Plan Your Central Florida Wedding

Why it Makes Sense to Hire a Wedding Coordinator

April 29, 2020 Orange Blossom Bride
Plan Your Central Florida Wedding
Why it Makes Sense to Hire a Wedding Coordinator
Show Notes Transcript

There is so much that goes into planning a wedding and you want to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch but you also want to enjoy the day. In this episode, we are going to be talking with Bonny and Bryan P.S. I Love You Productions about why it makes sense to hire a wedding coordinator. 

spk_0:   0:00
because ultimately we're gonna ask those questions as well, and we want to make sure it's beneficial for both parties. Welcome to the plan. Your Central Florida Wedding Podcasts. I'm your host. Manish Mint, editor of Greater Orlando's top wedding publication, Orange Blossom Bride. I'm sure when you said yes, you had no idea you were jumping on this roller coaster that is wedding planning goal of this podcast is to make the wedding planning process less stressful and more fun. We'll provide you with great tips and ideas, along with expert advice from some of the areas top wedding pros. So let's get started planning your Central Florida wedding. There's so much that goes into planning a wedding and you want to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch. But you also want to enjoy your day. In this episode, we're going to be talking with Bonnie and Brian of P S. I love you productions about why it makes sense to hire a wedding coordinator Now. Bonnie has been working in the wedding industry for over 15 years, with more than 3000 weddings coordinated under her belt. She has also worked at Disney and Universal in various rules, helping set the stage for her knowledge of the entertainment options that they offer in their business. Now Bonnie and her husband, Brian, bring all their expertise and experience to their clients as P. S. I love you productions delivering on the promise of a stress free wedding experience for also welcome Bonnie and Brian. Hello.

spk_1:   1:39
I'm

spk_0:   1:40
so excited to have you because we're gonna be talking today about a topic I'm really passionate about and that is hiring a wedding coordinator. So before we get into all the reasons why you should do this, what is a wedding coordinator?

So the wedding coordinator is a little bit different than a planner, and a lot of times, people think they are the exact same thing. So a wedding coordinator a lot of times is a person who is going to step back and let the client kind of take the role of their own planning. And in those circumstances, what they're doing is they're finding their own vendors. They're finding their kind of figuring out their own budgets. And then from there, we are able to assist them with making selections and then organizing it, and then come the day of that were actually able to take on and be their day off. Four. Um, whatever it is that they want to have happen. So making sure all those plans are played out exactly how they had planned them to be directly. They envision them. Yeah, exactly. So when it comes to hiring a coordinator, what are they gaining by that? Because I'm sure you guys know the stats very well. It's something like 24% higher either a coordinator or wedding for our ah, wedding planner for help with their wedding, which is so crazy low. But that is the reality of it. So let's tell them what they're gaining by doing so. So I think a lot of them misconceptions are that, you know, and a lot of the venues have been moving towards this is well, is that Ah, venue manager and a coordinator are actually at least a little bit closer than a planner. But the coordinator actually is the person who may be setting the Depor who's actually going to be setting your schedule. Who's going to be making sure everyone stays on time when it comes to a venue manager Their main focus actually is making sure that the building as a whole is doing what it should be doing. AII the lights are on the a Cesaire on. Um, all the doors are unlocked. People are able to get in and out of there. Um, all of the equipment in the kitchen maybe functional. And so those two things are very, very separate jobs. And a lot of times, people don't necessarily know that when they're getting a venue manager, that that's really their key rule and that those are two very, very separate things. And then that coordinator is the person who's going to be your go to person day off as far as food at Faras Beverage. As far as Oh, my gosh, this person is driving me crazy. I need them to go away. And it's important, though, to realize that, because unfortunately, some venues do say that you know you have venue coordinator. You don't have to worry about it, but it's not. It's not the case. You still need them both. I mean, ideally, to have them both would be amazing, correct. And there are some menus in this area which is great, that or in Orlando that actually do include both. But you need to know the difference as to what your venue actually supplying you so that you don't go in blind sided either. Hey, this person is my venue manager. I thought they were going to be doing this. That's not something you need to figure out on the wedding day. Exactly. There's so much going on. And it's one less thing you need to be stressed about, for sure. Now one of the things we hear Law is when it comes to budget. Think that's just not in the budget. But how can that be worked into the budget? Well, what we always say, And this is what I tell my clients, whether they're doing flowers, whether they're doing venue, whether they're doing food, give the sales person or the person that you're speaking with the vendor, that you're speaking with the blue sky aspect of what you want and then come to them with a realistic budget of what you want to spend. Because ultimately we're gonna ask those questions as well, and we want to make sure it's beneficial for both parties. So if you don't think it is in the budget, it is worth a conversation. Because ultimately, when we've looked back just doing our budgets this year, I mean, the majority of what we're looking at is only about 5% of the budget, and we have more than made up for that. In the droves of things we've saved the money on, right. And since they are new to the whole wedding planning experience, they may not realize that you that's like a bonus of having a wedding coordinator of what you are saving them on.

