Wedding Planner...out of budget?

Someone to help day of is called a day of coordinator. I called around and found them all to be out of my price range. So, I had a friend who offered to do it.
She set everything up, was my point of contact for vendors, made sure the day stayed on schedule, and cleaned up after. It went great. And I paid her without breaking the bank.
I know people suggest not using friendors, but I don’t regret it. She is someone who is detail oriented, works hard, honesty and trust worthy. And, she wouldn’t have been invited as we only invited a few close friends so it’s not someone who was working as a guest. All that to say, look at people you know to see if you have someone who could fill that role and help you out.

You should also check with your venue. Mine required an actual professional DOC. I wasn’t allowed to just have a friend or family member do it.
Ours cost $1250, which honestly wasn’t an item I had initially budgeted for. However, we came in under budget on a lot of other items, so it worked out.

So I think if you can afford it...totally get one! We've been engaged since 2018 and having her along side these last 2 years has been great! Her cost was $3000 and that covers everything...full setup/breakdown on the big day, handling vendor communcation, handling payments, contracts, going on venue tours, setting up the bridal suites, making sure the bridal party is ready for pics, gathering up family members, managing vendors the day of, collecting all the gifts at the end, etc. Pretty much doing all the leg work. I'm a total DIY type of girl but I knew I didn't want to do anything but pick out our fav vendors and put on my dress and get down that aisle; so that's why we decided to hire one.

On average I think they all pretty much run anywhere between 2,500 and 4,500. If you can't get a full planner I'd suggest a day of coordinator; you do all the leg work but she'll be there to make sure it runs smoothly. They'll also be able to handle any things that pop up so you don't have to worry about it; like serisouly things WILL pop up! Think about your venue, will you need to change over a room, who's going to bring in all that decor, who's breaking it down at the end of the night? I think once you know how much work or help you'll need, that'll help you decide. If you have family and friends ready to help then your good; take all the help you can get! The main goal for us was that we wanted to fully enjoy the day without having to acutally work on our wedding day! Hope that helped!

Wedding planners aren't cheap. We didn't hire one, but I am also a control freak so I don't know as if hiring one would have been a good idea anyways. Our venue had a venue coordinator who acted like a day of coordinator and she was amazing! I would say it is important to have a coordinator the day of so that you can ensure that your day runs smoothly. If you can't afford a wedding planner, I would look into hiring a day of coordinator.

Check to see if other vendors you’re hiring also offer that service! Event coordinators and day of coordinators on their own can be super pricey but our catering company has a staff of coordinators that can be hired for half the cost of a stand alone coordinator! We’re definitely going that route. I know our photographer also calls themselves a “pocket-sized coordinator” and has offered to help with a lot of those aspects as needed.

My wedding coordinators cost $2,700 and I hired them (I get three) for the entire duration of my engagement and wedding. It was a LOT of extra money, but hear me out:
1.) our engagement ended up being only 5 months long. Our coordinators are getting ALL of our vendors for us.
2.) One of our coordinators owns our venue. They are decorating the ENTIRE venue using their decorations, which is saving us about $3,000 in decor/florals (they have all of the vines, some fake florals, etc.) in the long run3.) We don’t have to hire additional staff to set up/ take down the venue, nor do we have to do it ourselves. I just show up and enjoy my day!4.) I have a few guests coming who I’m a bit nervous about being near an open bar, but my coordinators are going to be on top of everyone all night!5.) My coordinators can also (although I did this part myself) take care of save the dates and the invites, setting up the wedding website, room blocks, etc. I’m constantly e-mailing them, and we meet often in person. They pretty much do everything the bride would normally do/ stress about. 110% worth it in my case.

Our wedding planner cost $800 and she is only helping with the reception. If it’s in your budget I would go for it. She took away most of the planning stress.


We told her our guest list size, budget, and a little bit of vision. It was still our job to interview vendors and sign contracts. She would suggest 2-3 vendors within our budget. Some of these vendors I never knew about and cheaper than what we were expecting. She will also coordinate the wedding day.

I havent hired a planner and I don't plan to. We have a day of coordinator that comes with the venue so they will make sure things run smoothly day of. I think I'm perfectly capable of booking photographers/DJ/florist etc. But then again my wedding is only 50 people so if you have a wedding with 100+ guests it might be beneficial. I just don't think the cost is worth it to me.

My wedding planner is the best money we spent for our wedding. She has been wonderful and without her I don't know how I would have made it though all of this COVID stuff.

Thanks all! Your comments have been very helpful

View Quoted Comment Yes our venue doesn’t include a coordinator for day of. So I’m only worried about things running smoothly although we have an excellent DJ who will help announce things like when it’s time for food, or getting guests from the cocktail hour to the reception

I had a day of coordinator but he was hired only for two hours to do the set up but day of coordinators seem far more useful than wedding planners in my opinion since they can make sure the logistics are going well that day vs wedding planners seem more for if you didn’t have any time to plan the wedding at all

View Quoted Comment Makes complete sense. Did he help with the wedding running smoothly? Like as far as crowd control? Or just with set up?

View Quoted Comment I only hired for set up because logistically I didn’t want a giant gap of time in between ceremony and reception so he did the set up while I was at the ceremony

In a low cost of living area a full service planner will run 5-6k and in a high cost of living area it will run 10k place. I had one and she took care of basically everything for me. There wasn’t a lot of planning I had to do and I never had to communicate with vendors. A day of coordinator will just handle things the month before or day of and usually runs 1-3k.

Coordinators around here are expensive. For day of only coordinator the cheapest I have seen was $1800. So we declined to go that route. It is easy for us, though, as we have our venue for the entire weekend so there is no rushing. So my family and I are decorating the reception venue the night before (and before everyone freaks out...they CHOSE to do it...I didn't ask...it's what we do in our circle...) and an acquaintance of mine (not a guest) who is good friends with my sister offered to handle the food setup at the venue on the day of as that is the only logistical challenge we had and we are doing the cleanup on Sunday. I've just made plenty of lists and timelines and such to keep everything on track. I'm not worried about it. It's an expense that we couldn't justify spending when essentially the rest of the wedding was already planned and arranged and the only thing they would have been doing is what my sisters friend is doing for a very small fraction of the cost.

I'm just doing a day of (actually, month of) coordinator. I was pretty good with finding all the vendors and arranging that. I just wanted someone leading up to the final days of the wedding to hand things over to and to take over communications, and then on the wedding day to coordinate and lead everything. It might be a bit of overkill as our venue has a "coordinator" but I the way I look at it everything will be doubly covered then. I just want to relax and have a good time without any of my friends or family lifting a finger.

We had a planner/DOC (same person). She ordered all of our rentals, her and her team did set up and break down, she ordered all of our alcohol, she coordinated between my vendors on the wedding day, etc. I found it to be super helpful. Never having to think about where to order chairs, linens, and tents in and of itself was so nice!

View Quoted Comment I might consider at least someone to help. At least to direct people before and after the ceremony and help make sure preparations are complete for the reception such as candles being lit etc. If its an actual wedding venue these places should have day of coordinators included with how much things cost. They also help to make sure all vendors are in order.

I hired a day of coordinator for my wedding for about $800. My sister used the same one for her wedding and it was great because she coordinated with all the vendors to make sure everyone was where they needed to be and at the right time. No one in our family or her husband's family had to stress about anything. If you find one in your budget I would highly recommend it at least for the day of