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i think it really depends on your situation. if youre in a time crunch, it might help to have one. we have over a year till our wedding and im the type of bride who is hands on in planning every single detail and researching my butt off to hire the right vendors and book venues. i have my binder and computer files full of inspiration pics of my "vision" (lol) and i feel that i know what i want and am working to get it all just right.
HOWEVER, i am also having a semi-destination wedding (location is 4 hours from where i live) so we decided to hire a day of coordinator. ours takes over about a month before the wedding so once i have all my details put together, she is in charge of refining and coming up with the plan to make not just the day of but the WEEK of flow efficiently. i would rely on my bms and the gm to help but they are all coming from out of state so they most likely wouldnt be up to date with the details until they arrive for the wedding weekend.
for us, it will only be helpful. i thought i could take it all on without a doc but i started having fears of being overwhelmed on my wedding day. i believe a doc will take all that worrying away and i can enjoy my day.
there are several doc out there who you can negotiate with depending on how much you want them to actually do - where im having my wedding, ive seen doc rates as low as about $300.
hope that helps! good luck!
Thanks, mmauricio! We have a lot in common actually....I also have more than a year (we haven't even "set" a date yet, but it's not going to be before May 2011) and I am also a detailed-oriented bride-to-be. I love the idea of keeping a "binder" by the way! I'm just beginning the planning process, and although I already have relationships with various vendors from my job, I am hesitant to have to deal with everything on my own the wedding day. Plus, I am also planning a "destination" wedding in the Wine Country, although it's only an hour away as opposed to four! I'm not even sure if my local vendors will even be worth it to use in the long run with delivery fees, etc.
I'm really considering using a DOC now.....
This is just my opinion, but even though we cut costs in every way we could, our DOC was worth EVERY PENNY. I thought I was so organized that I wouldn't need one at first, and we had almost a two year engagement so I thought I had plenty of time to plan everything perfectly, but I know I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun on our wedding day as I did without my incredible DOC. Not to say you can't get by without one, but you have to lean a lot more on your family and friends and if something's wrong, you have to stress about it instead of the DOC. Plus, your DOC will think of things to organize that won't have even crossed your mind if he/she knows what's what. I tell every bride I can that she should get a DOC if at ALL possible, but again, that's just my opinion. If you're really looking to cut costs, maybe try to find someone who's just starting out like we did? So worth it. Good luck and congrats!
If you can afford it, I say go for it! We have close to a two year engagement and hired a DOC 6 months into planning. We LOVE her and can't imagine our wedding without her.
I agree with Star :) Well worth, every penny!
I would get one...maybe someone who is just starting out a business and their prices may be lower...I am very detail oriented and at first thought I wouldn't need one, but i'm SOOOOOO glad we had one...she took care of so many things that out-of-town family who I would have probably originally had to help, wouldn't have known about...I gave her my "bride binder bible" about a week or two before so she knew everything that was going on, and everything went smoothly...I didn't worry about a thing the day of and I would have if I left it up to family/friends because not only are they not fully committed to your "vision" the day of, they want to have fun too...
If I could afford it, I would definitely do it. But we didn't have the budget for it. I've heard from those who do have one, that they don't have to lift a finger, so hopefully you find a good one.
if I could afford it, i'd love it! but I just can't, and i'm worried because I am DIYing most everything, so i'm not sure who will be setting things up the day of!
Just a quick re-iteration of what everyone else has said...YES! Get one! A personal story of how my DOC SAVED our wedding...
We had a destination wedding in the wine country. The day was perfect until...my zipper broke on my wedding gown moments after zipping me into it. The dress was altered perfectly however, the zipper was plastic, the teeth got stuck and separated (note to self, look for metal zippers!) My bridesmaids all tried to fix the zipper as my mom grabbed the bottle of champagne and started "stress drinking". A family friend went to go look for a sewing kit...let me tell you the sight in my hotel room was not pretty. Within an hour my DOC had a seamstress in my room from a local wedding shop in town. She then sewed me into my dress so that I could walk down the aisle - I was a little late but I'm not sure what I would have done or what I would have worn (!) if it weren't for my DOC. She was AH-mazing, calm, cool and collected.
I do have to say though, getting out of the dress that night was quite the ordeal! ;)
As a bride that's on a budget (and also from the Bay Area) one of the few things I decided from the get go was that we needed to spend the money and get a DOC. My FI was very hesitant to spend the extra money but once he met our DOC in person he was convinced that it was a good idea. After talking to our DOC, it made us realize that were hadn't even though of a lot of details.
Although I don't have catering experience like you do, I'm a pretty put-together and organized person. Not only do I have a "wedding binder" but I also keep tracking of everything on spreasheets and have scanned Google docs of all contracts and important stuff. I'm a crazy person! Even with my ability to be on top of @h!t I knew that at my own wedding I wanted to be able to relax and let someone take care of everything for once. :)
DOC's can be pricey but if you need a rec for one in the Bay Area let me know. Mine was VERY reasonable priced for Bay Area standards and she also has a catering background so you guys can probably have a lot to related to. :) Just message me if you want contact info.
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I wasn't planning on hiring a DOC or wedding planner because I kind of do it myself for work. I work for a large catering company with a Cathedral venue and I work with brides already, so I considered it an unnecessary expense. But, I'm having my doubts now...do I really want to worry about anything the day of my wedding? Can I trust my Maids of Honor and Bridesmaids to help out with day of stuff? One venue I'm looking at (Cornerstone Gardens- would appreciate any feedback about that too!) requires that I have one. (I told her that I didn't think I'd need one and she said maybe she could be flexible with the rules...)
What do you Bees think? I'd really like to keep the costs down!