Wedding Planners?

[violet02]

Just out of curiousity since I haven''t gotten an idea of who''s using a planner or not. How many of you hired a wedding planner? Just a quick impromptu poll.

 

[FrekeChild]

I answered "No" even though I''m a LIW because I''ve already planned everything and wouldn''t hire someone to do that anyway because I''ve already done all the work myself. Plus I have experience because I helped plan my friend''s wedding a year ago in a little over a month. It was a bit of a shotgun wedding, but still came off very nicely!

 

[violet02]

I swore, being the type A planner that I am in my everyday life that I would be able to plan my own wedding. Since it''s a semi-destination wedding forget it, I was wrong! Also planners seem to get these great discounts. My planner gets a 15% discount which she passes on to us. She also found us the awesome house we''re having it at. And even though she''s not technically being paid to do things like go to meet vendors with me she does anyway. It''s great. I''m also incredibly indecisive and I never realized how clueless about getting married I was. She definitely alleviates all of that stress for me. It''s amazing how much stuff she actually does. I probably email her at least 5 times a day everyday.

I chose option 2 in the poll since that was about what we could afford. It''s insane what planners can charge you! We got lucky in finding one that''s more of a one woman business.

 

[bee*]

I voted no. I adore planning and am in my element planning this wedding! I love seeing it all come together.

 

[lucy.lucy.80]

no wedding planner here...thought about it for a second when I first started planning, but so far my wedding has been reletively easy to plan.

 

[Gypsy]

We hired a day of coordinator. But her duties begin two weeks before the event. She''s going to call all the vendors then, introduce herself as point of contract and make it clear what she and we expect of them, and that I am not to be bothered by them at all and that all communication will flow through her to us. SHe''s also going to be helping us with some of the rentals we''ll need (picking them up and bringing them in) and has been helping us find vendors this whole time. So she''s a little more than a ''day of'' and I have to say she''s been invaluable. I''m very capable, but having the peace of mind of anther person assisting is just wonderful.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Hmm maybe. We're not sure. It depends on where we have the reception because this may sound snotty, but I really don't want to have to decorate my own reception. So if that would be necessary then I'd hire her for just the day of the wedding. We're going to meet with her this weekend. I mean sometimes I think it'd be nice to have the extra help finding things, but I have so long (2 years) that I don't know if it's worth the money. Although the one we are meeting with does even return tuxes for you, now that's nice.

ETA: I also love planning though!!! Yaaay, it's so fun! Lots of books and stuff.

 

[CrownJewel]

I haven''t voted yet because I''m not sure what I''m going to do. Either plan it myself or hire a day of coordinator (assuming I can find one at a reasonable price).

 

[Aloros]

My fiance pulled up a list yesterday, of "10 Things Your Wedding Planner Won''t Tell You" or something like that. #10 was "You don''t need me". No wedding planner for us!

My friend is a wedding planner, however, so I may ask for a little of her advice.

 

[espressa]

Yes, we hired a wedding planner, who is handling everything start to finish. We're getting married in Italy and it would be impossible for me to plan everything myself, since I'm in the U.S. and I don't speak Italian! We communicate through email and she has been great so far. Most of the wedding planning is done, and it has been very stress-free for the most part.

The added bonus for us is that our wedding planner's family owns the castle where we are staying at and where the reception will be held, so any extra accommodations, changes, or questions can all be dealt with directly through her, and she has been very willing to do what is needed to make sure everything is as we want it.

She is also handling all of the legal aspects regarding getting married in Italy. She will be getting our passports and other documents translated, getting the papers together for us, etc.

 

[firebirdgold]

Our destination wedding package came with a planner. Noni was wonderful, all I had to do was make a few choices. She even took care of the licensing for us. All we had to do was stop in to her office between snorkling and dinner. It was a huge relief the day of, to have someone else worry about having everything show up and be just right. I could concentrate on what was important, marrying the love of my life!

