Why Experience Matters: Professional Wedding Coordinators vs Venue Coordinators. Christchurch
- Jan 27
- 6 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Your wedding day is one of the most significant celebrations of your life. Emotions will be high, expectations are personal, and there’s no room for things to fall through the cracks. Recently I've noticed in Christchurch there has been a rise in restaurants and bars promoting themselves as venues. It can be appealing especially as the majority don't charge for venue hire and simply have a minimum spend for food and beverages. In some circumstances this can be a great option for hosting a unique reception in a fantastic restaurant. But you do need to look carefully into their experience with operating weddings, understand the amount of support they will provide, and depending on your personality type - carefully assess whether a restaurant is a good option for you.
When it comes to Weddings, often couples are told “Don’t worry — we’ve got a coordinator” by restaurants who have only just started offering weddings. The truth? There’s a huge difference between someone who runs restaurant service and a professional wedding coordinator with years of experience and hundreds of weddings under their belt.
Let’s break down why that matters, and what you should actually be considering and asking when you’re planning your wedding.
1. A Venue 'Coordinator' isn’t the same as a Professional Wedding Coordinator
The biggest misunderstanding couples encounter is thinking that if a venue “coordinates” weddings, that means they’re offering the same level of support as a professional. This isn’t the case.
Some venues may provide someone whose job is to manage the venue itself. They’ll handle:
Arranging site visits and access
Providing tables, chairs, sometimes linen and occasionally decor owned by the venue
Ensuring basic venue rules and safety compliance
Communicating with in‑house staff (kitchen, bar, cleaning)
Placement of your tables and chairs
Providing a preferred vendor list, usually for catering options
But as far as co-ordination, that’s it. They are not responsible for your overall wedding day timeline, vendor communication, or logistics outside the space. They work for the venue, not you. Don't get me wrong there are many highly reputable and experienced dedicated wedding venues that have co-ordinators that will assist with all the logistics at the venue - but it's important to understand the difference, to understand what you most need for peace of mind.
By contrast, a professional wedding coordinator/planner:
✔ Works for you and your partner, not the venue
✔ Liaises with all your vendors — florist, photographer, DJ, caterer, celebrant, cake maker
✔ Creates and manages your timeline (starting from morning prep through to venue close)
✔ On the day gives reminders to all key people for what is about to happen
✔ Will meet you prior to walking the aisle, to be a calming presence & assist with your entrance
✔ Anticipates challenges and resolves issues quietly in the background
✔ Is the point of contact for you, and all vendors before and on the wedding day
✔ Moves items between the church and reception
✔ Often oversees setup and breakdown of décor and personal touches
✔ Some can assist with setting up final elements on the day, that can't be completed the day before
✔ Undertake a heap of small jobs on the day, to ensure you are taken care of.
Experienced coordinators handle the big picture, logistics, manage multiple vendors across the entire day and all the details with their primary purpose to take care of you - prior to, and on your wedding day — which is why couples who hire them don’t stress in the months leading up to, and on the day of their wedding.
2. Restaurant Staff and Venue Teams are built for service — Not Weddings
If you're considering having your wedding reception at a restaurant - stop to consider how restaurants typically operate. They would host groups of up to12 people, served food over an evening, typically around 3-4 hours maximum. This is a completely different service model to a wedding — where you may have 50–150+ guests, multiple vendors, a staged timeline (ceremony → photos → reception → speeches → dinner → cake cutting → first dance), and multiple moving parts that all have to happen in sequence and on time.
Even if a restaurant offers events, unless they have specialised wedding management experience, they’re unlikely to:
Offer to create complex timelines that cover the entire day
Coordinate with ALL vendors before and during the event
May not create or provide floor plans
Anticipate and manage issues like weather changes, speeches running long, or a vendor that’s running late
Provide full support from preparation through to end of night
Check in with you throughout the day and take care of you for the duration of your wedding
That’s because restaurant service isn’t built that way — it’s about the food and beverage experience and what happens in the restaurant — not the flow of an entire wedding day, managing multiple vendors and timing demands.
3. Venue Coordinators usually only cover what happens at the Venue
This is a point that’s often glossed over, so it bears repeating, and this is also true for dedicated wedding venues.
👉 A venue coordinator’s role is primarily about the venue itself — and what happens in the space, the facilities, sometimes staff, and sometimes the food service (if it's in-house). They don't usually handle:
Arrivals/ahead‑of‑time logistics (getting ready locations, hair/makeup scheduling)
Off‑site elements (ceremony in a church or garden separate from reception venue)
Moving items between locations
Co-ordination of external vendors
Day‑long timeline flow
Troubleshooting issues that aren’t directly venue‑related
A professional wedding coordinator does all of the above. They advocate for the couple’s priorities, over the duration of the entire day, not just the venue’s requirements.
I do want to point out if you're booking a dedicated wedding venue with the ceremony and reception all onsite - they have highly experienced teams, and will assist with much of what happens onsite. But it's still crucial to ask how much support and help they offer.
4. Experience Makes a Difference — Ask Hard Questions
Here’s where couples can protect themselves from costly assumptions — especially when a restaurant is new to weddings.
Ask a Restaurant or Co-ordinator:
✔ How many weddings have you managed in the last year
✔ Will you create a full day timeline that includes all vendors and locations and manage the timings.
✔ If we provide a timeline, will you check it and ensure the timings work, and manage it on our day
✔ Who will be our point of contact from ceremony start to reception end
✔ Do you assist with guidance on venue layout, floor plans and seating plans
✔ Do you offer a setup service
✔ Do you coordinate all vendors or only those on site
✔ Are you present the whole day, or only when the reception begins
✔ Will you assist if anything goes wrong
If any of their answers are vague, elusive, or they only talk about venue logistics, that’s your cue that what you’re being offered isn’t a full professional coordination service in the true sense. So once you have this information, you can then decide what type of coordination you need.
5. Why Hiring a Professional Coordinator Actually Saves Stress
Professional coordinators do more than just “show up on the wedding day”:
They provide valuable advice and guidance as they have the experience of knowing what works, and doesn't
They help you design a realistic and functional timeline — something essential when working with multiple locations, vendors, and calculating logistics and timings throughout your day.
They liaise with vendors ahead of time so everyone knows when and where to arrive.
They watch out for logistical hiccups before they become problems.
They provide guidance on what to consider to make the day your own and ensure it unfolds smoothly
They’re in the background managing all the aspects of your day, which frees you and your loved ones to enjoy the celebration rather than staying on top of every last detail.
In short — a venue coordinator manages the venue; a professional wedding coordinator manages your wedding day experience.
In Summary — Why Couples Should Care
Choosing between a venue coordinator (or restaurant offering weddings) and a professional wedding coordinator isn’t just semantics — it’s about:
✨ Accountability
✨ Experience
✨ Guidance and Advice
✨ Seamless coordination of people and timing
✨ Peace of mind on your wedding day
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that just because a venue or restaurant says they coordinate weddings, they will manage every detail you need. Always ask for specifics, and when in doubt, consider bringing on a professional who has a proven track record with hundreds — of weddings.
After all, when you look back on your day, the things you remember won’t be linens, lighting or the meal itself — it’ll be that sense of calm and joy that comes with everything flowing exactly as it should.
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