What Does a “Full-Service” Wedding Planner Do?

You just got engaged! You’re excited and ready to start planning! You’ve already decided that you need a planner’s help and expertise. A quick Google search results in a bunch of buzz-words that you’ve never heard, let alone considered: “Day-Of Coordination”, “Month-Of Coordination”, “Wedding Management”, “Full-Service Planning”, “Full-Service Planning and Design”. What does this mean and what exactly does it mean for your wedding planning process?

WEDDING MANAGEMENT (OFTEN REFERRED TO AS DAY-OF OR MONTH-OF COORDINATION)

You’ll see these terms used in many places and in many ways, we are true believers that there is really no such thing as “day-of” coordination. Very few, if any coordinators, simply pick up the logistics on the actual day of the wedding and go from there. There likely is at least one meeting prior to the wedding and a decent amount of pre-wedding communication. And beyond that, they’re not really coordinating or planning the details at all. In this type of service, you as the couple getting married, have already sorted through all the details and you’re handing them over to a vendor to oversee and execute.

Wedding managers are solely in charge of handling all the logistics on your wedding day or weekend. Other than that, you are leading the way in the planning process. You create your own budget, research, select, and hire your own vendors, create your own wedding design, create your timeline, etc. and pass your hard work off to your wedding manager to put into action the day-of.

Want to learn more about our take on “Wedding Management”? Will it be enough for you? Check out this previous post.

FULL-SERVICE PLANNING

If you’ve decided that you want help throughout the entire planning process from engagement to wedding day, then hiring a full-service planner is likely a good place for you to start! A full-service planner will spearhead research and guide you in the vendor selection process, draw upon their industry expertise to make recommendations with regard to etiquette, timeline development, guest communication, etc., develop a comprehensive budget and and timeline for you, as well as many other logistical steps in the wedding planning process from beginning to end.

They will also handle all the day-of execution including, but certainly not limited to, communicating with vendors, setting tables, ensuring everything is running on-time and that all the plans you’ve made with them over the last months are executed.

FULL-SERVICE PLANNING AND DESIGN

If your two primary goals in the wedding planning process are 1.) to be as relaxed as possible and enjoy the process and 2.) to create a truly cohesive wedding weekend experience that wows guests from beginning to end, then a full-service planning and design company, such as our own, could be the most ideal fit for you.

The chief different between our approach and that of most full-service planners, is that we devote equal time, attention, and expertise to aesthetics as we do to the logistics surrounding your wedding. We handle all planning logistics just as any full-service planner should (custom budget guidance, venue/vendor research and selection assistance, timeline development, contract review, thorough vendor communication on your behalf, and much more), and onsite wedding management. But our expertise and our contributions don’t stop there. Our team also creates a comprehensive design plan and then executes that plan. We can help source custom stationery, invitations, gifting and a full-suite of paper elements for each client, as well as floral design.

This unique approach ensures that the way your guests experience your wedding celebration is highly personal, entirely original, and fully cohesive from their very first impression, to their last. From the welcome gift they receive when they check-in to their room to the thank you note they receive in the mail from you a month or two later, and all of the many touch-points they experience while in your presence at your wedding.

WHAT ABOUT PARTIAL PLANNING?

Yes, it’s a service we offer offer on a limited basis. We want to be able to serve our clients at a high level with weddings and wedding weekends from the ground up. It can be limiting to inherit a partially planned wedding, or sit on the sidelines hoping decisions are made correctly and plans are advancing correctly, knowing that we’ll still bear the responsibility for bringing it all to beautiful and seamless fruition. We always recommend full-service planning and design so that we can serve you to our fullest and best capacity.

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Ness McGovern Events & Design is New-Jersey based wedding planning company, specializing in full-planning and design services, we service New Jersey, New York City and up and down the northeast coast. We’ve had the pleasure of guiding couples through wedding planning in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and New York City, Vermont, Cape Cod, and Rhode Island.

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