1. After you
determine your budget, rank items in order of importance to you. Let’s face it
weddings are expensive. You can try with all your might to be as conservative
as possible but there’s not a bank account that won’t feel the impact of a
wedding. My top priorities planning my wedding were a great band, unique
location, and wonderful food so that is how I prioritized my spending. I also
booked those items first. I spent more on my band than I did on flowers and
decorations. By starting with what is most important, you are more likely to
stay within your budget because you are more willing to compromise on items
that aren’t as important to you. If I had picked out my flowers before booking
my caterer, location and band, I would have blown my budget.
2. Have a
timeline for everything. And yes, I mean everything. There is so much to get
done the day of the wedding. Start a timeline for the day before and day of the
wedding. Weddings involve lots of people and people need structure. Share these
timelines with your bridal party, close family members and friends. If you want
to make mom mad then cut your cake while she is in the bathroom. (I have seen
this happen twice.) Make sure all your key people are aware of the timeline of
the pre-wedding activities, pictures, ceremony and reception. (Reminder to
myself: post wedding planning timeline template.)
3. Take pictures
of you and the groom before your wedding. I would have never believed I would be
saying this three years ago. G and I were adamant on not seeing each other
until I walked down the aisle. Everyone told us to do pictures before but nope
we weren’t doing it. I had this fairy tale pictured in my head. I would walk
down the aisle and G’s lip would tremble as he saw me for the first time. It
would be a magical moment. Then we would go to the reception and our guests
would let us eat and then we would have a wonderful time visiting with everyone
there. That’s not how it happened….at all. G’s lips didn’t tremble. I don’t
think he shed a tear when he saw me. He actually looked away a few times. I
think it was his tactic for his lips not to tremble or to cry. I guess he didn’t
know that what I wanted. By the time we got married, I had already planned a
few weddings at the hotel. I had seen how guests get restless without food so
in order to not have any hungry guests and to appease my mom because she hated
the idea of pictures afterwards, I decided to let our guests go ahead and start
eating without us. The entire time our photographer was taking pictures, we
were rushing her because we wanted to get to the party. By the time we got to
the reception, everyone had finished eating dinner so we decided to cut the
cake. You don’t want to keep a bunch of Baptist away from their wedding cake. Therefore,
we never ate. And to add to this never ending point… a bride drinking wine on
an empty stomach can be a not so great combination.
4. I am so glad
Pinterest didn’t exist when I was getting married. It would have been the death
of me. Ladies, if you are planning a wedding get off of Pinterest. While there
are some great ideas, I keep seeing brides get caught in a Pinterest fog. They
are so focused on the details; they forget the big picture and forget
logistics. So don’t waste your time on the favors that will go into someone’s
junk drawer and that’s if the favor makes it home. Focus on the big items and the flow of the
day, then add those finishing touches and personalized details.
5. The best
piece of wedding advice I was given was once you make a decision about
something move onto the next item. Don’t second guess yourself or nothing will
get done.
No comments:
Post a Comment