How much should solo wedding & event coordinators charge?

Day-of and month-of coordination is almost always sold as a flat package for the event, not billed hourly — this calculator models that package as a single 'visit' covering your full day of coverage (ceremony arrival through reception send-off). Separate planning-assistant hours (vendor research, timeline building, calls with the couple) in the weeks before the event are usually billed at the same effective hourly rate, adjust the hours field below to see that rate on its own.

What moves the rate

• Hours of day-of coverage — a typical package runs 8-10 hours (vendor arrival through reception end); every extra hour or an early ceremony start adds to the total
• Scope tier — day-of/month-of coordination (lightest), partial planning (a few months out), and full-service planning (a % of total budget, typically 10-20%) are three different pricing models; this calculator only fits the first two
• Guest count and number of vendors being coordinated — a 200-guest event with 12 vendors takes meaningfully more pre-event coordination than a 40-guest one with 4
• Rehearsal coordination — attending or running the rehearsal the day before is commonly a separate add-on, not automatically bundled
• Second coordinator/assistant on-site — larger or multi-location events often require a paid assistant, which should be passed through as a cost, not absorbed
• Travel and overnight stay for destination or multi-day events
• Peak wedding season (roughly May-October in most US markets) commands a premium over off-season dates due to demand
• Experience and certification — newer coordinators price lower to build a portfolio; certified, review-backed coordinators in competitive metros charge toward the top of the range
• Local market — the same coordination package can run $1,000-1,200 in an average market and $2,000-6,000+ in a major metro or destination-wedding location

baseHourly of $150 sits inside the researched $75-275/hr range for day-of coordinators (higher-end professionals cluster $100-275/hr) and, at the default 600-minute (10-hour) coverage window, produces a ~$1,500 package price — inside the $800-2,500 range this profession's packages typically run, above the lower national day-of average ($1,000-1,200) to reflect that a full 10-hour day is a fuller package than the bare-minimum day-of rate. Treat the calculator's hourly figure as your rate for pre-event planning-assistant hours (calls, vendor research, timeline drafts) and the per-visit figure as your day-of package price — most coordinators quote both to clients. The $2,000/yr expense default covers: general liability plus professional liability insurance, often bundled as a BOP (business owner's policy averaging ~$500-1,020/yr combined per industry insurer data — most venues require you to show proof of this via a Certificate of Insurance before they'll let you coordinate on-site), wedding-specific planning/CRM software such as Aisle Planner or HoneyBook (~$300-500/yr), a day-of emergency kit and signage/design supplies (~$300/yr amortized), and marketing/portfolio site + vendor-directory listings (~$300-400/yr). Optional industry association dues (e.g. NACE, ILEA) run another $300-500/yr and are a trust signal more than a cost requirement, so they're excluded from the default the same way NAPO dues are excluded from the home-organizing default.