ArchivesVenue PlannersI worked with a new Venue Planner (VP) [my new name for on-site wedding coordinators that are supposed to direct your wedding.] This VP had a list that detailed time of ceremony, time of pictures, time wedding party arrived at reception, time of ... well everything. But she never gave a copy to the DJ, photographer, videographer or even me. She didn't tell anyone that blessing for the meal would be her grandfather. So the DJ announces that it will be the minister to give the blessing and the bride loudly negated it, and the DJ looked very unprofessional. Guests were asking the DJ if "this or that" could be done, because the DJ looked as if they were in charge. But, with a VP, they could not. The DJ was constantly looking for the VP, and not finding her to help the guests. The bride kept everything a secret and so did the VP. I was told later by a guest, that the DJ looked confused all night and really seemed to have no idea what was going on. The VP wanted a grand Entrance, with the entire wedding party, but a list the DJ requires before the event, was never sent. There was no list of how the wedding parties names are pronounced and so the DJ butchered all most everyone's name as most all were difficult to pronounce. When the DJ said, "Well we can just have the bride and grooms name announced." the VP magically provided a list with all the names, but not phonetically written. The DJ, I am sure is on that venues list to never, ever use in the future. But all the problems (most all) were created by the VP not acting in a professional manner and not realizing how hard her job really was. --She often was missing because she was also in charge of watching the catering staff and working with issues about the venue. -- If you are OK with someone like this from a venue, then there is no problem. If you are, there are Wedding Directors around $500 - $800 in this area that will work for you and only you. You Want to use the wedding Director you "paid" for at the venue.I have brides who like the idea of having a wedding ceremony (and sometimes reception) director for their wedding day. Many times they really want to hire my company and me, but think their budget doesn't allow for it or they think they've already paid for those services with the venue. Somehow they think it's "Included." Well, what's included and what you could have had, are two different things. So let me try to explain the difference between the employee at the wedding venue and an actual wedding planner.
The wedding person at the venue is most likely not a wedding planner, (note: Planner), they are an employee that books weddings for the owner of property, and usually their major in college is Marketing. They know what they have seen on TV, and what they have read in books about wedding ceremonies and receptions. They may have worked at that location for as little as a week, up to 2 years or more. But they are not a Wedding Planner/Director. They are employed by the venue to book as many weddings as possible, and on the day of, make sure nothing is broken and supervise other employees to make sure that the venue is doing what they contracted out with the bride to do. A Wedding Planner has had years of experience in their field of work, and usually not as a sales manager for venues. They have worked with other wedding directors, they have directed weddings at dozens of other venues, they know what to do if a crisis occurs, but most importantly, they pre-plan everything so the crisis never shows up in the first place. I'd like to start of by telling you of an experience I had at a wedding venue some time ago. Most brides have their own wedding planner at this venue, who directs the day for them. (Sometimes it's my staff; sometimes it's another company.) However, this one time, the bride decided if the "wedding director" is included in the price, she might as well use her. This venue told the bride when she booked in January, that Veronica (I'm using fake names) would be their wedding director and "go to person" on the day of the wedding in August. At first the bride wanted to book me, -- and her husband-to-be, he really wanted to book me. {In fact when we were waiting for the ceremony to begin the groom looked at me so forlornly and said to me "I really wish she had hired you to be the director because I know this is not going to go well." (I never said anything to the bride at what the groom said to me). I said to the groom "everything will go just fine" but he really had a sad look on his face.} Let me tell you what happened. A couple of weeks before the wedding date, the venue had a changeover in employees. Veronica was no longer with them and they now had a new girl, Jill, who'd been on the job exactly 2 weeks. Jill was pretty much clueless what to do at the rehearsal. I felt like I was watching some B rate movie. It was obvious that this young lady was doing what you see in the movies. She was showing them how to enter and exit, enter and exit, and where to stand and then, for every SINGLE THING, she asked the bride, "Do you want to do this or do you want to do that?" This was totally disrespectful to both the bride and groom, in that she did not request a meeting with them or perhaps a telephone interview days before the wedding to learn what they wanted. I stood there for more than half an hour with absolutely nothing to do and finally I spoke up and said "since everybody's already standing up here let's go through the actual wedding ceremony itself" Jill looked at me in horror that they weren't finished yet with doing all their entrances and exits and where to stand and how to turn and what to do. At no time did Jill suggest the maid-of-honor take the bouquet from the bride, or that the groomsmen should be carrying the rings. There was absolutely no suggestions of some of the most important details. I finally went over how the ceremony itself was going to take place. I explained that the couple will be looking at me then they will turn and look at each other, how we were going to do the rings because I have a very special way and I feel is a very elegant and nice way to do the rings. I then explained how they were going to turn towards their guests and that they were going to wait until 10 seconds into their music, before they were going to leave. I told the maid-of-honor that her responsibility was getting that bouquet back into the bride's hands. I think what is important to mention here is I direct with the photographer, and videographer, as well as the guests in mind. Jill's directing didn't keep the photographers in mind. In fact I have never seen one picture from this wedding. {The majority of my brides send me a picture or two that their photographer took and to me that is the nicest compliment that I can get, that they remembered me after the ceremony.