If you and your fiancé hired Perfect Planning Events to coordinate your wedding day, rest assured that the team has you covered! As a client, you won’t need to worry about making sure everything is perfect and done according to your wishes; or any unforeseen issues come up that you will need to deal with because Tara and her Perfect Planning Events team members are there to handle it all and to keep the day rolling. When you walk into your wedding venue, you will see all of the planning and preparation come to fruition as everything is in place and just as you had envisioned.   As the Perfect Planning team blogger, I had a chance to interview Tara’s assistants to find out what they do to prepare themselves for your wedding day. Here are some details to give you a glimpse of all that goes on behind the scenes to make your wedding day your dream day!

The wedding day coordinators will take the time to prepare themselves prior to your wedding to understand the timeline for the day, familiarize themselves with your special requests, vendors and the venue. Tara will provide the coordinators with the outline of the day’s events and a diagram of the venue so they can ensure the correct table placements for cocktails, buffet bars (meals, candy, cookies, ice cream and/or cigar tables should your wedding include these), the gift table, escort cards, guest seating and any other special set-up requests.

Tara assigns the coordinators to either the ceremony or reception.  Nykeba Law, Lead Coordinator with Perfect Planning, explains a team member is assigned “to stay with the bride and bridesmaids or to be with the groom and his groomsmen. During this time, we make sure that the bridal party is comfortable and direct them to the appropriate place and time for the ceremony.” Kendra Johnson, Lead Coordinator with Perfect Planning for 3 years says “When I arrive to the venue, myself and the other coordinators working, make sure we have everything we need to set up efficiently and in a timely manner. We typically set up everything from the escort card table to the guestbook and gifts table to placing menu cards at each place setting. We also connect with all the vendors onsite to make sure we greet them and review all the details with them to ensure we are all on the same page. Before guests arrive, we do a final walk through to make sure everything is set and ready to go because once guests arrive there is no time to do anything but to take care of the bride and groom as well as their guests and to stay on schedule.”

The coordinators work hard to ensure that the wedding day events schedule is adhered to as best as possible. As needed, they will also help get the party started by leading your guests in fun dances! They also make sure that you and your fiancé are completely taken care of during the whole day and that neither of you need to lift a finger or deal with any unpleasantness. Nykeba states “We may have guests with special requests and we try to be as accommodating as possible. It is our duty to be seen but unseen at the event. Even though the couple and guests know that we are there we do not want to be seen as a focal point or spotlight.”

Towards the end of the evening, the coordinators will begin to pack up the couple’s keepsake items, gifts and cards give them to a previously designated person to take with them at the end of the night. Some couples may have a lover’s basket which could include wedding cake, cheese, and champagne or wine) that the coordinators also make sure is packed and ready for the couple upon departure. If the couple will be spending their first night in the venue of the reception, the Perfect Planning team may even set the mood in the couple’s room! Kendra gives some final insight into the behind the scenes wedding day coordination “this is also a time where we can tell if everyone had a great time because they are usually still hanging around deciding on where they are going next (usually an after party) and as they are leaving they are thanking us and telling us how great of a job we did. By this time, we are all tired and our feet are so sore to the point we can barely walk, however, hearing these kind words and seeing smiles on the bride and groom’s faces make it all worth it.”

Blogger:  Jennifer Armstrong, Perfect Planning Events

Below are some photographs of the team in action: