wedding planners - should I or shouldn't I?

tupandron

I am considering hiring a wedding planner for DOC. I think I am pretty organized but think that I will enjoy my day more if someone else can handle the little hiccups. SO my questions - do you think I should hire one? Does anyone have a recommendation? How much should they cost (for DOC only)? I appreciate your feedback. thanks Tup and Ron

homediva

Hi! I got a wedding planner and I'm glad I did - my friends who have gotten married say that at least day-of coordination is worth it, especially if you are having a fairly large wedding. I am using Cynthia Martyn...for day of coordination she charges $1200 which I think might be a little steep but she is fantastic. I have heard of people getting day of for around $400, I think. I hired Cynthia Martyn for partial planning and DOC. Cynthia's DOC package also includes some chats and meetings in the weeks before your wedding to arrange an itinerary, and she checks all contracts and verifies everything with vendors, etc (although knowing me I will probably have to verify everything myself, LOL!) I think it will take a lot of the stress off, plus it will allow your attendants and family/friends (not to mention you!) to enjoy the day more as well since there will be someone coordinating everything - you won't need to ask someone to go check on this or that. Good luck! : ) I'm sure it will be fabulous whether you hire a coordinator or not! If you decide not to, just be sure to research everything and have a solid agenda for the big day!

ring_pop

I didn't have a DOC and my day still went very smoothly. I did a LOT of legwork in the weeks leading up to the wedding, to make sure that everyone knew exactly what would happen, when, and where.At the end of the day, whether or not to hire one is entirely up to you - depending on whether you have the money for it. You can certainly do without one and still enjoy your day. For me, it was too low on the priority list to spend money on.

MeaghanG

The one regret I have is that I didn't hire a DOC. We didn't have a lot of problems but the few difficulties we had would have been much easier on me if I had someone else in charge. $1200 would be a bit pricey for me, but shop around. Also, ask your reception vendor for recommendations. Mine had a preferred DOC and they offered a discount by going through the vendor to hire them. 

silversparks

My dad insisted on having a DOC as a present to my mom. He wanted our family and friends to be able to focus on having fun and enjoying the wedding rather than running around taking care of details after all the hard work everyone put in ahead of time. It also made a big difference in dealing with vendors on the day of - the DOC made sure payments were made, directed traffic... We used "2 steps ahead events" and were mostly happy with them - I don't know what the cost actually was, they'll work with you to create a package with the types of service you want (we had a small amount of time in the weeks before the wedding to help plan timelines and the like). My biggest piece of advice if you do use a DOC is to make sure that they have exactly the same information as your venue - we didn't tell the DOC about food service so they couldn't follow up when the venue messed up, but they could follow up when the venue messed up the set-up because they had our diagram...If you want more specific info about 2 steps ahead, or if you want to get in touch with them, we were Deborah and Steven on July 5GL

kelmcgee

I having one there but thats because my MOH is a wedding planner.... thecreativebride.ca if you want to look at her stuff. She was featured on the wedding for city TV in the spring.  Packages for DOC start at $600 She's been really good about making sure I have everything when I need to have it by.

ashley669

We're having a DOC coordinator mainly because I'm incredibly anal. Although I'm organised, the thought that something could creep up on our wedding day when I just want to enjoy myself was enough to convince me...and because FI knows me so well he thoroughly agreed. We're using Sonia from One of a Kind Weddings. She has a few different packages to choose from and is reasonanably priced. She's also been great to work with so far.

AuroraGirl

I got married this past Saturday, and all I can say is: Thank God for my dear Wedding DOC!  She was on top of everything and it allowed me to enjoy MY day without having to worry about any little hickups like missing menus, too much heating in our hall, etc.   I consider myself pretty organized, and even though I had everything planed to the minute, she really helped to keep the flow throughout the evening.  Also, we did pictures before the ceremony, and there's no way I would have been able to set up the room since I was out with my photographer.  Again, having her was the best decission I made.If you want her contact info, let me know.

kaesha

I didn't have one, and totally didn't need one either. That's money we found was better spent elsewhere!