External DOC necessary?

Re: External DOC necessary?

• JoanE2012 member

  

  March 2014

  I'm not sure how much pre-wedding assistance you're going to get from a DOC.....they usually just do day of, hence the name.  More involved pre-wedding stuff would normally be done by a wedding planner.

  
  

  That said, we didn't hire a DOC or wedding planner.  I like doing things myself.  Our venue had a coordinator that was wonderful too, so I always felt in good hands.  She set up our favors at the tables, set up the escort cards, made sure our champagne flutes, cake cutter, etc was put away at the end of the night for us, directed the wedding party at the ceremony, etc.  

  
  

  As for pre-wedding stuff, we just called around and asked or researched on the internet.  There wasn't anything I came across that I didn't think I could handle or wished I had someone to do it for me.  But maybe that's just me.  

  
  

  I am curious what 3 bridal attendants and 2 groom attendants do.  I've never heard of that many attendants just for the bride and groom!  I'd go a little bat crazy if I had that many people following me around.

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• loro929 member

  

  March 2014 edited March 2014

  I am curious what 3 bridal attendants and 2 groom attendants do.  I've never heard of that many attendants just for the bride and groom!  I'd go a little bat crazy if I had that many people following me around.
  

  @JoanE2012 They are employees of the venue (not WP members, don't worry :P) that are with us throughout the day to make sure that everything goes smoothly / without stress. We will be both getting ready at the venue (it is an estate) so they are just there to assist us / make us feel at home. They come with the wedding package there. The first time I heard of this actually was during a wedding of a friend in which I was a BM in. TBH I didn't even know that there were attendants until after the wedding when she explained it to me, that being said, I suppose they are pretty discreet.

  
  

  Thanks a lot thought for the advice, 

  As for pre-wedding stuff, we just called around and asked or researched on the internet. There wasn't anything I came across that I didn't think I could handle or wished I had someone to do it for me. But maybe that's just me.
  

  I had contacted a few partial planners / DOCs and that is the feeling that I had gotten. I am also pretty hands-on and have and / in the process of finding most of my vendors. I suppose that I was nervous I would let some of the little non-venue things slip through the cracks, but I can always come to TK for advice from all of the wonderful ladies (and gents) on the boards I just did not want to spend money on something that in the end would end up being extremely superfluous, especially because the venue is providing on-site assistance (and quite a lot of it).

  

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• KatWAG member

  

  March 2014

  I hired a full time wedding planner in addition to the DOC  both my church and venue site offered. It was some of the best money i spent.

  

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• loro929 member

  

  March 2014

  @KatWAG What were some of the tasks that your planner helped you out with? Did she help you find vendors or help to conceptualize the overall design of the wedding or assist with helping you stay on track with a given timeline. I just want to try to avoid the "too many cooks in the kitchen" feeling the day-of which is why I was curious as to other's situations. I feel that most of the help I would need with be with regards to everything but the actually day!

  

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• KatWAG member

  

  March 2014

  Yes to all of the above. she was the only person I dealt with. She found all of my vendors, organized timelines, ketp the wedding day moving, etc. She was there from 8am on my wedding day until after midnight. She took the gifts/ envelopes to my house. Took care of my veil and high heels when it was time to dance. She helped organize extra help for my very frail grandpa. She literally did everything.

  I had DOCs that came with the church and reception venue. Other than saying hi, I never spoke with them. My wedding planners had worked with me for months. She knew me and what was important to me on our wedding day. The church DOC was there to keep the ceremony running on time, she wasnt really there to help me. The reception DOC was there to make sure everything ran smoothly at the reception, she dealt with security and vendors, per the instructions of my wedding planner.

  My wedding planner knew what drink H and I wanted when we came into the reception, she knew how to bustle my dress, she knew to stop a certain drunk GM from trying to get on stage with the band.

  IMHO, I would work most closely with someone I specificly hired and was directly paying. There is more accountably that way. The DOC from the church was employeed by the church, not me so I wasnt her primary concern. The church was. Does that make sense?

  

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• tammym1001 member

  

  March 2014

  My venue has a coordinator on site the day of our wedding, but I hired a DOC anyways. Like @katWAG said; they are there to make sure everything runs smoothly just from a venue standpoint. I hired a DOC to make sure the venue had everything set up the way I wanted, to collect all my things at the end of the night, get the gifts and cards where they needed to go, answer guests questions, set up the after party, etc. There are so many little things on the day of that you don't think about until someone comes to you and says who's doing this? I didn't want my BM's or guests to have to do anything on the day of the wedding except enjoy it so I hired someone rather than let them volunteer to do little things for me.

  
  

  There are a lot more things that she will be handling, but those were just the ones I could think of off the top of my head. 

  
  

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