Wedding Checklist: Special Events by the Planner

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Dear Online Diary,

Getting a wedding coordinator is something that we never heard of until I join the W@W community. Based on the experiences that the “graduates” (now, N@Wies) shared, hiring an efficient wedding coordinator on the day of the wedding is a must. More often than not, they will make or break a wedding, thus, they are the “heroes” of the big day.

Remember Marion St. Claire of the Bride Wars movie (2009) fame? She said that a wedding marks the first day of the rest of your life. She’s a great wedding coordinator (save to her secretary who messed up big time).

{Marion St. Claire of Bride Wars (2009)}

Here comes the question: What Can a Wedding Coordinator Do For Me?

I’ve put up a little research about the duties and responsibilities of a wedding coordinator. Here are some of the duties that we, brides and grooms, can expect:

• Help you to create the type of wedding you want. With that knowledge you'll be able to pick your venue, vendors, color scheme, theme, music, etc.
• Help you create a budget sheet.
• Suggest vendors that fit your budget and ideas.
• Make a wedding planning schedule so that you know what you've done and what still needs to be done.
• In most cases a coordinator can save you money because of their connection in the industry.
• Take care of any emergencies that arise.
• Create, execute and supervise the wedding day schedule.

The list can go on forever but the last two are the most important to me.

Now, ON to the search for THE wedding coordinator. This goes way back late last year when Ms. Benz announced that there’s going to be a W@W Auction. Incidentally, one of the coordinators that we have shortlisted (by recommendation of W@Wies, no one else) donated their Reception coordination to the Auction. Perfect. Needless to say, I fight with my perfectly-manicured-nails until the very last second of the auction to get their services. Even when another W@Wie seemed to be determined to get them as well, I won the battle. Teehee.

Many months have passed, we’re so glad to finally meet the duo behind Special Events by the Planner to upgrade the reception coordination package that we’ve won from the W@W auction to On-the-Day (OTD) Coordination package. Beth and Love are a joy to exchange email and text messages with. They’re even more enjoyable to talk to in person. We had a blast (and several good laughs).

{Smile for the camera: Love, yours truly and Beth}

They’ll do a lot of thing for our wedding but here are few things that I like most about them after our first meeting:

• They are spontaneous, easy to talk to and pretty.
• They are organized. They sent me a checklist and planners of all kinds related to wedding to help me organize our time, budget, songs, reception programs, honeymoon, etc.
• They have a lot of experience under their belts.
• They have worked at our church
• They have worked with most of our suppliers.
• They will review our supplier contracts.
• Ms. Beth presented their duties and responsibilities clearly, and I must say, with flare. I like what they presented and what they can do on the wedding itself.
• They remember their clients.
• I love that they have worked with some of the W@Wies who created loads of DIY projects. I love their reaction when I told them that I, too, have a lot of DIYs to endorse to them. It's priceless. :))

To Ms. Beth and Ms. Love, thank you very much. You're both fab. Ms. Beth, I knew you'll rock our wedding. Ms. Love, I sure hope you'll be there, too. We're ecstatic to know that our wedding day is your birthday. Cheers!! :))

X.O.X.O.,