Have you thought about how and who will coordinate your wedding reception, so that the party will run smoothly without your involvement? Will you hire a wedding planner or prefer to have a friend or family members coordinate your wedding reception? In this post, we’ll look at what a typical wedding day looks like, how you should plan the coordination of your wedding reception and who to assign as the wedding coordinator. Read on.
Photo Credit: Dotun’s Wedding Photography
Wedding reception planning and coordination, especially on the day of wedding can usually be jam-packed with things-to-do; is complicated and very stressful. And you should not even think about being there. You have to reserve your wedding day for yourself and put on a mindset of going to your wedding to be a guest – to be pampered and not to get stressed.
ALSO: Step by step to planning a wedding reception that rocks, just like an expert
The wedding day can be very stressful, with lots of running up and down. There’ll be a lot of calls and questions from the vendors and guests. Expect to be called from left, right and center to give directions and quench fires. Typical scenario is this:
The cake has arrived and the baker is asking where to set it up. The caterer is here and is asking where to setup. The DJ is here and has questions. Where’s the food? Where do you want this and that to go? The water and meat has run out, what should we do? The cake baker forgot the cake stand, who can you send to get them. Power has gone off and there’s no generator in the venue, how can we get one fast?
Obviously, those are not the kind of things any bride wants to hear or do on her big day. So, you have to delegate somebody (NOT YOU) to run all that for you and generally coordinate your wedding reception planning tasks in the last weeks leading to your wedding day, as well as the day of wedding. That is the person to assign to answering the many questions that would come from your wedding service providers, the vendors and out-of-town guests. That’s the person whose name should be on your R.S.V.P.
Your wedding reception coordinator should be a person who would not mind missing attending the wedding event, as s/he would be in the background quenching fires and resolving last minute confusion when the main wedding reception is going on.
READ ALSO: How to plan a no-surprises wedding reception party in Nigeria – read part 1 here | and part 2 here
When Should the Bride Stop Planning the Wedding Reception?
Once it’s a few weeks to the wedding day, stop your involvement in the wedding reception planning – either hand everything off to a wedding coordinator/ planner or to a close family or friend. Spend the last days before your wedding on pampering yourself, so that you’ll look pretty in the wedding photos.
RELATED: How to know whether you need to hire a professional wedding planner for your Nigerian wedding
Only a bridezilla plans the wedding right into the wedding day. And you know what happens to bridezillas – they get so heavily involved in planning their wedding, trying hard to get it perfect and later become so stressed that the effect shows in their faces in all their wedding photos. And in an extreme case like in the movie “Over Her Dead Body‘, the bride-to-be was still in the center of wedding planning on her wedding day, and was killed in an accident by a delivery truck bringing stuff for the wedding. She never saw the wedding. So, the lesson is not to be obsessive about the wedding planning.
Who Should Be Your Wedding Reception Coordinator?
If you find a capable person for the wedding coordinator role, you can go to your wedding ready to boogie till Mama calls, with the assurance that if anything ever goes wrong, there’s somebody able to take care of it without the guests knowing a thing. Now you know how to coordinate your wedding flawlessly and wow your guests – all without stress.
The best person to coordinate your wedding reception is a professional wedding planner. However, if you’re on a low budget and have helpful people around, ask a couple of friends to work as a team, to coordinate your wedding reception. Be sure to make one person the team leader and the others to assist.
RELATED: A Guide to the Essential Bridesmaid Duties and Responsibilities
Final Takeaway: Coordinating Your Wedding Reception
Once you implement the tips, you will help achieve a flawless and wildly successful Naija wedding reception that you’ll have to beg your guests to leave, hours after the wedding party is over.
Now tell me in the comments – what are your plans to coordinate your Nigerian wedding reception and ensure you stay calm on your wedding day?
About Stella Anokam
Its few weeks to my wedding, I just stumbled on this website this morning and it has really helped. Thank you so much for this selfless service, God bless you.
You’re welcome, Kenny. I’m very happy to hear that this article has helped you with ideas to better coordinate and plan your Nigerian wedding. We love feedback.
I wish you the very best on your big day!
Hi,
Just want to say thank you for the very insightful and informative site you run on wedding planning. I have not doubt learnt a lot from reading your articles. Please keep up the good work.
Thanks and God bless.
Ayo.
Aww! Thank you, Ayodeji. I am happy to hear that you enjoyed reading my wedding blog, and also my tips on how to plan your wedding reception. Thanks for visiting, and please do follow us on Facebook and Twitter.