Help ! Who decorates??

You can hire someone to come in and decorate or you can ask family members and/or the wedding party to help set up early that morning. It would be a lot easier to hire someone since you and the wedding party still have to get dressed and allow or time to do other things.

View Quoted Comment I definitely agree. But it can be so costly ! Spending $500-800 on that when it cost 50% of my wedding seems so ridiculous

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Yes, I understand that! That's why I decided on a ceremony venue that is already decorated and will do any extra decorations. By the end you are going to have to weight out the cost with timing. Do you want to get there early and decorate yourself with some members/wedding party or do you want to pay for it.

View Quoted Comment You absolutely right and that’s where I am stuck at.

I am able to decorate the night before after the rehearsal. I will have to do a few things in the morning when I arrive before we start getting ready. I prefer it this way. No stress on making sure it looks the way I want it to when I can do it the night before with the entire wedding party.

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Is your ceremony going to be under a gazebo or will you have tents set up? That would allow you to decorate the night of, if you think it will be secured.

No , we only have it sunrise to sunset. It’s a very simple wedding. I posted some photos down below so you can kinda see the vibe; maybe I can just go at like 630,7 and set it all up — which is fine , but then it’ll be unattended ( at a park ) and that’s the hold up for me

Can you ask for help? For example, ask a close friend to get there early and drape the tablecloths over the tables. Or ask a friend to help you unload your car with all the decor. Or ask another friend to be in charge of place settings. This way it’s not all on you and maybe it can go a little faster.


Can you ask an uncle or someone to hang out at the venue to guard all of the stuff?

Edited- your wedding is still next year, but these are good details to consider. As you have chosen a DIY vision, I think it would be worth it to envision a less stressful wedding. I would opt to enjoy your morning with your loved ones, and outsource setup. I would hire some teenagers that you know to setup and tear down your decor. It should not cost you $500-800 for a few hours of work, and they don't have to stay the whole day. Best to have pics of what you want, everything labeled incl. containers, and a written list of items and instructions. Also, think about who will help tear down your event, as this is often overlooked. Are you willing to do this in your dress? Who is setting up and taking down the chairs? Your rental agency?

Although it's early, I strongly suggest not surprising your loved ones with last minute help. No one likes traveling for a loved one to be voluntold to come early/stay late as a free assistant. Best wishes, Bride!

My friend had a DIY wedding and her army of aunts were the ones that got the reception set up while the bridal party got ready at the church. We intentionally waited to start the ceremony until they had all arrived and were seated at the church. Her cousins and the groomsmen helped as well. Fortunately for her, her reception was on her family's land, so things could be set up the night before or taken down the morning after.

I'm going to have to side with Michelle on this one though. With just having from sunrise to sunset, and with your need to leave things unattended in a public space, I really really think it would be worth it to hire someone - anyone - to coordinate the set up and tear down, as well as stay with your decor until the reception starts.

I was originally going to ask my mom's friends and my aunts to meet my rental company to get everything set up. But I'll be honest and say that the more I thought about it, the more it was worth it to me to spend that extra $900 on a DOC (in Southern California, so prices may be different in your area) so that a) I wouldn't have to worry about things at all on my wedding day and b) so that my guests and loved ones could actually just be guests at my wedding.

It may seem like a lot of money, especially since you have done a really fantastic job of keeping your costs low, but it's all about how you want to feel and how you want your guests to feel on your big day. For me it was more important to let them be guests than to save the cost of hiring someone.

As mentioned above, you don't have to use someone who is marketed as a DOC or planner or decorator. You could post on Thumbtack or Facebook marketplace or even hire one of your friends and pay them to be your DOC. You seem to be superrrr organized, so just print out pictures of what you want everything to look like and label your boxes like crazy and anyone should be able to handle it for you!

Just some things to consider, and my personal take on it.

A quick edit:
I had a friend who was in a wedding where the bride did not tell them that she expected the bridal party to set up and tear down until the day before the wedding. It was not received well at all. I had another friend who was in a wedding where the bride expected them to take turns bartending - which she told them after the ceremony. If you are going to ask your family and bridal party for help, please make sure you do it well in advance.