Are you coordinated?

Sorry for slacking off as of late. All this bar studying has kept me pretty busy. But there's only so much New York Practice I can cram into my head in one day, so here I am.

I wanted to talk just a little bit about choosing a day-of-coordinator, mainly because my local knot board has been inundated w/ requests for DoC's over the past couple of weeks.

So, why should you hire a DoC? What do they do? How do you pick one?

If you're like me, you've spent months planning your wedding - carefully researching vendors, picking your colors, your flowers, your invites. And when the big day rolls around, you want all of this planning to come together exactly the way you envisioned it. This is where a professional day-of-coordinator comes in. Hiring a DoC means that you get to hand your vision over to someone who knows EXACTLY how you want things done, and will ensure that they're done that way, without asking your friends and family (who should be enjoying this day with you) to set up your centerpieces.

So what precisely do day-of-coordinators DO? In my (I'll admit) rather limited experience, it seems like most will provide an initial consultation meeting to get the "feel" of your wedding day and then will disappear until about a month (or possible a week) before the big day, when you be able to contact them more frequently to arrange all of those last minute details. Generally, DoC's will: run the rehearsal if requested; offer time management during your day, keeping you, your party, your guests, and your vendors all on track; decorate your ceremony and reception site the way YOU envision it; handle payment for vendors; gather and transport gifts and other items; keep in touch with vendors throughout the day to make sure things run smoothly; and handle any issues that arise so that you don't have to. Some wedding planner provide less, and some provide more (e.g. my DoC provides a couples massage before the wedding w/ a licensed massage therapists, and permits you to use her design inventory - saving you $$$ in creating centerpieces), but they all seem to fall somewhere along these general lines.

And how should you pick one? Personally, I think the single most important thing that you should consider when picking a DoC is their personality, as in "how well do your personalities mesh"? You will more than likely be spending the ENTIRE day w/ the person, perhaps even more time than with your photographer, so you should know that you will feel comfortable having her (or him) around you all day. That being said, I suppose that there are a few other important things to look for as well:

• What is their experience like? In other words, how many weddings have they done? How many of they done as a professional (many coordinators start out doing this "on the side")?
• Do they have references? If they do - CONTACT THOSE REFERENCES!
• Precisely what service do they provide?
• How have they handled "emergencies" in the past?
• Do they have additional staff? How many? How experienced are their staff?
  
• Do they have any other weddings booked for the same weekend or *gasp* for the same day?
• What is their cost? It's no good to get your hopes set on a particular planner if they are WAY out of your budget.
  

Also, I've heard a lot of DoC's touting that they belong to this professional organization, or that professional organization, and while being able to network within your profession is important, I don't personally think that this is that big of a deal. When I looked into all of these organizations myself, I realized that the cost to join is EXHORIBITANT, particularly for a new wedding planning professional, and the benefits they receive are minimal - for instance, the "training" provided to members could just as easily be gained by working at a few weddings - so if you're already out working as a planner, you've already been trained. I guess what I'm trying to say is please don't let someone's membership in any organization they can join just by forking over a lot of money be your guiding factor in picking your wedding planner. Pick them based on their skills and their ability to deliver, NOT on whether or not they belong to a specific organization.

As a final note, if anyone is looking for day-of-coordination (or full coordination) for their wedding in southwest Ohio, you should definitely look into Kristen Kloth with Tres Chic Event Planning. We hired Kristen after only meeting w/ one DoC - she was that good. And she has been sooooo helpful, even a year out. Her work is fabulous and her prices are incredibly reasonable - trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Happy coordinating!