Will you be using a wedding coordinator?

One in ten couples use a coordinator for wedding planning

It is often said that planning a wedding is one of life’s most stressful experiences, but according to an Easy Weddings poll a staggering 90% of couples are still determined to do it themselves rather than enlist the help of a wedding coordinator.

Of course the results of this poll might be swayed slightly by the fact that couples planning their own weddings are more likely to visit the Easy Weddings website than couples who are paying a wedding coordinator to do the research for them.

There are lots of reasons that couples decide not to use a wedding coordinator. They may feel that as their wedding is such as special day they want to be involved in every aspect of planning it, and that they want to choose every last detail. Many couples really enjoy visiting venues, selecting suppliers, and sourcing accessories. Couples may also feel a wedding coordinator is an unnecessary expense, even though they can often get better deals from wedding suppliers than couples can directly.

When we first ran this poll in 2003 the results were broadly similar, with 89% of respondents reporting they wouldn’t use a wedding coordinator. What has changed, however, is the type of coordination used by the other couples. There has been a definite shift from full wedding planning to partial wedding planning. In 2003 6.5% said they would have full planning and only 4.5% said they would have partial planning. This was reversed in 2009 when only 3% said they would have full planning and 7% said they would have partial planning.

Hiring a wedding coordinator to do partial wedding planning, including short listing venues and suppliers, or arranging specific parts of the wedding, gives you the best of both worlds. It is more affordable than full coordination, takes away some of the stress of doing everything yourself, and allows you to remain in control of the wedding planning.