Who has hired a wedding planner?

We weren't able to find any full-service wedding planners in our city for under $10k, and we didn't feel like spending that much money on just the planning aspect, so we decided on a hybrid style planner instead. The person we hired was technically a DOC, but she offered various packages such as day of coordination, month of coordination, year of coordination with monthly meetings, etc. We chose one of these packages so we had around 4 significant meetings with her in the year leading up to our wedding, as well as lots of shorter meetings the month of. We felt this was a happy medium because we only had to pay around $2300 for the package, and we got a lot of help with the planning aspect. Full service planners are great, but they're also a lot of money. My advice would be to find someone who offers month of coordination or year of coordination with flexible packages unless budget is not a concern.

I hired a planner. They actually don't do as much as I thought (a lot of tasks, especially where communicating with guests are involved, are still up to you), but the huge benefit is that they know how things work and have contacts. It would take me days to compile a list of photographers; they already have one. I don't know how to pick flowers; they send me 3 bouquet photos to choose from based on my color scheme. It is a HUGE load off.


If you have the money, work a lot, and don't like planning (me), I would HIGHLY recommend a full-service planner.
Also, I consider a DOC mandatory for any event that's not a true minimony. You don't want day-of tasks foisted on you or your mother or another valued guest. Pay the money to have someone else take on that stress.

Someone to plan from start to finish, picking out all vendors for us and we show up as guests? Not a chance.

Someone to tie up loose ends the last month and make sure the day runs smoothly and NOT employed by the venue? Absolutely. Wouldn’t have a wedding without one.

I hired a wedding planner and she was absolutely incredible!! She helped me select and vet my vendor team, develop a cohesive décor and design plan, developed my wedding day timeline, coordinated and oversaw communication with all of my wedding vendors starting a full week before the wedding, attended my rehearsal, and was by my side the entire wedding day. She basically took control for the full wedding weekend and made sure everything ran seamlessly! 🌟

Here's a helpful guide that breaks down different levels of wedding planning support and a list of good questions to ask potential planners:

The 7 Different Types of Wedding Planners and What They Do.

10 Questions to Ask a Wedding Planner