Wedding checklist
Day-of Wedding Coordinator Checklist
A day-of coordinator can only run what has been handed over, so the checklist is really a handover packet plus a written statement of what they are authorised to decide alone.
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Give them the frozen timeline, the vendor contact sheet, the signed contracts, the payment envelopes, the seating chart, the setup diagram, and a short list of decisions they may make without asking, because the value of the role is absorbing decisions rather than relaying them.
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The practical method
- 1Book the handover meeting far enough ahead that anything missing can still be produced, not in the final week.
- 2Hand over the frozen, dated timeline with role-specific versions already cut.
- 3Hand over a vendor contact sheet with a name, a mobile number, an arrival time, and a load-in location for each supplier.
- 4Hand over the signed contracts, so the coordinator can settle a scope dispute on the day without calling you.
- 5Hand over labelled payment envelopes or a written payment schedule stating who is paid what, when, and by whom.
- 6Hand over the seating chart and the setup diagram, including anything the venue must place rather than the coordinator.
- 7Write down which decisions the coordinator may make alone, and which must escalate and to whom.
- 8Agree the close-out: what comes back at the end of the night, to whom, and where it is stored.
The handover is the job
A day-of coordinator can only run what has been handed over, so the checklist is really a handover packet plus a written statement of what they are authorised to decide alone. Everything a coordinator is worth on the day depends on what they received before it.
Book the handover early enough that anything missing can still be produced. A meeting in the final week discovers gaps at the point where the only remaining option is to run without them.
- ✓ The frozen, dated timeline, with role-specific versions already cut.
- ✓ A vendor contact sheet: name, mobile, arrival time, load-in location.
- ✓ Signed contracts for every supplier appearing on the day.
- ✓ Payment envelopes or a written schedule of what is owed, when, and by whom.
- ✓ Seating chart, escort card layout, and the setup diagram.
- ✓ A written list of decisions the coordinator may make without asking.
Decision authority is what you are actually buying
A coordinator who has to ask about everything has moved the interruptions rather than removed them, and the interruptions arrive during the parts of the day the couple should be unreachable.
Write the boundary down. Small timing shifts, seating adjustments, and supplier questions covered by contract should be theirs. Anything that costs money, changes the ceremony, or affects a named guest should escalate, and the list should say to whom, because it is usually not the couple.
Contracts, not summaries
The most common on-the-day dispute is scope: a supplier believes something is excluded, or that overtime has begun, or that a service was never agreed. Only the contract settles it, and a coordinator holding a summary cannot settle anything.
Verify venue rules, contracts, legal deadlines, vendor lead times, and the requirements that apply to your location and event before the handover, so what the coordinator holds is current rather than an earlier draft.
Agree the close-out before the night starts
The end of the night is when things are lost. Gifts, cards, hired items, personal belongings, leftover stationery, and anything that has to be returned by a deadline all need a named recipient and a destination.
Agree it in the handover: what comes back, to whom, in whose vehicle, and where it is stored. A hire return missed on the night usually becomes a charge, and a gift box left at a venue usually becomes a phone call the next morning.
Working example
The handover happens with weeks in hand. The coordinator receives a dated timeline, a contact sheet listing each supplier's arrival time and load-in door, the signed contracts, five labelled payment envelopes with the times they are due, the seating chart, and a single page listing what they may decide alone. On the day the florist arrives late; the coordinator shifts two rows of the timeline within their stated authority, and nobody is called.
Control check
Before the handover meeting ends, confirm that the timeline handed over is the frozen version, that every supplier on the contact sheet has an arrival time and a load-in location, that the escalation list names someone other than the couple, and that the close-out states who takes what home.
What commonly goes wrong
Questions couples ask
Frequently asked questions
What should a day-of wedding coordinator receive at handover?
The frozen, dated timeline with role-specific versions cut, a vendor contact sheet with arrival times and load-in locations, the signed contracts, payment envelopes or a written payment schedule, the seating chart and setup diagram, and a written list of the decisions they may make without asking.
When should the handover meeting happen?
Early enough that anything missing can still be produced. A meeting in the final week discovers gaps at the point where the only option left is to run without them, which is when a coordinator becomes a switchboard rather than a decision-maker.
What decisions should a day-of coordinator be allowed to make alone?
Small timing shifts, seating adjustments, and any supplier question already covered by contract. Anything that costs money, changes the ceremony, or affects a named guest should escalate, and the escalation list should name someone other than the couple, because the value of the role is that the couple stays unreachable.
What is the close-out and why does it matter?
It is the written agreement about what comes back at the end of the night, to whom, in whose vehicle, and where it is stored: gifts, cards, hired items, personal belongings, and anything with a return deadline. Agreed in the handover it takes two minutes; left unstated it becomes a hire charge or a phone call the next morning.
Related guides
Use the working tool
Wedding Checklist PDF
This guide explains the decision. Wedding Checklist PDF provides the working files, checks, and handoff structure needed to execute it.
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