We often get asked if we do “on the day coordination” and our answer is normally – No, why? Surely this is an “easy” job. You have booked everything and saved us the work right?
Wrong.
In the past 5 years we have done something similar for a couple of clients and I vowed to my staff we won’t again unless we have 100% control over all details. Why? Let me explain our past experiences to give you a better idea.
Wedding number 1 –
Client booked everything in – Villa, Catering, brought all the drinks to be served, photography etc etc, they just needed us to do on the day and help them with a celebrant and ordering the furniture.
On the wedding day we arrived nice and early to the villa. We asked where all of the drinks were and how they would be served, we soon realized there was no where near enough room in the fridge for these drinks to fit, there were a few drink boxes around to put them in but no ice!
Catering hadn’t arrived by 12 noon and we were getting concerned – Normally they were there by 10am to start setting up, we got the contact and called, our concerns were not met as this was not a company we had ever used before or even heard of. They didn’t arrive until VERY late to start setting up the buffet, I am talking the bride was about to walk down the aisle. This resulted in some stern — Please wait outside words as you can not be setting up right now in the middle of the ceremony, you will now have to wait.
Of course, they didn’t like this – They were there to do a job and didn’t seem overly concerned about what everyone else was doing, but they waited.
Post ceremony and guests were getting drinks – I can not count the amount of times they complained to us about them “not being cold” I tried my best to explain that there wasn’t enough fridge space, but you could see it – It was “our fault” Poor planning, this was SO embarrassing and I had no excuses, it wasn’t our fault but we were still blamed.
Back to catering — They came in after the ceremony and rushed the setup, the tablecloths on the buffet were heavily stained, we had to ask them to turn these around and try cover them with plates etc. Now normally catering look after everything — Setting up buffet nicely, setting all the dinner tables, putting out cutlery, cups etc etc. Nope we were told everything goes on the buffet and guests help themselves to all the above, nothing goes on the table. Ok I thought, client booked them so they must know how they work. Wrong again, I got a complaint later that we hadn’t set the tables up properly. Ughhh.
All in all this one wasn’t too bad but we were so embarrassed for the little errors that if we had arranged the vendors would not have been an issue.
Wedding 2 –
This was probably one of the most fun weddings we have been in charge of but there were major things that happened and a relationship with a vendor that went sour due to this one which is never great.
Pre wedding we sat down with client to ensure they had everything booked in, when you book a villa for a wedding there are a lot of additional items you need to think of (see previous blogs re villa weddings)
Already booked by client – Villa, Flowers, Hair and Makeup, Catering, Cake, Slushie Machine, Lighting, Light Up letters, Band.
We booked in – Photography, Videography, Celebrant, Dance floor. They then later asked us to coordinate the wedding (Yes we can just “book services” without planning the full wedding for you.)
When we asked about the lighting the client told us “the florist is doing the lighting”, now we had worked with this florist before and had NEVER seen them do lighting, they don’t do lighting, they do flowers – We always use a professional sound and lighting company for this. They showed us photos of what they were having, a beautiful fairy light tent, we did explain they don’t normally do lighting and our concerns but they said they had met him and it would be ok, he was also providing the light up letters as well.
Hair and makeup — We had never heard of this company but again, it was booked and done direct so we left it at that.
The other vendors they had booked were with companys we were familiar and comfortable with so that was fine with us.
Wedding day –
I had worked a wedding the day before and so had staff onsite at 9am and I was due to arrive at 12 noon. My day started at 9:30am with a panicked phone call from one of our planners “Hey, what time are you coming?” Me – “12 hun you know that why?” “I think you need to come NOW” “Is everything ok?” “I am worried about the lighting, you will see but please come now”
Now this villa is a good 45 minutes from my house so I jumped up so quick and showered and was on my way.
In the car I get a 2nd call – Its the client “do you know any hair and makeup artists? Ours hasn’t shown up and I don’t think they are coming.” “Ummm what, why do you think that?” “Well they were supposed to be here half an hour ago, phone is off and they did burn me at the trial, I have a feeling they wont come”
I told them I can make some calls but I need them to 100% confirm if I found someone and got them to travel they would be using them regardless of if theirs turned up. They agreed.
My first call was to my go to makeup artist – Ranny AKA Ranny Bronzer “Babe what do you have on today I have an emergency” I explained the situation and she said she would call me back. 5 minutes later she did, “My trial has agreed to reschedule and I am on my way” LIFE SAVER!!! Seriously that woman is AMAZING!
20 Minutes later I arrived at the venue and went looking for the girls, I found them and they walked me over to the reception area and just pointed at the ground. At first I was not sure what I was looking at, there were about 100 little boxes on the ground. I said whats this? They replied “The lighting” My face must have dropped as they then said “Yeah we thought you should see”
I am not even kidding when I say what I was looking at was over 100 little boxes of Christmas tree fairy lights, you know the ones that are about 5 metres long with battery boxes? Yep. I then look up and see one lonely man on a ladder tying these together on a string rope that had been tied around the venue from poles. I then look down and see another man close by tying all of these boxes of lights together.
