Photo by Stephanie Hogue
As you are perusing through our planning package suggestions and starting prices, you probably noticed that “Month of” is the only package that does not list a starting price. You may wonder, “Well, how am I supposed to know if you even are close to my budget without a price?” or , “I need some kind of guideline on what to expect, as I’m shopping for Coordinators and need to know roughly what your ‘Month of’ even starts at…”
These are excellent questions and we completely understand and agree that you need some preliminary information. Let’s start with these two most-asked questions and our response:
1. What information do you need before you can get me a quote for “Month of” Coordination?
- “Month-of” is the only service where we are not involved in all your planning from Day One. Because of this, we need to take a look at the size of your guest count and weigh that with your confirmed and booked wedding ceremony and reception location(s). The logistics involved with your ceremony and reception, along with each venue’s unique demands and challenges will require unique staffing and timing on our side.
- We require hire of a Full Service Florist and Full Service Caterer (see our Website for more on this under “Resources”). While we prefer clients hire the already-established Full Service providers off our list, if they have chosen someone else, as long as they meet the minimum service criteria we require, we do not need to raise our rate. If they do not, we will need to factor that in to our fee to accommodate the staff and time necessary to do what the florist and caterer should be doing. The caterer and florist are two of the biggest service providers who can make or break a wedding and it is why we carefully review the style and scope of caterer and florist chosen by the client first.
As you can see, the above factors are mission critical and why we cannot simply post a generic “one size fits all” starting rate on our “Month of” Package until we have fully identified the factors involved. Lastly, we recommend prospective clients remember our “Month-of” rate is not reflective of one day only (the wedding day). It is a fee for about 2 months’ “salary” of work and actually reviewing and reconciling one year’s worth of planning in which we were not involved and it includes not only the review, but the communication with vendors and client, production of a mass timeline and roster that is coordinated with everyone, as well as managing the ceremony rehearsal, “day of” items and always includes at least one assistant “day of”, as well. In many ways, “Month of” is actually more work for us than our “Full Service Planning Package” that begins almost a year prior, and we have significantly less time.
2. What is the normal fee range for “Month of” Coordinators? Any professional “Month of” Coordinator will
be worth their weight in gold. You are paying for their experience and expertise to not only predict and prevent crises before they happen, but to allow you to be a guest at your own wedding and enjoy it. Novice “Month of” Coordinators will start closer to $1200 and highly experienced “Month of” Coordinators can go up to $3500+, depending. At Santa Barbara Wine Country Weddings and Events, we are considered “Medium High” in our “Month-of” Fee, and while we are not the least expensive and not the most expensive, we offer exceptional value for the experience we bring. And if someone offers “Day of” with no preparation or planning the days/weeks before the wedding day? Run. There is no such thing as a “Dayof” Wedding Coordinator. No one can just show up day of the wedding and “guess” as they go along and put out fires all day without bothering the bride, groom, their families and other vendors with endless questions and issues.
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