Questions to Ask a Day of Coordinator
Questions for couples hiring a day-of or month-of wedding coordinator, covering when their involvement really begins, who builds the timeline, what they will and will not physically set up, how they handle vendors and family, and what happens when the schedule slips.
20 questions, each with the reason to ask it · includes a conversation guide
The questions
Open any question to see why it works.
- 1
When does your involvement actually start?
The phrase day-of is almost never literal, and the honest answer is usually four to eight weeks before. If someone says they truly begin the morning of the wedding, they will be learning your plan while executing it, which is the arrangement couples regret most.
- 2
How many calls or meetings do we get before the wedding, and when do they happen?
This is the clearest measure of what you are buying, because a package with one handover call is a different product from one with three working sessions. Ask when the last one falls, since a final meeting two weeks out leaves time to fix problems it uncovers.
- 3
Do you build the timeline, or do we hand you one?
Timeline building is the most valuable thing a coordinator does and the most commonly assumed to be included. If you are expected to supply it, you are paying for someone to follow a plan whose weak points they had no chance to catch.
- 4
Do you contact our vendors beforehand, and what do you send them?
The answer should include confirming arrival times, load-in access, and meal counts. A coordinator who only introduces themselves by email has not tested whether the photographer, the band, and the caterer are all working from the same schedule.
- 5
What time do you arrive on the day, and what time do you leave?
Coverage that ends at the last dance leaves teardown, vendor payments, and gift collection to your family. Ask specifically whether the hours are capped and what overtime costs, because the end of the night is when it usually runs long.
- 6
Will you have an assistant, and what does that person do?
One person cannot be with the couple, at the ceremony site, and in the kitchen at once. For a wedding over roughly a hundred guests, or one with a separate ceremony venue, a second body is the difference between coordination and firefighting.
- 7
How many weddings do you take on the same weekend?
Two in one weekend is common and often fine. Two on the same day means an assistant is running one of them, and you want to know now whether the person you are interviewing is the person who will be there.
- 8
What do you set up with your own hands, and what do you not touch?
Insurance and contract limits often exclude moving florals, lighting a candle, cutting cake, or climbing a ladder. Ask about your specific list of place cards, favors, signage, and guest book, because assumptions here produce a pile of boxes nobody unpacks.
- 9
Who runs the rehearsal?
Many day-of packages exclude the rehearsal, which then falls to the venue, the officiant, or a relative. If it is included, ask how long they need and whether they direct the processional themselves.
- 10
If the ceremony starts twenty minutes late, what changes?
This is the single most common wedding problem and a good coordinator answers immediately with specifics: shorten cocktail hour, compress photos, move a toast. Vague reassurance means they have not thought about which parts of your day are compressible.
- 11
On the day, whose decisions do you take?
Name one person, or two, in advance. Without this, a coordinator ends up taking direction from whoever speaks loudest, which is often a parent with a different plan than yours.
- 12
What do you do when a family member starts giving vendors instructions?
Every wedding has one. Listen for whether they handle it themselves or come find you, because a coordinator who escalates every conflict to the couple has not removed the work you hired them to remove.
- 13
At the end of the night, who packs up our belongings and where do they go?
Rentals, decor, leftover cake, gifts, and cards all need a destination and a person. Ask whether they load a car and whose car it is, since venues usually require everything out that night.
- 14
Have you worked at our venue, and what surprised you there?
The surprise is the useful part: a long load-in, no elevator, a noise curfew, a kitchen that plates slowly. If they have never worked there, ask when they plan to walk the site.
- 15
Our venue has its own coordinator. Where does their job end and yours begin?
Venue coordinators generally represent the building and the catering, not you, and they usually leave when service ends. Getting the split in writing avoids two people assuming the other handles the ceremony processional.
- 16
What do you carry with you for problems?
A specific answer names safety pins, stain remover, steamer, sewing kit, phone chargers, and a printed contact sheet. It is a small question that reveals how many weddings someone has actually worked.
- 17
What do couples most often assume is included that is not?
Asking a vendor to name their own exclusions is more effective than reading the contract cold, and most will answer honestly. Common gaps are rehearsal direction, decor setup, and teardown.
- 18
What happens if you are ill or unable to work that day?
You want a named backup or a network they can call, plus a description of how your file would transfer. A solo coordinator with no plan is a real risk that costs nothing to ask about.
- 19
How does payment work, and what is your policy if we postpone or cancel?
Ask specifically about a date change rather than a cancellation, since that is the more likely event. Find out whether the deposit moves, whether it moves only within a certain window, and what happens if they are already booked on your new date.
- 20
What usually goes wrong at weddings like ours?
The answer tells you whether they have worked your type of event: outdoor, multi-site, large family, tight venue turnaround. A coordinator who says nothing goes wrong is either inexperienced or managing you rather than informing you.
Hiring a day-of coordinator
Practical guidance for the conversation itself.
Day-of, month-of, and full planning
Day-of, month-of, and full planning
Day-of is a name, not a description
Almost nobody sells true day-of service, because arriving cold to a wedding is a bad way to work. What is usually being sold is a handover period of four to eight weeks plus the wedding day itself, so ask for the number of weeks rather than accepting the label.
Month-of usually means timeline and vendor management
The core deliverables are a minute-by-minute schedule, confirmation calls with every vendor, and running the day. Design, sourcing, and budget work are generally not included, which surprises couples who booked late and still need decisions made.
The venue coordinator is not your coordinator
They manage the room, the staff, and the food, and their responsibility usually ends when service does. They are not there to line up your processional, chase a late hairstylist, or pack your gifts into a car.
Setup labor is a separate question from coordination
Placing two hundred place cards and hanging signage takes real time, and some coordinators price it separately or decline it outright. Decide who does it before you buy decor that needs assembling.
Before the first call
Before the first call
- Have your guest count, venue or venues, and whether the ceremony and reception are in the same place. Pricing and staffing both hinge on this.
- List the vendors you have already booked. A coordinator can tell you quickly whether the combination creates timing problems.
- Write down the three things you most want handled without you. That list is the real job description.
- Note anything unusual: a shuttle, a religious ceremony with its own timing rules, a venue curfew, a family situation that needs managing.
- Know your remaining budget. A coordinator who knows the real number can tell you where it is short before you sign anything.
Warning signs
Warning signs
- Cannot describe what happens in the four weeks before the wedding without checking a package sheet.
- No written contract, or a contract with no hours, no named lead coordinator, and no teardown terms.
- Says every wedding runs smoothly and nothing has ever gone wrong.
- Will not say whether they are booked elsewhere that weekend.
- Slow or scattered communication during the sales process, which is the fastest it will ever be.
- Treats your list of concerns as anxiety to be soothed rather than logistics to be solved.