The vendor most often skipped, and the one whose absence shows up at four in the afternoon when the timeline slips.
The 2026 national average for full-service planning. Day-of coordination averages closer to $1,800, and the gap is a difference in job, not quality.
The Knot puts the blended average at $2,100 and Zola at $4,047. Both are right. Zola captures more full-service contracts, which are larger by definition. Planning cost is driven almost entirely by which tier you buy, so the blended average tells you very little about your own number.
A misleading name. Most so-called day-of coordinators are month-of coordinators: they step in four to six weeks out, take your existing plan, build the timeline, confirm every vendor, and run the day. They do not help you choose vendors or design anything. This is the floor most of the industry considers non-negotiable, because someone has to run the day and it cannot be you.
You have booked the venue and maybe two or three vendors. They pick up the rest, plus design and logistics. The most commonly booked tier, and the most loosely defined, so the scope document matters more here than anywhere else.
Budget, vendor sourcing, design, contracts, timeline, and the day itself, from engagement to exit. The national average sits near $5,500. In New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, the entry point is meaningfully higher.
Some planners sell aesthetic direction as a separate product without logistics. Useful if you enjoy the project management and want someone else to make the room look coherent.
Three models, and they behave differently. A flat fee for a defined scope is the most transparent and the most common for day-of and month-of work. A percentage of total spend runs 10 to 20 percent and is standard for full-service, though it has an obvious tension built in: the fee rises with the budget. Hourly, at $100 to $300, is usually reserved for consulting or partial engagements.
Ask which model applies, what happens if the budget grows, and whether the planner takes commission from vendors they recommend. Commission is legal and common, but you should know about it, because a planner paid by both sides has a preferred-vendor list shaped by something other than fit. A free planning service offered by a venue or a vendor is not free; it is paid for somewhere in your bill.
Scope and fee
The day itself
Coordinators and planners are different jobs, and venues blur the line constantly.
Almost every venue includes one. They work for the building. They manage the room, the staff and the venue’s own obligations, and they leave when the venue’s part is done. They are not tracking whether the florist arrived, whether the toasts are running long, or where the marriage license is. If a venue tells you a planner is unnecessary because they include a coordinator, ask exactly what that person does between two and eleven on the day.
Get the deliverables written as a list: how many vendor meetings, how many hours on the day, how many staff on site, whether the rehearsal is included, whether they handle payments and contracts or only introductions. Vague scope is where partial planning goes wrong, because both sides assumed the other was handling something.
A planner with real vendor relationships often recovers part of their fee through pricing you would not have got alone, and more of it through mistakes you did not make. That is a genuine argument, not just a sales one. It is also not universal, so ask for specifics rather than accepting it as a principle.
Full-service planners are booked twelve to eighteen months out and take a limited number of weddings a year. Day-of coordinators can often be found six months out, though the good ones in strong markets go earlier. Deposits are typically 25 to 50 percent at signing.
We are building this market by market, and a city page goes live only once it holds enough real planners to be worth your time. Two listings is not a directory, so until it is useful it stays closed.
Full-service planning averages about $5,500 nationally, with a range of $3,500 to $15,000. Partial planning runs $1,500 to $5,000 and day-of or month-of coordination $800 to $2,500.
A planner works with you across the whole process, from budget and vendor selection through design. A coordinator takes the plan you built and executes it in the final weeks and on the day.
Usually yes for anything complex. A venue coordinator manages the building and the venue staff, not your vendors, your timeline or your family.
Flat fee for a defined scope, an hourly rate of $100 to $300, or a percentage of total wedding spend at 10 to 20 percent. Full-service work most often uses the percentage or a large flat fee.
Twelve to eighteen months out for full service. Day-of coordinators can often be booked around six months out, earlier in peak season.
Next: wedding venues, wedding decor, or all 24 vendor categories.