 

[Harleigh]

We have a wedding planner that has helped with organizing vendors for us, but we have done a lot of the research and work ourselves. I think it''s nearly impossible to plan a destination wedding without someone over there helping you as I''ve never been to Maui, have no contacts, etc...

She has been the liaison to referring us to various people, but her part is mainly the day-of coordinating along with whatever was included in our DW package we chose from afar!

If I was having my wedding local I would be doing everything myself, though!

 

[musey]

I voted that we hired a day-of coordinator--but we didn't choose to, she came with the venue (it's included in the per-person price... kind of an all-inclusive deal in that way).

I've been doing pretty much everything else myself (with some "help" from FI

).

 

[blondie23]

I hired a day of wedding coordinator and I am SO thankful that we did. I want my wedding day to be as stress free as possible and let her handle all of the details.

 

[blondie23]

Also I wanted to add that our day of coordinator also does things that are above and beyond (going to vendor meetings, passing on her awesome discount, and helping call guests who have not RSVPd yet!). She is seriously awesome!

 

[Aim_Turbo]

We didn''t hire a wedding planner however we have one. We''re getting married at a Bed and Breakfast in my hometown and the owner of the venue also works as the planner/coordinator. She coordinates the following:

1. Tents - we''re having 100 guests so we needed the event to be in a tent as the B&B is too small. Also we need an open sided tent for the ceremony because there''s no shade where it''s happening.
2. Caterer
3. Shuttle
4. All dinner ware necessities (plates, flate ware etc.)
5. She oversees the decoration and table settings as I am not responsible for the setting up part, so that everything is how I want it
6. Takes over everything the day before and the day of the wedding so me and everyone else involved can relax!!

I still needed to deal with the following:

1. Dress
2. Flowers
3. Photographer
4. Videographer
5. Cake
6. Favors
7. Choosing/making decor
8. reserving hotel
9. hiring officiant
10. and whatever else is left over

I guess what she does is what a regular venue does, it just seems like there''s a lot more involved because she had to order the tent and organize all that jazz (chairs, place settings etc). I really like having that experience to call though and she handles my mother beautifully! My mom is awesome but she''s the "I need to be the centre of the universe at all times and I will talk at you for days until you realize that" type of person and my coordinator knows exactly how to include her but gently push her aside and focus on what my fiance and I want.

That''s just me though, I couldn''t imagine having to coordinate tents and chairs and caterers and all that from a city 2 hours away..I''d never get any work done!!

 

[sumbride]

I HIGHLY recommend a day-of-coordinator. We hired one at the last minute and she was extremely helpful!!! Do this especially if your wedding isn''t traditional, as in taking place in a church where it''s obvious where you''ll stand and the guy of front runs the whole ceremony. Ours was on a golf course with a judge, so we needed help in placement... where does everybody stand... timing, organization, placement of microphones, placement of chairs, when do the chairs arrive, when do the cakes arrive, when do the flowers and table cloths arrive, etc... trust me... you DON''T want to deal with this on the day of. You want somebody else to make sure everything is going right while you get your hair done and try to hold yourself together.

It also has the added bonus of "if anything goes wrong, it''s her fault" as you point at the planner. That was a tremendous help too!

 

[anchor31]

No. We don't have the money, and it wasn't the planning part that was the hardest. As I mentioned in the "Things I hate about planning", the hardest part is to get people to stop yelling at us, and a planner can't help with that.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

So we met with the coordinator and I have a question (sorry to thread-jack). The coordinator has two packages that we are interested in since we don''t need the one where they do everything for you. There''s a by the hour package where they bill you only for when they''ve worked a full hour with a 10 hour minimum or there''s a package that''s just a flat couple of thousand dollars. In the second package you can call them whenever and they are there all day for the day of and the day before. So it''s a day of package. Which would you do?

 

[sumbride]

Date: 2/26/2008 12:30:40 PM
Author: SarahLovesJS
So we met with the coordinator and I have a question (sorry to thread-jack). The coordinator has two packages that we are interested in since we don''t need the one where they do everything for you. There''s a by the hour package where they bill you only for when they''ve worked a full hour with a 10 hour minimum or there''s a package that''s just a flat couple of thousand dollars. In the second package you can call them whenever and they are there all day for the day of and the day before. So it''s a day of package. Which would you do?

