Clients use these terms interchangeably. You cannot afford to, because the difference between them is several months of your life.

Full planning

You are involved from the beginning. You shape the budget, find the venue, source and book every supplier, manage the design, and run the day. This is months of work spread over a year, and it is priced accordingly.

Partial planning

The client has started. They may have the venue and a supplier or two, and they have run out of time, confidence or both. You join a plan already in motion, which sounds easier and often is not, because you inherit decisions you would not have made.

Price partial planning carefully. It is the scope most often underquoted, because it sounds like half a job and frequently is not.

On-the-day coordination

A misleading name for something that starts four to six weeks out. You take over the plan the client has built, contact every supplier, build the run sheet, run the rehearsal if there is one, and run the day itself.

It is the cheapest thing you sell and it carries the most risk per hour, because you are responsible for executing a plan you did not build.

Why the distinction matters

Every scope argument in this industry starts here. A client who booked coordination and expects full planning is not being difficult, they heard a word that meant something different to them than it did to you.

Fix it in the proposal, not in conversation. List what each package includes, and list what it excludes just as plainly. The exclusions are the half that prevents the disagreement.