Day of coordinator thoughts and opinions?

Getting a wedding coordinator was the best decision we made. I had no concerns the whole day - she took care of everything - coordinating vendors, decor, chair set-up, processional/recessional, and brought anything up to the room we needed/wanted

It is expensive, but I’d rather spend an extra $1k to actually enjoy the other thousands I spent. A DOC was a must for us, especially for setup and tear down.

Yes, absolutely get one!

Some things to consider:

How big is your wedding?
How many people can you count on if you decide to do it yourself?
Are you diy-ing a lot of things?
How are your planning skills?

I’m a DOC and have planned dozens of events that have spanned over 5 days. I plan on doing most of the planning myself and hiring a DOC because I don’t want to worry about it the day of. I’ve been to enough weddings and events to recognize the value of it. And as much as I love my family and they’re extremely talented, I want them to enjoy the day without me. We can all stress the prep leading up to the day of, but on the actual day, no heavy lifting for them.

If your venue doesn’t provide one, then YES. We had 1 who stayed with us all day (and guided guests & vendors) in addition to the venue’s helpful staff. It would have been chaos without her. Get one! 👍

Do you want people coming to you with problems on your wedding day? Do you want to deal with a fight between the caterer and the photographer? Do you want to run to the store because you forgot to rent cake plates? Do you want to sweep up broken glass on your wedding day? Do you want to tell everyone in you wedding party when they should walk down the aisle? Do you want to tell the DJ when to make the last call announcement? The first dance announcement? The toast order? Do you want to go find a first aid kit when the flower girl gets a papercut?

If you answered no to any of these questions you need a day of planner.

Definitely get a coordinator! When we started looking, I was expecting to get a DOC, but we ended up getting a good deal on a month-of-coordinator. She's met with us a few times in person and had monthly phone calls, and starting next months (3 months out) we'll start monthly in-person meetings, and at one month out I can basically hand everything over to her to double check vendor payments, schedule, etc.

Best money I've ever spent and she hasn't even done anything yet. It's seriously so nice to have an advocate for your vision. My DOC really listens and helps me feel validated through the process. Get one. So much stress has been relieved since the day I hired her.

So initially i wasn't going to have one at all, thinking the wedding party can do it. however when i looked into how setting up my reception would be fitting into my schedule it just didn't work out so i ended up hiring one purely for the purpose of set up. it would have been like me needing to do an earlier ceremony and have a lengthy gap in between so i can go set up the venue with my wedding party and i just didn't like the idea of such a big gap.

so maybe you can find a day of coordinator who you can just hire for your needs the way i did. i didn't want them for the whole duration of the wedding though just because i felt like that didn't align with what i needed.

if you can't afford one, you can surely ask a family member or friend who is organized enough, i'm sure they wouldn't mind helping you out.

We hired a "month of" for $1,000 and added vendor contract review for an additional $150. Honestly, it's been super nice to have someone take the reigns this last month & confirm with all vendors, set up a timeline, ask me questions we aren't thinking about, and have someone to ask about specific things. On the day of, I'm SO happy to have someone to run everything and not bother me!

I hired one. I am planning my entire wedding by myself, so I really want to enjoy the day I am working so hard to plan and not have to stress details. I didn't need all of the services she was offering though, so I was luckily able to talk her down on price.

Did you decide to hire a DOC, Briann?