Wedding Planner

I would probably book a wedding venue first. Venues book up extremely quickly especially during the summer season like your profile shows. Even though it's a year away you will likely find a lot of venues are already either completely or nearly filled for June. We got married in July and there were no June dates available and only one July date available. We booked that in August of the year prior. You want to make sure you aren't waiting too long to get the venue secured.

It depends on your vision. Some couples want to be completely hands off and pay money for someone else to plan their wedding from the bottom up and they show up as guests so to speak. Other couples are specific about wanting a certain venue and vendors that they might not get with a full planner. Budget is a big factor because a month of coordinator is usually less expensive and their job is to tie all the loose ends of the vendors and details that you want.


Before you do anything, 1/ decide on your actual budget by doing price comparisons via reaching out for quotes to get a ballpark of what you are willing and able to spend without financial assistance, 2/ decide on your must have (don’t include obligation invites outside of guests’ partners) guest list because that determines the size of the venue and 3/ decide what 3-5 area to focus your money and attention on (guest experience of food/bar/dj) or photos/video and cut out anything that you don’t care about. Then you can look at venues.

Are you looking for a wedding planner to help you find venues and other vendors (in addition to other planning tasks)? If so, I'd look for a wedding planner first. If you're looking for the planner to take care of day-of coordination and some smaller planning tasks, and you are taking on the tasks of finding vendors and a venue, then I'd look for the venue first before the planner. Many venues are booking up 1-2 years in advance (or more), so now's a some time to look for a venue for 2025.

I agree with the above posters - find your venue first! Many may offer a day-of coordinator for an additional fee. That is what I had, and it was perfect. I am very much a control freak 😁 so I wanted to plan all the details. But on my wedding day I wanted it to be all about US, so I relinquished control sonI could enjoy being a bride. So worth it!

Keep in mind that a venue coordinator employed by the venue only focuses on the venue. Making sure doors are unlocked, lights are on, vendors are in and out on schedule. They rarely focus energy on the couple themselves and what the couple needs. So don’t be surprised if they don’t set up the decor or they don’t act as a mediator behind the scenes as an actual independent month of coordinator does.

View Quoted Comment I hate to disagree 😁 ..... but our DOC did EVERYTHING- from the rehearsal the day before to coordinating (ha ha) all the vendors the day of, doing all the table decor, supervising the florist delivery and so much more. She watched out for special guests that were being given corsages, and then she did the whole "time to start" routine. After the wedding ceremony she took all the chair sashes and placed them on the reception chairs, then supervised all the servers. She was amazing, and we tipped her quite well. I think you have to know in advance EXACTLY what the venue's DOC role and responsibilities are. It was all mapped out for us beforehand. We felt she was 100% focused on us and our experiences.