wedding-logistics-planner

Wedding Logistics Planner Skill

A wedding is a live event with one absolute production rule: the couple cannot be the producers on the day. Every question that reaches the bride is a planning failure; the plan's whole job is building the machine — a minute-level run sheet with real buffers, a vendor call sheet, and a named human with decision authority — so that on the day, problems route around the couple and get solved by people who were told in advance they'd be solving them.

What This Skill Produces

• The run sheet — the day in minutes, from first hair appointment to last-song load-out, buffers built in and labeled
• The vendor call sheet — every vendor: arrival, setup window, contact, location detail, and who meets them
• The delegation roster — the day-of coordinator (professional or drafted friend — named either way), plus owners for the classic problem categories
• The contingency cards — weather, late vendor, missing item, timeline slip — each a pre-made decision, not a day-of debate

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The shape of the day — ceremony and reception locations (travel between them is the most-underestimated block), guest count, indoor/outdoor exposure, sunset time if photos care (they care — see [sun-and-moon](../sun-and-moon/SKILL.md) for the golden-hour math)
• The vendor list — who's confirmed, their contracted windows (setup hours and overtime triggers come from the contracts — cross-check [wedding-vendor-contract-decoder](../wedding-vendor-contract-decoder/SKILL.md))
• The people available to draft — the organized friend, the unflappable uncle; the roster needs names, and "someone will handle it" is the phrase this skill exists to delete
• The couple's non-negotiables for the day — the two moments that must be protected (the first look, the toast) — buffers concentrate around them

Framework: The Production Rules

1. Build backwards from fixed points: ceremony start, sunset (if photos), venue hard-out — everything else schedules backwards from these with travel and getting-100-people-to-move time included (a crowd changes rooms at ~15–20 minutes per move, not five; the run sheet uses crowd-speed, not walking-speed).
2. Buffers are scheduled, not hoped: hair and makeup run late structurally (buffer 25%), photos absorb whatever slack exists (give formal-photo blocks a shot list and a hard end), and the pre-ceremony hour gets a 15-minute nothing-block on purpose. A run sheet with no white space is a run sheet that fails by 2pm.
3. The call sheet makes vendors autonomous: each vendor's line answers the questions they'd otherwise call about — where to load in, where to park, who meets them, when power/tables are ready, the on-site contact's number (which is the coordinator's, never the couple's). Send it the week before; confirm receipt.
4. One person holds decision authority, and it isn't the couple: the day-of coordinator (hired, or a drafted friend who is relieved of guest duties — both jobs is neither job) gets explicit authority in writing-ish: "if it costs under $X or moves the timeline under 30 minutes, decide; only above that, find [name] — never the couple." Problem-category owners (vendor issues, family wrangling, guest needs, transport) each get a name on the roster.
5. Contingencies are cards, not conversations: rain → the call time and who makes it (venue flip usually has a vendor deadline — put the decision time on the run sheet) · vendor late → the backup order (playlist for band, phone-photographer bridge) · timeline slips 30+ → what gets shortened (pre-decided: it's the cocktail hour, it's always the cocktail hour) · missing item → the runner with the car. Each card: trigger, decision-maker, action — written when calm.

Output Format

Wedding Day Ops: [date, locations]

The Run Sheet

| Time | What | Who | Buffer notes |

|---|---|---|---|

[First call → load-out · fixed points marked · nothing-blocks labeled as intentional]

Vendor Call Sheet

| Vendor | Arrive | Setup window | Meets them | Contact | Notes (parking/power/load-in) |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|

The Roster

Day-of decision-maker: [name] (authority: under $[X] / under 30 min — decide) · Vendor issues: [name] · Family wrangling: [name] · Guests: [name] · Runner + car: [name]

Contingency Cards

[Rain: decision at [time] by [name] · Late vendor: … · 30-min slip: cut [the cocktail hour] · Missing item: …]

Quality Checks

• [ ] Every block between fixed points includes crowd-speed transitions and labeled buffers
• [ ] The call sheet answers where/when/who/power for every vendor, with the coordinator's number not the couple's
• [ ] The decision-maker has explicit thresholds and is not a person with another day-of job
• [ ] Each contingency card has trigger, decider, and action
• [ ] The couple appears on the run sheet only for moments, never for logistics

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not schedule the day at walking-speed — crowds move at crowd-speed and the sheet must
• [ ] Do not let the couple hold any vendor's number for the day — the routing rule is the product
• [ ] Do not draft a coordinator-friend without relieving them of guest duties — both jobs is neither
• [ ] Do not leave rain as a vibe — it's a decision with a time and an owner
• [ ] Do not build a zero-slack masterpiece — the buffer blocks are the plan working, not waste