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I am not hiring one, never known anyone that has and personally I think it's silly.
I hired a day of one.
REALLY worth it. She made sure everything was set up, everything ran smoothly and people were where they needed to be when they needed to be there (both guests, vendors and wedding party) I didnt have to worry about decorations, caterers, room layout, timing of pictures, vendor questions, limo arrivals (we used one that ran runs to the hotel) first look arrangement etc. And it saved my mom and MIL from worrying about all that.
I didn't hire one and like a pp said, I've never met anyone who did have one. My sister helps a lot and I can handle the vendors myself... And my friend is taking care of getting the reception started while we're taking pictures.
I'm not getting one. My cousin is great with that kind of stuff and has helped other brides out before. I just need to give her a list of things to do and she is happy to do it, free of charge. I'm not going to give her too much because I would like her to enjoy the day as well. If you have anyone that is organized and would be willing to help with the responsibilty, see if they would help you out!
I'm not hiring one, though if the venue situation was different, I could see the need. Rather like you, the venue has an on-site caterer who is basically the venue coordinator. She's got the set-up, food, clean-up, and a certain amount of the moving along of things under control. To be fair, we won't have much to "move along", as there won't be a bunch of things going on. Just ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, hanging out. In terms of planning, I have no idea what a coordinator could really accomplish for me. Not to mention that it's really not in the budget!
I'm not. I'm doing a lot of stuff myself and the banquet manager at our venue will act as day-of coordinator and help with setup/breakdown of all the decor.
I did not hire one and don't regret it! I truly believe that any organized bride with quality vendors should not need a coordinator.
We didn't hire one - just a day of (as the venue had a great deal on their coordinator). I must say, having her definitely made me keep my cool.
There were times I wish I had a wedding planner to deal with things, but we made it by and our wedding went off without any issues (err well, one seating issue, but I think I screwed up 1 placecard).
I didn't hire one.. yet. I am not creative, and do not have the time to take care of everything.. I am in graduate school.
Maybe in the near future.. but I doubt it.
My mom and sister are very hands on as well as I. Unless I can offer an opportunity to someone who is getting started in the business and wants to plan/DOC weddings for free, I won't have one. I can't justify the added expense when I can just spend an extra hour or two with my maids & men and decorate everything. Beyond decorating, I have a timeline and will have meetings with all my vendors, so why bother incorporating a 3rd party?
My venue comes with a "sales coordinator" who is basically a DOC and my guardian angel--she's been super helpful to have and it's a weight off my shoulders knowing if someone drinks too much or I accidentally messed up a table assignment, she can figure it out last minute.
If she weren't part of the package I probably wouldn't have hired one, but I am so glad I don't have to make that decision!
@JoJo Bananas: I completely disagree, at least in terms of Day-of. Or rather it depends on what situation
I had all independent vendors including rentals, bar, caterer, flowers etc. We had to determine that day if it was Plan A or B depending on weather and I did not want to ensure all the vendors followed their detailed plans we had given them.
Nor did I want to have to be responsible for the payment to them that day, or for the "back up plan" for the potentially belligerent drunk brother we expected.
I also did not want to have to keep an eye out for when the groom arrived while I was doing portraits to ruin the first look.
Or to gather the bridal party for the different events such as the actual ceremony, introductions, to pay attention to time for the first dance or cake cutting. I loved having someone tell me what to do and knowing I wouldnt miss anything or stress out or stress out my mother or MIL
I did not want to deal with as it turns out that gramma wanted to sit on the dance floor and have to worry about finding her an arm chair (we already found one for her table)
Or to take down all the decorations/left over packaged foor and load it into our van back to the hotel etc.
Sure it could have been done by others and myself, but I really enjoyed paying someone to worry about it and it was a minimal cost.
Granted, no its not needed, but I would not have had the time to do the decorating or organizing my self day of, and we couldnt do it day before so I would have to trust 5 plus vendors to coordinate, etc. I wouldnt trust 5 independent employees without a manager, so why them? I wanted to enjoy the day, not stress
Compared to other expenses, it was cheap for $300. I bought and sold many decorations and tableclothes and came out even on those, so for me it was really worth it to spend the money on a day of.
