Is anyone useing a Wedding planner for any part of their Wedding?

debi1941

Hi all.....

question.....

Are any of you useing a wedding planner/consultant for your "wedding day" ?

To help with organization for the day, set up, keeping everything in order? 

I am teetering back and forth...

Ours is early in the day, so between getting my hair done and pictures with family and the ceremony starting at 11am, I cant do a thing for all the above.....

Do i depend on a friends daughter to get it all done, or do we hire someone? 

The only bad thing about hiring someone, it is quite pricey, for a 1 day service.....quotes rangeing from 450-700......

I know it is a specialized service, but my FI is haveing a hard time paying someone tha much when he doesnt even make that much a day at work...


HELP...

msblumoo

My FH and I our it!! Event Planner, Day of Coordinator, Consultant, Gopher....all us. We have tried to keep things pretty simple though so hopefully it will all work out. 

MikesAngie

Our ceremony and reception are later in the day and I am attempting to avoid hiring a DOC (Day of Coordinator). 

Like you though there is a lot that will have to be done at the site prior to our ceremony.  We don't have a baker or a florist.  We're having truffles shipped in that will need to be arranged on the cake stand we already have to look like a wedding cake.  We will also have two stands with Mexican wedding cookies that will need to be displayed. We are our own florist so there is a lot there that will need to be done as well. Our venue won't be open for us to come set up until 3:00 pm the day of, so there will be about 30 - 40 minutes that I will have to help set up since the photographers will be showing up at 4:30 pm.

We're hoping that for a nominal fee ($150.00) or so that we can get our caterer to assist us with all of this, if not we may be enlisting one of my FI's cousins who is an event planner.  I would rather that she be able to just be a guest and not have to help, but my FMIL is thinking that the cousin would love to help.

So I hear ya loud and clear about what will have to happen that  you can't do... but the fee the DOC charges is a bit much IMHO.

debi1941

I am in total agreement....fee's are a bit on the high side.....for basically a couple hours of set up....

I am going for a tasting mid november and I am going to talk to the event manager and see if she does any of this,or if they have an "on site"  coordinator that can be hired for a nominal fee......

I'd rather not have to spend the whole $450      not with everything else we are paying for....

Even a budget wedding is staring to exceed "BUDGET"   haha

Thanks !

rapunnzzll

I had talked to fi about a DOC and he was ok with it.  I explained that I didn't want the extra stress of doing things ourselves nor did I want to ask any family to take care of it.  I wanted all of our guests to be able to truly enjoy the day and not have any responsibilities.  I've always been really close to my oldest sister, but she has chosen to just not be a happy person in her life these past few years.  I didn't want to ask anyone then hear later that there was a grudge because of doing so.  I had someone in mind to speak with, but after hiring our florist, when I dropped some pictures off to her, she offered to do it for us.  She is going to do it for half of what others in our area charge.  Plus last week when I had another meeting with her she offered to be our officiant if we still needed one.  Seems she does more than just the flowers!  If you have someone that you know, but not close enough to invite to the wedding, someone that you trust, maybe you could get them to be your doc at a reasonable rate.

debi1941

rapunnzzll

Thanks so much for your input...

I actually thought I had someone to take care of everything and thats how it actually climaxed to hiring a real DOC...

An old friend of mine from high school whom i found out lives very close to me is going to be taking classes come this spring for wedding planning/consultant....so when she told me this, I asked her if she may be interested in the "DOC" for the day jiob.....of course she was thrilled and we agreed upon a price which we all thought very fair...but she has cancelled three meetings with me already to talk about what it will actually entail and to sign a contract which I had my friend draw up for us.....

So, since she is out of the picture now...if the venue event planner cant or has no one there that can help for additional fee's, I am not going to have a choice.....but to hire a consultant....

he is ok up to 300 which is actually 50$ per hour.....if she is there from start to finish, but he said 75 an hour was out rageous....I kinda agreed......it is more than both of us make together an hour...lol

Thanks again for any input and thoughts !!!!

debi

Congrats to all !

2dBride

We didn't use a DOC, even though we actually had an offer for free DOC services.  However, our wedding and reception were very nontraditional, and many things normally done by vendors were done by our friends.  We didn't really want to put anyone "in charge" of our friends.  Plus, we were able to get into our reception venue two days in advance to decorate, which was a big help.

Sue-n-Kevin

Well, I am hiring one, but mostly because there are some timing issues around our site.

We can only get into the reception venue and chapel (in an historic village) 2 hrs beforehand. Not sure how strict they are about this, but it gives me pause. I'm hoping we can drop off a lot of stuff the night before when we are there for the rehearsal.

I have a TON of DIY stuff that is being included in our celebration. It's not possible to ask friends or family to do this. I want them to enjoy the day. Here's a list of what we have:

- stanchions with metal luminaries to place between the chapel and banquet building
- lace paper doily pew cones on the chapel aisle with baby's breath in them
- programs for ceremony
-hang tulle on the white fence in front of the chapel
-hang tulle or garlands on the chapel handrail

Banquet building
- I purchased my own tablecloths for the round guest tables. These have to be set on the tables
-making my own table runners to place on the tables over the tablecloths
-arranging on the tables the votives, candle holders, and centerpieces we are making
-setting out the guest book and memory candles
-setting out the cake cutting equipment
-setting up all of the above on picnic tables under the tent outside for the DJ/dancing part of the reception

The historic site staff is just there to monitor that nothing is damaged and answer questions.........they don't DO anything. The caterer is responsible for the food stuff.

