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I'm all about savin' a buck, so I'd stick with the venue's but Good point about butting heads. I'd meet with with their DOC & see how well you get a long - you never know, you might really like him/her. Check it out before you spend the $$.
Our venue also comes with a DOC, but like you I wanted my own. I ended up getting a full service planner and I couldn't be happier. She acts as a buffer and won't let anyone walk all over me. She knows the questions to ask and what the prices should be and if whatever it is that we want may have a discount. I can bounce ideas off of her and she will tell me if it is doable or if I am just being crazy. She is awesome and I haven't regretted for one moment hiring her. I highly suggest that if your budget can handle it to hire one. Make sure you get in writing what is included in their package. Some offer more than others and you may have to have an initial meeting with more than one to find one that you click with and that fits with your budget.
It's true that when a venue has a DOC, or an on-site coordinator, they're there to serve the venue, not you. Will they help you with a timeline? Distribute vendor gratuities? Coordinate music cues with musicians/DJs during the processional and first dance? Will they cue toasts and the cake cutting? Line up the wedding party? Work with your photographer to make sure you're on schedule while shooting?
Usually, the answer is no, but you never know. I would meet with the on-site coordinator, and see what kind of feeling you get. As a super organized former bride who had an on-site coordinator at her venue, hiring a DOC was the best decision we ever made. We had nothing against our on-site person, but her job wasn't to serve us. Our DOC took control of everything.
THANK YOU! This is what I was thinking, Miss Chapstick and noretake22 you confirmed it.
I need someone to keep us on schedule. and the girl who would be doing this seemed a little nonchalant about the whole thing. I want someone that is a bit of a pain in the butt for my vendors. Not bad, just uber-on top of things. Our venue is an old antebellum abbey which doesn't have to work to book events, the space sells itself. They have been awesome, but I want someone who is looking to make a good impression, whose business depends on it, you know?
Did you have any problems with your vendor's DOC and your DOC butting heads?
You are very welcome. Not so much a butting heads issue. My planner just has to push to be heard sometimes, but she has a great personality and push the issue if she has to. The venue coordinator is sometimes very lax in getting back to her, so she has to be persistant. I think the reason is because my wedding is just over a year away, but I want to have everything in place as soon as possible, so that I won't have to worry about it in the months leading up to the wedding. I know that there will probably be some small stuff come up, but I want to be as relaxed as possible.
Definitely get your own DOC. My best friend didn't (the venue girl swore up and down that she'd be on top of everything that a separate DOC would do), and it was sort of a disaster. The venue girl was dealing with some other hotel issues and no one was looking out for the big picture. Then, the venue girl went up to my friend two hours before the reception ended and said she was leaving. Ugh! In hindsight, my friend says she should've hired someone who was only looking out for her interests and not distracted by the rest of the hotel, catering, etc. An independent DOC is not a waste of money AT ALL.
For my wedding, I did have my own DOC and there wasn't any butting of heads. They were both doing such separate things, my DOC putting out the placecards, guestbook, programs, etc., and the venue girl dealing with the timeline of when the food came out, turning around the room for the reception, etc. It was good to have both!
I feel like I'm really lucky...our Venue (also a combined ceremony andreception venue) includes an entire wedding coordinator to help with all wedding decisions IF I NEED HER TO. I've called on her help numerous times and the latest time she ran out to Hobby Lobby to look at centerpiece stuff and reported back to me. She didn't have to do this because decor comes with the venue but it's not my style so off she went! She's also in touch with my DJ and my Photog and will be there the day of along with a staff of 4 others to keep everyone on time and everything flowing perfectly. Have you sat down with this DOC to see if she's going to work with you? Or are you just speculating that she's going to push the venue and what it wants/it's vendors?
Anchors, you're very lucky! But mine has been weird about response times, and I just get a bad vibe. I just feel pretty strongly that the one person that should knock your socks off should be the DOC, like her job is to instill confidence, no?
As an independent coordinator, I work with many venue coordinators, and we do very different jobs. I think it's great your venue DOC will be there, as they will be experts on helping you design your wedding in their venue, and they will make sure you have top notch service from their staff, and will assist greatly in set-up. On the flip side as an independent coordinator, many times the venue DOC doesn't do the set-up aside from tables and chairs, so your independent DOC will handle all these tasks (escort cards, floral arrangements, favors, extra touches & details etc.) In my experience here are areas when a venue DOC was not able to step in and manage in the same capacity as me, simply because I am involved more with all parts of the planning (seating changes, timeline changes, vendors etc.)
The music the couple wanted to play was orchestrated by me, the venue DOC would not have known which version of a song to play based on the playlist they were given. There were 3 versions!
The aisle runner the venue put out was red, which completely clashed with the brides non-traditional pink dress - I was able to remove it before the bride even saw.
The venue wanted to move the ceremony indoors due to wind, however aside from the wind, it was the clearest sunniest day (when typically foggy) and the couple splurged on that location purely for the view. I was able to stop the room change and avoiding the venue in pressuring the couple to move indoors. It was windy, but my clients made it very clear to me during our planning that it was an outdoor wedding even if sprinkling rain.
These are just examples. All wedding professionals should work together, so I am not here to take away from their awesome expertise, just trying to highlight areas that differ greatly in our responsibilities and overall knowledge of the planning process.
Good luck and enjoy your planning!
@CaliSara, this is one of the best posts I have seen in relation to this topic. This is exactly what I need, someone who gets me (and who will remove the red runner before I see it: ahhhhh!) not just someone to manage the venue's staff.
@CaliSara DOC You literaly took the words out of my mouth. I tried to explain this so many times before to brides when they asked why an independant DOC or coordinator was needed if a venue provided one. I am so glad to see a positive post/ responses about what we do.
@Kingcake I am so glad you expressed your opinion about this. I hope you find a coordinator that suits your needs. Good luck and happy planning!
several people said this well but PLEASE DONT MAKE THE MISTAKE I MADE - an ON -SITE DOC is NOT the same as a general DOC. I WISH we'd hired a DOC to go in addition to our on site coordinator. They are totally different. I needed someone to take care of random little things here and there that fell outside of the OSDOC's duties...and that was MY fault for not recognizing that prior to the day. If you want to hire your own as well, HIRE HER! :)
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Our awesome venue (ceremony and reception and catering) has a DOC included in the price, but I have to tell you, I kind of want my own. We are paying for this ourselves, and we are not spending crazy money. However, it just seems to me that the venue's DOC may be an advocate for the venue, whereas I would like an advocate for us. I don't want them to butt heads, but my instincts tell me I might want someone on my payroll to manage the venue, and the venue's DOC.