MOC worth it as a DIY bride with restrictive venue rules?
Hi all,
I am trying to decide if a MOC is worth it ($2500, on top of having already paid $8k for a venue fee). For context, the venue is very blank space style. We are doing DIY flowers, and 3D printing items for our table scapes. Trying to avoid buying disposable, new junk as much as possible in favor of making and doing as much as we can.
Our venue mainly offers the coordinator with the explanation that they take over all vendor contacts the month of, give you an extra staff member the day of, and will allow you to early drop off of decor/day after pick up. They handle linens, tables, chairs, etc separately as part of the contract, independently of this.
My issue is that I want to do DIY flowers as our primary decor, and the venue will not any touch flower objects as part of any decor set up unless you use their in-house florist. I LIKE and enjoy doing flower arranging, so this is really important to me. To me, this guts most of the value of this service, since some of us will still have to go over to set up our primary decor items and any arch flowers that I DIY.
Other context:
- New England wedding, early October
- Venue requires us to use their coordinator, if we hire any planning/coordinator at all. So no flexibility to hire a day of person.
- Caterer, rental co, and DJ are well acquainted with the venue and handle their own set ups
- We can technically afford the $2.5k, but I’d apply it toward subsidizing bridesmaid hair and makeup, favors for guests, or helping sponsor a hotel for some of our lower income relatives if not spending the money on a MOC.
- 6 bridesmaids, one of which is a brides-bro so I don’t think he will take long to get ready. 5/6 are traveling to attend.
- Fiancé had 6 groomsmen. 4/6 traveling to attend.
- We are all getting ready 10 minutes from the venue, so we are thinking it might not be so bad for a subset of us to do the quick set up. I’m thinking groomsmen do this, and then bridesmaids and I pop over quickly to make sure we are happy with it.
- We have four hours before the event and one hour after for setup/breakdown.
- Night after, staying ten minutes away the same hotel. I think it would be fast to clear arrangements into totes with family and friends at the end of the night?
- I am a super type A, organized professional in my day job, so I am not worried about organizing/locking down vendor timelines early
- My MOH is married and this isn’t her first rodeo; she can definitely help out as a day of point person. I have other close friends who can also.
- All family and most guests traveling from out of state. Many of the in state guests (~20%) of wedding that we co-organize events with are also willing to help out.
- Wedding is outside, with venue provided bathroom trailer, so there aren’t buildings that are locked that vendors need to get in and out of.
Thoughts? It just seems like a TON of money for not actually getting most of my decor set up anyway. Also, given that we have DIY flowers, I assume those would be better in a cool hotel room for as long as possible before being put out anyway. The main issue I foresee is if anything goes wrong with vendors.