The Vendors Perspective, continued! This time by my wonderful and talented friend Jackie of Jacqueline Photography. The cool thing about Jackie’s post is that she tells it both from the perspective of a recent bride, and the perspective of a vendor {who has to set her camera down much too often to take care of a coordinators responsibilities}. I was a bridesmaid in Jackie’s wedding and helped as much as I could ~ but from that position I wasn’t able to do much on the day of, unfortunately! Jackie is one of many brides who, in hindsight, regrets not hiring a coordinator. And now, she’s a vendor who can truly appreciate what we do and how it allows her to do a better job of capturing your day! Check out her perspective below:
Before I got into the wedding industry, I was under the impression that wedding coordinators were for the brides with huge budgets and elaborate designs. Being a bride myself {almost 2 years ago} I was the “do it yourself” bride and wanted to be in control of everything. Besides, I had seen so many ideas and have a ton of great friends in the industry! I kept telling myself I can totally pull this off myself!
Well, the day came and I felt like my wedding was the most unorganized wedding EVER. Everyone was coming to me asking me questions about this, that and another and by that point I didn’t care anymore! I just wanted to focus on my soon-to-be husband, Scott. With Aimee as one of my bridesmaids, there was only so much she could do, although in the grand scheme of things she really did help a lot. Looking back I wish I would have just bit the bullet and hired a coordinator {at least for the day of} so that I could have handed everything to them a few days before our wedding and been able to enjoy the day a little more.
Now being a wedding professional myself, I HEART wedding coordinators! When I learn that one of my couples has a coordinator {and I’m talking about someone they hired, not one that is included with your venue}, I know that the wedding is going to flow smoothly and be pretty darn close to if not right on schedule. In addition, I know that I will be photographing the gorgeous details that the coordinator pulled together that will reflect the couple’s personalities.
A lot of times the photographer has to play the role of coordinator, helping to dress the bride, find the bouquets, pin the boutonnieres, showing the bride and groom how to cut their cake, tracking down the toss bouquet and pulling a chair on the dance floor for the garter toss, just to name a few. We don’t mind doing these tasks. However, we are forced to set our cameras down while doing these tasks and therefore we’re not taking pictures.
The truth is, hiring a coordinator can actually save you money on your wedding as well. They work with many top professionals in the wedding industry and know which vendors to recommend to their brides based on their personalities and budget. A lot of times vendors will have special pricing for coordinators which saves you money, too. Not every coordinator is the same though! You should choose one who you feel comfortable with, who you could see yourself being friends with. This way you will be able to express your vision to them easier and trust that they will make it happen!
Thanks Jackie! We HEART you, too! Check out Jackie’s amazing work!
