DOC expectations?

aerinpegadrak

If you had a DOC, what did they do for you?  Did they do anything before the wedding day?  What in particular should be in their bag of tricks?

I ask because I've offered to serve as DOC for a friend who couldn't afford to hire one, but I'm not in the business and I've never done it before.  I assume it's just a matter of having the contact information for the vendors and guests of honor and keeping everything running on time, but I don't want to skip anything that a professional would have done for her.

MyNameIsNot

I had a DOC, but she helped me with some planning stuff also. 
As far as DOC specific, we met up about a month before and she got all the vendor contact info and copies of all my contracts and helped me work out a timeline.  She took care of getting everyone scheduled for when they should show up to set up and made a confirmation call to everyone the week before.  She led the rehearsal. 

Then on the day of, she set up all our linens and CPs, made sure all the vendors got where they were supposed to be on time, came over and met up with the girls getting ready and made sure we didn't need anything and made sure we got off to pics on time.  She ran around at the ceremony and made sure everything was ready to go (our unity candle stand disappeared).  At the reception, she made sure DH and I had food and wine, and she hung out and made sure the timeline flowed and orchestrated random things like our sparkler exit.

goheels05

That's nice of you!

DOC means day of coordinator, and accordingly, you only work on the day of the wedding (and rehearsal, if necessary).  I DOCed in a trade for another knottie, and I directed people to their chairs, helped move chairs from the ceremony to reception, helped get food out, gave messages to the DJ, stuff like that.  Just whatever needed to be done.  Oh, and during the processional, I told each person when to walk down the aisle.  I didn't make it to the rehearsal which made it kind of hard, so go to the R if you can.