Now that you’re engaged you have a lot of new wedding terminology being thrown at you. What does bomboniere even mean? First things first, let’s talk about wedding planning!

Let’s breakdown the difference between Wedding Planner vs. Wedding Coordinator vs. Wedding Day Of Coordinator

Wedding Planner

Or Full-Service Wedding Planner is how I like to refer to them. Full-service planners are typically hired right after the proposal to start designing your wedding day. Taking care of the design, color palettes, logistics, contract negotiations and so much more. Hiring a full-service coordinator is great for couples who have a very busy life, need help staying organized and communicate between all the vendors. This boutique service will help ensure you two have the wedding of your dreams, the typical starting price for a full-service wedding planner in California is $7,000.

Wedding Coordinator

Wedding coordinators are brought in a few months before your wedding to confirm all the vendors and logistics you have already set in place. This is a great option if you are already an organized couple who knows what they want from their wedding but want to hand off some of the duties as the day gets closer. Wedding coordinators are thorough in that they run through your complete wedding day and identify any missing pieces to your wedding puzzle. Often small details are overlooked (and sometimes big ones)! So having an experienced coordinator to run through your wedding is an excellent step in the right direction to ensure your day runs smoothly. The typical starting price in California is $4,000.

DAY OF COORDINATOR

As the name describes, day of coordinators primarily come in the day of your wedding and help ensure your day runs smoothly. Some venues include a day of coordinator with their venue which is an awesome bonus! However, I still recommend hiring your own day of coordinator to ensure every part of your wedding is being handled. Some venues have restrictions on what their venue coordinator is in charge of. So hiring your own day-of coordinator that works with the venue coordinator, you will have the peace of mind everything is being taken care of. Typical Starting price in California is $1,500.

When my wife and I got married a few things happened that could have been ironed out if we had hired some outside help. One thing that happened was a whole case of champagne was reserved, instead of being handed out at the wedding for toasts. We had no idea until we came back from our honeymoon and had a whole case of champagne in our garage. Talking to a few guests we realized our champagne ran out very quickly because the venue day of coordinator reserved a whole case for just my wife and me!

By the way…. a bomboniere is a wedding favor!

Check out my favorite LGBTQ+ Wedding vendors of the valley here!