Back to Basics: Level 1

As we plunge into booking season for 2008, let's recap the three basic levels of service that Weddings by Shayna offers, which are similar to those of most professional wedding coordinators.  Knowledge is power.

Wedding Day Management (WDM): This is what I call the package that many wedding coordinators call day-of coordination.  Why the different name?  A. Beginning a title with "day-of" is poor grammar, which bugs me.  B. Day-of Coordination, when performed correctly and professionally, is a misnomer.  There is nothing about the package that should imply that the coordinator is working for one day.

Our base WDM package includes one senior coordinator with an assistant for up to 9 hours on the wedding day, coordination of a one-hour rehearsal, one ceremony site visit (local), one reception site visit (local), an initial and a final consultation, vendor referrals and vendor contract reviews (non-legal), and an hour-by-hour custom event timeline that details where the couple, bridal party, vendors and guests should be, what they should be doing, and what I need to do to facilitate it.  More of my past couples will swear that the entire package was worth that one timeline document alone, and that excellent wedding day service is a bonus.

Wedding Day Management is not a planning package - couples plan the details themselves, and at the end develop what I call "management instructions" with me to clearly detail what our marching orders are, and what we need to do to make the day a success.

I firmly believe that hiring a professional wedding coordinator to facilitate your big day should be on the list of must-do's in all the magazines and all of the planning books, right next to "hire photographer" and "choose caterer".  Wedding days are hard work, and while you may have had the energy and tenacity to manage all of your planning, you didn't go to all of that trouble to find yourself the staff, supervisor and manager of your own wedding day. 

I could go on for days about Wedding Day Management - I am passionate about the service and feel like it is being revolutionized by the highest-quality professionals in the industry.  BUT, I'll save the revolution for another day, and will leave you for now knowing that it's a very important service, and that it forms the foundation for all of Weddings by Shayna's coordination packages.

Happy Planning!

Shayna