Ask the Expert: How Do I Coordinate All of My Vendors When I Don’t Have a Wedding Planner?

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Question: I don’t have a wedding planner. What’s the best way to coordinate everything my vendors are doing (and connect them with each other) on the day of the wedding? Some of them will need to touch base with others, since they’re working on related things.

Answer: If you’ve decided not to hire a planner or day-of coordinator, the first step to ensuring that everyone involved in your wedding will be on the same page come go time is to keep an organized record of all of your vendor information, says Meghan Justice, co-owner of Kyle Michelle Weddings. There are a variety of forms available online (like this one we found during a quick Google search) that make keeping track of these details really easy; Justice suggests marking down what each vendor is contributing to the wedding, the times they should arrive to the venue on the day-of, and numbers where they can be reached. “Also, you should assign a trustworthy person—not yourself—to be the main point of contact for last minute questions on the wedding day itself,” she says.

Two weeks prior to the Big Day, Justice recommends you send an email to all of your vendors with the times and meeting locations you’ve agreed upon (“Include the main contact person’s information as well so that your vendors can easily reach them,” she says), that way your entire team is aware of how the day is supposed to play out—and individual vendors can coordinate with one another if they’re working together on something. Once each vendor confirms their involvement, you can put together a master timeline for everyone to work off of.

For more Ask the Expert questions, go here. 

RELATED: Ask the Expert: How Do I Deal With an Unresponsive Vendor?

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