I asked them to call the boss of the florist over to chat and to translate as his English was limited. While I was waiting I had a look around. Now to give you an idea the lighting companies we normally hire have poles, rigging and professional event lighting, on wedding day we have them there at 9am to start setting up as it does take a long time to get fairy lights setup on a structure, Normally at least 5 hours. Now I was really concerned, we had a 4pm ceremony, it was now 11am and they had barely even started getting these lights up.
The florist arrived and I said to him “What is this” While pointing at the boxes, he pulls out the photo of lighting the client wants and says “lights for this” and points. I then explain to him that this is NOT event lighting, this is terrible and if he could not of done it he needed to tell the client or outsource the job. He said we can do it and pointed at the boxes and the pictures, he wasn’t getting it. I told him to get more men onto it as its going to take a long time to set it up and we need it done before the ceremony starts.
Ranny arrived and I went out the front to meet her and take her to the brides room, when I saw the bride she asked how everything was going. I told her it was going great but I was concerned about the lighting, but not to worry she can see it later. Ranny got straight in and went to work in glamming up the bride squad.
Everything else was running smoothly, catering were doing their thing, furniture was set up, dance floor was being constructed, all we could do now was sit back and wait and watch. Throughout the day I was getting more and more concerned with the lighting team, by 2pm they still only had 2 people on this and it didn’t look like it was close to finished, I asked several times please please hurry up, they were moving like snails and it was making me anxious. 3pm — Not even half way done, this was not good enough, we had guests arriving in half an hour and they were going to be walking into a mess. I got the boss man over again “Please please please you need to hurry up guests are arriving, please tell them to move quicker and get more guys helping.” He just agreed and walked away, nothing changed, I told the local girls again to tell them in Indonesian.” Again just a nod of a head and a yes, not moving any quicker. At some point the bride came down to chat and tell me hair and makeup was done, she looked at the lighting and she said “O no” I said yeah I am so sorry, hopefully it will look ok when they are done, she said well you did tell us, it doesn’t look great but nothing we can do. Thank goodness she wasn’t too upset, she was understanding.
3:30pm Guests were arriving, lighting still not done, HURRY UP GUYS THIS IS SO BAD, I was getting frustrated, no sense of urgency, I allocated a team member to stand with them and keep telling them to hurry up, we were having the ceremony in half an hour which meant this area needs to be ready for guests after.
Pre ceremony I asked where the flower petals were for the aisle, a florist team member came over and threw it down- I say threw as there was no care or thought into it, they were sick of me, I could see it when I asked them to fix it and make it look nicer. The ceremony started and it all went beautifully, but all I could do was look over at the lighting, are they done yet? Nope.
Finally about 5:30pm they finished — I told them to urgently clean up their mess (cable ties and boxes) and move out of the area, I looked around. It looked ok I guess, but the battery boxes everywhere were a big eye sore, O well, nothing we can do now.
The reception was well underway and everyone was happy, at some point the light up letters went out (well one letter) I asked the girls to find the florist to fix it as they normally have someone on standby, but no one was to be found. I went to investigate to see what was wrong and grabbed the plugs to make sure they were all plugged in properly, bad idea. I was electric shocked quite severely for about 10 seconds until I managed to dropped the cable. I called one of the girls over, she said are you ok? I explained what had happened and to keep everyone away from the letters and that no one was to touch them, at pack down time I would talk to the florist.
The rest of the evening went by without a hitch, it was a great party, at pack down time as everyone was clearing up the florist resurfaced, I called them over to explain what had happened with the letters and to be very careful. They started laughing, yes laughing!! I asked one of the girls to then translate what had happened, they still had a big smug smile on their faces when she told them. I asked to see the boss, I explained to him what had happened and that it was dangerous, again all smiles. By now I had had enough, I told him if a child had of touched it that they could of been seriously hurt and my business and his would be over, he again smiled. I was very angry now and said its not funny, its down right dangerous and you have cut corners to try and make money when you should of just stuck to flowers, wipe the smiles off your faces.
Anyway the next day we got an email from said florist saying they didn’t want to work with us anymore, fair enough, I didn’t want to work with them either after that.
Moral of the story —
When things go wrong on wedding day it is SO much easier for us to know about and to control if we have booked items and have a relationship with the vendors. If you book all the flowers and they show up wrong how are we to know? The florist will just say that is what you ordered. If we are trying to get vendors to do things on the day they can just say “we didn’t book them the client did so they will speak to client not us” (Yes this has happened also as I was trying to tell bar staff where to set up) What if you booked a band and no sound system (most bands need this booked separate) but you do not know? These are things that can and have gone wrong.
Not only does it make the day more stressful but it also makes us look bad if things are not perfect for you big day and we do not want to have our reputation damaged due to things you may have booked not being correct or things being forgotten or vendors making mistakes.
We are happy for you to look for you own vendors and book the simple things like – Video, Photos but when it comes to all the technical stuff and decor please trust in your planner and let them arrange it all. We can also negotiate and get you better deals sometimes then you can get directly so at the end of the day it can be easier and sometimes also cheaper just to hire a planner from day one and let them assist you through everything. We are on the ground in Bali, we know the vendors, we know whats needed, we know what companies are good and what ones can sometimes let you down.
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