Do I need a wedding coordinator?

I did not hire a wedding planner for my upcoming wedding. As much as I wanted one it was not in the budget. I am relying on my maid of honor and the coordinator at the venue. Do you have a point person at your venue?

If you have one, you get a pro. That is non negotiable.

I work with plenty of full service planners who offer DOC, and they are worth every dime if they're good. But if you have other pros (venue staff, DJ's, officiant) most of your day of issues should be taken care of.

My venue supplies a day of coordinator.

I think most people recommend hiring one just so you have less to think of day of.

Hire a Day of Coordinator

I'm getting married in 3 weeks and I didn't hire one. My sister is my coordinator and she helps me with everything

Definitely check your venue as Celia suggested. My venue price includes a DOC

I booked a day of coordinator. Most that I found in my area all offered a day of coordination or month of coordination package. I also was unsure if I wanted to spend the money on it but once I really thought about it I knew The day would run smooth and stress free with one. Also have to remember if your venue has a coordinator they work for the venue not you. I also didn't want to ask family members so they could enjoy the day as a guest and not working for us that day.

I hired a wedding planner that is a professional

Two weddings ago, with unexpected venue and weather issues, the day would have been a shit storm without the planner....she was a really good one. A bored bride or house wife turned planner is useless. If you can afford it, a good one is worth it.

I hired a planner for her DOC services (I found her on here). My God was she a lifesaver. At first after I hired her I started having buyers remorse - I felt like maybe I jumped the gun (I paid $1800). But when she started working with me as the wedding drew near, I realized how invaluable she was.

My venue provided me with two bridal attendants and a maitre d, but they don't deal with you until you step foot on their premises. So the DOC was the one who worked with my vendors when they arrived at my hotel, communicating with them every step of the way ( including several weeks before the wedding and sending them the timeline, which she created). She made sure vendors were where they were supposed to be and on time.

She had two assistants with her - one was with H while he was getting ready before our first look, which she helped facilitate. When I had a makeup stain on my dress, she was right there to take care of it. The assistant kept an umbrella over us while we were taking pics in the rain, and would adjust my dress or H's tux when necessary.

Instead of vendors talking to me, they went straight to her so I could enjoy the wedding. She also distributed my tips to the vendors at my request. She took care of delivering the license to the officiant the minute she stepped onto the property. She went to pick up lunch for me, my mother and my MOH. She continued to check up on me throughout the wedding, but without being overbearing. She went to the venue a week before to check out the layout and talk to the event coordinator. She also made sure to check to make sure everything was where I wanted it to be: where I wanted my family to sit for the ceremony, photo of us at the escort card table, if the menus where placed where I wanted them to be and if the napkins were folded a certain way.

Lastly, if there was an issue, I didn't know about it.

I failed to write this in my non-pro BAM, so I've written this novel here. lol

My venue doesn't offer a day of coordinator so I hired one on my own. I feel like it's a must and a way to avoid feeling overwhelmed

$2k isn't bad, in my area, they're $3500+. I decided to not hire a DOC because, luckily, our estate venue comes with a planner (also estate owner). She's amazing, she does all the small details & we do the "fun" parts. She meets with all of the vendors prior to the wedding & lets them see the venue & finalizes everything with them. She helps us with the timeline & will be there the day of the wedding to make sure everything is executed properly. I loved when expressed to us that she will make sure we don't know of anything that goes wrong. She's the best!

Here's why we decided to hire a DOC. We want to be guests at our wedding, not sweating the details.

35 years ago when my parents got married, the wedding industrial complex had not exploded. So my dad planned my parents' wedding.

There were a few things that went wrong that day. The florist didn't move the flowers from the synagogue to the banquet hall. So he had to chase after the florist who was loading the flowers into a truck saying "I'm the man in the tux. I know what our contract says and I know there's supposed to be flowers in the banquet hall." The bartender was cleaning up 45 minutes early. Again, my dad had to argue with a vendor when he should have been dancing and mingling with guests.

FH and I didn't want that hassle. If something goes wrong, we're trusting our DOC to iron out the wrinkles. We're planning our wedding but we're handing off the keys to her to make sure it goes smoothly.

As to whether the cost is worth it or what type of package to get, you need to decide what your time and aggravation is worth. Is it more efficient for you to pay someone to do a wedding task faster than if you had to do it yourself or reinvent the wheel doing research on? If you can afford it, the peace of mind of an experienced, competent planner is worth it. If you want to stage manage your wedding and not hire one, go for it.

I'm planning my wedding from across the country, and was incredibly stressed about how I would manage to get all of my decor set up, and then taken down. I ended up hiring a DOC and it has alleviated a ton of stress.

As I hire a new vendor, I send her the contract, which she keeps in a book. She will coordinate with them, beginning the month prior to the wedding. She will set up and tear down all of the decor. She will handle distributing tips and dealing with any issues that arise during the wedding and reception.

I already think it's money well spent, and she hasn't had much to do yet, since my wedding is so far off. It's just a huge relief to know that I will have someone there to take care of all of the logistics so that I can just enjoy my wedding.

My venue comes with 2 day of coordinators included in the price and so far they have been amazing helping me plan the day. I would not have paid for one though if it wasn't included

I hired a month of coordinator and she's already done little things, started on our website, drawn up a mock decor set up since I'm a destination wedding, etc. She's 1850 for her services but for the day of she comes with 2-3 assistants to help move everything smoothly along. Can't say how relieved I feel and the wedding isn't even here yet.

ETA: words

Day of coordinator for sure !

My only regret is that I didn't hire my wedding planner sooner.

We hired a full service planner because we're getting married in Charleston, SC but live in Austin, TX. My fiance went to college in Charleston, and we've visited and love the city, but other than the restaurants we like, we know zilch about having a wedding there, so we felt a local wedding planner who has relationships with vendors would be a good bet for us.

I also want someone to be steering the ship on the day of, and I don't want it to be me or my mom or my bridesmaids. Wedding planner FTW.

ETA: Since my wedding is still months away, I can't say how the logistics will work on the day of, but I can say that I think my planner has saved me a ton of time and stress related to researching vendors, calling or emailing to get info, making appointments, haggling for pricing, etc. She just sends me options for things, and I say yes or no.

Oh, and get a professional if you decide you want a planner. Asking a family member is probably not a good idea since you don't get to redo this day. Your aunt or cousin probably has the best of intentions, but unless she plans events for a living, there is so much potential for there to be years of awkwardness after the fact.

I hired a partial planner. $750 and she includes decor in that as well. Shes amazing. I looked into them and thought they were super expensive but she is seriously amazing and worth every penny!