'day of' coordinators

bheartsb · July 2010

did any of you ladies have one?
if you did have one, was it worth it?
if you didn't have one...after all was said + done, would you have gotten one if you could do it all again?

It's coming down to the homestretch, and my venue has fired their original 'planner' and haven't replaced her yet. I was considering hiring a doc so that I don't have to give Aunt Madge the 'priviledge' of showing guests where to go for the ceremony, etc, etc...thoughts, comments...

[Deleted User] · July 2010

Our venue's event planner acted as our DOC and we hired a wedding director. They both did excellent jobs. I didn't have to worry about anything besides showing up and not falling on my ass. I would say they were definitely worth it for me because I tend to get stressed out and bitchy when I feel like I need to keep everyone organized.

Nebb · July 2010

Nope, I did it all on my own. My venue gave me someone that I could order around on the day of, but I honestly didnt give her much to do because im anal about my visions and wanted to do all the work myself. I had enough notes in my book of how I wanted everything done and set up that it was pretty easy to execute it the day of.

missy68 · July 2010

The people who ran the chapel took care of all that. I knew where I was supposed to be and when, and that was it.

[Deleted User] · July 2010

I had one. Her name was Mom.

We did most of the decorating the day before, so the morning of I was trying to get last-minute things done. My mom took the reigns on organizing the food, dealing with Publix when they came to deliver some things, telling me when it was time to head upstairs to get ready. Other than that there wasn't anything major we needed a special day-of person to do.

Lenore2010 · July 2010

I have worked in event planning (not wedding) and I still wish I had had one! Really, unless you are the most cool headed, organized person on the face of the planet I would suggest to anyone to either have a paid or a "designated" day of coordinator if you have ten guests or 600. My sister had one and I can still see her smoothing everyone over and dealing with stuff when the drunken MOH lost her mind right before the wedding.

bheartsb · July 2010

As of right now...they have someone who is handling 'event planning' but she is only there on a 'part-time' basis, and dealing strictly with front of house + kitchen coordination.

Some portions of the reception will be very DIY (example: table decorations...I'm ordering bulk calla lilies + having them in simple vases surrounded by candles) so certain pieces of the affair need someone to make sure things get done the way I would like.

@Nebb...I definitely understand having a vision, and wanting it to look a certain way. Initially I was planning on handling all the details myself, for just that reason.

@seshat...I wish my mom was good like that. She's really not good when it comes to people or details.

I'm starting to doubt myself. Up until this weekend (in-laws came to town. FYI: they slept in their room + we slept in ours...no issues...lol) I felt like I could handle everything, but now I'm beginning to doubt whether or not I can pull it off.

We are also hosting an 'openhouse' the Thursday before the wedding-for our oot guests to come check out our new digs. And then Sunday following the wedding I wanted to distribute a bagged breakfast to all the oot guests (a breakfast/brunch at the hotel wasn't really an option as we have guests staying in 3 different hotels, so I thought a couple of bagels + bottles of Starbucks Frappacinos would be nice)

With everyone CONSTANTLY saying 'oh, you're gonna have soo much on your plate' I'm definitely begining to doubt myself. maybe i'm just pms'ing

MeaghanandMichael · July 2010

did any of you ladies have one? My venue provided one and I also had more florist do, "staging and stlying' which meant all the room/tent setup and stuff...
if you did have one, was it worth it? It wasn't worth it for me to hire a person because my venue offered one. I believe most venues should offer one and those venues should expect their coordinators to know all the bride's wedding details. However, most venue coordinators can't go to the ceremony site so this is why I hired the styling and staging part for my wedding.
if you didn't have one...after all was said + done, would you have gotten one if you could do it all again? Nope, for the reasons above. I also would NOT have gotten a wedding planner because I wanted to do it myself. I planned from 4 hours away and it was not even that hard. You just have to do your research and know your contacts.

bheartsb · July 2010

ceremony + reception are taking place in the same room. Ceremony will be held in the banquet room, guests will then move for the cocktail hour. The banquet room will be flipped for the reception + the guests will be directed back to the banquet room.

