Wedding Planner: Full Planning or Day-of Coordination?

When you start looking for a wedding planner, you quickly discover there's no single way they work. Some offer full management from the moment you get engaged; others step in only on the wedding day itself. In between, there are hybrid packages that adapt to very different needs. Here's how to make sense of it all — and find what actually suits you.

Full Planning: When Your Wedding Planner Becomes Your Project Manager

With this package, your wedding planner is with you every step of the way, from defining your vision all the way through to packing up the last candleholder at the end of the night.

In practice, this covers sourcing and selecting vendors, negotiating contracts, managing the overall budget, coordinating all parties involved, building the day's timeline, and of course, full on-the-day coordination. You're involved in every major decision : venue, caterer, atmosphere... but you don't have to deal with the logistical, administrative, or operational side of things.

This package is right for you if:

• You're planning a wedding in Provence from abroad or from another part of France

• Your schedule doesn't allow you to dedicate the dozens of hours that planning requires

• You want to fully enjoy your engagement without organisation taking over your daily life

• Your budget is significant and you want to make sure it's being optimised by a professional who knows the local market

Partial Support: The Tailored Package

Between full planning and day-of coordination, there's a flexible, à la carte zone. You've already booked your venue, perhaps your caterer. You have a clear sense of the aesthetic you're going for. But you feel you need help on specific points: finding the right creative vendors, navigating a complex contract, structuring your budget, or simply getting a professional eye on what you've already put in place.

This type of engagement is genuinely built case by case, depending on where you are and where you'd like support.

This package is right for you if:

• You've already made progress on the planning but feel something is slipping through the cracks

• You want targeted help without handing over the entire project

• You're organised but lack knowledge of the local Provençal vendor market

Day-of Coordination: Handing Over at the Right Moment

This is the most well-known package, often called "wedding day coordination" or "day-of management." You plan your wedding entirely on your own, then hand operational coordination over to a wedding planner for the ceremony and reception day itself.

In practice, good day-of coordination starts well before the wedding day. Several weeks or months out, the wedding planner gets fully up to speed on your file: contracts, timeline, contact details for every vendor, seating plan, technical constraints of the venue. She refines the minute-by-minute schedule with you, liaises with every supplier, and on the day itself, she's on site to make sure everything happens at the right time and in the right place.

This package is right for you if:

• You love organising and have managed the entire project yourself

• Your only worry is not being able to enjoy your day because you'll be too busy handling whatever comes up

• You want to be present at your wedding as a bride, not as a coordinator

What Day-of Coordination Can't Do

Let's be clear on this: day-of coordination cannot rescue months of chaotic planning. If vendor contracts are vague, if timings have never been confirmed with the venue, if the seating plan isn't finalised, a coordinator can help manage emergencies, but she cannot rebuild in 24 hours what was never properly laid out in the first place.

How to Choose ?

Ask yourself these three questions:

• How much time and energy do I genuinely have to plan this wedding?

• Do I know the wedding vendor market in Provence?

• Do I want my wedding day to be experienced as a bride, or managed as an organiser?

Your answers will naturally point you toward the right package.