What *exactly* do you need a Day-Of Coordinator for, how do you find a great one, and how much should you invest? Tune in, because I truly cannot keep a secret to save my life.

Once upon a time, I created a DOC Hiring Guide… and it’s so good, I just can’t gatekeep it any longer. In this episode, I’m sharing everything I know about day-of coordination, which is a lot. After all, I have been doing it for almost 20 years!

I’m telling you:

1. What does she/they do?

2. What should you expect to pay based on their experience/the industry standards?

3. Red Flags

4. Should you just ask a friend to do it?

5. Questions to ask when interviewing DOC’s

6. Best practices for working with your DOC

7. How to share your wedding plan with your DOC/how I transfer the power as your long-distance planning coach (reach out to see if I can do a custom coaching package for you and your beloved!)

Find me on Instagram, where I answer all of my DM'S, and check out my website to work with me, or hit this link to book a free, no-strings chat to pick my brain.

Music is Blackout Romeo by The Spin Wires.

RESOURCES

I describe Voxer, which is a walkie-talkie style app that I use with my clients to coach them via voice notes. My past clients rave about my Voxer office hours, and so if working with me is something you’re considering, but you find the “office hours” or “Voxer app” stuff confusing, just think about it like Instagram voice notes in the DM’s… but so much cooler (and without a 1-minute timer!)

I had the absolute honour of sitting down with my brilliant friend N. Chloé Nwangwu, a brand scientist with a background in international conflict resolution. If you haven’t heard expressions like “the invisibility tax” or “underrecognition”, you need to be paying attention to the work Chloé is doing.

We talked about why your brand values are important but also why nuance is important in conversations around values, and whether having that nuance will allow you to maintain your audience’s ear and effect more positive and progressive change.

We also talked about a ton of other stuff…

• Maintaining boundaries when doing emotional labour, and what that looks like versus what happens when you don’t do that (as a wedding vendor);

• Never Have I Ever and Mindy Kaling’s general greatness

• Why being a woman in a “female-dominated industry” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when we’re still operating under patriarchal, white-supremacist, and highly capitalist systems

• The S.N.I.F.F. test for vendors to help you figure out if your marketing is feminist, and how you can improve it

Chloé has generously created a resource page for y’all with links to some of the articles we discussed and a detailed breakdown of S.N.I.F.F. - plus links to locate her.

Find me on Instagram, where I answer all of my DM'S, and check out my website to see how you can get me as your personal wedding coach!

Music is Blackout Romeo by The Spin Wires.

RESOURCES

Chloé's must-read article in the Harvard Business Review: Why We Should Stop Saying “Underrepresented” (hbr.org)

Chloé and I met through the amazing Erika Tebbens - she is the business coach who helped me transition from freelancer to entrepreneur, and she is so knowledgeable and creative and just understands business in a way that is really supportive.

I mentioned the book “Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men” by Caroline Criado Perez

Chloé mentioned “the ambition penalty,” a term coined by Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez

A month-by-month breakdown of my 6-month wedding planning method!

*Note: This plan happens after a period of enjoying your engagement, and after you’ve established your budget and vision, which is exactly what I do in the Jumpstart. You can learn more about The Jumpstart here.

And with The Wedding Edit (which includes Day-Of-Coordination) I customize this to your wedding plan with vetted vendor referrals in your price range. Then, we co-create a plan for planning with you and your partner, so that planning brings you even closer!

Month 1: around 7:30

• Committing major deposits to the vendors that matter most to you and your partner (often the photographer)

• Getting a sense of the overall budget by looking at your wedding venue + event planner + catering as approximately %50 of your budget

• If you want to learn more about wedding budgets I recommend listening to my episode on Realistic Wedding Budgets, and downloading my free, 20-minute, wedding budget workshop.

Month 2: 17:00

• VIP DAY: Venue visit with your coordinator, floor plan, timeline, and Road Map creation and delivery (here’s the link to see a sample Road Map in Trello!)

• Florist

• Invitations

• Plan your ceremony

Month 3: 19:30

• DJ, Band, Ceremony musicians

• A/V (lighting and sound!) (For more on lighting, listen to this episode!)

• Videography

• Rentals

Month 4: 22:30

• Plan out your sweet table, or order your wedding cake if you’re doing one.

• Book your hotel for the wedding night (and maybe for getting ready)

• Your hair and make up team, commonly called HMUA

• Valet

• Plan out your seating cards/chart and table numbers as well as any additional signage or printables

• Hire your month-of event manager if you haven’t already! (Commonly known by the misnomer: day-of wedding coordinator)

Month 5: 29:00

• Finish up all DIY

• All the stuff that you are totally welcome to skip like…

  • Wedding favours! Listen to this episode with event sustainability expert Romina Kwong to hear us talk about what is an actual great wedding favour

  • Guest book

  • Ring pillows and flower baskets

  • Card box

  • Photo booth accessories? Are we still doing that?

Month 6 (more like 6 weeks out): 30:00

• Get your ducks in a row (all your contracts, final floor plans, etc - complete your logistics/wedmin)

• Make a list of final payments!

• Alcohol permit

• RSVP-chasing + seating chart creation

• Shot list for your photographer

• Get all your printables completed

• Random last-minute add ons:

  • Guest welcome baskets

  • Bathroom baskets

• Break in your shoes! Listen to hear my super easy method.

• Write your vows

Find me on Instagram, where I answer all of my DM'S, and check out The Jumpstart and The Wedding Edit on my website!

Music is Blackout Romeo by The Spin Wires.