Planner, coordinator, stylist. Who does what?

Wedding Planner, Wedding Coordinator, Venue Manager, Wedding Designer and Wedding Stylist 
– Who Does What?

Ok, you may have realised you need help bringing your dream day to life. A short google session and you come across a whole list of wedding professionals offering you their support. And didn't your friend's aunt know a girl that is a wedding stylist who for sure can make your dreams come true?

Various jobs within the wedding industry can help you with your wedding. By defining the different roles, I want to make it easier for you to identify your needs and what to expect from your wedding team.

Wedding Planner

Wedding planners are responsible for planning the entire wedding, from start to finish. They will determine what is needed to make the day happen. This can include everything from finding the perfect venue and sourcing vendors to helping the couple choose invite designs and arranging hair and makeup trials. 
Your wedding planner will also create your timeline with you and liaise with your vendors and venue to ensure everyone's requirements are incorporated.



A wedding planner designs the plan for your wedding day.

Wedding coordinator

Wedding coordinators, also known as day-of or on the day coordinators, are responsible for managing the logistics of the wedding on the actual day of the event. A coordinator will usually take over 6 to 8 weeks before your wedding and handle the final details like confirming vendor requirements, communicating final details and confirming your timeline with vendors and your venue. They are on-site on the day to ensure everything goes according to plan and to handle any last-minute issues that may arise on the wedding day.



A coordinator executes the plans for the wedding day.


At Sophie Elizabeth, all our planning packages include on the day coordination. But we also offer on the day coordination as a separate service.

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Venue manager

Venue managers are responsible for the management and coordination of a specific venue.
This is the main difference; their responsibility and priority lie with the venue and not the couple.

A venue manager will not:

• manage outside vendors like your photographer
• manage events off-site, for example, your getting ready or ceremony location if these are not at the venue
• manage your guests' communication
• guide your MC and manage the timeline from your perspective. They will manage the timeline from the venue's point of view, which is often the kitchen during the reception.

Venues often sell their venue manager to couples as an in-house wedding planner or coordinator, which can lead to disappointment down the track. From experience, this happens quite often at Southern European venues. I, therefore, encourage you to ask your venue exactly what to expect from their in-house wedding planner or coordinator. And to be mindful that the venues team often has their priorities with the venue.



We often work alongside venue managers or in-house planners and coordinators. Allowing the venues team to focus on the venue while we are 100% there for you.

Wedding designers and Wedding Stylists

A wedding designer will come up with the visual plans and design the event's look. They will start creating their design 10 – 12 months out from your wedding. They will be deciding the overall look and, more specifically, the colours, materials, tableware, and furniture. They will then source everything to bring their design to life. It is not a wedding designer's role to then execute the design on the day; this is where a wedding stylist comes into play.

A stylist is in charge of how the design is implemented on the wedding day - for example, arranging furniture on-site, choosing tableware and stationary placement, and ensuring florals are in line with the agreed design. In a sense, you could view wedding styling as the on the day coordination sister of wedding design.

In saying this, most wedding designers will also be executing the styling part of their design. However, in the basis, these are two different roles.



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Here at Sophie Elizabeth, we currently do not offer wedding design. Wedding styling is not part of our packages, but adding styling elements to your planning package can be discussed.

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