Wedding Planning 101 Series : Part 1

Congratulations!! Now that you are engaged what do you need to do next to plan the wedding you've been dreaming about?

In a previous post I talked about some tips to planning your wedding.  Here, I am going to delve a bit deeper into the planning process.  Over the next 13 weeks, I am going to give you a step-by-step view into planning your perfect wedding with ease!  If you want to jump ahead and look at the full 13 Month Wedding Planner OR have a copy of the wedding planner in hand as I cover each month over the next 13 weeks, you can access my Wedding Planner here. If you purchase the planner, you will have access to bonus content WITH a gratuity guide! The gratuity guide will take the guess work out of who you tip, when you tip, and how much you tip!  Otherwise, grab a notebook and pen and let's get started! 

Month 1, Week 1:

It's here! The day you have been dreaming about your entire life! As a 7 year veteran in the wedding industry as a professional wedding photographer, I can tell you firsthand that wedding planning can be a daunting task!  The first month can definitely set the foundation for the remaining 13 months. This month you need to:

• Set A Date.
• Set a Budget.
• Make a List of Venues and set up tours.
• Decide What type of Food you want to serve and make a list of caterers. 
• Get a Wedding Planner: or grab ours here.
• Hire a Wedding Planner or Coordinator (A Coordinator is worth their weight in gold!)
• Create your wedding website and email address.

1) Set a date that makes sense for you and your fiancée. If you are going to have a lot of guests coming in from out of town, it's probably a good idea to have the wedding during the summer when guests can travel more easily. If you have a lot of local guests, you don't necessarily have to be as restrictive.  

2) Set a budget that is within your means. You will most likely end up over budget with something.  Therefore, keep that in mind when trying to nail down a budget.  I will say this until I take my last breath... HIRE A COORDINATOR! If you have to keep your guest list smaller to accommodate a coordinator? Do it! You absolutely will not regret it and your vendors will thank you!

3) Make a list of venues and make appointments to take a tour.  When considering your venue, think about the overall style and feel that you want to create for your wedding.  Your venue is going to be the backbone of your wedding.  With this, ask what caterers your venue recommends.  Usually, they have a list of caterers that they are familiar with that are in turn familiar with their policies on food logistics.

4) Purchase a wedding planner.  This will help you stay organized and focused.  We have designed a wedding planner that has month to month checklists with bonus content to help you stay focused and not feel so overwhelmed.  You can check it out here. 

5)HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER OR COORDINATOR.  If you don't want to plan the entire wedding yourself, hiring a wedding planner is definitely the way to go! If you don't hire a full wedding planner, at the very least, hire a day of coordinator.  You want to enjoy your wedding, let someone else be in charge of everything else. If you don't hire a coordinator, the organization and planning ultimately falls on your vendors or a family member that is also involved in the wedding in some way. Do not leave the most important day of your life up to chance!

6) Get creative and choose a fun email address for your wedding.  Make sure you do all coordinating, scheduling, and inquiring with this email address.  It will keep everything organized and in one place. You can also set up a website for your guests to visit.  This will be a great way to directly communicate with your guests through the entire process.

It seems like a lot, but, I promise, if you go ahead and get all these out of the way over the next 4 weeks, you will feel so much better! Happy Planning!

XOXO,

Lauren

Let us know how your planning is going!!