Self planned wedding without a coordinator?

[Knbell22]

If you are wanting to take on the planning yourself I def think you can do it but I would suggest, as some of the other ladies said, to hire a "day of" coordinator. This will take any of the day of hiccups or stress off of you and will help make things run smoothly. Aside from that, I think you will no problem planning and putting everything together yourself. This site is almost like a wedding planner! Best of luck!

[riokayak]

Hey Tinalv,

We just got back from our wedding. We were married at a private villa and we had about 35 guests. We took on most of the planning ourselves with a pretty short engagement.

With suggestions from a friend, I booked the house, photographer, mariachi band, cake from here never actually going to Mexico. (My first trip to Mexico was a few days before we got married) My mom and sister bought flowers at Michaels and put the bouquets together down there. We also brought table runners, tea lights, arch and lanterns in our luggage. We bought glasses to use for centerpieces down there.

 

We hired a gal to coordinate the catering and the rentals for the day (all came from the same place). I think we probably could have done that on our own, but it was nice to not have to. The rentals (tables, etc.) were delivered the day of the ceremony and the bridesmaids helped to decorate the 6 tables and the groom and his men hung the lanterns. I don't think I would have changed a thing. My mom and sister are super planners, so it drove them both a little crazy. I was flexible, knowing we may not find the perfect centerpieces but we found some really great glasses.

 

You have tons of time. We didn't actually book the photographer until 2 months prior to the wedding, his daughter did the cake which he delivered. We gave the mariachis a deposit a few days before the wedding. If there are things you must have, start booking now. We negotiated everything and ended up getting a reduced price on everything.

 

If you like to plan and have a good group to delegate to, I don't think you need a coordinator. To me dealing with catering and rentals wasn't worth it. That would have stressed me out the day of the ceremony making sure everyone got there on time. Our coordinator specifically said she wasn't a day-of coordinator, but took care of letting us know what time tables, chairs cooks, waiters, etc. were arriving.

 

Let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to help.

[tinalv]

I can do most of the planning online, it's just the setup of the ceremony that I'm not sure about (i.e. chairs, linens, gazebo, etc).

 

Ana you are so right I definitely would not want to be worrying about the setup on my wedding day!

 

Riokayak, what was the rental company / coordinator you used? Will a catering company rent out chairs for the ceremony only if we decide to have the reception at a restaurant? I did find a rental company that charges about $10 per chair, not including the covers and sashes, but I feel like a wedding planner might be able to get a better deal. (Of course then the cost of the planner would balance that out..)

[riokayak]

We used the gal who owns the house we rented in Todos Santos. Rentals and food came from Hotel California. I think we paid $8 a chair and that included the white chair covers, but no chair bows. We provided those. With only 6 tables and 36 chairs it didn't take that long to get it all up and pulled together the day of the ceremony. I didn't do much on the day of the ceremony, except get my nails and hair done by my SIL. So it was really my mom and 3 bridesmaids that made it all happen. My huband and his friends hung the lanterns.

 

I think the Hotel would have rented the tables, chairs, linens, glass, etc. even if we hadn't used them for food. Do you know where you're having the ceremony yet? You said private villa, but do you have the place picked out? If you aren't the owner of the house, try asking the owner for suggestions. The 3 houses we rented all offered to help in any way they could. We didn't hire the gal until we felt like she had gone way over and above a few general questions. The cost of the planner is not cheap, we negotiated her down, but it was still expensive she did a really great job so I think in the end it was worth it.

[tinalv]

Thank you so much for all the info - this is a huge help! I still haven't picked a villa yet, but when I decide on a place I will ask the owner.

 

Another general question, can anyone recommend a "day-of" wedding coordinator or is this something most wedding planners offer?

[riokayak]

So our coordinator was only not going to be the day-of coordinator because we didn't pay for that. I didn't want some one running around crazy. Turns out she has super calm energy and we probably could have paid for that. She and her husband were there for a good portion of the social hour. It was great, she looked great and was right there making sure we weren't freaking out about anything, but also stayed more hidden, meaning you wouldn't have guessed she was a coordinator she just seemed like one of the guests.

[kiwibride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinalv Has anyone planned a wedding without a wedding planner, or intends to plan the entire wedding themselves? I've heard that having a wedding planner is great, but since I will be having a pretty small wedding I'm thinking about going without one. Right now I'm considering having the ceremony at either a private villa or a restaurant, so I would need to find someone to do the setup / decoration and tear down afterward. Any suggestions? Thank you!

I am planning my wedding without a co-ordinator, it can be done it just depends on how much work you want to do! I still have not decided on a venue yet but if you are looking for a restaurant Sunset Da Mona Lisa loooks amazing and David the manager there responded to my email very quickly.

If you want any advice on vendors I am happy to help, I went to Cabo in December and met a few different florists and photographers. All i need to do now is decide on my venue!!

Victoria

[taylorwd]

I agree with everyone that you can definitely do it yourself but a 'day of' person is crucial!

 

When I was in the very early stages and deciding between Cabo or Riviera Maya, I found what I think is THE MOST kick ass place to host a wedding. It's a private villa overlooking Cabo. 5 terraces. a pool. plus 1.5 bedroom casita right on the property. The owner was so nice and helpful and was full of suggestions. Since the main house wasn't quite big enough for us, he even worked it out for us to get the 4 bedroom place across the street with its own pool and pool table. The only reason we didn't go for it that my FIs family is sooooooo undecisive about everything! We wanted them in a place where all the decisions about what to eat and where to go were made for them (i.e. AI resort) If this place interests you, PM me and I'll send you the info.

[Taghan]

Well, with about a month and a half to go before our wedding is here (YIKES!)....I would say that I could definitely have planned everything myself, in fact I feel like I did a lot of that. However, I'm sure I will be very grateful for having my WC on the actual wedding day. So, if I could turn back the hands of time, I would choose to just hire a "day of WC" for set-ups, clean-up, managing vendors, etc.. and I'd do all the planning on my own.

[kclyburn]

try loscabosweddingvendors.com to find everything you need as far as vendors, locations, etc. and then you can search on this website to see what others think!