The Grand Operation of Wedding Coordination
Walking down the aisle and saying “I do” is the tip of the iceberg to what a wedding day truly entails.
Three years of planning matrimony shindigs have taught me that a wedding day done well requires two things: first, a borderline neurotic attention to detail, and second, a keen understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the tiniest of details and the big picture.
The following are the support beams that serve quietly, but powerfully, behind the scenes to make each wedding day an event to remember for all the right reasons.
THE TIMELINE
Without a timeline, chaos ensues. The backbone of an entire wedding is a carefully crafted master timeline of the day’s events. It is the map guiding all vendors, guests, and the bridal party from stage to stage.
Timelines are invaluable in ensuring that all that the couple envisioned to happen on their big day has the best chance of becoming reality.
The timeline comes to fruition over the course of months via ongoing dialogue with the couple, venue, and other participating vendors. Each vendor’s responsibility in executing the event is taken into account as all the moving parts come together to form this master reference sheet. From arrival times, family photos, toasts, and open dance floor, the necessary players at each stage need a universal schedule to trust and, if all goes well, follow without a hitch.
For example, coordinators must take into account the number of hours the photographer is booked and how that will inform when all the formalities of the reception should happen. If the photographer is set to arrive at 12:30pm to service the event for eight total hours, they’ll capture the ceremony at 1:00pm, but if the big sparkler sendoff rolls around at 10:00pm, the couple will unfortunately go home without photos of it because their photographer wasn’t booked for enough time.
Moving parts like these typically go over the heads of couples when they go about their weddings without a schedule and understandably so–you only get married once (in theory). For this reason, harnessing the power of a timeline accounts for the smallest details that’ll undoubtedly affect the overall event.
For close friends who choose to forgo hiring a coordinator and whose weddings I cannot attend, I always gift them the creation of a timeline. Once you get into the weeds of getting ready, taking photos, and saying your I do’s, it’s easy to lose track of time and before you know it, guests are headed home and the day has flown by. Therefore, creating timelines for engaged friends is a worthy labor of love–no pun intended–that I happily offer.
THE POINT PERSON
With a wide range of vendors contributing to the day, the many moving parts are unlikely to run smoothly without the aid of a point person facilitating. Clear and accurate communication across these separate teams is necessary in order to keep the ball rolling and vendors vending.
A coordinator acts as an executive decision-maker based on their intimate understanding of what the timeline entails from start to finish, what the couple envisioned for their day, and as a result, what the best choice would be.
For example, at a recent wedding, sunset photos were running long and eating into speech time–I knew we had four lengthy speeches cooked up by the parents of the couple, best man, and maid of honor. If we weren’t able to get to speeches on schedule, it would cut into dancing time which the couple had communicated beforehand was important to them.
Seeing these moving parts undoubtedly affecting one another, I gently informed the photography team we had to wrap up photos ASAP and get the couple back to the reception for toasts to begin. I gave a heads up to the DJ that we had to start speeches immediately and to make an announcement for guests to be seated five minutes prior so they’d be primed and ready.
Understanding what needs to happen next, what it will require from the other players involved, and taking the initiative to communicate across those departments is essential to keeping the wheels of an event turning.
THE IMPROVISER
Event coordination is a mixture of thorough notes and obsessive planning. Simultaneously, coordinators must engage in flexible problem-solving and be willing to go off script, trusting their instincts to see a vision through.
While anticipating the obstacles facing an event is part of the job, a coordinator can’t pre-solve or avoid every problem. Some issues make a surprise appearance, and resolving them requires the ability to quickly rework a plan without sacrificing the most important details.
While coordinating a wedding last summer, a random hail storm threw us all for a loop. Twenty minutes before guests arrived, it started pouring. I’d been watching the weather app like a hawk all week, but the storm came early. For months, we’d planned for the whole ceremony and reception to be held outdoors. After we saved all the DJ’s equipment and ceremony decor from the rain, the groom turned to me horrified.
With the unpredictability of the weather and the fact that all the ceremony chairs were now soaking wet, I made the executive decision to reconfigure the entire setup in a nearby church on the venue property.
With this new plan, I restructured the reception timeline alongside the other vendors in order to find pockets of time where weather let up for the bridal party to capture photos and video in favorable, natural lighting outside.
At the end of the day, the timeline I’d spent months creating was thrown out the window, but alongside the vendor team, we quickly adapted to recreate the vision in a manner that kept everyone out of the hail and enjoying the day.
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU…
In all, an event that frames such an important milestone in life deserves the careful balance of detailed planning, seamless communication between teams, and a problem-solver that isn’t afraid to flip the script.
Getting hitched is no small feat, but when you add a little booze to a happy crowd ready to party, you’re likely to collect some good stories along the way.