Congratulations on your engagement! This is a really exciting time in your life. It’s also probably going to be a bit stressful.
During this next year, I want to walk through this process with you. I’ll give you a 12 Month Guide to planning your wedding and explain things along the way. You can start from the beginning here (click). Come back to this blog each week for the next installment.
Week Two – How to Plan
How to plan for your wedding? Just come to my blog!
Okay, okay. Joking aside, it is important to set up a plan of action at the beginning. This will help you stay calm through the rest of the process. While I will be helping you this year, you have a few options on how to plan this wedding. You can:
1. Plan it yourself
2. Hire a wedding coordinator
3. Hybrid of the two options above
PLAN IT YOURSELF – By choosing to plan it yourself you can save money, but you may have extra stress. Whether you hire an event planner or do it yourself, have a written plan and work on it steadily. That way everything won’t creep up on you. If you work on it a bit at a time, it’ll get done and you won’t go crazy. If you’ve chosen to have a short engagement (see week one), you’ll find most planners are set for a 12-18 month time frame (like what we’re doing right now). If you want to see a condensed version of this year of wedding planning, we offer a customized wedding planning guide (click here).
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I recommend making a Wedding Planning Binder. Print out a check-list timeline and a calendar. Add dividers for each category you’ll be planning (notice the alphabetical order to help find categories quickly): Baker, Bridesmaids, Caterer, Ceremony, Decorations, Flowers, Honeymoon, Invitations, Music/Musicians, Photographer, Reception, Registries, Tuxedos, Vows, Wedding Dress. Add or take away from this list, but make a category for every “big” category. I also recommend having a plastic sleeve or pocket for each category. These come in handy for swatches of fabric, contracts, business cards, etc.
Be ready to delegate. Some people will love this idea and others will cringe. Personally, I love being involved in each step of the process (partially for control and partially because of pure interest and excitement). Ask your bridesmaids or family members if they can help. Just don’t be a bridezilla or ask anyone to do more than you expect to do. If you ask nicely and don’t overload people, it can be a good experience. You can even make it a party! I made my invitations and several bridesmaids/friends came over for a girls night. With movies and chatting in the background, they helped me make the invitations.
HIRE A WEDDING COORDINATOR – Hiring a wedding coordinator can save you a ton of stress. You still have to make a ton of decisions and be responsible for things like a budget, but you don’t have to do as much of the leg work. A wedding coordinator will meet with you to discuss the big picture, calls vendors and coordinate everything from the beginning to the end of the wedding day. When meeting with coordinators, make sure you find somebody you can connect with. This person will be with you through the whole process of planning and all day at the wedding. They need to see your vision and you need to work well together. I still recommend having a Wedding Planning Binder. This will also help keep you and the coordinator on the same page.
HYBRID – There are some hybrid options. You can hire an event planner/consultant. They meet with clients to create a cohesive theme, a plan of action and answer any questions you may have about the whole process. You can even meet with them occasionally throughout the planning process as needed. This means you are calling vendors, planning everything and need to pay close attention to the budget and timeline.
You can also hire a day-of-coordinator. This person will meet with you a few weeks before the wedding to learn about the full plan and then help keep things organized throughout the wedding day. This is a great option because it lets you plan and then enjoy your wedding day. I have one regret from my wedding, that I didn’t hire a day-of-coordinator. I had people asking me planning questions during the reception. While I had an awesome wedding day (err…afternoon/evening…more on that later), I kicked myself for not spending a little more to bring in somebody who could relieve the stress of the day. Yes, family or friends could do that, but that takes them away from the wedding (meet the baker, final preparations for the reception, clean-up, etc.). Coordinators are often affordable and worth every penny.
Take this week to prepare a Wedding Planning Binder and decide how you want to plan the rest of the wedding. You can adjust this later on, but it’s SO much easier to know what you’re going to do from the very beginning.
Click here to see next week’s post about venues.
Katelyn is a certified wedding planner. She is available for consultations.
She will even meet with you on Skype to help you work through part of your wedding planning.
Click here for more information.