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Hello! I think a wedding coordinator or a day of coordinator at the very least would be helpful. My fiance & I have hired one b/c we want our family & friends to enjoy our wedding day, so we thought it would it was money well spent & useful. From my research, a wedding coordinator does more than setup things, she prepares the timeline of your day, ensures everything is executed & if something goes wrong, a good coordinator will handle it without you knowing. It also helps relieves the stress off of you, so you can enjoy your day! :) So, if your venue has this service (then I'm thinking you dont need anyone), but if it doesnt, I would look into it. I would double check & ask the venue, specifically what their site coordinator does (I think this duty varies with different venues) Don't worry about paying $2000 - I bet if you looked you could find someone within your budget. Good Luck!
I didn't think a planner would be necessary, but I broke down and got one. She is wonderful. Even if you can't afford a full service planner, I advise a day of planner. I don't want to have to worry about anything the day of and my planner has been helpful keeping me organized, on task, and in budget. I suggest that you interveiw several planners and see what they offer. Due to the economy, you should be able to talk them into a discount for their services, but you do get a lot for your money.
Hello.
I actually think a wedding planner can help one a lot. You are busy the day of your wedding getting ready etc and the planner makes it all run smooth and gives you a lot of relief and peace. They know the ropes. And some have rates way down around $600.00. You also can search for venders and price some yourself. A fun chauffeur is a guy with a lot of antique classic cars that are real reasonable called hireoldcars here in San diego. They really are fun and make a big differance. Good luck and relax and enjoy your wedding.
God bless you.
Lance
If your hotel has a coordinator for the day of, that should be plenty. Our venue was pretty pricey but had a coordinator. I did all my own centerpieces and flowers, all that suff. Brought it in the morning of the wedding, explained what I wanted, and let her work her magic with the peopple who worked there to put it all together. If she hadn't been able to do that, I probably would have asked a friend to do it (nicely, with a gift, lol) but there is no way in my budget we could have justified $2,000 for a planner unless I'd been able to sit down and say "okay how much money can you save us? Her's our budget and i'd want to be sure she saved us at least her cost. I didn't have a planner and I didn't ever think I would need one.
If you feel comfortable with the coordinator at your venue, then you don't need one. However, speaking from experience, the coordinator at venues are usually very good at handling venue issues, but not always willing or able to coordinate ALL aspects of a wedding (outside vendors and vendors' staff that need to be told where to go, what to do, make sure to call these people in the invent that they do not show, solve problems with vendors' materials as they arrive, etc.)
Our venue coordinator turned out to be sort of lazy and had a one-track mind. I was SO happy that we hired a Day-of-Coordinator...when our florist forgot vases, she knew to remind her to bring some. When our DJ wasn't sure which direction we wanted his station set up facing, she told him. When our cake was delivered, she told them which direction whe wanted the front to face. When the weather was so bad that we didn't want to ask our guests to stand outside to wait a "grand exit" she greeted each of our guests and told them to go right on ahead to our venue to begin cocktail hour. Etc. Etc. Etc.!!! I could go on all day about all the little things that she took care of!
Most hotel coodinators wont actually set up all that stuff...toasting flutes, guest book, place cards, personal flowers, candy bars, photobooths, etc. Their main concern is the food.
The planner we broke down and hired used to work in a really nice hotel downtown (San Diego) as a catering mangager, which is nice because she knows what they actually will/will not do.
We hired a planner because i had so many ideas rolling around in my head and wasnt sure how to narrow it down, keep things cohisive, and have it reflect us as a couple. I met with Jess & Rachel once and fell in love. she took all my ideas, colors, pictures, sketches (and a notebook of other random crap!) and developed an overal design for us (she actually met with Mr.Darling and i several times to realy get to know us). She not only does the whole calling vendors thing, but actually designed our flowers based on what was in season (so i didnt run around to 10 different florist wondering why their prices were all SOOO different), negotiated the catering contract for our venue (which actually saved us $3,300), extended a 15% discount that she gets from the linen company, and manages our budget along the way. on top of all this, our wedding will come out cohisive, beautiful, and looking more like "us" than if we had planned it ourselves!
she and her team also handles our rehearsal and day-of stuff. she met with us, talked about the ceremony, our religous affiliations, thoughts, etc and designed the ceremony for us. day of, she will be the onsite contact for all the vendors, she will also be picking up my dress the day before and dropping it off to me, has a list of all my must-take pictures, and will make sure that everything is set up PERFECTLY! she also does all the tear down, and i dont have to worry about losing/misplacing anything that night. she will either meet with my mother the next week to return all the items, or when i get back from our honeymoon.
anyhow, she is my lifesaver. her graphic design company is also doing out invitatations, which is more than awesome.
planners vs coordinator - i would go with planner. you have NO IDEA what you're missing out until you meet with one!
wow, that was long. sorry!
duh, i forgot her company name.... her name is Jessica and her company is Moira Events our of San Diego
Thanks girls. And thanks ClairDarling, I just emailed over to Moira Events to get ideas on pricing, availability, etc... Guess we'll see what's up, hopefully they're not super duper expensive? But then again...it is san diego.
@honey, there are certainly cheaper out there, but I really wanted someone with a design eye and shes the only one i found. her prices are reasonable, and she was flexible with her packages. shes sweet, you'll like her!
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So the budget for my wedding is pretty small, especially for living in uber expensive for a wedding city, San Diego. My grandmother, who is paying for a good portion of the wedding (but still not nearly all of it) called today to tell me she wants to get a planner. The thing is, I don't think she is going to pay the difference OVER the budget she gave me, which really scares me because I can't afford to spend the $2000 or so that a planner costs. So our wedding is at a really high end hotel and I don't really need someone for the day of, as the hotel will be setting up everything and the only vendors I will have will be DJ and cake (which I'm guessing I can have a family member pick up) and maybe flowers unless I do them myself. When I've been looking at wedding coordinator websites, it seems that they don't help with much except calling vendors and helping you clean up, etc... I don't understand why I would need one, but I see that a lot of people say they are valuable. Is that just if you are doing in someplace that doesn't set stuff up for you?
Thanks girls!