Wedding Planner/Wedding Coordinator or Totally DIY?

Day Of Coordinator to direct traffic, dont pay alot for someone to do legwork for you, but you will want a person on the day to point vendors in the right direction, and handle everything behind the scenes

I can't afford the help so I'm doing it all myself and with the help of a friend who loves to plan events. I may miss out on some discounts but I'd still be paying less than having to pay a coordinator.

I don't want to field calls and decisions through a 3rd party - no coordinator for me.

Girl, if I had the money I would pay for a wedding planner. I always thought it was a waste of money, but NOW, I think they can be very valueable lol. It's not the big things that stress me out, but it's the small details. But I do have a Day of coordinator.

Just as an example:

The lady I talked to last night is $650 for day before/day of coordination (rehearsal and all day for the wedding) with some help to set up the night before and directing all the traffic. She has linens as well that I can use (they aren't provided by my reception venue).

Partial planning with referrals, some of the leg work, and suggestions to help keep me in my budget (which honestly feels impossible right now, especially since FH insists on serving a full dinner) is $1000, but she offers a $100 discount if I pay in a lump sum instead of doing payments. I have the ability to do that financially, so that would run me $900.

The linens I was looking at were going to run me around $500, so that almost pays for the day of coordination. Is it worth the $150 to have to worry about all that myself on my wedding day?

I am using a wedding coordinator, because I live over six hours from my wedding's location and will only be able to visit it once or twice. I think if I were getting married locally, I would have done without.

I'm not having one, but I am having a point person/day of coordinator (a friend of mine, not hiring anyone!)

@Donna, I am planning from out of town as well. Only 3 hours away, but I will still be in school as we head into crunch time for the wedding. The actual date is over my fall break, but that only gives me an extra day. So I'll be coming in town Thursday night for the wedding on Saturday.

I'm not having a planner but I am having a day of coordinater. She comes through my venue which is nice! I like planning etc...and DIYing so hiring someone to help me with that would be foreign and weird. I like doing stuff myself!

I am having a day of coordinator and, for us, it was totally worth the money. I did not want to have to rely on family or friends that day to execute my ideas, mostly because I wanted them to enjoy themselves and not have to worry about "working." Although several offered, I preferred to have a day of coordinator who we paid.

When I first started researching day of coordinators, the price ranges were pretty large. I ended up hiring someone who does planning/coordinating part-time and is really just starting to get her business off the ground. She was much cheaper than others that I spoke to and had great reviews (although a limited number of reviews). More importantly, I really meshed with her personality-wise.

A coordinator is included in our venue; however, she is just a venue coordinator. She has done our food tastings with us, worked with our rough timeline, and she will be there the day of to set everything up and direct vendors.

For a while I seriously considered at least a partial planner because the process was overwhelming to me. I'm glad I didn't go through with it because it has ended up being fun and I saved money that I didn't need to spend. I use the budget tool on here and it helps us stay within our budget.

Day of coordinator is being used at the venue to herd around the vendors when they arrive/set up. I am too Type-A (like you) and I couldn't wrap my brain around letting someone else plan our day. Just couldn't do it and I've enjoyed the planning process overall. Wouldn't change it for anything. I'd do it again, too.

Would love to be a Maid of Honor in someone else's wedding down the road. I would blow any/all other MOH out of the water!

@Ashlee, I'm using the budget tool here too, and that's how I know I'm having trouble! I've already got all the money "spent" and I have no one to do hair or any flowers!

Thanks for everyone's input, it's such a tough decision and everyone is different, but it helps to know I'm not alone

Wedding planner just isn't in my budget so the planning is DIY with the help of MOH & FSIL. I plan on asking my FSIL to be my DOC.

My venue comes with a wedding coordinator but she is so amazing I don't think I could do it without her. I have really bad anxiety though so my FH was very happy when we met her because he said "my little stressball can enjoy the process this way". haha. She really goes over and beyond though and I do feel less stressed knowing I have her. She is like a friend i can email about ANYTHING with my wedding and she will give me advice. She told me to text her at 3am if I needed to. (I wouldn't do that to her though... or atleast.. yet) muahaha

We offer a new service ("I'll do the Aisle") is LITERALLY a day of; not month of, not a venue coordinator, not a friend or relative. They have a conversation with our brides the week before, and they are there from makeup through the first dance to make sure everything is delivered, on time. in place, not messed up. They go beyond a venue coordinator, but stop short of classic 'day of', which usually is more like month of. They do the jobs that you might plop on the MOH and MOB, who probably, by that point, want to relax and enjoy.

It might be worth looking for someone like that where you live if you don't want/can't afford/don't need a total day of planner. but don't want to worry about that stuff yourself. It runs about 1/2 to 1/3 of traditional DOC.

We're using a partial planner. We have had a consultation with her where we discussed our visions for the wedding and then she made some suggestions, answered some questions and then gave us a suggested list of vendors and a recommended budget. It's up to me to book all the vendors and organize everything, but she's available anytime if I have questions or problems. Also, a lot of the vendors are giving us discounts because she referred us.

So I still am doing a lot of the work and fun stuff myself, but then she will be there to coordinate the rehearsal and she and her assistant will be there the full day of the wedding to coordinate all the vendors and make sure the day runs smoothly.

It was worth it to me to have the best of both worlds. I'm still doing the majority of designing and planning myself, but I have some backup for help and someone to coordinate on the day so that I don't have to worry about anything that might come up!

Ours was total DIY. One thing to consider is how much of the discounts you would actually use. We used very few traditional wedding vendors. (For example, luncheon after the ceremony was at a restaurant, and at-home reception was at a private club that had never previously been used for a reception.)

Yes, we handled minor things that came up at the reception. But we felt like that is part of the duties of a host at any party.

Do wedding coordinators do the decor. I have a lot of DIY things I need placed around.

Im my own wedding planner, however i am kind of considering a day of coordinator, not sure tho if ill use a friend or family member, or pay a professional...