To be a wedding organizer or not - that is the question! At a wedding, there are countless things to remember and details that cannot be missed. Starting with the fact that caterers, musicians and decorators are familiar with the wedding scenario, and ending with the choice of bed linen for the newlyweds' room. In the past, all these matters were entrusted to ushers or relatives, but now more and more these issues are handled by the wedding organizer.

In a conversation with wedding professionals, we found out what the organizer's main duties are and how the wedding can develop if the organizer is not there.

The task of the wedding organizer is to see the big picture!

Wedding organizer Inga Bērziņa / bannté says that she often has to answer the question of what a wedding organizer does. "The biggest stumbling block is the statement to myself and others that organizing a wedding means only finding third parties, that is, recommending photographers, musicians, ceremony and celebration venues. I would like to say that this is only a small part of my work - the starting point from which this adventurous path to the wedding day begins. Technically answering this question, I could say that

I developed the wedding day's stylistics, logistics and time schedules, as well as the technical scenario - according to practical needs and in accordance with the wishes of the young couple,"

is told by Inga Bērziņa. As a wedding organizer in cooperation with the young couple

also coordinates third party service providers (wedding decorators, musicians, photographer, caterers, etc.).

"I would very much like to make friends with the new couple and become their everyday life until the wedding day, in order to understand their essence as deeply as possible and find some nuance that would serve as a guideline. It is important for me to do things sequentially until I see the big picture," says Inga.

Wedding organizer – situation solver and crisis preventer!

Inga says that in order for the celebration to be successful, her task is to create a team that has a common goal, not the desire to stand out and prove oneself to everyone. "The task of the wedding organizer is to unite all those involved, so that there is no eternal struggle for importance - the caterer with the decorator, the bartender with the waiter, etc.

Without a wedding organizer, in my opinion, the wedding day itself will be risky, when those involved usually have a million questions. They must be answered by the wedding organizer.

The wedding day is full of responsibility.  I am informed and as an organizer I need to know constantly where the new couple is and what time they will arrive. This is important not only for the guests and the host of the evening, who has to entertain them, but also for the kitchen and the bartender, who prepare snacks and drinks for the reception," explains Inga. Successful communication is one of the most important qualities of a wedding organizer. Inga also communicates with each of the people involved in the wedding process on the morning and on the day of the wedding to make sure that everything is fine, because if someone is late or something unexpected happens, then the wedding organizer will be the one. "Nobody wants to call the bride on the wedding day to warn her about something or to wait for a solution to the situation.

The young couple should enjoy the holiday, not deal with situations, and that's why there is a wedding planner, to keep a finger on the pulse and, if there is a problem, not to let the young couple even know about it.

It doesn't matter if it's just a domestic situation or informative or something bigger - the young couple wouldn't have to worry about it. For example, I remember a case when a wedding ceremony was held in a place where there was no toilet, but the number of guests exceeded 100 people. The amenities were ordered from a special company. While I was still buzzing around the venue before going to the ceremony, I received a call from the assistant who informed me that this toilet had not yet arrived at the scheduled time. I called the company and realized that the employee who was supposed to deliver this toilet had confused August with September and was peacefully relaxing on the seashore with his family. I won't deny it, I panicked a bit, because it's an hour until the guests arrive, there's a city festival in Riga and it's Saturday. A scenario worthy of a movie was already unfolding, but the toilet was found and brought to the appropriate place - literally two minutes before the first couple of guests arrived. It's a surreal situation - I'm standing in the middle of the forest and I see that a car with a toilet on a trailer is driving from one side, while guests are coming from the other side," recalls Inga.

The wedding organizer takes care of the other participants!

Inga admits that everyone who comes to the wedding to fulfill a task wants to talk to her and make sure that everything is going according to plan, and that is why she has assistants who have work tasks, so that she herself can focus and enjoy the fruits of the planning work. "Everyone involved is interested in where they can put their belongings, and whether they can drink coffee at the bar or everything will be served in a separate staff room. They may seem like little things, but on the wedding day they take a lot of attention and time, and if there is no organizer, then everyone has to get used to it, understand the situation and do what they think is right," admits Inga.

Decorators and wedding managers are NOT organizers!

Undoubtedly, a wedding organizer is needed as much as the young couple, as is the staff involved.

If there is no wedding organizer, often questions of an organizational nature are addressed to the decorators, evening leader, photographer, even musicians.

Wedding decorator Iluta Piternika / MintDeco says that since decorators are usually the first to arrive at the place of celebration, there are often couples who, without the decorators' knowledge, have appointed them as coordinators of the event. "Often, our contacts have been given to the leaders of the evening, musicians and others involved, so everyone who comes starts asking us a lot of questions about the celebration - starting with where to find the rosettes and ending with what time the guests arrive.

If there is an organizer at the wedding, then all these issues have long been discussed and all parties involved know where, when, what time it will be,"

tells Iluta. Arvis Zēmanis, the wedding director, also agrees with her, calling the wedding organizer a kind of orchestra conductor who pulls together all the structures and gives the orchestra and the whole event a common sound and rhythm. "The organizer of the event is the one who knows the answers to all questions. Of course, the wedding can take place without a hired organizer, but then this know-it-all and owner of all the answers must be a relative or friend. I officiate weddings with and without caterers. Often in the second case, many of the questions during the event are directed in the direction of the leader or me, starting with where are the vases for flowers, where the waiters will put the food, where to give the gifts, who stays in which room, and ending with why the waiters are not smiling and whether I could change the musical performance. At weddings where there is no officiant, I am much more attentive and pay more attention. It must be admitted that there are cases when relatives and friends of the wedding party do an excellent organizational job, but they certainly do not enjoy the event so freely," observed Arvis.

There is no word "don't know" in the vocabulary of a wedding organizer!

Iluta Piternika also remembers unexpected events at weddings. "At some weddings, we have experienced that the guests start to arrive, but neither the DJ nor the host of the evening has arrived. The guests walk around in dumb silence, wonder and do not understand what they can and cannot do, because no one is expecting them. I have never experienced such a situation at a wedding where there is a wedding organizer. Such awkward moments also knock the decorators out of their work, because the guests, who are not yet finished, start looking into the hall. Therefore, I will not deny that it is easier to work in those weddings where there is a wedding organizer. There are no unknown underwater stones, everything is planned in advance, and each party can focus 100 percent on their own task, instead of answering and coordinating others.

The wedding organizer is responsible for the entire process, so you probably won't hear from them - I don't know,"

convinced Iluta.

See the bannté wedding planner offer here: bannté

See the MintDeco wedding decorator offer here: MINTDECO