Our tips for stress-free coordination on the big day

The final stretch. Your wedding day is approaching, it's time to take a good look thinking about the last details et anticipate your schedule. In order to fully enjoy each moment, here are some tips to move forward calmly in this organization of D-Day.

Wedding Coordination: The Final Details Before the Big Day

15 days before the wedding

• Check in with each team member: Planning, interventions, invoices.
• If hosting, it's time to finalize the rooming
• Connect the DJ with your witnesses
• Have you recovered your dress and Monsieur's outfit?

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

10 days before the wedding

• Start to write your wishes
• Finish your last decorative DIY projects
• Update your seating plan based on the latest responses.
• Send to your team the timetable, the list of useful contacts for all staff 
• Ask each professional for their invoice

Wedding week

• Send to the caterer the final seating plan
• Send to place the final rooming
• Unless the venue is equipped, remind parents of young children that they will need to bring: travel cot, games and DVDs
•  Prepare your suitcase for the big day and the honeymoon.
• Finalize them last payments and prepare your envelopes 
• Collect your photos in a folder important documents : identity documents, timetable, rooming, table plan in 2 copies, contact sheet

The day before the wedding

• Welcome your team of service providers
• Welcome your loved ones who are staying on site and direct them to their respective rooms
• Check in with your team of professionals: Wedding planner, venue, decorator, florist, caterer…
• Delegate as much as possible operational tasks to service providers and/or your loved ones
• Relax: a couple's massage, an escape 
• Enjoy this reunion party
• Go to bed early to be in shape the next day!

D-Day

• Delegate and let yourself go.

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination: The seating plan

Before you start planning your seating plan, make sure:

• To have had the return of all your guests
• To know if some have intolerances or allergies
• Distinguish the number ofchildren, teenagers and adults.
• To make a precise point with the place and the caterer: A site visit the week before the wedding with the maître d'hôtel is, in my opinion, essential.
• From electrical capacity of the place and the needs of the caterer and DJ for the smooth running of your reception.

1. The material

• If the caterer does not take care of equipment rental, take a specific look at their needs:  Buffets, tables, chairs, tablecloths, tableware…
• If the venue provides the equipment, ask for a complete list and quantities for each type of product.
• If you manage the equipment rental directly, you will absolutely have to have the list and quantities validated by your caterer.  
• To avoid unpleasant surprises regarding the seating plan, remember to ask the venue or the caterer table dimensions. For the tablecloth but also for the seating of your guests.  For example, for a rectangular table of 2m, count 8 people per table, 10 if you place guests at the end of the table. For the tablecloth, in order to hide the legs well, count in length 70cm H x 2m L x 70cm H = 3,4 m long. Same exercise on the width.

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

2. The Tables plan in space

• Ask instead a plan of the reception room. If he doesn't have one, make a sketch.
• Place your tables in space and for each one, indicate the name you have chosen + the number of guests
• In order to allow for a good implementation of the “ Carcass", forward this document to the caterer the week before the big day.

3. Seating your guests

The different options available to you:

• Dinner seated by place or by table?

Either you let your guests choose to sit where they want, or you take the lead and place them according to your wishes. For the wedding table, I recommend placing each person. For the guest tables, it's according to your desire.

• To the wedding table :

Most couples opt for a large table of 12 to 18 people. This table is generally placed so that all the guests can see the newlyweds.

• Who to sit with whom?

The puzzle begins! Get your parents involved by asking them to place their friends and distant cousins ​​at the table and/or at the place. They will be delighted and it will take the load off you.

For the rest of your guests, take care to:

• Bring people together by affinities. Age and lifestyle are also factors to consider. If all your friends and family know each other, this will be easy. 
• If you have gifts for male/female/child guests, indicate their gender on the guest list: Example M / F or E
• To intolerances, opt for a color code and report it on the seating plan.

