Sometimes we meet with clients interested in wedding day coordination, and then don’t hear from them again. We always wonder if they decided to work with a coordinator and how their weddings went. Most of the time we never find out, but recently we were talking with a caterer friend of ours who mentioned a bride’s name we recognized.
When we asked how the wedding went, they began with a weary, “Well….” and proceeded to tell the tale of a timeline gone way off track. After the ceremony, the bride and groom were taken for several hours of photographs, while the guests ate and drank. The bride and groom stopped to cut their cake and dance at 9pm, then departed. The guests basically never saw them during the wedding.
It seems impossible, and yet it happened because no one was watching the timeline. When I asked the caterer if any guests said anything, she said, “Oh, of course! The guests were very upset to have traveled all that way for nothing. But I was just responsible for the food.” Evidently, the photographer had no vested interest in making sure the timeline moved along, as that person was concentrating on taking lots of pictures. As long as they got their shot of the cake and the dance, they were happy. But the guests were not, and surely when the bride and groom look back years from now, they won’t be happy either.
So who’s watching your timeline? The caterer? The photographer? The guests? Make sure you have a designated party who knows how you would like the day to flow, and who isn’t just focused on their one aspect of the wedding — someone who wants the entire day to go well, just like you.