Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Ayanna Eckblad

Couples who are getting married now have an additional resource they can look into to make their wedding a success.

Shelby Stephenson, an Albert Lea resident of six years, recently decided to offer her wedding coordinating services for those in the area through her new business, Stephenson Weddings.

Having a lifelong passion for weddings, Stephenson said she had originally planned on going into wedding planning but switched paths as the demand for the job was low. She explained that, while wedding planner and coordinator sound the same, they play different roles.

So what is a wedding coordinator? Put simply, a wedding coordinator manages the wedding day itself.

“When you… start to question… ‘Who’s going to do this? Who’s going to direct my guests where to go, who’s going to welcome them? Who’s going to turn on the tealights, who’s going to help the caterers clean up?’ That’s me. I’m the person who does all of those little things,” Stephenson said.

She has three years of experience from the wedding venue, The Barn of Chapeau Shores.

For Stephenson, the process of coordinating a wedding normally starts by meeting with interested clients to “get an idea of what they’re looking for, what they want, and then figure out how I’m going to execute it,” she said. Following the planning phase, she typically does not hear from the clients until it is closer to the big day. They usually reach out to her about 12 weeks before the wedding.

The wedding day itself can be filled with its own challenges.

“Every wedding has a little something that happens,” Stephenson said. “Whether it’s unexpected rain or a caterer shows up late or something along those lines.”

She is an expert on figuring out solutions for each specific situation.

“Everyone’s wedding is different,” she said.

For Stephenson, the most rewarding part of her job is seeing the happiness of the couple and guests at the end of the wedding.

“Every wedding, like I said, has something that happens,” she said. “But honestly, by the end of the night, you’re just so happy because you’ve spent the entire day just with people who love you and who want to celebrate you, so seeing that look on their faces that, no matter what happened … somehow at the end of the day, everything just kind of became about the couple and they’re just so happy to be where they’re at.”

Stephenson wants the public to know that there are many dates that her services are available in 2024.

“A wedding coordinator is incredibly useful to have,” she said. “So I just want people to know … that we have one in town that would be so happy to help them.”

Stephenson can be contacted at Shelby.Lynne.stephenson@gmail.com or by calling 507-276-9042. More information can be found on her website, Stephensonweddings.org and through her Facebook and Instagram pages.