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Useful figures

• For a rectangular table : 200x100cm = 6 to 8 people – 240x100cm = 8 to 10 people
• For a round table : 120cm = 6 people – 150cm = 8 people – 180cm = 10 people
• For a seated reception : 1m2 per seated person + a space of 3m from table to table
• To the dancefloor : 1/2 m2 per person

An advice

Play it safe. Don't book too far in advance. The seating plan will change up until the big day and you'll definitely have last-minute cancellations.

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination: The Time Schedule 

Before you start setting up the schedule planning, it is essential to take time to project yourself into your day and/or weekend. The questions you should ask yourself before anything else:

• What are the key moments of your wedding? 
• Who does what? If you don't have a wedding planner, identify the people who will handle the logistics of the big day and assign each of them a specific task. 
• What are your main goals for this day?
• What do you want to keep from this moment?

Once you have answered these questions, you can start setting up the time schedule which will follow the hour by hour sequence of your wedding. Anticipate every moment of the day will be the key to your serenity.

The day before the wedding

• What time is the reception equipment delivered to the site?
• What time will you have access to the reception venue?
• Is it possible to set up the day before the wedding?
• What can you anticipate the day before the wedding to avoid running around everywhere on the big day?
• Do you want to organize a “welcome dinner” with your loved ones the day before the wedding? 

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

The wedding day

• Where will the wedding preparation take place? And from what time? 
• How to manage lunch during preparations?
• Are there guests to be picked up at the train station or airport and who will take care of this?
• What are the possible travel times to get to the Ceremony? Who is responsible for decorating the ceremony and setting up the various accessories?
• Do you want to discover your loved one before the Ceremony?
• Who manages the deinstallation of the Ceremony and the repatriation of the bouquets?
• Do you want to take couple and group photos, and when?
• Who looks after young children and when should they eat?
• What time would you like to sit down at the table? (Take into account the transition with the cocktail and the seating time of the guests)
• When would you like to enjoy your dessert?
• What time would you like to dance?
• What time are you required to finish the evening?
• From what time do the shuttles take over to accompany your guests to their accommodation?

To manage your schedule well, I urge you to create a excel table where you will list each intervention hour by hour. Do not hesitate to download our ready-to-use matrix in format excel ou pdf.

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination: Managing your service providers

15 days before the wedding, contact us by phone or email all of your service providers in order to finalize your schedule. For each one you will ask:

• His arrival time depending on the process developed
• Review of each service: Schedules and highlights of each intervention. 
• His schedule of end of service in order to indicate it in the planning
• Sa bill so that you can already pay it or prepare its envelope in advance: WE DON'T TAKE OUT THE CHECKBOOK ON THE DAY.

An advice

Don't forget to provide a catering service on the wedding night for each professional in attendance. Most of them will have worked hard and will appreciate sitting down and eating hot food. 

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination © Katie Julia

Wedding Coordination: Managing surprise events

To properly manage your surprise events, you will need an accomplice. Designate one of your witnesses as leader and connect it with the DJ.

To ensure the evening has a good rhythm, here are some tips:

• Place the speech by close relatives before entry
• No speech between the starter and the main course 
• Subtly ask your loved ones to limit each animation to less than 10 min. Unless there is a lot of action or very little entertainment, there is a risk of losing the rhythm and your guests no longer being in the festive mood.
• Avoid the speech tunnel
• Ask the DJ what the additional cost for the rental and support of a overhead projector and screen. In 80% of weddings, relatives always plan a video and/or a slide show. This saves your relatives the headache of renting the equipment.
• To make the most of the dancefloor, Start the dance party no later than half past midnight.

In order to properly coordinate these interventions, your guests will need to provide the deejay with the following information:

1. Type of intervention : Speech, Song, Video or Slideshow
2. People involved (specify the relationship with the bride and groom: Parents, Witness, brothers, sisters, or friends)
3. Overhead projector + screen : YES or NO
4. Timing of the intervention:
5. Number of participant(s):

Et establish a running order. Your team leader will also need to provide this schedule to the caterer.

An advice 

For video animations, your guests will need to bring their equipment (Computer + Mac adapters). Specify this from the start.