It’s your special day, and minutes before the ceremony music cues your bridal party to start walking down the aisle a crisis occurs. One of your groomsmen has had one too many drinks, trips, and spills his jack & coke on the guest table. He looks down and notices his boutonniere has come undone. No one has the time nor the knowledge to fix the table or the boutonnieres quickly – so who do you turn to? This is a perfect scenario that differentiates the duties of the venue coordinator and the wedding coordinator. While your wedding coordinator quickly assembles the boutonniere and pins it to the groomsman, your venue coordinator is re-linening & re-setting the table as it was before.

CRISIS AVERTED.

We are often asked, “Is a venue coordinator the same as a wedding coordinator?” And the answer is simply, no. While a venue coordinator can be a valuable tool to those brides who choose not to have a wedding planner, their responsibilities and areas of concern differ greatly from those of an outside wedding professional.

At Lesner Inn, our event managers act as venue coordinators. We work for the venue and oversee the events that are taking place on a given day. Each event has a venue coordinator (event manager) specific to their event. In addition, to overseeing the venue, we manage the bar and catering services, as we provide in-house catering.

Lesner Inn Venue Coordinator Duties:

• Pre-Wedding Day Duties: floor plan, ceremony review, menu & bar, food/beverage timeline, linen colors (if using our house linens), and vendor meals.
• Arrive first to make sure the doors are unlocked, lights are turned on & leaves last to lock up and make sure everything went smoothly.
• Grant vendors access to load and unload hours before the ceremony/ reception starts.
• Clean, set up, and breakdown the space before and after their event.
• Hire and manage catering staff.
• Working with bride & groom’s established timeline.
• Opening / Closing / Managing the bar & bartenders.
• Preparing all food (with exception to the cake).
• Setting up optional buffet, food stations, or passing entrees to specific guests.
• Cutting the cake & distributing the cake.
• Working with the band / DJ for announcements (re: ceremony, cocktail hour, bridal party entrance, dinner, champagne toasts, cutting the cake, newlyweds exit).
• Make sure the site is secure and safe.
• Managing any venue crisis (i.e. bathroom, lights, or change in weather).

Wedding Coordinator Duties:

• Plan all details for your wedding: timeline, decor (i.e. centerpieces, flowers, colors, favors, misc. decorations), first dances, seating charts, and other misc. details.
• Work closely with vendors.
• Ensure that the ceremony happens on time, and the timeline is followed.
• Manage timeline to ensure everything happens on schedule.
• Line up bridal party & family to walk down the aisle.
• Set up all decorations that are not in-house (including specialty linens, outside centerpieces, etc.).
• Clean up all decorations that are not in-house.
• Set up table numbers and escort cards.
• Designate who takes the gifts home.