Early on in our wedding planning J and I decided that it would be wise to hire a coordinator to assist us on the day of our wedding. The venue we have chosen is completely BYO. Super budget friendly but is giving us a panic attack when we envision what our day of time line. We want to bask in our wedding glow the day of and not worry about managing vendors and overseeing rental set up.
Finding the perfect day of coordinator was super simple for us. Like every vendor we’ve booked I began my search online looking for reviews on websites like Projectwedding, Yelp and Weddingwire. From there I visited any potential DOC website and reviewed any sample photos testimonials and blog entries they had posted. I ended up contacting about 4 different companies and was underwhelmed by the responses of the first 3. The first DOC to respond back to me only had a couple of wedding under her belt and wasn’t able to provide any references or vendor referrals in our area, potential DOC 2 and 3 wanted me to sign a contract without meeting them in person. The reason being that I would want to save my “free” consultation meeting for later in my planning for when I would really need our advice. Yea sorry ladies but I’m not about to fork over a boat load of cash to you without first laying eyes on you.
The last DOC I spoke to was perfection. I was uncertain that we would be able to afford her at first considering her many high profile blog mentions and the quality of her work. I was painfully honest with our DOC before I schedule our first meeting, I shared with her our limited budget our bite size guest list and somewhat inconvenient event location and waited for what I believed would be a rejection email. I was over the moon when I received her response. The email I received was the warmest most encouraging email possible and I was sold. While our DOC fee is about 1/3 more than our original budget we are receiving an upgraded contract that includes 6 meeting unlimited email and phone contact and unlimited hours the day of.
In the past couple of month our coordinator has assisted in negotiating our venue contract resulting in a reduced fee, helped us refine our wedding vision including flowers and reception décor and has provided vendor referrals that are within our petite budget. I adore her and trust her 100% to execute our vision on our big day.
Without further ado meet our wedding coordinator, the fabulous Amanda from In the Now Weddings.
She’s fabulous her team is fabulous and our wedding is going to be fabulous thanks to her help! Are you having a DOC or are you flying solo?
It's awesome that she was so cool with your budget. A lot of vendors are crabby pants about money. If I didn't have an on-site coordinator at my reception venue, I would absolutely need to hire someone!
ReplyDeleteI'm dealing with the crabby pants when it comes to caterers right now...now one wants to work with a bride with a budget and a tiny guest list on a popular wedding day!
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