What’s the Big Deal about a Day-of-Coordinator?

What’s the Big Deal about a Day-of-Coordinator?

September 28th, 2011 @ 10:53 am by Miss Kettle
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There’s a day-of-coordinator option that was available to us through our first florist interview. She works at the gallery and she’s pretty amazing.

In spite of my natural urge to sign on the line with the first person whose offer sounds good, I resisted. Momma Kettle made an appointment with another day-of-coordinator for this week. Her prices are waay better than the first lady, but we’ll see how the meeting goes. I’ll be happy to report back to the hive, if only to help people in the Chicago area who are looking for coordinators.

I started thinking about why we really needed one, though. I know for a fact that we definitely want one. But why? Here are the reasons I came up with:

You really get to relax the day of your wedding, no hassles on vendor payments or tracking down family for portraits.
Your friends/family get to relax the day of your wedding. They won’t be delegated the responsibility of organizing reception flowers or making sure the seating chart is visible and programs are handed out.
All your vendors (and your wedding party members) have a one-stop shop at which to direct questions.
If your DOC is awesome, he/she will be involved before the actual day, helping with the wedding rehearsal and helping create timelines for events.

Having that type of help, considering how large our wedding is, will likely be completely essential. It’s not a wasted expense for our peace of mind. Neither Momma Kettle nor I will have to keep downing champagne all night, because someone else will be handling the oops! moments of the day.

Are you going to have/did you have a DOC? Would you recommend one for a wedding as large as mine?

Tags: chicago, wedding-planner |

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14 Responses to “What’s the Big Deal about a Day-of-Coordinator?”

Bee

Miss Skunk (message) 120 posts, Blushing bee

The lady that owns the farm, Suzy, is also our DOC. She is amazing and has even taken notes on folks she might have to ‘handle’.

9/28/11 @ 11:04 am (reply)

Member

omdela01 (message) 105 posts, Blushing bee

I couldn’t imagine having my wedding without a day of coordinator. She was amazing and all I had to do was show up. Out of curiosity, how much were you quoted for a DOC?

9/28/11 @ 11:04 am (reply)

Member

tea (message) 7,288 posts, Bee Keeper

I want to get a DOC and had to convince the mister that this was a good idea. He’s convinced if there’s anything going on he should take care of it. Uh, sure if this wasn’t our wedding day! In the end, if we can fit one in the budget, we’ll get one because I know it’ll make life a lot easier for us

9/28/11 @ 11:49 am (reply)

Member

PeacocksAndCandy (message) 158 posts, Blushing bee

YES! Omg when i found out that a DOC existed and you didn’t need a whole planner, i set up appointments right away. My mom was against it. She said it was a waste of money and that she would help me do everything. Well that was shenanigans. This is the first official wedding in our family and i wanted my mom to relax and have fun, like the MOB should do. So my day of coordinator is actually my present to my mother as a thank you for everything. It’s a rather expensive present, but it’s worth it to me to have her be stress-free (relatively) and for me to know that everything will be taken care of. Without a DOC, I know i would have worried a lot about whether my mom was handling everything, and i am so glad I no longer have to worry about all the nit-picky details on our wedding day.

9/28/11 @ 11:54 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Ladyfingers (message) 1,119 posts, Bumble bee

We would not have been able to afford a DOC, which was KILLING me. I was trying to figure out which of my friends was the best at styling, so they could decorate, and which was the best at being firm, so they could coordinate the other vendors, and how I was going to manage stying sane knowing that my friends, non-professionals, were handling all of this. Then, we found our caterer, and they include AMAZING DOC services — decorating and all! Totally essential. I’ve spoken with other brides who’ve had DOCs, and they concur. If you can swing it, DO IT.

9/28/11 @ 11:59 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Sunhat (message) 865 posts, Busy bee

I keep debating this - going back and forth. I’m having a hard time pulling the trigger and just doing it!

9/28/11 @ 1:07 pm (reply)

Member

milissae (message) 142 posts, Blushing bee

No DOC for me. It just not in the budget. But I will have my aunt MiMi, she will be the Mistress of Ceremony.

I think a Mistress of Ceremonies was the only thing they had years ago.

9/28/11 @ 1:09 pm (reply)

Member

lisaelanna (message) 315 posts, Helper bee

I didn’t have a DOC and I wish I had had one…or maybe a week-of-coordinator. Our venue allowed us to come in and decorate a couple days before the wedding and while that was AWESOME, at the same time setup was super stressful. I think I made more decisions in the two days before the wedding than I have made my entire life leading up to that, but even more stressful than having everyone constantly asking you what to do is that everyone asked or had to have everything explained to them individually 5 different times. Despite that, pretty much everything that I didn’t do myself or wasn’t there 100% supervising did not come out how I’d intended.

Also, I think having a DOC or a wedding planner would be nice because they approach the situation without any emotions. My mother has very set opinions on what looks good and what a wedding should be (aka despite her best intentions, she tried her best to make my wedding into her dream ’80s wedding, and my vision was less tulle and lace and more modern simplicity). It seems that someone who helps with weddings as their job would be more likely to support you in your vision rather than what their personal preferences are.

9/28/11 @ 1:12 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Fox (message) 859 posts, Busy bee

Our venue so very fortunately comes with a DOC - I am in the “pro” camp for this. The last thing I want to do is worry about the flow and details on the wedding day. I’ve only met our DOC once but I already LOVE her!

9/28/11 @ 2:33 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

KMA

Get it or you’ll regret it. I had absolutely NO time on the day of to set up and she did it all, plus cleaned up after I left, plus made sure everything happened on time, plus she was our officiant! It was one of the most valuable things we bought for the wedding.

9/28/11 @ 2:56 pm (reply)

11.

Member

katiegirl84 (message) 216 posts, Helper bee

I am from chicago and set up a consultation with someone who had really good pricing, but she ended up rescheduling last minute 4 or 5 times. I decided to go with someone else that was about 35-40% more just for the piece of mind.

9/28/11 @ 4:10 pm (reply)

12.

Bee

Mrs. Pony (message) 4,171 posts, Honey bee

Our DOC was the best money we spent. Seriously. She gave me piece of mind, helped diffuse some seriously horrible vendor situations, and was overall amazing. If it’s in budget, you should go for it!

9/28/11 @ 7:37 pm (reply)

13.

Bee

Miss Kettle (message) 909 posts, Busy bee

@Miss Sunhat: You gotta do it. Having someone who’s job it is not to get too tipsy and make the day run smooth while everyone else is enjoying the holiday is essential!
@Miss Ladyfingers: I’m glad you ended up with DOC.
@milissae: I’ve never heard of a mistress of ceremonies, but I’m fascinated with the idea.
@Mrs. Pony: Best money spent? That’s a powerful statement.
@katiegirl84: I hope the woman we just talked to isn’t the same lady you tried to book cause I really liked her.

9/29/11 @ 10:46 pm (reply)

14.

Member

milissae (message) 142 posts, Blushing bee

@Miss Kettle - I think I must be older than everyone else on this thread. Every wedding I have attended in the last 15 years, with the exception one, has had a mistress of ceremonies. Now mind you I have never attended a $30,000 wedding before. Most have been modest affairs, with less than 100 people.

I think weddings in the past were a family affairs. It seems everyone wants or has to pay someone to run the show now days.

Luckily my 65 year old aunt knows exactly what a Mistress of Ceremonies does and has happily accepted the role of “running the show”.

I understand not everyone has family or friends to help host the event. I just think most everyone did in the past.

10/3/11 @ 6:36 am (reply)