20 MUST-HAVE TIPS FOR PLANNING YOUR WEDDING

Tips and Tricks

Feb 6

YOU’RE ENGAGED! YAY! …. Now what?

Planning a wedding can seem like a very daunting task; but it doesn’t have to be.

First off, BE EXCITED. Truly soak in every moment of this because you’re engaged to the love of your life! This is one of the greatest times of your life and it should be full of love, happiness and excitement - not stress.

I’m here to help steer you away from that “wedding planning panic” that can and will try it’s best to consume you. I’ve read so many different blogs and articles on tips for wedding planning, and while I will include some of those tips, I’m also sharing some that I discovered on my own along the way. I hope that these must-have tips help make your wedding planning go much more smoothly!

CONGRATULATIONS! & Happy planning <3

1. Make Your Guest List and Set A Budget First

This is so important. You need to do this before you even START to look at anything else. Once you know how many guests you would like to invite and what budget you’re working with, you’ll know what you can afford in terms of venues and vendors!

2. Take Your Time

There is nothing wrong with having a long engagement. There is no specific timeline that you need to follow from when you get engaged to when you get married. Want to get married in 6 months? Go for it. Or were you thinking 2 years out? Do it! Whatever makes the most sense for you and your fiancé financially and personally is what you need to do first and foremost.

3. Research Everything

Google is your friend! The more research you do, the more educated you will be regarding all things wedding. This is also a great way to do cost comparisons between your potential venue, vendors, decor, etc. You don’t want to go with the first thing you see.

4. Be Organized

Staying organized from the beginning is so important. It’s one of the best ways to ensure that you don’t become overwhelmed. The first thing that I suggest is creating a new email specifically for wedding-related things. It’s so easy for all of your replies from potential vendors to accidentally fall into your Spam folder, and then you either never see them or stumble upon them months later. Next, get a cute wedding planner or a notebook and bring it with you places. This is great for writing down ideas you come up with and having them in one place. Lastly, make a Google Doc folder for all of your documents (contracts, pricing guides, receipts) and share with your fiancé so you can have digital copies of everything in addition to physical ones.

5. Make A List Of Your Priorities

Take a moment and sit down with your fiancé to determine what is the most important to you both. The videographer could be the most important to you, or maybe it’s your dress! Prioritizing will help you to allot more of your budget to these items, and compromise on the rest. This will also make sure that you stay within your budget. Woo!

6. Choose Your Wedding Party Wisely

Picking who stands by you and your fiancé on your wedding day is a big deal. You’ll want to make sure that you choose the people who mean the most to you, and those that you know you can count on. Also, pick the ones who you know will make this even more fun for you! Take numbers into account though; there is a cost associated with the amount of people in your bridal party.

7. Involve Your Fiancé

You aren’t in this alone! It can be so much fun to sit down together and look at vendors, choose your wedding colors, and everything in between. It’s such a great time to bond and helps to alleviate some of the stress off of your shoulders.

8. Create A Master Checklist

Make a list of everything that you need to get done from now until the wedding day. You can find so many variations of these online that range from vague to extremely detailed. Having something to check off will give you a well-deserved feeling of accomplishment, and help you to stay on track.

9. Pawn Off the Little Things

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to do everything. Wedding planning is a very exciting time not just for you, but for those closest to you. You’d be surprised just how many people want to be involved in some way - let them! They’ll be happy, and you’ll feel better knowing these things are off your plate so you can worry about more important things.

10. Cut the Stuff You Don’t Care About

If you don’t like cake, don’t have one - get a donut wall! Think the garter toss is a little awkward? Guess what! You don’t have to do it. Fortunately for you, we live in a time where the usual traditions of weddings aren’t so much the norm anymore. If something makes you uncomfortable or seems outdated to you, don’t include it on your wedding day!

11. Don’t DIY Too Much

Someone’s gotta be the one to tell you that you can’t make everything you’ve been adding to your Pinterest board yourself.. and that person is me. While I love a good DIY, and did some myself for my own wedding day, it’s quite easy to take on too much too fast. Sometimes it’s better to just support a local seller or an Etsy shop instead of purchasing all of the supplies, and then spending countless hours stressing over creating something yourself. Also, you’re left with all the extra supplies after. And guess what? Nobody wants it. Save yourself some time, and don’t go DIY crazy.

12. Join Your Local “Bride To Bride” Facebook Groups

THANK GOODNESS one of my friends who had just gotten married told me about these, because I truly don't know how I could’ve made it through planning without it. You can search for vendors on here as well as decor, venues, and so much more. It’s also a great place to get advice on things as well. All of these brides come together to help and be there for you and it’s so awesome.

13. Hire Vendors That You Click With

Choosing your vendors for your wedding day is SO important; specifically your videographer and photographer because these two will be by your side the majority of your day. You want them to be people that you’d want to be friends with! (I am going to be posting a blog post going further in depth on this - stay tuned)

14. Have A 4-Week RSVP Window

Make your RSVP deadline 1 month prior to your wedding day. Your venue and caterer are going to be asking what your final headcount is 1-2 weeks prior to your wedding date. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s highly unlikely that you will get all of your RSVP’s on time. Life happens, people forget! Since you’re going to have to spend some time tracking down the stragglers, it’s nice to give yourself a 2-week period of time to do that without getting too stressed out. (Don’t forget to reference tip #9)

15. Reach Out to Your Vendors 1 Week Prior

If, for some reason, your vendor has not yet reached out to you regarding your final timeline for your wedding, do so 1 week prior at the very latest. You’ll want to make sure that they all have the final completed timeline to ensure everything goes smoothly - especially your DJ, photographer, and videographer. If you need help creating this, you can always contact your photographer or videographer!

16. Don’t Worry About Being Perfect

It’s easy to get caught up in having the “perfect Pinterest wedding”, but that’s not what this is all about. Your guests won’t remember if the appetizers came out late or if you had favors or not. What you all WILL remember is how much fun you had and having all of your loved ones in one place.

17. Accept That You Won’t Please Everyone

Unfortunately, you can’t make everyone happy. Trying to accommodate every single person will just add unnecessary stress to you and your fiancé. This is the one day that you have the chance to be selfish and do everything exactly how you want to, so do it!

18. Unpopular Opinion: You CAN Book Things Last Minute

Say it’s 3 months out from your wedding, and while going over your budget, you realize that you can now afford that photo booth you had been contemplating. Just because it’s last minute does not mean that you won’t be able to find high quality vendors that are still available.

19. Get A Contract and Read Them Carefully

Please make sure that you are obtaining a contract from your venue and every vendor. Contracts ensure that you both are protected in the event of anything unexpected happening. Additionally, don’t just sign your name on a legal document without thoroughly reading it over. And then reading it again.

20. Make Time to Be Alone

This is really something that you should do throughout the wedding planning process and on your wedding day. You need to pause, not talk about wedding planning, and relax. Take some time with your fiancé to be alone and soak everything in. You’re getting married!