WEDDING PLANNING & HOW TO ORGANIZE YOURSELF!

Are you planning your dream wedding?

Are you planning a wedding! OH MY GOD! Me too girl! Now, where shall we start!  I believe by now you have made the announcement on your social media & showed off the beautiful ring of yours, and you are probably receiving hundreds of texts, calls, and social media notifications from family and friends congratulating you and your fiancé! Of course, there’s always someone that will ask “so, when’s the wedding?”

Now to guide you on the right track towards your big day, I have created a short guide featuring the First Six Wedding Planning Steps to start the wedding planning journey.  This short guide is based on current personal experience, planning my own wedding but I would like to share with you to make your life so much easier! And, after reading these tips, I am sure you would want to read my future posts. Don’t forget to sign up to my email list!

Once I got engaged, I’m not going to lie, I felt so overwhelmed. I did endless research on Google, Instagram, Pinterest, and wedding blogs.  I was doing extensive research for venues, stationers, and photographers, etc.  So after a week, I decided to take a break, there was just too much information to take in and felt like if I was being pulled in every single direction.  So after a few months, I decided the best option was to maybe look into some wedding planners and interview them to see if they were really worth it. Are you in the same situation right now?

Below is my guide to the First Six Wedding Planning steps.

First Six Wedding Planning steps

1. HAVE A LITTLE REVERIE

We have been dreaming of our fairytale wedding since we played with Barbies, so keep it going! Keep that dream going and incorporate some of those things you always wanted in your Wedding Day! That’s what I’m doing! I’ve been jotting down ideas and taking a look at what I definitely want for my Wedding Day.  Little by little, I promise you things will start to come to life!

Types of Weddings

Now, isn’t this exciting, I bet you can’t wait for that day! If you are thinking about Ivory Roses, Blush Roses, tulips, tall centerpieces, a statement gown and pops of black—you are leaning towards a luxe and glam black tie affair! Unstructured bouquets and flowers, venues such as barns, sheds, vineyards, and outdoors under a marquee or tree—you are envisioning a rustic wedding.  Free-spirited airy dresses, flower gowns, colorful textiles, cascading bouquets, and wood structures—you might be dreaming of a Boho Chic Wedding. This is your wedding, you envision it and make it happen!

2. THE “WHERE”

Do you have an idea, where you would like to get married? Do you want to get married in your hometown or nearby? Or better yet; would you want a destination wedding, somewhere like Tahiti or Bora Bora, these places are so romantic! At this point, you should be thinking and picking your location, and determine if your guest will be willing to travel or not.  Sometimes these destination weddings can get a little expensive for your guests’ pocket, which sometimes ends up defining your Wedding location.

Tip: If you are considering a destination wedding, hiring a wedding planner is very crucial since the planner will help you plan your special day from afar!

3. DEFINE YOUR BUDGET

I know is so hard, in the beginning, to define your budget since you probably don’t have an idea of how much every single detail costs.  I understand your frustration because my fiancé and I also had a tough time determining our budget, we had no clue!  You have to do some research and maybe reach out to potential vendors to get a rough estimate on how much you want to spend overall.   You want to do this now; it will help you in the long run by setting parameters.

4. CREATE YOUR GUEST LIST

This step is very important because when you start looking for venues they will ask you about how many guests will you be planning to have.  This will determine which ballroom you get; they may have a medium size ballroom that only fit 70 people max when their large room will take in max 250 guests.  It makes a difference! Definitely start your guest list early, is a key factor to staying on target with your budget.  I know you will feel that this step is daunting but begin with your fiancé making the list in this specific order: immediate family, close relatives, best friends, distant relatives, work friends, and colleagues.  You can always go back and refine the list more, at this time you will have a good idea as to what’s your guest count.

5. NARROW YOUR VENUE OPTIONS DOWN

Search for venues in the general location you and your fiancé decided on.  Make sure you take into account your budget and guest count as you look into venues.  The Knot and The Venue Report, are websites that review venues. These sites can help you determine which venue in your ideal location that will work with your guest count and your wedding vision.  I know when I was searching for a venue based on my envisioned wedding; I was looking into 8 different venues.  Once you have all the venues you’d like to tour, call all of the venues and set a time to meet with the venue representative about potential dates and pricing.  Then hone in on your venue options and decide on the one you love! Make sure to book immediately so you can save your wedding date!

Very important: Make sure you negotiate with your potential venue to see what they can do for you, this will help narrow down your venues even more.

6. BOOK YOUR WEDDING PLANNER

This step can come before or after booking the venue and also,  is your personal preference if you want one.  Do you need a wedding planner? Not necessarily but just make an appointment with an experienced and reputable planner to see what they have to offer; from there you can decide if you still don’t need one or on the contrary, you need one.  Just make sure, it’s important that you connect with your planner immediately, it will make the experience more enjoyable!

And with that, I conclude, the First Six Wedding Planning Steps! This will help you get the momentum started on the planning journey. I’m sure you will enjoy every step of the way! I hope you found this guide helpful, and feel less overwhelmed in moving forward with your dream wedding!

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