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I’m stuck. I have no idea whether I should hire someone to help on our big day (or if I can even find one available and within our budget three months out). They must have some sort of Procrastinators Appreciation Discount right? 
So, Side A : We hire a DOC, and Side B: We don’t. I made a list of pros/cons, and am still undecided.
Side A: We are getting married at a ‘non-traditional’ venue, so there is no one in-house that would be in charge of me or my event. Which makes me think I need someone to be there to ensure things run smoothly.
Side B: Our event is going to have a pretty relaxed feeling, as we have invited family and close friends. If anything goes wrong I know I could ask any one of them to help out and be able to hopefully laugh about it later. Our guests won’t care that our flowers are/aren’t the perfect color, or if our DJ plays a song we asked him not to. This makes me think we don’t really need to spend more $$ to have someone there.
Side A: I have never planned an event befor. I have a good idea of what needs to happen, but I’m sure there are a ton of things I am forgetting or have no idea that I am supposed to do.
Side B: There will be a ceremony, we will end up married, and there will be alcohol at the fabulous party after… how bad could it really be?
Side A: I want to be able to enjoy the day and not have my family (mom) worry about what needs to get done next.
Side B: If nothing goes wrong, I will probably feel like I wasted $$.
I have been going back on forth on this decision for six months now, and still have no conclusion. So I turn to you:
Are you hiring a DOC? Why/why not?
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you can earn more money but you only get one wedding. I went with a DOC since i wanted to relax. even if nothing goes wrong, you can’t put a price on peace of mind. (except i did and it was $500)
We asked a family friend (who we’re not super close to - wouldn’t have made the guest list otherwise, and she was okay with that) to sort of be our DOC. Her only child - daughter - eloped, so she has always wanted to do the big wedding thing! So she will be our unofficial DOC, and we won’t have to pay her a big fee (of course we’ll get something to thank her) and she is super excited just to do it!
After talking to our DOC about all the last minute, day of stuff that needs to be done- I am so excited that she will be there for me on the big day. See if you can find someone trying to break into the business. We’re getting our DOC free that way!!
We are going with one for all of your side A reasons. I found ours on Craigslist and since they are just starting out they are doing our wedding free of charge!! I’m sure you could find one in your area. you might even just be able to consult with one to ask them questions and hopefully that could help you decide if you want to hire one.
Good luck!
We’re not having one. I might regret it later, but I have a feeling that there are a bevy of friends that are planning to step in and step up if needed.
Our event wouldn’t be us without a little controlled chaos!
I hired a DOC. Our florist also offered DOC, so I took her up on it. I was like you and undecided for a long time, but ultimately decided that the peace of mind was worth it. For floral (5 attendants on each side of our bridal party, sit down reception for 175) and DOC, she charged a bargain price of $600. SO worth it. She certainly came in handy a couple of times, but even if everything had gone perfectly smoothly, it still would have been worth the peace of mind.
Definitely going with a DOC - There are a million things that are going to be on her plate for the day-of and I don’t think I would want to do it without her help! While getting ready, taking pictures, mingling and chatting with guests I won’t have to worry about ANYTHING!
Ahh, the dilemma, right?? Well let me just say this: if you hire a DOC and nothing goes wrong, don’t assume this means you didn’t need him/her!
A good DOC (and let me stress the importance of getting a good one!) will do thorough preparation BEFORE the wedding day… there is SO Much more involved than just showing up! They will help you iron out your timeline, and since they are experienced, they will be able to guide you on what makes sense. They will often review all of your contracts to make sure everything is in order and then confirm all of your vendors the week of the wedding to make sure they are all on the same page and know when and where to arrive and what to do. They will run the ceremony rehearsal (this can be very important especially with lining everyone up and sending them down the aisle!)
On the day-of, they will be running around making sure that everything is in place and that everyone is where they are supposed to be (at the right time!) and keeping the flow of the event moving on time.
If the wedding goes off without a hitch, it is a job well done on their part! It is because they were on their feet for 10 hours making sure that you didn’t KNOW that anything went wrong, and you will love them for this!