How long do you think you would need her day of? If it is at least 7 hours, then I''d do the flat rate package because then you can ask for help on other things. I used mine for about 3 hours during the rehearsal and about 5 hours day of, just for reference, but she left well before the reception ended and it would actually have been nice if she had stayed a bit longer.

 

[zoebartlett]

I voted "we''re hiring a day of coordinator" but the 2 women we''re using are the wedding coordinators at our venue. We''re doing the actual planning ourselves but the coordinators will be there the day of our wedding to keep things moving along. I think our venue had some sort of bridal package that we could have gotten, which would have included bouquets, corsages, bouts, invitations, and maybe the use of a classical guitarist. We chose not to go this route because we weren''t sure at the time what we wanted. We''ve booked our photographer and DJ on our own.

 

[gtn]

I want to hire a DOC and so does FI. Our friend hired a DOC and said that she would have gone nuts if she didn''t. Also, I want someone to herd the cats for me. Since we both come from large families, confusion is bound to happen.

 

[Octavia]

I voted "no" because we''re not planning to actually go out and hire someone. Depending on what venue we choose, it may come with a day-of coordinator, but I don''t see this as quite the same thing as hiring our own DOC because we won''t have a choice in the matter. My aunt will probably take on much of the decorating stuff -- she''s in her element with all that and has recently done some wedding planning for people where she lives, and she''d probably take over my whole wedding if I let her

.

 

[violet02]

Although I get a lot of great ideas from here since my family lives far away having a planner is great. She''s saved me a ton of money so far and assists me on any/all etiquette etc questions I may have. She''s also doing all the arrangements for the out of town guests as well as putting together the welcome packages etc. I just mail her the materials or drop them off and she goes from there. She was very reasonably priced. I think at least a DOC is a MUST. We''ve gotten some great vendors through my planner as well. Some that work from their home. Very reasonably priced. I think the rentals is the hardest part which I''m grateful for the help with. Picking the tents, chairs, lights, dishes etc... oy!

 

[lovehersomuch]

how much do wedding planners cost that are there the day of the wedding to help coordinate?

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Date: 2/28/2008 1:50:11 PM
Author: lovehersomuch
how much do wedding planners cost that are there the day of the wedding to help coordinate?

I''d say anywhere from $750-3000 average. Of course you can find them that will cost a lot more, but the one I met with''s day of package was $2,000.

 

[lovehersomuch]

i wouldve assumed that the wedding planners for the day of the event would be signficantly cheaper.. like 500 or even less... since we wouldve already done all the coordination

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Yeah, me too, haha. But, they charge you to put together the itineraries, help with final guest lists, they do seating arrangements, and they lead the ceremony and reception. They also do final walkthroughs with vendors, etc. So if you are getting married in a church or a venue that has a coordinator, you may want to think twice about. I still haven''t signed my contract because I don''t know if it is worth it. The church I am looking at has a good coordinator, and I don''t know if she would like having a wedding coordinator around as well. Honestly, I think she''d be pretty threatened. Anyway, hope that helps.

 

[sumbride]

The price is really "It depends."

Mine was $250 and came with an assistant. I still can''t believe it.

 

[violet02]

Date: 2/28/2008 3:07:21 PM
Author: sumbride
The price is really ''It depends.''

Mine was $250 and came with an assistant. I still can''t believe it.

Yes it really depends on who you get.

My friend paid $500 for his day of coordinator and she did a LOT, it was a big wedding. I got a quote from a fancy coordinator in the Carmel area for 10k to do the mid-way service, not the end to end service. My planner is charging me $3500 for what that planner offered at such a high price. I honestly think my planner is VERY reasonable for how much work she does which is seems like she''s doing everything but she''s helping guide the process versus hand holding.