Planning

Vermont wedding planning: planners, and what a venue coordinator is not

Hire wedding planning help for the responsibilities missing from the event team. Essex’s wedding FAQ describes an Event Manager handling venue logistics, timeline, supplier coordination and rehearsal, present from up to five hours before the ceremony through dinner or the final scheduled tradition. Another venue’s coordinator may have a different scope.

Compare tasks and attendance, not job titles

List who creates the full budget, hires suppliers, cues the ceremony, handles guest transport, collects personal items and manages any after-party. Mark each task as included, separately priced or assigned to someone else. The VAWP directory provides planner contacts; it does not set one statewide price or coordinator job description.

If a planner’s agreed attendance is noon–10 pm, an 11 pm after-party lies outside that ten-hour period. Assign the late contact before assuming the planner covers it. Compare the proposal’s attendance, preparation meetings and deliverables; a percentage-of-budget quote and fixed fee need the same expense definition to be compared.

References

Vermont wedding planners and venue coordinators do different jobs. The most common and most expensive misunderstanding in this category is that a venue coordinator and a wedding planner do the same job. They do not.

A venue coordinator works for the venue and is responsible for the venue's obligations: the room, the catering, the staff, the timings that affect the building. A planner works for you and is responsible for everything else, including all the vendors the venue has no relationship with. Basin Harbor states that its own event planner will guide you through venue-related planning, and the phrase "venue-related" carries the weight in that sentence.

Where a venue includes coordination, what you are commonly still missing is someone running your vendors on the day, and a month-of coordinator is commonly the higher-value purchase. Find out what each one covers.

Which Vermont venues include planning or coordination

The Barn at Boyden Farm: Day-of coordination included unless you choose your own planner.

The Barn at Smugglers' Notch: Certified wedding planner included with the venue fee.

What planners and coordinators cost, and who works for whom

ThePerfectWedding reports that a wedding planner costs $4,047 on average according to Zola, and that the number depends on the service level: a day-of coordinator runs $1,500 to $3,500, while full-service planning runs $5,000 to $10,000 or more, with planners often charging 10 to 15 percent of the budget.

Rosevow gives a month-of range of $1,500 to $6,000 and draws the line that matters here: a planner works for you across the whole wedding, while a venue coordinator handles what happens inside the building.

That difference is the reason a Vermont wedding at a resort can still need its own planner: the venue coordinator will run the room, but not your hotel block, transport, vendor contracts or the weekend's other events.

The Vermont Association of Wedding Professionals describes itself as the state's only not-for-profit organization for the wedding industry, with more than 150 members who agree to a code of ethics, and some venues, such as The Wildflower Inn for weddings above 50 guests, require planning through one of its members.

Questions to ask about planners & coordination, and what each answer decides.

Does a venue coordinator manage my outside vendors on the day?

Most often no. This is the question that reveals the gap.

When does the venue coordinator's day start and end?; Frequently it ends at the end of dinner service.

What exactly does 'month-of' include, and when does contact begin?; The good ones start considerably earlier than a month.

Who is responsible for the timeline the vendors all work from?

Somebody must own it. Find out who.

Officiants: Who may legally officiate in Vermont, how the $100 temporary officiant registration works, and which other officiants can solemnize the ceremony.

Childcare & Kids: Childcare at a Vermont wedding: whether to invite children, hiring a sitter for the reception and agreeing supervision, meals and a quiet space.

Pets at Weddings: Pets at a Vermont wedding: what venues publish, who looks after the animal, and how service-animal access differs from permission for a pet.

More in Vermont wedding vendors: Vermont wedding websites, Vermont wedding photographers, Vermont wedding rentals.