Getting started With Planning Your wedding
You’re a fiance now!! YAY! Now what? Below are some great guides that will help you jump into the wonderful world of wedding planning the right way! Before reading through the blogs, here are some great first steps to take (for reference, these steps usually take about 2-3 months and occur about 15-18 months prior to the wedding- but keep in mind everyone works on a different timeline! There are no wrong answers!):
Step 1: Get inspired
Talk with your fiance (no, saying that word doesn’t ever get old)! Discuss what you envision for your wedding. Some key things to discuss:
Wedding guest size
General mood
BUDGET
Anything you’ve always dreamed about being a part of your special day
Anything you absolutely do NOT want involved in your wedding
How long do you see the engagement being (i.e. when do you want to get married?)
Once you spend some time discussing, get to Pinteresting. This is fun, because you essentially were just gifted a new hobby. Pinterest, blogs, and instagram are amazing tools that straighten out the fine line between “new hobby” and “new second job.” When you are looking through the vast land that is the internet, consider what kind of venue you would like (i.e. indoor, outdoor, seaside, inland, etc.), how many guests you want to be present, what kind of ceremony you’d like, and (of course) all the pretty things.
Step 2: Decide on a budget
Step 2-4 have a bit of overlap, but starting with the overall budget is going to be the best course of action.
Step 3: Build a guest list
Build your guest list and use it as a reference for budgeting! However, DO NOT INVITE ANYONE YET! Seriously. Don’t do it. Wait until at least after step 4, though it should ideally come way further down the road.
Step 4: Create a really realistic breakdown of your budget
Write out every.single.expense that will come about and allocate money appropriately based on what you value and your guest count.
Step 5: Hire a wedding planner
A wedding planner will do essentially all of the rest of the steps either with you or entirely for you depending on the planner you have picked and your desired level of involvement. If you are working with a very, very limited budget, skip this one and head on down to step 6.
Step 6: Find & book a venue
You may think you have a wedding date, but until a venue is secured that date is likely not written in stone (for the most part. Occasionally a couple may choose a meaningful date that will outweigh even their dream venue’s availability).
The steps following this are all addressed in specific blogs, but these initial stepping stones will have you headed in the right direction (spoiler alert, the right direction is down the aisle!).
Budget Building
Wedding planning is such a wonderful experience, but it can quickly become overwhelming if you are doing it on your own. The easiest to way to avoid becoming overwhelmed is to start off on the right foot. What is the right foot, though? The answer (for me) is quite simple: BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET. Weddings have a reputation for being expensive and often exceeding budgets. The absolute best way to avoid this is to begin wedding planning by fully mapping out exactly how you will allocate your money. It doesn’t matter if you have $3,000 or $300,000. Having a clear understanding of your budget will help guide your design vision, vendor selection, and so much more! All weddings, in my opinion, should start with budgeting. Use the following guides to build your budget, manage your expectations of what to budget, gather insight into where to save money (if necessary), and track your budget throughout planning!
10 WAYS TO STAY ORGANIZED WHILE WEDDING PLANNING
Staying organized is key when it comes to wedding planning! While this may come more naturally for some than others, getting an early start to organization will help everyone equally. If you have found yourself already knee deep in wedding planning with no real organization plan, don’t fret! It is never too late to get on top of organization! Here are 10 great ways to get and stay organized throughout wedding planning!
Pacing Your Wedding Planning
WEDDING PLANNING TIMELINE OUTLINE
Wedding planning is different for everyone and everyone operates on their own timeline. Some people are more comfortable having two years or longer to plan while others only take a few months to plan! This list is a general outline of a suggested timeframe to get the larger tasks done. Of course, you may not want all of these vendors or perhaps you want additional vendors. If you are unsure of how to work those vendors into this overview feel free to reach out! I’m always happy to guide people through the planning process!
Design Building
Wedding design is a world of endless possibilities! You have an opportunity to create a fully custom event that perfectly reflects you and your fiance’s personalities. The best part is there are no right or wrong answers! There are, however, some steps to getting started on your wedding design and guidelines to refer to throughout the planning process that will make developing and implementing your design simpler and fun. Follow the guide below for a smooth wedding design building process.