DIY wedding: job list on the day, what have I missed?

Is it possible to hire a day of coordinator? Or maybe some family friends who might want to earn a little extra cash and can handle the cake cutting and clearing up of the plates? It might be worth it just to avoid the stress on the day.

My venue is DIY too but they regularly host weddings so they sent us a spreadsheet to fill out. It lists every vendor, when they are expected to arrive, and who will greet them. Also things like who is responsible for setting up tables and chairs, and when.

I know you said you'd like to keep your wedding informal, but depending on the number of guests you're expecting you might want to reconsider creating a seating plan. I don't think you need place cards, but assigning guests to a table and then letting them choose their own seat could go a long way to making the day run more smoothly. The last thing you want is everyone milling around not sure where to sit, or random people being forced to sit together because they took too long making their way inside.

ETA: If you're giving tips to any of your suppliers or putting cash behind the bar you might want to designate someone (usually the Best Man) to handle those things. You don't want someone interrupting you to tell you the bar money is about to run out or other concerns.

I have been wondering all this too! MrsP2Be86, could you email me a blank copy of your spreadsheet please?! It sounds incredibly useful! Send me a message if you're happy to send me the doc. Thank you!

Hi there,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me, I really appreciate it!!

I'm really not keen on hiring someone, I have lots of people offering to help and really want to keep the DIY / all family together doing things an essential part of it. Not having a seating plan was my absolute final non - negotiation about having a wedding altogether, and again it keeps things informal.

I was more after a list of jobs that I might be missing, rather than looking for ways to change the look and feel of the day and solve these problems that way. Things like having someone nomintated to pay the band etc is exactly the sort of thing I'm after.

The venue itself isn't a wedding venue at all, so there's noone who works there that can guide us through things like that. The bar staff have offered to help and work the bar for free, out of the goodness of their hearts, so I don't really want to be asking them things and giving them extra jobs when they are already going out of their way for us.

Thanks

xx

Arpee, I just saw your reply. I will just upload some screenshots here in case they will be helpful to others as well. The venue sent it to us with a rough outline and some questions that we should think about/provide answers to. I love that they've put the venue's rules in there as well. That way we won't forget and accidentally create a timeline that isn't feasible. I've filled in a few things like the makeup artist arrival time but for the most part this is what we were given. Obviously the timeline will be different because we are getting married in the US, but that can always be adjusted (and we're getting married in a camp so there are a few nontraditional items like waterfront time!). This is just the wedding day but it had sections for Friday and Sunday as well.

Here's the spreadsheet. Sorry it's broken up into parts. My screen would only display so much at once.

Some good tips in there. I especially like the "set up one table" so whoever else is doing it can follow that one example.