A wedding planner…
I’ve been posting a lot recently about weddings and I’m sorry if you are sick of hearing about them! But, I thought it might be interesting for you to get a peek into what my job entails as a wedding coordinator.
Of course, my job varies a great deal from wedding to wedding, but I’ll give you a glimpse into the wedding of Danielle & Chris from this past Saturday…
3 Months Ago:
I get a phone call from Danielle who is completely stressed out and wants to make sure their wedding goes according to her carefully laid-out plans. She is hoping that I can help give her a stress-free day.
My calendar was free for her wedding date, so we decide to meet and discuss her needs. A few weeks later we meet at the Brownstone Cafe for dinner. Since she has most of the wedding details already planned, she mostly needs my help to coordinate their rehearsal and the day of their wedding.
We meet again a few weeks before the wedding, along with the photographer, to take a look at the church and reception site. We discuss the ceremony and reception in detail and make timelines that we will follow.
On the Friday evening before the wedding, the pastor and I coordinate the rehearsal at the church and make sure everyone in the wedding party feels comfortable with what they’ll be doing.
Wedding Day:
I arrive at the church at 11am to meet the florist. I help make sure the flowers are in the correct places (they were beautiful!). I also set up a memory table to honor the bride & groom’s deceased grandparents.
I have some extra time before the 3pm ceremony, so I head over to the reception site to make sure everything is going according to plan.
The bride decided to have a candy bar set up at the reception for guests to have as wedding favors. It was such a cute idea! So I worked on setting up the display for her. I also set up her name cards and a photo of the couple that guests would be signing instead of using a guest book.
2pm: I arrive back at the church. With only 1 hr. to go, I make sure the ushers know how they will be seating people, answer last minute questions from the families, and attend to the last minute details.
The bride & bridesmaids arrive at the church 5 minutes before the wedding is to start (AHH!), so I make sure they are at their places.
I cue the musicians, cue the ministers and groom/groomsmen, and help the bridesmaids and bride & father down the aisle.
And I always, always get a little choked up at this part! Even though I don’t know the couple personally, it’s an emotional experience to be a part of their most special day!
The groom is a captain in the military who flies apache helicopters (yeah, this guy has serious bragging rights!), so they had a saber arch with military personnel after the ceremony, which was really cool to see.
After the ceremony, I head straight over to the Historic Strasburg Inn, the site of the reception. It’s a beautiful site with old buildings and it overlooks farmland.
At the reception site, I handle last minute details before the guests arrive.
6pm: The wedding party arrives at the reception site and I help get them in their correct order as the DJ introduces everyone.
We have a delicious dinner of filet mignon and crabcakes (one of the perks of this business!) and throughout the dinner I make sure everything goes according to plan.
The couple cuts their cake with a saber sword…
Throughout the evening, my job is to make sure everything flows according to the timeline. After the formal dances and traditions like the bouquet and garter toss are done, it’s time for me to leave!
This wedding went so smoothly and beautifully! Before I left, the bride said that she didn’t feel any stress at all during her wedding day, and that means the world to me!
I hope you enjoyed the little glimpse inside my world!
