Differences in the Roles of Wedding Planner, Coordinator, Stylist and Venue Manager

Wedding Planning is a whole industry on its own, that is why there are courses that span up to months and some even years for people to master this profession. Hence, it is understandable why you get overwhelmed by the prospect of planning a wedding on your own. Even as you attempt to kickstart the planning process, there is a wide range of topics to familiarise yourself with not to mention all the terms and types of service providers in just the single umbrella of wedding planning and coordination alone!

Today, let us shed light on the differences in these roles – Wedding Planner, Wedding Stylist, Wedding Coordinator and Venue Manager. Throughout the planning process, you will no doubt come across them either on their own or as a combination of a few. It is important that you understand what their roles are and what is covered within their scope of services, so you know whose service you require and whose you don’t.

These 4 roles are confusing because their responsibilities overlapped that of each other’s and also because of the inconsistent usage of these terms throughout the industry. Here’s an illustration of how each of these professionals come in in a wedding planning process.

Venue Sales Manager / Venue Planner

As the title suggests, the Venue Sales Manager or Planner is based at the venue and is typically employed by the venue. They will be the very first person you are in touch with when you reach out to a venue to express your interest in holding your wedding in their space. Upon your enquiry, a sales manager will be assigned to you. They will share with you all the information pertaining to the property and this includes the venue packages, food menu, rental duration and fees as well as bring you around the space and answer your questions before you decide to hold your wedding with them. Should you proceed with their space as your wedding venue, the sales manager will remain as your point of contact, representing the venue, until your wedding day.

In terms of scope of work, Venue Sales Manager focuses on wedding plans that occur at their properties. They will support in terms of F&B arrangements such as arranging for food tasting and discussing with the venue’s chefs on any special dietary your guest requires. They also handle on-site logistics such as receiving deliveries you’ve arranged, drawing up of floor plans specific to your wedding and coordinating accommodation requirements if the venue is also a hotel.  

Outside of the venue, their scope of work is limited and most often extends to just providing you with vendors recommendation. For instance, they may link you up with their partnering florists or wedding invitation providers to take the discussion outside at your own discretion. With regards to your other wedding plans, such as sourcing for vendors, conceptualisation, programme planning etc., venue sales managers will not be involved, but may provide recommendations as per your requests.

Therefore, you can expect for the Venue Sales Manager to be in touch with you at the start of the planning journey when you first reach out to view the venue, during confirmation and then nearer to your wedding date when you’re due to have your food tasting session as well as a finalization session to conduct the Banquet Event Order (BEO) Meeting. In between, the sales manager will respond to your queries pertaining to the property.  

No additional cost is required to have the support from a Venue Sales Manager.

Some venues term their Venue Sales Manager as “Wedding Planner” too but their scope of work remains within the venue’s coverage. Hence, this is not to be confused with the role of a full scale Wedding Planner whose scope of service covers beyond that of the property’s.

Wedding Planner

A Wedding Planner’s scope of work covers a wide spectrum, making it challenging for us to squeeze it into a few sentences, but we will try. As you can tell from the long line in the illustration, a wedding planner will be with you from the start of the planning till the end of the wedding.

In Singapore, couples typically approach a wedding planner with a venue and date already in mind. Once they have confirmed a wedding planner’s services, that’s when they will start with the following scope:

• Budget Planning and Tracking
  Understanding and fitting your requirements within your budget.
• Vendor Sourcing
  Sourcing for vendors according to your needs and preferences
• Conceptualisation
  Building the wedding concept, from the colour palette to style of flowers.
  (Not all planners provide this service and may recommend you hire a wedding stylist to complement their planning service.)
• Program Planning and Logistics
  Planning the wedding day timeline and coordinating logistical arrangements with venue and vendors
• Actual Day Coordination
  Coordinating the actual wedding day to ensure everything goes smoothly and on time

(Please note that scope of work varies from planner to planner, and some may have customised packages to suit your needs.)

Some planners may provide packages to cover venue sourcing if you require. In terms of price range, hiring a Wedding Planner in Singapore can range from $3,000 to $16,000 onwards. The price range hinges on their experience, size of team and scope of work. The planner you engaged will also be with you every step of the way for as long as your planning duration take which typically fall between 1 month to 2 years. As a result, they will also be likely to have opportunities to interact with your immediate family members and bridal party throughout the planning journey.

You can view the Wedding Planner as a close and only point of contact who will then help ensure your wedding plans are communicated and executed by the respective vendors or party accordingly.

Wedding Coordinator

There are planners who provide coordination work, as well as professionals who focuses on providing wedding coordination only. What is the difference between these two?

A Wedding Coordinator comes into your wedding plans only nearer to your wedding date. This can range between 5 months to 1 month before your big day. They are not involved in any planning work, and what they do is to tidy up your wedding plans and execute your plans on the actual day. Some coordinators customize their packages according to the stage of wedding planning you’re at.

Fees to engage Wedding Coordinators can range from $950 to $6,500, with the price hinging on their experience, size of team and scope of work.

Wedding Stylist

A Wedding Stylist focuses on the look of the wedding or the venue. They work with florists and contractors to put together décor and visual elements. Some stylists may provide floral arrangement services themselves.

Fees to engage Wedding Stylists can range from $2,000 to $6,000 onwards, with the price hinging on their experience, size of team and scope of work. Typically, the stylist team comes into the planning journey when you start working on the looks of the wedding. Once all the plans are finalised, you will see the team again on the big day at the wedding venue as they bring the wedding concept to life.

We hope this helps you understand which professional will be the best fit for your wedding plans. Head on to our directory to find one that suits your needs and matches your style!