Ten Tips While Planning Your Wedding

Happy Sunday, friends! 

I can’t believe we’re walking into the last full week of February. I feel like the year is flying by! I have been in full wedding prep mode this past week as I have been consulting with brides and finishing up a brand new pricing guide (which I can’t WAIT to share with you)! 

Because most of my work this week has been focused on weddings, bookings, and more I wanted to write something tailored to my brides-to-be! I love this topic too because it’s universal for all who are planning their wedding. With my experience working on wedding days, I have seen what works best and what doesn’t work all too well. From that, I have written 10 tips while planning your wedding!

Let’s get started!

Ten Tips While Planning Your Wedding

1. Shop small! Here are a couple of Etsy shops that have amazing bridal accessories, bridesmaids gifts, ring boxes, wedding decor and signs, etc! Hundred Hearts, SaveTheDateDesigns, ModParty

2. Hire a wedding planner! Or, if you can’t afford to hire on, at least a photographer that will help in planning some aspects. Chances are, you are walking into your wedding planning as a beginner. You’re first time planning maybe anything! There are so many specifics brides can forget to plan for including timelines, best time of day for photos, planning with other vendors and getting everything organized! If you need recommendations of wedding planners, don’t hesitate to reach out and we’ll send you some of our favorites!

3. Get a bridal emergency kit for your wedding day! Click here for a blog written specifically on building your own kit. You will have everything you can think of that you may need from safety pins to bandaids to hairspray and more!

4. Create a budget! Know where you want to spend your money, how much you are willing to allocate to each vendor (do some research before reaching out to vendors so you know ballpark ranges) and don’t cut budget corners on the things that are important to you.

5. Let your guests DJ….well, sort of! On your RSVP cards, place a line for a song request! Your guests will be so excited when they hear their song at the reception!

6. Make time to eat! Ask your caterers or wedding planner to have two plates of food set aside for you and your spouse at the ceremony. My advice would be to make sure you eat at the beginning so your have time to for yourself before your guests are ready to party, dance, etc.!

7. Bundle your paper goods! Consider having a wedding invitation suite (invitation, rsvp card, envelope, menu, place cards, etc) instead of just one invitation, even if you just get a sample for your wedding detail photos- your photographer will love you and it will help make your detail photos more uniform and put together. Usually places like Minted Weddings will send you free samples of invitations and suites before you order. They also will address all your invitations for you- which is a huge time saver for you to not have to address 200 envelopes by hand! 

8. Read contracts from all of your vendors! Know what fees are and are not refundable in the case of a changed date or cancelation. Be sure to ask about COVID-19 clauses and if they don’t have one don’t be afraid to ask if they would consider writing one for you. Be sure to read the fine print especially when it comes to policy fees. This way you know exactly what you can and can’t budget!

9. Be clear if you are wanting adults only at your wedding or if you are wanting kids there!  This starts with knowing how you want to word it in your invitations! State something similar to “we have reserved ___ amount of seats for your party”, “although we love your kids, this is an adult only event”, or by simply not including the children’s names on the card.

10. Consider an “unplugged” ceremony! This means that no phones be out and no videos or photos be taken at the ceremony only. You are spending thousands of dollars on professional wedding photographers, so let them do their job and let your guests enjoy the moment of you and your groom saying your “I do’s”. Let your guests know they are welcome to take photos during the reception but not during the ceremony. If a zoom or facetime video call is happening due to smaller guest counts or for covid-19 reasons, simply ask your guests to set up a tripod with your phone at the back of the ceremony so it does not disrupt the photographer and other guests! 

10.1 (I couldn’t just stop at ten!) Enjoy this season!!! All these planning tips won’t mean anything if you don’t take time away from the spreadsheets and checklists and drink champagne and go on long walks with your soon-to-be-hubby! This season goes by so fast and it is important to cherish these moments in this sweet engagement season! 

I hope this helps any of my friends who are planning their wedding. And if you are- take a deep breathe- you’re doing a great job!

If you are starting your wedding planning journey and are the hunt for a wedding photographer, I’d love to chat! You can reach out to me by filling out the inquiry form on my website or by shooting me a DM on instagram! I would love to talk to you!

Have a great Sunday!

xoxo-

Sarah