Booking a Wedding Coordinator

Make a list of what specific tasks you would want them to do, and discuss with them to make sure all of those are covered in their service (and if not, what additional costs would be to get those added). Such as, setup/tear down, coordinating the rehearsal, creating a timeline, contacting your vendors the week of the wedding to get everyone on the same page, etc. Also ask about specific hours that they will be there for, costs for if they end up having to stay additional hours beyond that, and whether they have an assistant or not.

Also get an idea of what type of specific tasks they'll handle during the wedding day (such as, signaling to the DJ on when to start playing specific songs, signaling to the wedding party when to start walking down the aisle, ensuring your vendors are all present and not running into issues, receiving any cake, flower, or rental deliveries, transporting decor back to you after the wedding, etc), and any tasks they won't do (such as, clearing plates from tables, standing on ladders to decorate the reception space, cleaning the venue, etc). Do they go above and beyond to do small (yet meaningful) tasks, like recording video speeches and spotlight dances for you, setting aside a plate of appetizers and beverages for the couple for after the ceremony/before the grand entrance into the reception, bringing an emergency kit, helping fasten buttons on the back of a dress, etc?

Experienced coordinators should be able to give many examples of tasks they've performed at previous weddings. Also look for whether they can be assertive if needed to handle issues with guests (uninvited guest shows up, fight breaks out between family members, etc), and if they have the foresight to jump in where needed (for example, if the bride has ten people all trying to talk to her or pull her in different directions while she's trying to get ready, will the day of coordinator take the initiative to redirect people elsewhere so the bride can do what she needs to? If a family member is trying to convince the DJ to give him the microphone for an impromptu speech, will the day of coordinator have good enough judgement to know how to handle that scenario?). I think a lot of meeting with potential vendors is your gut feeling on how well you feel they'd be able to complete the tasks you're asking them to do.

I completely agree with all of Lisa’s advice, with the addition of any travel costs (even if it’s in the same city, I talked to some who still had mileage fees) and whether they include the rehearsal or if you have to add that. Honestly, though, I went through a weekend of interviewing a ton after the first person I tried to hire didn’t pan out, and a lot of them ended up being super similar in terms of cost and range of services. But the one I went with was just so easy to get along with and made me confident that she was excited to partner with us and that she would have the poise and attention to detail we needed. It’s not that you’re looking for a bestie, but you probably will spend a lot of time interacting with them so make sure you like them! My red flags were coordinators with slow response time and not enough detail in their responses. I kind of expected them to be Type A lol.

Agree with the above posters!

I'd add a general question about how they oversee other vendors to make sure things are properly executed. Do they make sure the photographer gets all the group combos during post-ceremony pictures? Will they make sure the florist doesn't use a color in their arrangements that you specifically said not to use? How would they handle the DJ playing the wrong song for your first dance? There's an art to overseeing things without crossing over into micromanaging.

I also like to ask what the worst thing they've ever run into was and how they handled it. The one thing you can probably count on is that SOMETHING will go wrong, but the difference is how they handle it. Some things need to go to the bride, but there's also problems that could be handled under the radar. And being able to problem-solve on the spot is super important.

If you think a fight may break out at your wedding, that is definitely not a role for a day of wedding coordinator....


The expectations we are putting on people is sometimes unrealistic. Please think things through. #law enforcementofficer