjoying themselves and not necessarily focused on providing good service for your wedding. And because they are not professionals, they can’t read the crowd and often end up playing songs that they like to empty dance floors. Disaster. That’s if they show up at all to do their work! There is generally no contract and therefore no guarantee! And if there is a problem, the answer you can expect is that they are doing this for free or really cheap and what do you expect? Not the way you want to go.
Oftentimes we find that a couple is doing a lot of cash deals with vendors and most of the time that works out fine. But again, no contract means no recourse and you are often left on pins and needles before the wedding wondering if they will deliver what they promised and if they will show up at all! We always call all the vendors before the wedding to confirm and review everything which certainly helps… but we do recommend contracts, even if cash is on the table.
Another thing that a typical Toronto wedding coordinator finds challenging is outdoor ceremonies where there is no rain plan. You would be amazed at how often this happens. And guaranteed… on that day the rain will be threatening, causing major stress and headaches for all. Make sure that if you are planning an outdoor ceremony that there is a rain backup. There is little a Toronto wedding coordinator can do for you if you picked a venue with no weather recourse. And this puts a serious damper on everything.
Then there is family drama. Now there may not be much you can do to prevent people from behaving how they will but at least warn your Toronto wedding coordinator about what might be in store and who to watch for. For example, one bride was marrying a man her mother did not approve of (a different culture). On the day of the wedding her mother was literally expecting us to stop the wedding! Seriously? Sorry lady, your daughter hired us to make sure the wedding was a go and that you were kept in check! Overbearing mother-in-laws is another popular one… brides often ask us to nicely but firmly remind these ladies that it is the bride’s wedding and not theirs and “this is how the bride wants it”. Period.
These are just a few examples of some of the things that a Toronto wedding coordinator will watch for and try to mitigate before the wedding to ensure that the day runs as smoothly as possible. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it ! How about us? 🙂
