So last night I helped out at my cousin's wedding at a really elegant historical venue. They had a nice big staff for the wedding, and an in-house coordinator who offered "full service wedding coordination." This person was terrible at her job. There were supposed to be 18 ten-top tables to accommodate 180 guests. more than half of them were 8-top tables. I noticed this a few hours before the wedding started when I was putting my 180 DIY napkin rings at all of the place settings and had about 20 left over, but they argued with me that I must have counted wrong. Then, just minutes before dinner began, they realized I was right and hurriedly put up some more tables so they wouldn't be short. (of course there weren't any centerpieces for those tables, so I had to quickly find the bridesmaids and ask them if I could have thier bouquets to lay down on a square mirror and add a couple of votives for some make-shift centerpieces.
Anyway, the wedding coordinator didn't seem to be coordinating anything other than the services provided by the venue, despite thier advertisment as a "full-service" wedding coordinator who would oversee all aspects of the wedding. She also was NOT THE SAME PERSON who sat down with my cousin and aunt at all of the planning meetings for the wedding, and seemed to know very little about what was going on all night. The same thing happened to my best friend at a different venue (also a very elegant, expensive venue with large staff). I'm just wondering.... how common is this? Have any of you signed on for a venue that advertises thier full-service wedding coordination only to have the person you plan everything with not be there on the night of the wedding and have someone else who is virtually clueless in charge on the big night??