Questions to ask a day-of coordinator
Not just what to ask — what a good answer sounds like, and what should worry you.
The name of this service is actively misleading, and that is the reason to ask questions. What you want is someone who takes over weeks before the wedding, not someone who turns up on the morning holding a clipboard you wrote.
These are specific to day-of coordinators. The questions worth asking every vendor — contracts, deposits, cancellation, insurance and referral fees — are on the main questions page, and you should ask those too.
When they actually start
What date do you take over, and what happens between now and then?
What to listen forFour to six weeks out is the standard for real coordination: confirming vendors, building the timeline, chasing final counts. Someone who starts on the morning of is an assistant, not a coordinator, and should be priced as one.
Do you contact all my vendors, or do I?
What to listen forThey should. Vendor confirmation calls are the bulk of the pre-wedding work and the thing that catches a missing delivery or a wrong arrival time.
Will you build the timeline, or do I hand you mine?
What to listen forBuilding a timeline from scratch requires knowing how long real things take. A coordinator who only executes your document is not bringing that expertise.
On the day
How many hours, and does that cover setup and strike?
What to listen forMany packages cover 10-12 hours, which will not stretch from an 8am setup to a midnight strike. Find the gap before the day, not during it.
Who is with you, and what happens if you are in two places?
What to listen forSetting a reception while the ceremony runs is a two-person job. Ask whether an assistant is included or extra.
Do you handle vendor payments, gratuities and returns?
What to listen forDistributing envelopes, returning rentals and getting the gifts and cake topper home are all real jobs that otherwise land on your family at midnight.
Judgement
Tell me about something that went wrong and how you fixed it.
What to listen forThis is the whole job. Anyone experienced has a story about a late cake or a collapsed arch, and the answer shows how they think when the plan fails.
What is on your timeline that I would not have thought of?
What to listen forThis is the question that reveals experience. Listen for the unglamorous items: when the photographer eats, who holds the rings before the ceremony, when the band loads in, who returns the rentals. A coordinator who names four of those has run real weddings.
Common questions
What should I ask a day-of coordinator?
The most important question is what date they actually take over - real coordination starts four to six weeks out, not on the morning. Then ask whether they contact your vendors, whether they build the timeline, how many hours they cover, and who their backup is.
What is the difference between a day-of coordinator and someone who just shows up?
Genuine day-of coordination begins four to six weeks before the wedding with vendor confirmations, timeline building and final counts. Someone arriving on the morning to execute a document you wrote is an assistant and should cost considerably less.
Does a day-of coordinator handle vendor payments?
Good ones do - distributing gratuity envelopes you prepared, returning rentals and getting gifts home. Ask, because if they do not, those jobs land on your family at midnight.
Why we can publish this
Most wedding sites are paid by the vendors they list, which makes a page about spotting a vendor who is managing you a difficult thing to write. Lazo charges nothing per lead and nothing per booking, and rankings can't be bought at any price — so we have no reason to soften any of the above. If a coordinator gives you one of the answers we've flagged, that is worth knowing before you pay a deposit.
Day-Of Coordinators on Lazo
We index 6,900+ day-of coordinators across 108 markets. Every review comes from a couple who proved they actually got married with that vendor.