Hi, Everyone!
I am in the beginning stages of planning a midcoast Maine wedding for memorial day weekend 2015. While my fiance and I are still waffling between two venues-- the 1774 Inn in Phippsburg and the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath -- we have made some important decisions already, including caterer, florist, rentals, and photographer. We are expecting about 100 people.
Now all we need is to have someone help us pull off our big day, and this is where I am running into budget trouble. I am particularly interested in finding someone who can help me coordinate all of the moving parts on the day of the wedding and assist with set-up and/or damage control during the week or so leading up to that. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find anyone (and I have been really searching!) who charges less than $1500-$2000 for "day-of" services, as they say this really requires between 30-40 hours of work. Someone even told me they would put in no fewer than 200 hours of work.
Has anybody had good experiences with, or heard of, a coordinator who either charges an hourly rate, or has packages for $1000 or less? My only other option at this point is to ask a family member to step up and help, but I would so much rather have an experienced, neutral professional who can put my mind at ease on the big day. I just don't think it's worth $2000. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!