EDIT: many people have essentially a Day-of, just not paid. They have designated someone. Its a matter of trusting/wanting to ask a favor of someone vs paying an experienced person.
I haven't hired one but am considering just getting a DOC though, mainly for the resons lefeymw mentions.
I think the decision to hire or not to hire a coordinator just all boils down to how involved the bride wants to be during the planning process + wedding day. Some brides, like me, don't want to be the 'go to' person day-of for vendors, caterers, etc. They'd prefer to have someone else assume this role. If you have a trusted cousin/sister, etc that is happy to take on this for you, which some of the PP have, that's great. However not all of us have this option---I'm an only child and don't have anyone that could do this for me, so I've opted to hire a DOC.
I'm not hiring one. The church where we're having our ceremony has a "wedding coordinator" that will be on site regardless of if I hire someone or not so I have no need for another person telling people what to do. And my reception venue is well-known for their incredible maitre'd/coordinator that does EVERYTHING from fixing bustles to handling issues that come up. I am confident in the vendors that I have chosen will be able to handle things without an issue. However, I do think it depends on the person and what they think they need for their day!
I'm not hiring one. The church where we're having our ceremony has a "wedding coordinator" that will be on site regardless of if I hire someone or not so I have no need for another person telling people what to do. And my reception venue is well-known for their incredible maitre'd/coordinator that does EVERYTHING from fixing bustles to handling issues that come up. I am confident in the vendors that I have chosen will be able to handle things without an issue. However, I do think it depends on the person and what they think they need for their day!
We didn't have one. The reception after the ceremony was a luncheon in the private dining room of a restaurant, so it didn't require a lot of coordination. We handled the decoration of the ceremony venue ourselves, with one of us doing it while the other was getting hair/make-up, and vice versa. And for the at-home reception, we were able to get in 2 days early to decorate the venue. The only time when I missed having a DOC was when it came time to clean up. Boxing up everything and packing it into the car was tough when the reception ran until 1:00 AM.
However, for us, it wasn't just the expense that was an issue. We actually had someone who volunteered to do it for free, just to get the experience. But our wedding was very much a participatory event, with friends providing music, handling food, running the DIY fauxtobooth, etc. We didn't want a stranger coming in and giving direction to our friends.
Since your venue comes with one, I wouldn't worry about it. If it didn't, I would say definitely get one.. could be a professional, could be a family member or friend. My husband's cousin was ours and she did so much, I couldn't believe it.
I am extremely creative, generally pretty prepared, total control freak. I thought I had everything taken care of but remember-- you cannot possibly have control on that day of everything, especially since alot of it has to rely on other people to know what is happening. If she wasn't there, I would have been running around tracking people down in 90 degree heat. My hair, makeup, dress would have been ruined and I would have been drippy. She panicked so I didn't have to.
im not:) and i think ill be fine..ive got loads of freinds and family..as long as these forums to help:)
but they are very helpful and it woudlnt hurt to have one:)
I knew from the beginning I wouldn't hire a wedding planner nor would a hire a day of coordinator.
I had plenty of time to do lots of research and I knew what I wanted.
My venue's event coordinator will be there from the beginning until the dancing starts, so she will take care of the details to make sure all is running smoothly.
Im going to give my cousin the numbers to our car/driver and the photographers to make sure they arriving at my house on time...and that's all we need.
Although Im having a relatively big budget wedding, a coordinator just seemed like a waste of money to me.
I hired a friend from school to kinda be my second eyes with every thing. Like...hey, will this be good for bridesmaids gifts? I'm extremely creative and totally OCD type of organized, so I have planned everything. I love attention to detail, and LOVE coming up with ideas for things. But when it came to things like...is this contract making sense.... or, can you please read these and make sure you remind me if a payment is due (because believe it or not, 6 weeks before the wedding there are payments due left and right). Final payments, partial payments, 2nd payments...blah blah blah. I'm organized, but gracious, with all of the other stuff flying from left and right, I would freak if somehow I happend to...oops, not pay someone. Which Actually, thus far I haven't forgotten any of them. Also, she serves as a human checklist to me... did you do this...yes...did you do that... yes.... I have normally had it all covered. But 1 or 2 things she got me on.
