Wedding Day Coordinator Checklist: Who Does What?

Quick answer

Put one person in charge of each important handover: venue access, suppliers arriving, ceremony cues, guests moving, meal service and collecting things at the end. Give your coordinator the final contacts, contracts and a way to escalate decisions. Share each supplier’s relevant timings and ask them to check them. A schedule earns its keep when something before it runs late.

Start with one final plan

Bring the venue, registrar or officiant, caterer, photographer, entertainment and transport details into one dated run sheet. Write down fixed times separately from estimates. A legal ceremony appointment or venue finish is not a flexible placeholder; family photographs and speeches may be. Ask each supplier to confirm their own arrival, setup and service durations.

Keep one owner for version changes. Emailing several slightly different timelines can create more confusion than having none. Add a clear issue date and an emergency contact, then stop circulating old drafts.

Before guests arrive

Check who unlocks rooms, receives suppliers, checks deliveries and signs for hired items. The florist may need access before the caterer, and entertainment may need a sound check before chairs are placed. Note where vehicles can unload and when they must move. Ask who checks that toilets, water, seating and accessible routes are ready.

Assign rings, ceremony documents, clothing and personal items to named people. The coordinator may track them, but they shouldn't be expected to guess where somebody left a bag. Check that a wet-weather decision has been made by the agreed time and that every affected supplier has heard it.

Ceremony cues

Decide who seats guests, tells the officiant you are ready, cues musicians and helps late arrivals. For a procession, practise only the order, entrance, pace and places to stand. Leave room for natural moments while protecting legal and access needs.

The coordinator should know where witnesses are, how the couple reaches the ceremony space and where everyone moves afterwards. If the ceremony runs late, they need to tell the caterer and photographer, not simply rush the next event.

Reception and photographs

Agree who gathers family groups and which photographs are essential. The photographer should control their shot list, while a helper finds people. Decide where drinks and food are served during that interval so other guests are comfortable. Note any room turnaround and who moves furniture or decorations; it may be the venue, hired crew or nobody unless you have booked the task.

Before the meal, confirm seating changes, named dietary meals and accessibility needs privately with the caterer. Don't publish sensitive information on a table plan. Give speeches a realistic slot and let the host know how they will be cued.

Money and decisions on the day

Most supplier payments should be settled according to contract before or after the wedding, not passed around in envelopes without a record. If any balance, tip or deposit return is due on the day, name who holds it and obtain a receipt. Decide what small emergency spending the coordinator may approve without calling you.

Write down the first and backup contacts for a problem, plus what your coordinator may decide without calling you. A missing chair is different from changing the ceremony location or agreeing a large extra cost.

End-of-night and next morning

Assign collection of gifts, cards, signage, outfits, leftover cake and hired items. Ask where they will be stored and who may collect them the next day. Check entertainment finish, guest transport, room access and key return. A venue may not hold personal items indefinitely just because everyone is tired.

If hire companies collect early, verify who will be present and whether the items need packing. These unglamorous steps are often the difference between a relaxed departure and a long final hour spent searching for boxes.

Keep the checklist usable

Use short verbs and names: “Alex meets caterer at service entrance at 10:00” is useful; “catering arrives” leaves ownership unclear. Put emergency numbers and a venue plan on one page. Keep private guest details in a controlled supplement rather than a copy sent to every supplier.

The best coordinator checklist is not a thick binder. It's a shared picture of what happens, who knows and who can decide when real life diverges from the plan.

Run a handover, not a second planning process

Hand over one current schedule, supplier contact list and list of open decisions. Walk through keys, deliveries, ceremony cues, weather choices and who may approve extra spending. Point out the person who knows family names or a sensitive seating issue. Give the venue and suppliers the same final version, then change it only when you must. Your coordinator should run the plan, not reconstruct it from conflicting messages.