10 Wedding Planning Tips That Will Provide A Pleasant Experience
With the New Year, that means so many amazing couples will say I DO! With that comes: a time for flowers, beautiful dresses, and elaborate wedding cakes. But there's also the potential for massive stress as you try to plan your big day.
After the excitement of your brand new fiance status (Show off that ring!) and all the bliss that comes with that newly engaged status settles, the time to begin planning your wedding arrives. It’s easy for you to feel confused, completely overwhelmed about where to start and what to do! Luckily, that’s where this helpful blog comes into play!
If you're planning that wedding, here are 15 top tips from industry experts to help make the process go smoothly.
This is one of the most essential wedding planning tips! You need to set your wedding costs first before you do anything else. Having a budget in mind will help you narrow down venues and vendors. Once you have an overall budget in mind, you know which vendors to reach out to within your estimated budget in mind. Take advantage of the high cost of weddings and sign up for a credit card with a rewards program.
The easiest way to trim your wedding budget? Cut your guest list. Remember, half of your wedding expenses go to dining your guests. If it's costing you $100 per person, eliminating one table of guests of around 10 can save you $1,000. You get the math here.
Late planning will drastically reduce the options of vendors. Make sure to give yourself enough time out to get all your dream vendors on board. After securing your date and venue, start filling in your important vendors right away. This includes photography (hey thats me!), videography, and reception entertainment such as DJ, live bands and catering. 65% of my couples secure their wedding dates anywhere from a year or even longer out.
Every season has its advantages and disadvantages for wedding and other potential annoyances. Do research and prepare for which season you pick.
Spring time has beautiful floral blossoms and beautiful mild weather. It also can bring spring showers. Always have a Plan B for unexpected showers.
Summer has beautiful greenery, warm sunny skies and lower chances of rain. However, guests have been known to skip out early from super hot or muggy summer tent weddings. Make sure if your wedding is in a warmer month (July-September) that your venue has AC or offers inside areas for guests to cool down.
Fall time is a very popular season due to its beautiful fall foliage and cooler days. Any fall dates past mid October, the sun does go down earlier. If you are having a late fall wedding, make sure to allow a first look during the day to take advantage of beautiful lighting.
Winter weddings are beautiful with its holiday charm. With ANY winter dates, the sun does go down super earlier. If you are having a winter wedding, make sure to allow a first look during the day to take advantage of beautiful lighting. Allow your bridesmaids to have shawls to hang on to during outside portraits.
Create a wedding planning three-ring binder! It will come in handy! Compile all your correspondences with vendors, notes you make during vendor meetings, and anything of wedding importance. If you need something wedding related, it will all be in one spot! No frantic searching on your desk.. those papers have to be somewhere…
Set up a special email address dedicated to JUST for your wedding, and save those important vendor phone numbers in your cell phone. Besides having vendor numbers in your cell, keep an emergency contact sheet printed out with your vendor contacts on a trusted bridesmaid or family member on your wedding day—it may come in handy in case your limo driver gets lost or you need to get ahold of your florist!
Book things one by one, in a logical order, so you don't take on too much too fast and end up with everything snowballing around you. Don't hire any vendors before you've confirmed your date; don't design your cake before you've envisioned your overall vision; and don't book a band before you've settled on a venue for them to play at. Research your wedding photography vision and find photographers that provide the style you are in love with.
You may be in your head thinking why? Having a huge bridal party is a personal choice, but asking TOO many people to be apart of your bridal party can produce unwelcome stress, drama and more work during your planning. Your friends will understand that they can’t all be picked to stand up next to you.
A general comfortable size is 4/5 members per side.
If your group is set to become unmanageably large, let them know your expectations and know they will be involved in many photos to behave in. Consider having ONE maid of honor and/or best man only, or dare to forgo a bridal party altogether! A small bridal party tribe is always comfortable, manageable and super intimate.
Think of it this way, your wedding is your ‘official intro to the world’ as a couple. Your wedding day should reflect your personal lifestyle choices, personalities and things that make you unique as a COUPLE. If you don’t feel comfortable with doing something super traditional such as a bouquet toss, skip it! Its your day! You don’t have to do it. The same goes for things like public cake cutting. You have the opportunity to make new traditions. Embrace it. Many couples these days are opting to do a private cake cutting where they do it together with just the photographer.