Ok, full disclosure here…. I am a wedding planner 
I went to a wedding in October where the couple got married in a beautiful State Park. The location was truly beautiful and unique. HOWEVER, the bride (mostly) and groom did everything DIY. And the night before and day of the ceremony, we (the guests) spent hours decorating and getting everything ready for the wedding. It was A LOT of work and a lot of stress on the bride and groom. If you are planning on incorporating help from bridal party, you may also want to consider how much work you’ll be putting on them if you don’t hire a DOC.
I think it is worth every penny because it take away the stress on your big day. A bride should just have a relaxing day and someone else can do the worrying. You worried through all the planning now it is time to do the relaxing.
I really debated about this too..we didn’t have the budget for it. BUT. I had a freak out moment one day when I thought about all of the tealights that will be going on the reception tables…who the heck was going to light them?! Our reception site doesn’t really have someone who we thought would do this.
The other argument I made for myself. I want my parents and everyone else to just sit back, relax and enjoy the day. Our DOC will make sure all of the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed.
Final reason…if your dress has a long train, do you have someone who can stand behind make sure it’s perfectly laid out before you make that first step?!
Oh man, now I’m fretting about this! 
Any tips for finding an affordable DOC?
My venue has an event coordinator who is pretty much the DoC. If I didn’t have her, I’d probably be stressing over whether I should hire one or not, mostly because I don’t want to spend the extra money. I do think that it’s best to hire someone with a similar job. Why not take up one of the suggestions above and search Craigslist? Peace of mind and being considerate with your mom is always a nice thing.
I’m not, for several reasons, money being one of them, but not the biggest.
1. My family didn’t like the idea of a stranger being around telling everyone what to do.
2. I didn’t like the idea of a stranger implementing all my wonderful DIY projects. (someone not invested in them)
3. I have UHMAZING family and friends that have stepped up to the challenge.
4. the money. i mean, we have it, but I’d rather use it in Italy on the honeymoon!
I have no idea if my wedding day will or won’t turn out, but we’re gonna try (and knowing my psycho-organized type A self….if it doesn’t work out–it won’t be for lack of planning!)
I opted to ask a friend’s mom, who is sorta retired from wedding planning to be my DOC. She’s already been a life saver and I know I can trust her to carry out my vision the day of.
I had all these same issues, on both side A and B. I’m doing something like Peep Toe and MrsSl82b are doing–someone off Craigslist who is cheap but knows at least a little about weddings, etc. I don’t need them to do anything before the day of, but I think it will be nice to have someone there who I won’t feel like I’m taking away from the fun if flower arrangements need to be moved, seating problems need to be dealt with, etc. And since our event is pretty casual and easygoing as well, I’ll probably just tell her “if something goes wrong, please just do your best to fix it and don’t tell me!”
I think having a DOC is definitely worth the money. Your DOC will take care of anything unexpected that comes up, if vendors have questions, they can contact the DOC instead of asking you on your wedding day, and all of your beautiful details that you’ve been blogging about will be in all of the right places! =)
Good luck!!!
i will admit, in my still-deciding days, I put up a post on craig’s list and got about 50 offers to DOC, 30 of them looked REALLY good(some experienced, some not)…and all would all fit in my budget of $400!
What the heck is a DOC?
I had a lot of the same thoughts. We decided to not hire one. Reasons:
-I have personally planned many events and don’t know if I could “give up” some of the control
-I know what I want and am able to communicate that with the people I need to
-We are having a small wedding
-We have a coordinator at the reception site
-One of my best friends will be “in charge” and the go to person for questions
-I will be married and drinking and eating and dancing with my friends and family. Something funny will go wrong/happen. We will laugh about it like we always do
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Mrs. Gloss, Boston/Maine Age and Occupation: 24, Designer/soon-to-be Architect Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Systems Engineer Engagement Date: May 23, 2008 Wedding Date: August 2009 Venue: SS Katahdin/Lakeside Tent About Me: I don't like nickels or the skin that forms on pudding when it's in the fridge for too long. I couldn't live without Pantone markers, fountain soda (3/4 diet, ¼ regular Coke), run-on sentences, or ridiculously oversized sunglasses. I will try to DIY almost anything and am just OCD enough to make most of it work. I am truly excited about having all my family and friends together, becoming Mrs. Gloss, and having amazing photos to prove it!
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