Wedding Planner vs. Wedding Coordinator

“Most couples are not aware but there is a huge difference between a wedding planner and a venue coordinator. Often their roles overlap but the differences between them are vast. It is easy to get confused about the differences between these two vendors and not hiring a wedding planner in addition to your venue coordinator can often end in headache on wedding day.”  Our friends over at A Coastal Bride asked us to collaborate on an article to help explain some of the differences.  

Older generations will sometimes come up to me at the wedding and ask if I planned and coordinated the wedding and are 9 times out of 10 shocked when I say yes.  You see a couple decades ago there were 2 different vendors for these services.  One who planned the event and another who say to the function of it.  Most families hired someone to plan the whole thing.  This was before Pinterest and Blogs to provide ideas and before the trend was to have a very distinguishable affair that is tailored to the couple’s tastes.  These were the days of the “White Wedding”…especially in the South with upper middle class families.

PC: Annamarie Akins

The terms Wedding Planner, Wedding Coordinator, Event Designer are sometimes used interchangeably.  For firms like ours that provide all three services I think we need to think of a new word!  I just haven’t been able to come up with a really fun creative one yet.  Today we see couples trying to discern between a Venue Coordinator, Day of (or Month of) Coordinator, Full planning and an an event designer.  Some vendors provide all the services.  Some only certain levels of service and others are great planners but have no experience with design.  Read More... from our article in A Coastal Bride and featured on Aisle Society.

Sarah Ntouskas is the owner of Make it Posh, based in Richmond VA and specializes in Wedding Planning, Event Planning, Destination Weddings, Interior Design, and Etiquette Coaching.  For more information: Contact