Today, we are going to jump on our soap box just a little bit, and talk about a hot topic: venue coordinators. We LOVE to work with our venue coordinators, don’t get me wrong, but just because your venue has one, doesn’t mean you don’t need a wedding planner. If you want a little more convincing, keep reading for the differences between a wedding planner and a venue coordinator (and why we firmly believe you need both).

Before we dive right into it, can we quickly introduce ourselves? In case we haven’t met yet, we are Borrowed and Blue, a team of wedding planners across Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. If you are looking for a wedding planner, you can learn more about our wedding planning packages here. We only work with a limited amount of couples each year, and dedicate our full attention to each and every one. If you are ready to start planning, please reach out and connect with us here.

Venue Coordinators Work for the Venue. Wedding Planners Work for You.

Planning a wedding can be incredibly overwhelming and it helps to know that you have someone in your corner. Venue coordinators are employed by the venue and ultimately, have their best interests at heart. They can only help you source things the venue can provide, and only offer experiences that are in the venues roster. A venue coordinator won’t help you find and source outside decor rentals, nor are they responsible for offering new and unique wedding ideas.

The experience really is completely different when you work with a wedding planner. When we work with couples to design their wedding day, we aren’t looking for the easiest way to get your wedding day done. Unlike a venue coordinator that is responsible for managing hundreds of couples a year, you have our undivided attention. We literally start designing from the ground up, and believe every wedding day should be as unique as the couple celebrating it.

Venue Coordinators Have a High Turnover

I really don’t think there is anything more stressful than dealing with multiple people for your wedding day. Peace of mind that nothing is lost in communication is one of the biggest things we bring to the table as wedding planners. When you hire a wedding planner, you almost always work with the same person from the initial consult to your wedding day. When you book a venue, you might be working with 2-3 venue coordinators throughout your one year engagement. Seriously – the turnover is insane and you have no control over it.

As a wedding planner, we work well with venue coordinators because we are incredibly organized and don’t rely on them to remember everything we discussed. But as a couple working without a wedding planner, it can be incredibly overwhelming to find out the venue coordinator you’ve been working with for the past six months got a new job two weeks before your wedding day.

Venue Coordinators Don’t Coordinate with Other Vendors For You

When you think about your wedding day, you often don’t realize just how many people it takes to make it a reality. Weddings can take a team of 20, 50, even 100 wedding vendors. For your wedding day, you might need to hire: a wedding photographer, videographer, florist, entertainment (ceremony music, band, DJ), catering, bar, decor rentals, officiant, and more!). Although a venue coordinator can help show your vendors where to set up (on a limited basis), they typically don’t recommend reputable vendors and they won’t handle all of the communication for you.

When you hire a wedding planner, you have one point of contact. One point of contact who is just as excited to dream about your wedding day as you are. One point of contact that has all the information in one place. Seriously, we know we are biased but this alone is priceless. Your venue coordinator can’t guide you the same way because they never have access to all of the information.

Hiring a Wedding Planner

All this to say, although there is a tiny bit of overlap, the roles of a venue coordinator and wedding planner are really quite different. This is not to say venue coordinators aren’t incredible – honestly with 100s of weddings each year, it’s kind of amazing what they do! You only get married once, and if we could just give you one piece of advice (after 9+ years in the wedding industry), it’s that you don’t have to do this alone. To learn more about working with us, we would love to hear from you. Connect with us here!