All Weddings Are Threatened By The Wedding Killers Below:
The Venue
The Caterer
The Officiant
The DJ
The Photographer/Videographer
The Wedding Planner
Chances are you've heard of these wedding killers. Or worse, witnessed these slashers live in someone else's story.
The good news is, virtually every wedding can eliminate their threat.
Read on to understand the threat, so you can hire against it.
The Wedding Planner | Killer #6
Lack of communication with you, Not aggregating vendor communication to reduce your stress, Lack of communication with vendors before the event or during the event, Isn't at the venue when they open.
Lack Of Communication With You
Wedding Planners are busy, but are they too busy for you?
Wedding Planners are busy, but they should never be too busy for you. You are hiring a project manager; if they aren't giving you regular, proactive updates, they aren't managing the project. They are reacting to it.
Not Aggregating Vendor Communication To Reduce Your Stress
Unless you enjoy talking to each of your 12+ vendors 1 on 1 and keeping track of the messages, your Wedding Planner should be the aggregating all vendor communication and filtering it to you on your Wedding Planner update cadence.
This is a huge stress reducer, and not enough wedding planners do it - but the GREAT ones do.
Lack Of Communication With Vendors Before Your Wedding
A great wedding planner acts as the conductor of the orchestra. They should be introducing themselves to the DJ, caterer, and photographer weeks in advance to align the master timeline.
If a planner operates in a silo and simultaneously ignores vendor outreach, those vendors are eventually going to have to reach out to YOU to get answers - completely defeating the purpose of hiring a planner to both keep your wedding organized and to reduce your stress.
Lack Of Communication With Vendors During Your Wedding
This happens. Vendors have arrived, and the bartenders have no direction from the Bride or Groom or the Non-Communicative Wedding Planner on where events are happening, Same with table setters, florists/decorators, where they DJ booth is required - if it's the same as the ceremony, or a different spot & where.
A wedding is a live production. When vendors arrive, they need immediate direction. If the planner is MIA, the caterers don't know where to set up, and the timeline instantly falls behind. Elite, veteran vendors (like myself) will naturally step up, sync with each other, and manage the room to save your reception. But you are paying a planner to be the definitive leader - they need to be on the floor, on the radio, and in control.
Your Wedding Planner Isn't One Of The First Vendors At Your Wedding Venue - Or Their Proxy/Assistant
Even if your Wedding Planner has been incognito despite all other vendor efforts to reach them over time, if your wedding planner or/and their assistant are available at the venue early, it can work.
But if the wedding planner isn't even there... the risk of something being disappointing or even going wrong has increased dramatically. "I expected X to be over here. Where is Y catering? Oh they're not even on the way? Do we execute Plan B? What's Plan B? Have you synced with the DJ on the timeline even just to verify - or add day-of changes? Do the photographers have most up to date timeline as well and have you synced?" If your wedding planner is MIA, the rest of us vendors DO sync together, but if your wedding planner has changes but hasn't communicated them, then, nobody else has them, and incorporating changes 30 minutes before your wedding is high stakes risk which is also completely avoidable.