Day Of Coordinator?

Saralynne024

Any of you Mpls ladies hiring a wedding planner for "Day of coordination" ? If so, what prices are you seeing? What are pro's cons of hiring one?

flower_lover

I didn't hire a DOC and wish I would have.

I had a friend, who is super-organized as my Personal Attendant and thought that would be as good as if not better than a DOC. Not the case. First, I felt awful asking her to do so much work that day (granted, it was easy work like putting up signs, directing people, etc.), and she said she totally didn't mind afterwards, but I felt like since she was a good friend she should have been a guest instead of "working".

There were also several things that were missed that might not have been had we had a DOC:

• She distributed flowers to everybody in the family/wedding party, and brought mine and DH to us last. Unfortunately, we did not get our flowers till halfway through pictures, so there are pictures of me without the flowers in my hair, without my bouquet, and DH without his boutiniere.
• At the reception hall, the vendor asked her if we had ordered a microphone for the band. She said we did not. We did, and unfortunately when it came time for the band to make annoucements they had no mike and just had to talk loud :-(

I think there were a couple of other small things like that. It didn't completely ruin the day by any means, but someone who is a professional DOC who has good experience wouldn't have missed the things that were missed.

I also know that it is usually really busy the last few days before the wedding, and it's nice if the DOC can do all of the last minute confirmations with the vendors, etc.

Just my 2 cents...

Saralynne024

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_day-of-coordinator-4?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:1a29afb3-86b6-4a61-ba52-aa07938b19cdPost:5d1a746d-0b61-48ec-919d-326973967fe5">Re: Day Of Coordinator?</a>:
[QUOTE]I didn't hire a DOC and wish I would have. I had a friend, who is super-organized as my Personal Attendant and thought that would be as good as if not better than a DOC. Not the case. First, I felt awful asking her to do so much work that day (granted, it was easy work like putting up signs, directing people, etc.), and she said she totally didn't mind afterwards, but I felt like since she was a good friend she should have been a guest instead of "working". There were also several things that were missed that might not have been had we had a DOC: She distributed flowers to everybody in the family/wedding party, and brought mine and DH to us last. Unfortunately, we did not get our flowers till halfway through pictures, so there are pictures of me without the flowers in my hair, without my bouquet, and DH without his boutiniere. At the reception hall, the vendor asked her if we had ordered a microphone for the band. She said we did not. We did, and unfortunately when it came time for the band to make annoucements they had no mike and just had to talk loud :-( I think there were a couple of other small things like that. It didn't completely ruin the day by any means, but someone who is a professional DOC who has good experience wouldn't have missed the things that were missed. I also know that it is usually really busy the last few days before the wedding, and it's nice if the DOC can do all of the last minute confirmations with the vendors, etc. Just my 2 cents...
Posted by flower_lover[/QUOTE]

I AGREE. Im in the same boat. My personal attendants are a sister and a great friend, both super organized, but I feel like on such a special day they should also be enjoying it with me as opposed to doing SO much work. BUT....the thought of spending and extra 600-1000 on a DOC seems crazy. Wonder if any knotties have considered doing it for eachother. hmmmm.

MrsBassPlaya

I hired a DOC for my wedding day, and I'm thankful I did.  It cost me $600ish to hire Heather form Until It Looks Right, and she did a good job.  I just wanted someone there so my mom didn't have to do all the work on the wedding day.  I think she was definitely worth it, and I didn't have to worry about much on the big day.

However, you can't expect a coordinator to be perfect, cause things will go wrong.  Mine screwed up a couple of minor things.  The biggest thing she messed up was she gave the wrong dad the mic for the prayer.  I had to yell to my dad to get him to stop talking cause if you hand a mic to my dad, he's gonna talk no matter what.  He got the hint and stopped so DH's dad could say the welcome and prayer, but then everyone was confused, and no one took the mic from  my dad and handed it to DH's dad.  So he had to just yell his welcome and prayer across the room.  I was pretty irritated by that, but what can you do?  And honestly, if that's the biggest thing that went wrong, that's not too bad.

I hear tale that Heather is no longer in the business, but I haven't specifically asked her, so that's just second hand info.  Her assistant Jamie (who I LOVED) has partnered with another lady to do wedding planning.  If you want to check it out, it's Fabulous Functions by Julie Lyford.  That's all I know about their gig, though.  I don't know prices or anything, but I'd recommend Jamie any day.  She was beyond awesome on our wedding day, and I had more face time with her than Heather.  (I'm assuming Heather took care of the big behind the scenes stuff more, and Jamie took care of me and DH and our every needs.)
http://www.fabulousfunctions.com/About.html

flower_lover

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_day-of-coordinator-4?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:1a29afb3-86b6-4a61-ba52-aa07938b19cdPost:7ebc3d22-a954-4c6a-9541-761425e9a945">Re: Day Of Coordinator?</a>:
[QUOTE] I if you hand a mic to my dad, he's gonna talk no matter what. 
Posted by MrsBassPlaya[/QUOTE]

I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time, but I was LOL when I read this.

MrsBassPlaya

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_day-of-coordinator-4?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:1a29afb3-86b6-4a61-ba52-aa07938b19cdPost:7f349fe4-ab0e-4a63-92b6-62b652d4ccba">Re: Day Of Coordinator?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Day Of Coordinator? : I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time, but I was LOL when I read this.
Posted by flower_lover[/QUOTE]

Haha.  Yeah.  I was panicking and waving my arms about trying to get my dad to stop.  No one else knew what was going on.  He figured it out after the initial greeting, so it all worked out.  Then when he realized he shouldn't have the mic, he started to walk over to DH's dad to give it to him, but DH's dad just started shouting before he got there.  But is't probably best that "hopefully" not everyone could hear DH's dad's speech/prayer, cause he kept calling me Justin.  My name is not Justin.

ClintonBean

I would HIGHLY recommend!  Check out these options -
http://www.theknot.com/Vendors/Minnesota-Wedding-Planners/Profiles/WCS/004

chinofiesta93

I'm using Simply Elegant Bridal Consulting, right around $1k. I upgraded our consultant, Ashley herself, to full service (which they normally don't do) for more than twice that price -- but they are SO worth it.

I email my consultant several times a week and she replies right away,  she has LOTS of preferred vendors so I am saving a ton of money with those discounts. Their company motto is to save you atleast the amount that they cost. So that's pretty great!

Even with just the day-of package, they will do all of the follow up/confirming with vendors a couple weeks prior to the wedding which I think is super.

aandjlove

In Response to Re:Day Of Coordinator?:[QUOTE]I'm using Simply Elegant Bridal Consulting, right around 1k. I upgraded our consultant, Ashley herself, to full service which they normally don't do for more than twice thatnbsp;price but they are SO worth it.I email my consultant several times a week and she replies right away,nbsp; she has LOTS of preferred vendors so I am saving a ton of money with those discounts. Their company motto is to save you atleast the amount that they cost. So that's pretty great!Even with just the dayof package, they will do all of the follow up/confirming with vendors a couple weeks prior to the wedding which I think is super. Posted by chinofiesta93[/QUOTE]


Totally agree! Love Ashley!!

KeighlaDanielle

We are using Katie from Kate Elizabeth Events. She is just starting professionally, but growing! Can't wait.

Here is her FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Elizabeth-Events/166246886859177?fref=ts

And her website: http://www.kateelizabethevents.com