Venue Coordinators vs. Wedding Planners: What’s the Difference?

A common point of confusion in the wedding world for couples and families alike is the difference between a venue coordinator and a wedding planner. When couples hear that their venue includes a coordinator, that often leads them to make the assumption that it isn’t necessary to hire a wedding planner. While there can be some minimal overlap, these roles are not interchangeable and these professionals have vastly different responsibilities when it comes to your wedding. Here are just a few ways in which these roles differ:

The Purpose

Venue coordinators almost always have one main purpose: ensure the venue is in tip-top shape and running smoothly for your wedding weekend. While some venue coordinators, often for venues with existing catering services, offer additional assistance with menu planning, rental ordering and room layouts, not all do, so be sure to set your expectations accordingly.

Your wedding planner’s purpose, however, is ensuring that every single part of your wedding day - and the experience leading up to it - is as seamless as possible. They won’t just stop at ensuring the venue’s tables are where they’re supposed to be and that the facility is clean for your guests, they’ll make sure your wedding party is on-time, your decor is properly installed, all vendors have the information in advance that they need to produce a successful event, the lighting technician and entertainers receive their cues on time, your guests know how to find their dinner seats, and much, much, much more.

Your planner will also work diligently to keep the wedding day and the entire process leading up to it is as joyful and stress-free as possible. Solely relying on your venue coordinator means that not only are you taking on the brunt of the planning, you are also taking on the brunt of the stress too.

The Cost & Reward

Though venue coordinators seem like a great deal, since they are usually included in the cost of your venue, they again are only supporting you in a limited capacity. Hiring a wedding planner requires an additional investment that ranges greatly based on the level of service you seek, the experience of the planner, and the scope of work for which you enlist their services (be sure you know the difference between titles and roles within the industry!), but with that investment comes additional support, expertise, invaluable experience, and a professional set of skills and capabilities that will far exceed your own, or that of your venue coordinator.

The investment in a full-service wedding planner paves the way for a more cohesive experience for you and your guests. A full-service planner will know all of your meaningful wedding details like the back of their own hand, which means they’re not only going to orchestrate the setup, event duration, and tear-down on your behalf, they’re also able to troubleshoot and problem solve with a mere moment’s notice. A venue coordinator likely has little to no prior knowledge of the vast majority of your wedding’s details and often is not really responsible for them either.

The Relationship

Another large difference is with respect to the depth of relationship you have with these individuals. While this may not initially seem important to many couples, many of our clients enjoy that working with our team simply feels like spending time with good friends. And how else would you want to spend one of the most joyous seasons of your life?! As planners, we get to know our clients so well and have ample time and opportunity to communicate with them, so we’re able to nurture our relationships with our clients over many months - sometimes more than a year. Conversely, a venue coordinator may have only one meeting (sometimes none at all) with a couple before the wedding day.

Though there are plenty of rock-star venue coordinators out there who do a great job at connecting with couples and ensuring that there is a level of comfort with them for their wedding day, you will naturally have a lot fewer opportunities to communicate with your venue coordinator, which makes for a relationship that can feel more transactional.

At the end of the day, if having an expert by your side on your wedding day who feels more like a friend than a vendor and who you know will handle every single element of your wedding day from engagement to send-off, is important to you, then it’s important to understand how much more thoroughly a wedding planner will be able to serve your needs than a venue coordinator.

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There is truly very little real comparison between these two roles and it’s hard to overstate the significance of that fact. A venue coordinator’s chief responsibility is to know everything there is to know about the venue and ensure it performs to your satisfaction. A wedding planner’s chief responsibility is to know everything there is to know about your wedding, your needs, your preferences, your expectations, and then some. A wedding planner is your advocate, subject matter expert, and professional guide.