There are tons of opinions out there about whether you need a coordinator or planner, and lots of couples opt to handle things DIY style. While DIY weddings can be loads of fun and definitely budget friendly, where you choose to allocate your budget can make or break your wedding. So do you really need to budget for a coordinator or planner?

The majority of wedding vendors and married couples would say YES. Here's why:

1. Planning a wedding is a full time job.
No matter how type-A you are, or how much you love to plan things, the time and attention to detail required to plan a wedding requires someone who has all of their time and attention to detail devoted to that project. Professional wedding planners and coordinators spend their entire work week (and most weekends) devoted to your day, and think of EVERY detail along the way. 

2. Someone will be coordinating the day-of.
The truth is that no matter how much is planned in advance, the responsibilities of the wedding day will fall on someone's shoulders, and vendors and guests will be looking to someone for guidance. Often this task lands on either a member of the wedding party or family, the bride, or the photographer when there is no coordiantor present. Which means you photographer is spending part of their booked time answering questions and trying to keep things organized when they should be taking photos, or your freinds and family are missing moments on your day because they are trying to hold things together. Or worse, the bride is missing out on moments that should be spent in bliss and memory making to answer questions and direct guests and vendors. 

3. You NEED a master timeline.  
Each of your vendors will likely attempt to create their own timelines to the best of their ability when there is no master timeline, so that they have goals for when to arrive, set up, tear down, and more. With the average wedding including up to 20 different vendors, this can lead to complete chaos on the wedding day. You don't want your caterers planning to be there at 2pm while the tables or dishware is arriving an hour later, leaving them with no way to begin their work on time. You certainly don't want the DJ expecting a lunch break halfway through the reception when the special dances were scheduled to take place at that time. Without one master timeline, these types of mistakes pop up everywhere, and cause chaos for your guests and vendors. The coordinator/planner is in charge of timeline creation, and a good coordinator will contact all of your vendors and merge all of the vendors' timeline needs into one master timeline, keeping everyone on the same page. 

4. You deserve peace of mind!
Your wedding day is a once in a lifetime moment that should be spent soaking in every bit of bliss and joy with those closest to you. Without a coordinator, you will spend the months leading up to and the day of your wedding answering questions, sending emails, and keeping things organized that simply should not be your job. Your vendors will spend their time wondering where they are supposed to be setting up their equipment, hoping for last minute clarification, and crossing their fingers that someone will remember their vendor meals and breaks. Having a coordinator completely relieves the stress of planning for both the bride, and the vendors. 

The benefits of budgetting for a planner or coordinator far outway the money saved without one. Generally, the only types of weddings that can succeed without a wedding coordinator or planner in our experience are small elopments with less than 3 vendors, or courthouse weddings. If you simply do not have the budget available for an experienced planner or coordinator, we recommend reaching out to coordinator's assistants or small start ups who may be willing to work out a lower budget for smaller coordinating packages and early-startup business opportunities. 

We hope this article helps with your decision. Happy planning!