Wedding Wednesday - Part 1

I've been working on this post for awhile now.  As my wedding planning time comes to an end I remember that it was almost exactly a year ago when I started planning everything.  We took a few weeks to just be engaged and not plan anything and those weeks were glorious!  Once the planning began it was almost non-stop except for a few strategically placed weeks where I told myself "NO WEDDING WEEK".  These weeks were usually around a holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthday) or when something else big was happening (comprehensive exam, big papers, big projects).  I'm learning time-management skills and having the luxury of ignoring the wedding at certain points throughout the year helped me keep my sanity.

I've decided to post 50 important wedding tips, ideas, strategies, designs, and overall suggestions that really have helped me throughout the process.  It's been a work in progress that I keep coming back to and I'm sure in these last 2 months I'll have more things to add to the list!  Here it is (at least the first 1/2...stay tuned because next Wednesday will be the last part of the list)!

1) Take those few weeks throughout the process to ignore any wedding duties.  It WILL keep you sane.

source: Creative Calendars

2) Get your fiance as involved as he wants to be.  Don't be afraid to make decisions on your own, but make sure he's in on the big ones! (he doesn't care about colors, he does care about the budget)

3) Utilize the wedding website on Theknot.com.  It really will help friends and family.

View Our Wedding Website Here

4) Utilize the budget tool on Theknot.com.  It is amazing to see the breakdown.

5) Utilize the To-Do Checklist on Theknot.com.  It will keep you on track!

6) Read Blogs for creative new ideas.  Some wedding blogs I follow are
    
       Merriment Events

     With this Ring

     Green Wedding Shoes

 
     The Wedding Chicks

    Merci New York

7) Insure your rings

8) Buy your rings with ample time before the wedding for sizing, etc...

9) Clear out a closet or some space to start collecting stuff for the wedding (it's more junk than you can imagine)

10) CONSTANTLY thank people.  Your friends and family are going to help you more than you could ever imagine.  Make sure they know it is all appreciated.
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11) Book a rehearsal dinner location as soon as possible.  They book up just as fast as wedding venues do!

12) Decide on an overall look and make sure it is in your budget.  At first I wanted the Chivari chair look with tall centerpieces.  Then I realized you're talking $8 per chair and $50 per centerpiece.  Real quick that's $2,600 added to your total - yikes!  With a second look at the budget we opted for a less formal look so our chairs were only $4 and our centerpieces went down to $15 because I did the leg work and found our vases (vintage blue mason jars).  Just like that we went from $2,600 to $1,100.  Plus, this is so much more our style anyways!  We're not stuffy formal people, we're more laid back and casual!

13) Don't get your feelings hurt and try not to take things personally.  Wedding planning tends to bring the ugly out in people.

14) Take SOMEONE (anyone) with you to every meeting.  That way there are two people listening to what the person has to say, and there is always another opinion.  I took my youngest sisters to some appointments just for piece of mind.

15) Find out just what your venue has and doesn't have.  A rental fee can sometimes be pretty hefty ($2,000+) but if there isn't a rental fee, they may not provide you with everything you need so you have to rent things through an outside source which can also get expensive.

16) Make sure your cake person can do what your vision is.  I've known people to want red accents on their cake and it turned out pink, or black that turned out gray.  Be careful!

17) Splurge on the pictures.  I don't know this first hand yet, but have heard it from EVERYONE.  This is not something you want to cut down on.  After the whirl-wind day, it's all you have left!

18) Keep your parents in the loop. period.

19) Split up the guest list by groups.  Matt and I had a list together, he had one separate (for co-workers), my parents had one, and his parents had one.

20) If you're second guessing inviting someone and haven't seen them in a year or so...then don't invite them.  If you're thinking about inviting someone who you think you may regret at a later time for not inviting, DO invite them.  You can't appease everyone and the guest list thing gets very political.  Good Luck.

21) Order extra invitations, but more important...order extra envelopes.  Mistakes happen!

 

22) Don't sweat the small stuff.

23) Put an "extra" column in your budget for things such as welcome bags in the hotel, decorations, favors, etc...

24) Know when to DIY (Do it yourself) and know when the headache is not worth it.  For example, I've seen signs on Etsy.com that sold for upwards of $50.  I knew that for relatively cheap I could make them on my own, and they weren't rocket science to put together.  Then when talking about invitations we knew there were some that we could buy and do on our own to save about $75.  But we also knew we didn't want the hassle of buying ink...formatting the wording...printing each one...buying extras for mess-ups...hunting down matching ones from different Michael's around the state, etc.  It was worth the extra $75 in our eyes!

25) KEEP EVERYTHING WELL DOCUMENTED!  I have a wedding binder that has every contract, receipt, brochure, price quote...you name it, I've probably kept it.  It's so nice to have my vendor info. at my fingertips and has really kept me on top of things.  Also I keep a working to-do list by week at the front of the binder to help me stay on top of things!

Source: Professional Organizer