I recently attended a wedding at The Twelve Apostles Hotel and was impressed with the very professional manner in which the hotel’s wedding coordinator, Stephanie Hall, dealt with her clients. To my mind a good coordinator is one who is unobtrusive and yet observant of all that is taking place. They should be on the sidelines, ready to step in and solve any problem that may occur and Stephanie ticked all these boxes. I commented to a few of the other wedding guests on how well the wedding coordinator was carrying out her role. The fact that none of them had been aware of who she was, is to me the sign of a true professional. I have on occasions witnessed wedding videos in which some coordinators have been so filled with their own self-importance, they have almost overshadowed the bridal couple!
I often receive emails from young girls wanting to be wedding coordinators and what most don’t realise is that, whilst Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner might make it look easy, it certainly isn’t an easy task.
What is sometimes overlooked by prospective coordinators is the fact that weddings, by their very nature, are emotional occasions and as a coordinator you are faced with not just organising the occasion but ensuring that everyone is kept happy and that the bridal couple ultimately have the day they dreamed about. In addition to guiding them through the protocol and timing of the event, any hiccups that occur need to be dealt with before the couple even become aware of them. You need to be in control at all times and it goes without saying that you need to relate to people of all ages and nationalities.
The smile on Stephanie’s face never wavered throughout the entire wedding, even when teased by some of the male guests, and when we left (nearly nine hours after our arrival!) she was still smiling as she bade farewell to everyone.
It is said that it can take more than 250 hours of a well-organised person’s time to arrange the ‘average’ wedding. That translates to nearly six working weeks! If you do decide to enlist the aid of a coordinator I cannot emphasise enough the importance of using someone who has a good track record as organising a stress- free wedding requires a great deal of experience and skill and Stephanie certainly achieved this on Saturday.