With todays world, there is no longer a “set recipe” as what should be in a wedding or how a wedding should look. Every wedding I have photographed is unique with its own couples ideas. Do what speaks to you as a couple and not what you feel “forced” to need.
Bonus, if you are true to your style and personality, everything will be a lot easier than trying to be something that you’re not!
Now your going to say for this one, of course I will say this being a wedding photographer! But guys, I'm going to be bluntly honest here: YES, wedding photography is expensive! Nearly everyone who plans a wedding for the first time gets sticker shock when they begin to research wedding photographers. And since many engaged couples are closely examining their budgets, I can imagine that it must be tempting to hire the lowest-priced photographer in your area but….
Please, please don't do that!
I'm speaking as someone who cares about weddings and the people having them. I'm speaking as an artist who values photography. This is an awkward subject to discuss, but it is something that I feel needs to be addressed head on. It’s awkward because ultimately, I am selling a service, and that service comes with a price tag. But at the end of the day, I really care about couples and want them to love their photos.
Quality matters. The phrase "You get what you pay for" typically rings true when it comes to wedding photographers. Remember, after your wedding day, all that remains are your photographs. These are something to be cherish for a lifetime. Yes, it is an investment, but its a well worth investment. The difference in a higher priced photographer is that you will get many more photos that you will cherish from your wedding day than you will if you opt for a budget-photographer. There is a HUGE RANGE of skill and quality between low-end and higher-end photographers.
Aside from the lasting marriage itself, photography is THE one FINAL product of a wedding. “Long after the cake has been eaten, the flowers have died, and the guests have gone home, the photographs will remain to preserve those memories.” The images should tell the story from start to finish, and be an accurate reflection of the enjoyment you, your family, friends and guests got from sharing that special day with you.
So it's crucial to hire someone who can capture your vision and your special moments in all of their glory! Experience can go real far especially when working weddings. Pros know what to expect and can anticipate what will happen during a wedding day. Things may happen on the fly, and we are well equipped to handle those types of situations, so you can be rest assured in all the memories being captured. Your photos should be there to instantly take your mind and your heart back to your wedding day.
Finding the dream venue isn't easy. There are so many options to choose from, whether you're looking for a rustic barn, an elegant ballroom, a cozy B&B, a venue on a lakefront, a quiet stretch of beach. Whichever speaks to you, you've got to have somewhere for your friends and family to gather and celebrate. The sky is the limit for you!
Choose a venue that aligns with your vision- if you need help creating a vision, a wedding day planner can speak with you and know what ares you fall under. If you're planning a modern wedding, look at art galleries, restaurant spaces with a clean look, or industrial spaces. On the flip side, a wedding incorporating more natural elements works well with outdoor venues such as golf clubs, venues in the forrest, a garden venue, a lakefront or a barn. Choosing that perfect venue to fits (and enhances) your theme will enable your wedding to feel more connected to the space and love your wedding day even more (if thats even possible!)
Knowing how many guests you're expecting to invite before you go looking at venues will help save you from headaches. If you choose a venue that is small for your guest list and more guests RSVP 'yes' than you can fit in the space, you might be in a sticky situation. Couples often underestimate how many people they will invite (or how many their parents will want to add), so have that conversation early to know what you're really working with.
I always advise couples to choose a menu they would like to eat and pick out their own favorite dishes. Plan a meal that is your DREAM meal!
Besides offering amazing meals to your guests, don’t forget to feed your vendors! You will have to let your wedding caterer know a couple of days before the wedding exactly how many vendors you need to feed (don't forget photography assistants and band roadies) and what you want them to serve. You can always offer a more affordable (but hearty) options to feed them.
-----------> If you have decided that you want to have amazing wedding photos taken, I would LOVE to be the one to help check that off your list for you! Click here to fill out my contact form.
Here are some other posts with helpful tips for couples planning their wedding day you don’t want to miss out on!
12 Tips From Your Wedding Photographer