010: Real Talk: Coordination vs. Planning

Hey planners! As many of you likely know, in the wedding industry there are so many nuances to the words “wedding coordinator” and “wedding planner”. Having these terms clearly defined will help your wedding planning business run much more smoothly as clients will know exactly what to expect. In this episode, we talked about different terms such as “day of coordinator”, “month of coordinator”, “wedding manager”, “wedding planner”, “partial planning”, “full-service planning” and more! This episode will help you to establish boundaries with clients around what’s included in coordination and planning services. We also shared some of our favorite tips for going above and beyond for all of your wedding couples!

What’s in this episode:

• How wedding planners and wedding coordinators do very different things
• What a “day-of-coordinator” is and what they do
• How the service and title “month of coordinator” was coined
• How the term “wedding management” came about
• Why Heather was able to do day-of coordination successfully
• One of the biggest issues we see planners facing
• Why well-defined services will help things run smoothly
• What we’ve included in coordination packages
• The grey area between coordination and planning aka “partial planning”
• Why you need to establish boundaries with clients
• What we’ve done with ‘custom planning’ packages
• What defines a good partial planning client
• How we structure full-service planning packages 
• Adding in a la carte items to go above and beyond for clients
• Other ideas for full weekend experiences

Today’s episode of the Planner Life Podcast is brought to you by SourcedCo. You wear a lot of hats as a wedding planner. When it comes to building your business, sometimes you have to choose between helping your couples and marketing your business. The ladies at SourcedCo help so you don’t have to make that decision. Each month they design, style and shoot a new gallery of images and videos you need to step up your marketing in less time. Head to SourcedCo.com to learn more about their stock photos. Use code: Plannerlife for 15% off your purchase in the shop or your first three months of your subscription. 

Links mentioned:Aisle Planner Trello Basecamp

Can’t wait to hear more? Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you can be the first to know when we release a new episode! Get to know us even more by following along with us on Instagram @lindsaylongacre and @heatherhoesch. We’d love for you to visit us online on our website. Ready to uplevel your wedding planning business? We have so many resources and goodies available for you at The Planner Life Academy.