On my local board I found the best "day of coordinator", and checked their website. They have a full service package for $400 or $500, plus an "a la carte" menu. I've already met with them and given them a deposit. Their job is to have all the phone numbers for all the vendors involved (DJ, photographer, caterer) and do the actual set up. They attend the rehearsal, go over last minute things with us that night, then are there the entire time on the day of the wedding.

Yes, it's more than I wanted to pay. But since this is my first and last wedding (my fiance has had 2 marriages before, never had a "wedding"), the peace of mind of having someone there to do all this is worth it to me. It's really a personal decision based on how much "stuff" you have to arrange, how many guests you have, and how vendors there are to organize in the time frame you are allotted.

One of the alternatives you could consider is to check and see if there is a hotel/motel management school attached to any of your local colleges. They may be able to locate a student there who would do this on a "budget" basis.

Not sure if his helps or not.

vmmom

We are getting married on a cruise ship so we have the coordinator provided by the cruise line.  My objective is to keep it simple and not having to "sweat" the details is one of the reasons we chose this type of wedding!

Marrin713

I have an amazing best friend who just sort of oversaw everything.  Also at the reception, the young woman who walked us through the whole thing was there the evening of the reception and made sure everything went smoothly.

bruno811

We are using a wedding planner supplied by the resort we're having the ceremony. Because its out of town (St. Thomas), we kind of have no choice because we've never been there and just bought a "wedding package" at a spa resort. They've been great so far and I'm comfortable leaving everything in their hands even though I haven't even seen my flowers or anything. Not sure I'll need a DOC; I made a schedule for everyone for the entire weekend anyway. Only going to have 22 people there

thealphabride

Hey Debi, Good question!
I used a DOC. I found her because she posted on my local board of theknot.com ***gasp***** that for the next 3 brides that answered her e mail she would do their weddings free.

She was just starting her business and needed experience. I was one of the 3.
I had planned on hiring a DOC anyway because I don't want my family doing all the work, and that is what it would have ended up to be without a DOC.

She was worth her weight in Gold, especially at the end during the last week, when things got a bit stressful for me. Se e mailed me to check in throughout the entire process, I planned my wedding because I wanted to, but she would have done it if I had asked her to.

The last week, I was having difficulty communicating with my caterer so I let her and my fiance handle it.  Then I just said hell, take this puppy home it's your baby now. I gave her full authority. She knew my vision. She had many vendors to coordinate, including Catering, Venue, Floral, Music, Linen's, bar. She had visited the venue with me twice!

She kept everything together and took pics of my son walking me down the isle.
she told me even when I needed a lip color touch up. She was right there with the mirror. She was everywhere!!!

She just made everything run smoothly and none of my family, or the hubby and I had to do a thing, or lift a finger, or make a decision, she executed my vision perfectly with my wonderful vendors. She ended the night packing every.single.thing. into my sister's car that needed to go. She stayed till the end.
Her day was 12 hours long, and a lot of running. She had confirmed all the vendors the week before as well.

Although they do make a lot of money, you have to decide if it is worth it, or if a DOC fits with the goals of your day. I ended up giving her flowers, food, cake, all my table numbers, all the escort card holders, and RAVE REVIEWS on all the wedding websites because she did such an awesome job. Her business is in full swing now and she got a couple of jobs because of my reviews, which made me feel really great!

[Deleted User]

I think wedding coordinators and DOCs are God's way of telling you, your wedding plans are out of control.  I have loved every minute of planning my wedding and would not have wanted to turn that over to someone else.  We are also keeping it fairly simple - brief ceremony at a beautiful bed and breakfast already decorated for Christmas and then a buffet dinner with a harpist playing.  I am having a croquembouche (no wedding cake),  nothing being tossed, etc.  We are really trying to keep it simple, elegant and dignified.  Now, of course, in one month, we'll see what really happends.  God also punishes arrogance.

ashleighc83

We have a wedding planner since we're marrying in Italy. Her cost is 3500 plus extras, but it's so confusing that I can't risk the stress or spending more money on a wedding that wont go through because the papers werent filled on time at the church in Rome. It's all a matter of preference.

You could also call (if it's in your area) a college that offer an event planning course and see if there are any students that are willing to be paid for less but need experience...I dont know, just an idea

IAmLymelady

You mention a friend's daughter; if she's willing to do it, why not offer to pay her?  You could pay less than what you'd pay a professional, but she'd have some extra cash and have a good incentive to be professional and make sure things get done.

I would talk to your friend about it first, but it's an option.  If all you're looking for is someone to coordinate vendors, make sure the gifts get home, make sure the decorations are out, etc., well, those are things that a lot of brides do themselves, so it probably falls in the realm of what she is able to do.

I'm considering hiring a DOC, simply because I am spending more money on this than I will ever spend on a party again (probably) and I want to enjoy it.