And finally, the single most important reason for her, yes, more important to me than day of, the prices vendors give planners. They all will totally...and totally did give her a better price because they do that so she will use them again. I had the photog, hotels, and venue...but for the few last things I just picked the venue and what we wanted them to do...poof...MAGIC! See now that doesn't mean she planned it...me and FI did, she just priced it for us. She saved us about 500-600 bucks on the chair cover, table runners, couch for lounge, lighting, and GOBO(initial in light on the wall or dance floor)...... it was like magic.
We went to all the meetings with everyone (she can't, she is in another state) but she asks how they go and prices and stuff. I guess we consider her a part time and day of. Meaning my second set of eyes and to have no one bother me with jack crap on my wedding day...... she will put of decor and our favors and make sure all of the candles are lit. We have an event coordinator for that day, problem is they made it clear they are there for me....to help and serve me personally and make sure i'm fed..blah blah blah. I needed someone for the reception decor, and making sure things flow when I have tossed back a few :D I got a sexy price though. So no I wouldn't pay for that. But she hooked me up big time. Basically the "second set of eyes" part of the agreement is free and the only thing I'm paying for is day of :D Which is awesome because she is going to pick up our last favors on the wedding day while we get some rest. She is great. She will just give me more time to spend with everyone, and more time to spend not stressing about tiny things that day. And not worrying.....
So I think it is different for each situation......
I'm not, but my venue comes with a really dedicated coordinator who knows everything related to my reception and is overseeing the smooth running of the event--she and I have met together with our florist/decorator, our chef, our lighting/sound people, our nanny service, our band, etc. My florist is even going to set up her arrangements (which we've had her make for the reception) at the church and decorate it for me. She wants to make sure her work looks nice, and she's willing to go the extra mile to do it. We're having people in charge of every "section" of other parts of the day and then my MOH's sister is coordinating the coordinators. My biggest worry was the reception, so I get a lot of peace of mind from having the venue's coordinator and don't really want to book someone for just half a day...
One of my Besties is a DOC so I was thankful that she took charge @ my wedding.
If you do not have someone who will make sure your time line flows smoothly as well as handle the production issues, I highly suggest a DOC. Having been my Bestie's assistant on many occasions as well helping during family weddings, I've seen the madness. You will definitely need someone to be your picture handler/coordinator. I know you've hired a photographer but who will corral the families? After the ceremony, its not unusal for family to disappear right before pictures. Its such a joyous occasion that everything goes to the wayside.
Also, whomever you deem as your "DOC' tell them you don't want to know. Seriously. You want it to be taken care of and resolved. Although I had a small intimate wedding, due to wonderful beach traffic and bad directions, our ceremony was an hour late.(I'm extremely time anal) Getting calls up to 5 min before you walk, just isn't want you want. Yes, DH lovingly threatened to throw someone over the cliff.LOL Luckily, my Type A personality was only seen by my MOH and her mother. I Love my BESTIE:) S
We had a wedding planner who was truly amazing. Like some of you other ladies have mentioned, I too am creative, knew what I wanted, organized, etc. For this reason I hired a professional who helped me every step of the way. I didn't want to have friends and relatives be responsible for anything other than showing up that day. The venue we chose also required either we pay $400 for their onsite "coordinator" or we have a professional wedding planner, although it was quite a bit more expensive, we went that route and the day of the wedding was flawless. We had a lot of details and I didn't have to worry about it turning out exactly as I envisioned.
We're not hiring a planner, but perhaps if my mom and I weren't so creative we would. Our venue also comes with an excellent coordinator as well as culinary team (and we're very specific about what we want as far as food and presentation). I like planning it - I don't think a coordinator could do a better job than myself and my mom. We are hiring a day before/day of coordinator. We hired her for my brother's wedding in May and she was fabulous. I don't want to think about anything except for getting married the day of - so I'm glad she will take over from the rehearsal on.
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Am I the only one who is NOT hiring a Wedding Planner/Coordinator? It safe to say that I am pretty creative and I have plenty of time to do my research. The venue that Im choosing includes a coordinator. But someone said that I should still hire one. I think thats crazy. What are your thoughts?