spk_1:   6:28
Yeah, we're definitely looking through all their contract with. One of the first things we actually do is when we contract with someone for our service is we'll have them send us all of our event of their vendor contracts, and they will go through the line by line and make sure that not only functionally are they correct that they have everything that makes sense on the day of, But are there any duplicates? Is there something that the venue is gonna do that they've also got included in the catering that they don't need? So is there something that can be eliminated from water? The other contracts so we're actually going through making sure that everything's going to work on the day of. But also is there any way to save them money? And a lot of times we find quite a bit of stuff that we can take out for them. Or we can make recommendations that they do something a little bit different. And maybe it's the bar where they do something different with their feature drink or something along those lines, and we can actually save the money. So our service costs whatever it costs, whether it's 5% 10% on their budget. But a lot of times we can lower that by looking through and saving them money on the other end.

spk_0:   7:27
So in the end, it pretty much pays for itself.

spk_1:   7:30
It definitely can ya. And a lot of times I try and start the conversation with people and I asked them, I say, You know what you know. What do you think of when you think of a of a wedding? Courtney, do you think it's necessary? And then I say If you were told in the very beginning, before you did anything else that you could give yourself a stress free wedding day and make the entire process significantly less stressful for five or 10% of your entire budget. You do that right? I mean, that makes sense in an overall standpoint. And then tell them, you know, we're basically going to be even potentially saving you even more money. So it becomes even less of a percentage and could completely pay for itself. So and when they see it that way, a lot of intend to think Oh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I would definitely do that. But no one starts out thinking that way necessarily,

spk_0:   8:14
right? Exactly, because I mean and I you guys, no. But I did not have a wedding planner, and I mentioned that on this podcast before or coordinator, and I regret it. And it really does have an impact on your whole wedding experience of how you remember your wedding and all those details. So you've spent all this money to have a wedding you really want, and then because you don't have that person wrangling all the details at the end, the whole experience of it could be tainted a little. So it's definitely worse. The investment for sure.

spk_1:   8:46
It definitely is. And that's the thing is remark. Regardless of what happens in the process, you could do all the planning up to that day and be stressed out. But if the day itself is perfect, that's what you're going to remember. And that's where we provide probably the most value, as as planners and planners in general do. But as as we all know in the industry and a lot of people learn, it's not just day of coordination. It's it's really the month. Oh, there's a lot that goes into it, so you're going to get that day of experience. Plus, you're also going to have help along the way in the weeks leading up to the wedding. So it's all going to be a part of the service. But if the day of is great, you forget a lot of the stress that went into it. Even if there is any leading up to it, as long as the day of is great, then you're going to remember that. And if it's not like you said, you're goingto have memories that aren't really what you were hoping for going into it,

spk_0:   9:38
and I'm glad you mentioned that about the difference between even though it's called a day of It's really a month of so couples looking. Maybe they never thought of getting a coordinator a little bit earlier in the planning process. Don't wait till a week before because you're like, Oh, they're only coming in the day in and day out. They need to play in all those details to make that day run smoothly Well, and you're gonna pay a difference in Costas. Well, one of the things we always like to advise our clients is how important it is that along those decision making processes, guess what we can save you way more money along the way. If we're at least in the conversation, it doesn't mean that I have to baby sit every decision that you make. That's not what our intentions are. Our intentions are to make sure that when you are, you know, looking a tent. Hey, do you have a deadline date that you have tohave that tent decision made on Well, guess what. You know having a coordinator and knowing that they're going to be communicated with may give you that extra day to make those decisions before having to make an adjustment that could cost you thousands of dollars. In addition to that, um, you also can potentially spend more money on a coordinator. The longer you wait and the closer it is to the wedding date, just because we have to do more prep work going in because, like Brian said, we like that month of because all the caterers do you have different deadline points somewhere a month out. Some are two weeks out. Summer three weeks out, summer week off and those air fine. But depending on who we're going into the process with, we want to make sure they have what they need. But at the same time, we want to hit their deadlines. And if we're coming into it already almost fighting an uphill battle, you're gonna pay more for it for our service because we want to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks right. And it's so nice to have that insider who's who stepped away from all the emotions of it of, you know, a family member or something like that and having a true insider in the industry. You guys have been doing this for so long. Um, you know the ins and outs of the wedding industry? Most likely the vendors they're using you've worked with. So that's a That's an extra perk of all of that of having that coordinator. So all such good points. And if a couple was looking to contact you to book your coordinating service's, how would they do so

spk_1:   12:21
they can actually go to a couple different things. Main way to do that is through our website. It's P s. I love you prod dot com, but the u is just that you not while you or they can find us on instagram, um and, uh, and see us That way they can see a lot of the pictures that we posted. Learn more about us as people as we try to do the behind the scenes really life kind of thing as well. So those are the two main ways to find us.

spk_0:   12:47
Wonderful. Guys will. Thank you so much for shutting some light on, um, the importance of having a wedding coordinator and we'll talk to you soon.

spk_1:   12:55
Thanks so much, man. Appreciate it.

spk_0:   12:56
Thank you. Thank you so much for listening at this episode of the plane. Your Central Florida wedding podcast. For more Orlando wedding inspiration and tips, head on over to orange blossom bride dot com. And if you're looking for amazing wedding pros to help bring your wedding day together, make sure to check out our wedding vendor directory until next time. Happy planning.