Hey you! Congrats on that ring!
I’m here to help you have the best. day. ever. I did on my wedding day and you will too! Here is a little advice so that we can make sure that happens.
- Make it you- Do you want your family to come together and dance the night away, or do you want it to be intimate? Either will be beautiful as long as it’s what you want! Others may try to alter what you have so lovingly envisioned. You do not have to let them!
- Find your venue first! It could very well determine what else you’ll need to spend on: what kind of dress you’ll wear, what vendors you’ll need to hire, what type food you want catered, etc! For example, I went with a lightweight dress since I knew the venue we picked out was mostly outdoors, and we live in smokin’ hot Florida. Our guest dined on locally treasured bbq since our reception was in a barn. Your venue will certainly inspire you!
- Keep it as simple as you can! You do not want to look back on those photos you paid so much for and think “yuck!” Simplicity and class will never go out of style!
- Have a back up plan. You most likely will not need it. We had a plan B for our outdoor ceremony/cocktail hour that we totally didn’t use. But you do not want to be working out a rainy day plan when you’re supposed to be having fun getting all done up!
- Have a day of coordinator. Being the perfectionist bride that you are, I know you’ll have this thing planned out to the very last piece of baby’s breath. You’ve probably decided you don’t even need a wedding planner. You go girl! However, it is SO worth having someone set all those details up for you on the day of. A day of coordinator will make sure your vision comes to life, so you don’t have to stress over it. They will support your perfectionism by ensuring that everything stays on schedule and everyone involved is where they need to be when they need to be there.
- Find a photographer who captures the moments you want. Don’t cheap out- you’ll want to look at those precious moments forever- and most likely, you get what you pay for. Ask them to see a whole wedding, as they usually only keep highlights on their blog. Hire people you get along with. We may have a “couple crush” on our photographers because they are some of the sweetest, coolest peeps! If you’re local- or even if you’re not- those cool peeps are called Nate + Lori.
- Get a videographer and don’t cheap out. White in Revery is the best. But really, do your research. We set a number for our budget. We knew that we wanted to best photographers and videographers -no matter the cost- so we picked those out first and budgeted around that. Worth it? heck yes.
- Want your dog in the wedding? Stay tuned for my upcoming post about that!
- Being a perfectionist, you have a longer To-Do list than the average bride. Because of this, you’ll need to solicit some of those “to-dos” to your loving friends and family. My amazing creative friends in our wedding party helped us with several DIY projects I really wanted in the wedding but had approximately 0 time to make. My future sister-in-law was asked to make our guestbook table numbers. My hubby’s mom and little sister picked out the props for our Photo Booth. One of my first grader’s creative mommy made chalkboard signs. Yes, you are super woman, but you have people who love you and want to help. Do not be afraid to ask for it! I was so surprised and relieved because of the help we received…all we had to do was ask!
- Visit lots of venues and compare prices…negotiate those prices or get someone to do that for you. Was the venue we got married at the very first we visited? Yep. Did that stop us from doing our research? Nope. It was really fun venue shopping and as we visited each new place it made us so much more sure that our choice was the ONE!
- Have all major things done a week prior. Most of our family lives out of state. So having that bit of extra time with everyone who flew down for our wedding was super special to us. Relax and enjoy your last week as a finance!
- Don’t plan your honeymoon to begin the day after. Give it a day. You’re going to need it.
- You won’t eat at your wedding. You just won’t. And it’s okay. Everyone told me that and I love me some food (especially the 4 Rivers bbq we had catering our dinner) so I didn’t believe them. Well, they were right. The nerves and excitement really gets to you! So you need to force these things down your throat while you’re getting ready: water, sugar, protein. You don’t want to pass out or feel light-headed at the alter.
- Follow a timeline while planning. I researched a few and combined them to set planning goals. I knew what I wanted to have accomplished by 10 months out, 6 months out, 2 weeks, the day before, etc.
- HAVE AN OPEN BAR. Even if you don’t drink! I was definitely a sober bride on my big day. However, a lot of people will know only a little bit of people at your wedding. This can make people feel too uncomfortable to shake their groove thing on your dance floor. Having alcohol will definitely help loosen your guests up and amp up the party! If you are worried about paying for those pricey drinks, have a stock the bar party! Our engagement party was one of those and everyone who came brought a bottle of wine or liquor for our wedding day. This almost completely stocked our open bar!
- Register for functional wedding gifts! Do you really want to eat off plates that can’t be washed in the dishwasher? I would definitely reccommened registering at Bed Bath and Beyond because they have such a wide range of quality items and will take just about anything and everything back on a return. Plus, your family and friends will be able to use their 20% off coupon and save some moolah!
Wedding planning is stressful. When it gets to be too much to handle, stop and think about it. You are lucky to have this problem. It means you have found the one who will love you forever. There are so many people who would love to have the very amazing problem of wedding planning overload. So breathe hun, because you got this!
YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED!! And I am so simply happy for you!
Check out how my perfectionist planning turned out for me by reading the wedding part one and watching our video here!