Planning without a wedding coordinator/planner

I'm also planning without a coordinator and what I've been doing is asking my married friends and family! They've done it and been through it so they've been super helpful. Also try attending a wedding expo, sometimes you can get more info from those!

I have a wedding planner because I’m planning long distance and my family and I decided we could use the help. But on this site it feels like I'm in the minority. My advice is to use these forums. Most people are pulling it off without a full wedding planner. I’d also make a spreadsheet of what tasks need to be completed by which month. Also there are day of coordinators that will help with the timeline the day of the wedding. These professionals are incredibly valuable so that you and your family can simply enjoy the day. Ask if your venue provides one. If they don’t I’d start looking for one.

I haven’t had a need for a planner or coordinator. These forums, the checklist, and google help tremendously. 😊

Take advantage of the planning section on we. There's a section that provides a checklist of things to do and a date to have them done by. I did a lot of research from Google. I also research vendors and venues for costs to help determine wedding budget. We also determined our guest list early on because this will determine a lot od your costs. We are hiring a day of coordinator to do the set up for the wedding and to keep things in order the day of the wedding.

Wedding wire helps a lot with checklist etc. My job is event planning also. I will be hiring a day of planner though so I can enjoy my time with my family. I don't want to give up my control (lol).

The WW checklist was an enormous help while I was planning. There are little things you’ll come across during your research/planning that aren’t on it, but for me it was a combo of the WW checklist, forums, Pinterest, and talking to married friends. You definitely don’t NEED a planner with all the resources available online, but we did hire a day-of coordinator just to make sure someone else is managing all our plans for us that day!

Pinterest has been so helpful to me. I printed off pages for a planning binder that mostly kept me in check . Also the vendor tab here and to do list have also been extremely helpful. I keep spreadsheets and paper copies of the guest list and budget. Good luck!!

When we planned my oldest daughters wedding (8 years ago) we used a wedding planner and it was perfect. She helped develop my daughters dreams, found ways to cut expenses, worked with us to achieve the perfect everything. Now with planning my youngest daughters we are not using a wedding planner but are hiring a Day of Coordinator. I know what to do this time around, yes the checklist help, put I know that the wedding day is chaos and another set of eyes to ensure all the details are taken care of helps. With my oldest we had a situation with the caterer and they were going to end the wedding early due to a dispute but the wedding planner handled it. Just make sure you know exactly what is in your contracts, read, read and read again. Highlight important things....know the limitations...

I planned with out a planner following the WE checklist and also things that were mentioned in the forums. Our venue did include a DOC which was comoletely unexpected (we found out the week before). I wasn’t planning on hiring a DOC but hindsight she was a huge help since our venue did all setup and breakdown.

I font have. Wedding planner. I'm is g weddi g wire for 'll tips. However my MOH give me helpful tips that I can't go d on wedding wire.

My grandmother is a wedding seamstress, planner , and coordinator. So I had no choice, lol. Just kidding. I have seen her work her magic and I needed a person that I could trust especially for the day of because I knew I would have nothing to worry about. I suggest having someone they day of just for your sanity. You have no mental space to worry about anything but the important day between you and your boo! Therefore, if it fits into your budget, I totally recommend hiring one. My coordinator knows all the little details that I didn't have the slightest idea about.

I’m planning without a coordinator as well, and I’ve already started making lists and this app helps. My mom has a lot of experience so her knowledge is super helpful as well. I saw some books that you can buy to help you plan, they come with pages of things you should cover, but that’s if you want to 🤷🏼‍♀️

This has been helpful. Thanks for asking the question. I think I need to ask if my venue has a day of coordinator before I go much further. I'm confused about the day of timing, etc. And other vendors are asking questions I cannot answer!

I've been doing all of the planning without the aid of a wedding planner. Not planning to have a DOC either. I've been using a variety of wedding websites and using their checklists and sort of just cross-checking them so that way I don't miss anything. My wedding is ~120 guests so it's not a huge wedding to plan for. These forums have been a huge help in some things that I don't know much about (like tipping vendors). As for a timeline for the wedding day, I've used Pinterest and lots of googling. This part probably is more time consuming because you'd have to consider how long you have vendors, the venue, travel distance, etc.

Is your wedding set for August 2018? You've gotta get a move on your planning!

I don't have a planner/coordinator so I'm definitely utilizing the time line weddingwire has, it's been very helpful. A lot of the vendors I've met with have also been helpful (they have preferred vendor lists which we used to book other services). The vendor page is also good to see reviews and help you figure out what fits in with your budget/theme. I also was not aware at first if you message a vendor through ww and end up booking them you get a pre-paid visa from ww (it was a nice surprise when I realized it).