Kinda' awkward, I know...but the space + views are amazing!!! (not to mention the food!)

betrothed123 · July 2010

My venue had one. She filled my plate for me at the buffet. It was weird. I'm sure she did other stuff, but I don't know what it was, which I suppose means she did her job very well.

K Byte · July 2010

We had a pretty complex wedding with a lot of vendors and a lot of stuff for them to set up and vendors showing up here and there, and I never felt like I needed a DOC. We did very little DIY decorating though. I guess if you were decorating your entire ceremony/reception spaces yourself, the extra help might be worth it? Otherwise your vendors should be able to coordinate with your reception site and handle all the deliveries and setups themselves -- they are professionals after all!

texgal79 · July 2010

We have one, and so far, I think it's fantastic and worth the extra $$, for the reasons PP mentioned (the ones who agree with me, obviously.) I've done quite a bit of work thus far on the design and details, and I am OCD to the point of changing the cake table from a 48" to 68" today with our rental company. But that day I just want to relax and not worry about doing anything. This could also be called lazy. I think it just depends on how much you are willing to do and how many hands you have available to help you with existing family/friends. Some people luckily do have a lot of free "helpers". Also... I've seen lots of first-hand evidence of vendors going a little nutty contacting you the week of or the day of with questions or last-minute substitutions, crises and demands; I have no useful family to haul stuff/drop off stuff/organize/set up (my mother is the most useless of all); I don't want the wedding party to feel like hired help; we have multiple events that weekend as you do; and we have a ton of out-of-town guests with whom we want to be able to spend as much time as possible. We are having the ceremony and reception in the same place and doing a "flip" as well, and the coordinator and her team will make that happen much more quickly than just the caterers. She's also taking care of the special things I want set out, like notes and flowers at each place setting and lanterns on the walkways, the guestbook, programs, etc. We don't have anyone else to do that stuff.

rainedrop6 · July 2010

did any of you ladies have one? We had one and she handled everything beginning with the rehearsal and we didn't have to worry about one single detail.

if you did have one, was it worth it? DH and I both agree it was the best money we could have spent in regard to the wedding and recommend it to anyone that doesn't have someone from their venue.

if you didn't have one...after all was said + done, would you have gotten one if you could do it all again? I couldn't imagine handling it all on my own. I feel like I would have missed out on my wedding.

Knittibell · July 2010

I have acted as DOC for several of my friends, as I was a professional event planner.

At one wedding, here are a couple of things I did:

The cake arrived, and was supposed to be decorated with fresh flowers. Flowers were missing. I went around to each centerpiece and nicked one flower, arranging the different flowers on the cake. Bride had no idea it wasn't delivered that way, and she was thrilled with the cake.

The plan was for b&g to be introduced and we'd all start dinner. Caterer came up to me and said there was a slight snafu with one of the ovens, and they needed to stall... so I ran over to the DJ, then went over to my friend and told her that after the BP intro we'd be going into the first dance, and then the parent's dances, and THEN they'd sit down for dinner. She went with it, and dinner was served on time, and none of the guests were the wiser.

later in the night, it seemed imminent that they'd run out of beer. (this was a formal, tented affair in their back yard on the water, they ordered their own supplies). I went around and explained to the GM and dads what the situation was, had them give me what they had in their wallets, then ran inside and placed a delivery for more beer. Couple had no idea what happened, they didn't run out (1 bottle left at the end of the night), and the couple paid the men back a couple of days later.

So those were a couple of things in one wedding that I managed for them... i'd definitely suggest one, if your site doesn't have one included! Hope that helps!

bheartsb · July 2010

thanks ladies!!!

I am meeting with an event planner on Tuesday. Hopefully we will click + I can hire her.

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