It’s fair to say that your wedding day is the biggest day of your life, and certainly the most important day as a couple. So when it comes to organising the ultimate celebration it helps to know the lingo.

However, the fanfare around wedding planning can be challenging at the best of times, least of all if it’s new to you. But don’t be put off by job titles or confusing names – the hospitality industry is one of the most welcoming, and hiring the right talent can make a world of difference when it comes to finalising the details of your big day.

Wedding Coordinator Vs. Venue Coordinator Roles

To help navigate this exciting new world, we’ve put together the following guide, to help distinguish between a wedding coordinator and a venue coordinator, and how they can help bring your wedding day dreams to life.

What’s the difference? The key difference is a wedding coordinator works and focuses on you, while a venue coordinator’s priority is the venue.

What is a Wedding Coordinator?

The day-of coordinator is a professional who ensures your wedding day runs according to schedule and detail. They tend to be hired for a short-period of time prior to a wedding, to help ‘run the show’ on the day of your nuptials. This is somewhat different to a wedding planner who is with you from the get-go and helps with every aspect of organising your celebration.

In contrast, the Wedding Coordinator might be appointed a few weeks before your wedding, as the main point of contact on the day. This can prove extremely useful to ease wedding say stress, as well as ensure that everything goes to plan.

Here’s a few ways that a Wedding Coordinator can help with your arrangements:

Smooth running: Think of your wedding day like a production. It requires finite-like organising to ensure the right people are in the right place at the right time. If you’ve ever hosted a big event, you know that this can be all-consuming, so having someone to look after it on your wedding day is a godsend. This means that they are responsible for making sure everything happens on time, with contact details of all the necessary suppliers – from the cake maker to the choir.

Contact sheet: They will also produce a timeline or contact/call sheet for the day, to ensure it runs on time and will manage this on your behalf.

Rehearsals: It can be daunting to organise a wedding. However, a coordinator knows exactly what needs to be done. This includes coordinating the all-important rehearsal – one less thing for you to worry about.

Taking care of logistics: From organising parking facilities, to taking care of the DJ set up, to ensuring guests get on the right coaches. A Wedding Coordinator will oversee the day’s logistics as part of their role.

Last-minute requests: Let’s be honest, last-minute issues are likely to crop up. From drop-out’s (sad but true) to accommodation requests, check-in errors and more. You don’t need this extra stress, instead defer any last-minute requests to your Wedding Coordinator to manage in your place.

Frees you up: Most important of all, with a coordinator in place, you are free to enjoy your wedding day without any of the stresses that come with organising it. If you’re hosting a large reception, this might be especially helpful – but wedding parties of all size can benefit from one.

What is a Venue Co-ordinator?

In the same way that a wedding coordinator represents a wedding party, the venue coordinator does the same for a wedding venue. Their role is to ensure everything runs without a hitch, on behalf of the venue – and yes, they can liaise directly with your wedding coordinator too.

Typically, the hotel will provide a venue coordinator to assist with the space for hire. As a couple you may meet them once or twice ahead of the big day, but their input tends to be minimal. Essentially, their role involves:

Using facilities: Ensuring your big day is a seamless process, the venue coordinator will show you around the property, including all the power points, WiFi passcodes, light options and other facilities you might need access to on the big day.

Extras: Whether you need an extra speaker for the first dance, high-chairs for babies, or an on-hand creche, your coordinator will be able to source essential extras.

Standard maintaining: From noise curfews to property maintenance, there will be some expectations that your venue has in place to uphold their brand reputation.

The coordinator will bring these to your attention to ensure a smooth occasion for all parties.

Safety: Ensuring everyone has a great time is important, for the venue it is key that all guests and staff remain safe on site, they are also responsible for any anti social behaviour (unlikely as this maybe!).

Set up: One of the great benefits of having a venue coordinator, is that they can assemble the venue to meet your requirements on the big day. From arranging tables and chairs to lighting and the all-important wedding breakfast – this can all be organised to your specifications.

For the avoid of any doubt, the wedding coordinator takes responsibility for the decorating of the venue.

Should I hire a Wedding Co-ordinator?

Half the fun of a wedding is in the planning. However, it can also be a time consuming process, requiring first-class organisation and skilful budget management. To that end, busy couples that are ‘time-poor’ may benefit from additional hired help, although it is by no means a necessity.

That said, hiring a wedding coordinator can be a smart move to lighten your load on an already busy day when emotions are heightened. They will ensure your plans run smoothly and with the added bonus of a venue coordinator, you’ve got a dream team!

How much is a Wedding Coordinator?

Wedding coordinators vary in cost, depending on location, the size of the wedding party, and your personal requirements. As a general rule, this can be an investment of anywhere between 10-15% of your wedding day budget. To give you an idea, Bride and Belle, one of the leading Wedding Planning companies, offer a wedding coordinator, starting from £1,800.

Get planning!

So then, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get wedding planning. Many venues will have staff on site to help you and some have their own in house wedding planning team that can act as a wedding coordinator too. For wedding villas and dry hire venues you may wish to hire a coordinator to help with the running of the day.

View our amazing venues on our venue finder here.