Do I REALLY need a Day of Coordinator?

Commenting to follow. We can set up our reception the day before and I have tons of college students that I can pay in pizza.

It depends on how many details you have to manage, and how organized you are.

When I first started planning, I felt very lost, and was dangerously close to dropping a few grand on a wedding planner. As you get the big things organized, the little stuff falls into place. The key is to try to delegate the inconsequential day-of tasks whenever possible.

We aren't using one. The woman that runs the reception venue handles everything the day of. I will call and confirm everything with the vendors the day before. Everything else that is left is trivial.

Our wedding was about the same size (50 guests). We didn't use one and didn't need one. Being organized will definitely help. Our families were more than happy to help decorate the day before and pitched it with little things here and there on wedding day. Because the wedding was so small, nobody felt put out.

I'm hiring bouncers from my cousins bar to escort people to the rooftop, to cocktail hour, and to clean up. i might have them help set up the reception area. hire someone you trust to do easy work and meet a couple times to tell them what you want. couple hundred bucks? its simple stuff.. well.. in my opinion it is

I will always vote for a good one. Weddings have gotten entirely too complicated with too many moving parts for almost anyone to manage them.

Venue coordinators usually only concern themselves with venue oriented stuff (a notable exception is any venue with Abigail Kirsch involved).

In the end, only you can decide, but your friends and family will have a lot more fun if they don't work on the day.

We aren't having one- our contact at the venue has been great so far. It's going to be extra work for you to coordinate all of your vendors but if you're willing to do it than you can veto a coordinator. We are having 140 people.

I'm a pretty organized person so I'm not hiring a day of coordinator. Have your MOH or a BM help out with that kind of stuff. They're supposed to help you out!! Just make an outline of that day and what needs to get done or have to-do.

I am organized, it's what I do for a living (just not weddings!), but the day-of I don't wasn't to have to worry about anything. That's why I have a DOC.

People can say have your MOH or BM or mother take car of any problems, etc. but if the baker shows up with the wrong cake..what is you BM going to do? My DOC already knows what my cake looks like and personally knows my baker. I TRUST the problem would be taken care of and I would not even know until after the wedding.

Also, I do NOT think it is your MOH's "job" to be running around making sure everything is set up correctly for the reception. She is supposed to be helping you get ready.

I am having a close friend do it ...she is happy to do it and knows every detail about the wedding ...we've even done some trial runs with the welcome table and flowers . My venue also has a coordinator that is wonderful and will be directing the flow of things.

If its truly a DOC and not a package planner (comes in about 3 months before to tie up loose ends & DOC) then you could get one for less than that to go over your schedule w/ & keep everything on track. Like above the venue coordinators are preoccupied coordinating venue stuff. Last wedding I went to no DOC, only a venue coordinator, opened the door for bride & no music cued up. Flowers fell from the ceiling doors opened... no music like an awkward 30 seconds something like that happens how can your BMs, MOH & mom gonna help? They'll already be down the ailse. Find one & explain your budget constraints see if they will work w/ u even if they just stay until your done w/ 1st dance/ daddy dance

You don't need one, but you'll want one for your ceremony and reception. A really good one will be allow you to take it all in and enjoy your wedding.

The only venues we are consider include a DOC in the contract.

My view is that if weddings have gotten too complicated and with too many moving parts to do without a DOC, maybe it's time to reduce the complication and the moving parts! Yes, you may end up having to deal with a few more things without one--but that's part of being a host. We wanted a celebration at which we hosted our friends, not a picture-perfect party at which we were barely more than guests. So we didn't have a DOC for the ceremony, the reception immediately following, or the at-home reception three days later.

Nope, our vendors all knew what was going on and our reception venue owner handled all of the vendors. We had a wedding that had 3X more people than you and we were fine without one. Good luck!

We are not having one for the ceremony, but I believe our reception venue package includes one. I'm thinking the Church ceremony should be simple enough (I hope) that we really won't need it. The only vendors going there (besides the limo) is the florist and photographers and videographer. They will know what to do (I will tell them ahead of time). Oh, and I have a very large wedding (350+ guests).

50 is not a huge guest list and if you are a go-with-the-flow gal then it's perfectly fine to save that $1,000 for some other part of your budget (like say a contingency plan pool).

If you are big into having everything exactly in one way or another then I'd hire the planner. You will be overly stressed and mom and family will be scrambling to try and keep you happy. That's no fun for anyone.