Is a Wedding Coordinator necessary?

I haven't had my wedding yet, but from what I've heard, a wedding coordinator is highly recommended. The reason is because when your vendors get to the ceremony or reception site, who are they going to check in with? When your guests have questions during your wedding, who will they turn to? Who is going to ensure that everything is running smoothly?

If you shop around, you'll see that on average, wedding coordinators seem to charge about $1,000.00 for a week of or month of wedding coordination. I wasn't willing to spend that much, so I continued my search. 

Bridal Bazaar

When I went to the San Diego Bridal Bazaar, I met a few wedding coordinators. Some of their prices seemed reasonable, more in the $500-$700 range. The cool thing is that most of them handed out discount flyers, so I'd highly recommend checking out your local bridal bazaar. 

Sign-up with Wedding Channel 

I don't even remember signing up for Wedding Channel, but I'd highly recommend it. Go to their site at www.weddingchannel.com. Every so often I receive discounted deals for all kinds of services. The other day there was some kind of promotion for a string trio and today I received a huge deal on a wedding coordinator. 

My only issue with the wedding channel deals is that I'm not sure if I can completely trust the vendors advertised on the website. I guess I'm being judgmental, but for some reason I think that if the vendors are advertising on Wedding Channel it's probably because they're inexperienced. 

So what do you do? 

I contacted the wedding coordinator that was advertised, and I asked the lady for some references. I still am not sure that I can fully trust her considering her website had little information on her company. The lesson I think here, is trust your instincts! I did speak with a couple references via e-mail, but I still don't feel completely comfortable in hiring the company. And, this is what I think you should do too! Don't make any irrational decision. DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

Ways to save money on Wedding Coordinator


If you know of any brides/friends who recently hired a wedding coordinator, ask your friend for the coordinator's contact information. I find that when you tell the coordinator that you're good friends with so and so, it's much easier to get better rates.