} And speaking about the photographers, they were leaving at a certain time and no one knew. I was told by the couple that they had to rush the bouquet and garter toss at the end, to be sure the photographers got it. "Jill" not trained in wedding planning and she knew little about directing as she only had the job for 2 weeks. Her major at the local college was Hotel Management. I would hope that wedding venues would come up with a better name for their customer service rep who helps on the wedding day. I call them rehearsal directors. But maybe they should be called The Venue Wedding Staff. That way their title will not be so misleading to a bride. And it was not just this one wedding. I went to a wedding years ago, where again the bride didn't want a professional planner, day of director, She said "Someone from the venue is supposed to come out to the garden and help us with the rehearsal. I was told they would help us with the rehearsal and where to stand." Oh boy! [Months after the wedding I ran into the bride at a store. She said she had checked the contract later and found out that if she had wanted an employee to come down to assist her at the rehearsal there is an additional fee. (This bride said it was a $500.00 fee on top of what she was already paying the venue).] At that rehearsal there was NOBODY there to do any directing. I was not prepared, because I plan everything out with the bride 2 weeks out. I watched as the mother of the bride, the mother of the groom and the sister of the bride did their best to figure everything out with the entrances exits, where people stand who does what. The bride was in tears. -- Please don't think I'm cold-hearted. I did what I could but I was not about to upset the family who was trying to direct it. I did do a little more than normal, but not knowing the brides hopes, wishes, plans, dreams I couldn't make all that happen at the rehearsal. When booking the wedding venue you need to ask specifically and get it in writing that there is an actual wedding planner, REMEMBER PLANNER, someone who will go over every little detail with you, and then a director the night of the rehearsal and day of the ceremony. If they do not offer Planning services, ask what will their employee be doing. And get as specific as possible. Find out if someone from the venue will be there the night of the rehearsal. Is this someone who has been their a long time? Some venue directors only know what has been done in the past, what they've seen other people do at that venue, or what they figured out in the past. But it comes out very cookie-cutter in that all the weddings are pretty much the same. I like to give my brides choices. I offer suggestions. I take good notes. Speaking of notes. Jill at the first venue I mentioned, came up with a two-page wedding itinerary for that day's wedding. It listed what times the caterers, DJ, Photographer, florist and Cake Baker were to arrive what time they were supposed to be done setting up. She had this great planning worksheet that was preprinted, but she didn't ask anybody any questions such as what happens to the flowers when they're done, what time the bride and groom are supposed to be done with pictures and what time the photographers and videographers were leaving for the evening. And then, Jill wanted to control parts of the reception that the DJ normally does. --Jill told the DJ not to come back in the house and that she would come out and tell the DJ that the bride and groom were ready for the Introduction of the Wedding Party. The music was played and nobody showed up. And because she's the employee at the venue, she was so busy with venue issues, she didn't know that they didn't come out when she had told the DJ that they would. She really had no time to go around and do the things that a wedding director does. It is your prerogative whether or not you want to pay for wedding director. A wedding director is not there to help the venue move tables, set up the bar, worry about all the issues that are happening at the venue. She/he is there to do whatever your plans are, and execute those plans. I have a 4 page itinerary ( six or more, if I am doing full day management) which I give copies to the DJ, the photographer, the videographer and the catering staff and I e-mail this to them at least a week in advance so that they know what's going on at what time. It's terrible when the caterers, the photographers, the DJ and the cake artist, all show up at the same time. Jill had no clue that she should actually provide this list other vendors and tell them that if they need to reschedule their time they have to let her know because other vendors were coming in at other times. We nearly lost the cake. A wedding director not only plans for all kinds of contingencies weeks and weeks in advance and takes care of problems before the even become problems. What happens is if there is actually a problem that comes up? Many times it has nothing to do with the venue. A professional wedding planner will know what to do to take care of the problem. She never announces it to the bride, she doesn't tell the guests that there's a problem, she just simply takes care of whatever that problem is and moves on. My staff and I are very proud of the service we offer to brides. I hope this clarifies what the difference is for the venue wedding staff and a wedding director. ~~~~Rev. Christina Webb [Rev. Webb is a Christian minister who performs several ceremonies each year. She also, directs dozens of wedding each year in the New River Valley/Roanoke Valley area of Virginia. She works with the ladies of her church to build a better world for under privileged children. She follows the teachings of the Bible and is currently involved in "in-depth" teachings of the Chronological Gospels] |
Rev.WebbOrdained to perform weddings, baptisms, and other religious services since 2007. ArchivesCategories |