Oops?! Ordered my Save the Dates before contracting venue...

I have never heard of a venue requiring a wedding planner. I would also maybe call the company and ask if you can put a hold on your order. You don't want to run the risk of the things not working out with that venue and potentially having to change the date. If the venue requires a planner and you don't find someone you like within budget, what would be your alternative?

View Quoted Comment Agree with all of this. Will your venue allow you to sign a contract and put down a deposit without first hiring a planner?

View Quoted Comment

Quite a few venues in California have this stipulation, so I didn't find it too unusual.

Our alternative would be to ask our friend who is a planner to be our planner. This would be last choice because we wanted her to be able to enjoy the party along with everyone else.

But thank you for the suggestion! Will be making a call to them when they open this morning - I can't believe I didn't even think of that... haha.

I would definitely call the company and put a hold on your order ! And I’ve never heard of a venue requiring a wedding planner either hmmm.. I would look more into that

View Quoted Comment

I'll check with them.. We've put a soft hold on our date but that's it.

I didn’t list my venue on the Save The Dates, just the date and the city. I have a lot of out-of-town guests coming and I feel like the STDs are for them (so they can plan travel time off) and local guests with stringent work schedules (so they can put in for the day after off if needed).


My invites (which will go out 2 months prior) WILL have the venue listed, as well as the website.
Unless something drastic changes, I think you’re good on the Save The Dates.

We hired a planner before securing our venue so she could help us with the contract.

View Quoted Comment

This makes me feel a lot better!

My STD also only has date and city because we were concerned about enough notice for people to take time off.
Thanks, Joy!

I just started looking at DOCs after thinking I wouldn't need one. We were told due to our size of wedding, we don't have to have one despite the contract requiring it. I would talk to your venue and see if they require one for all weddings, require one to book the venue or what not.

Some of the venues we visited in So Cal required a DOC. Daughter choose a venue that did not, so I'm not sure if they required having a DOC before signing the venue contract or not. I agree with pps who suggested contacting the STD vendor to see if you can put a hold on your order until everything is contracted.