What Color Are You?

I found an interesting site today! Colour Lovers is a site centered around colour palettes.  It allows you to try an array of patterns, color combinations while seeing the colors together to come up with your overall color scheme.  Step outside the box and go untraditional and create your own signature colour palette!

Planning Checklist

 

 

 

Preliminary Planning:

• Sit down and discuss an overall concept and vision for your wedding.

             Is it indoors? Outdoors? At home? Destination? Small? Large? Formal? Informal?

• Decide on a budget and figure talk to whoever may be helping financially to set some ground rules. Openly discuss your expectations and concerns.  Remember: whoever pays, usually wants some control.  This is YOUR day.  Stick up for what you want and relinquish what doesn’t concern you.
• Decide on the date and time.  This is important because day and time matters.  Morning weddings are often much cheaper than evening.  Friday and Sunday weddings are also cheaper than Saturday weddings. 
• Decide on what vendors you will need.  Start with hiring the basics.  Officiant, Church, Venue, Photographer, DJ/Musicians.  Research the market, ask for references, and always have a meet and greet.
• Join my blog of course! Here you will get great finds, vendor reviews, tips, ideas, and real experience from my Bridal Bloggers.

In the Planning Process

• Search for a venue that will hold your estimated guest count.  This is important as venues are insured and liable for a certain number of guests.  Most can eliminate guests, but some may not be able to add more guests. You want to ensure your guests are comfortable.
• Make preliminary guest list and decide on your wedding’s approximate size. Get lists from both sets of parents, too.
• Start a binder to keep all of your paperwork in one place. This includes contracts, vendor contact information, receipts, ideas, cut-outs, pictures, samples, and anything else to help you.
• Assemble your bridal party.  Ask in advance so they can take time off from work, arrange a flight, and or save money for their dress. 
• Start researching bridal gowns.
• Start researching family customs or cultural traditions you might want to incorporate into your ceremony or reception.
• Decide on and meet with your Officiant to discuss ceremony structure

6 Months

• Finalize your guest list and start looking at invitations and stationary.
• Consider music at your reception. Even if you’re not doing dancing, some background tunes are nice.
• Narrow down your gown choices and make a final decision.
• If you’re doing a gift registry, start registering for gifts.
• Think about your overall style for your wedding day.

              Hair up, down, curly, straight? Make-up Artist?  Manicure? Pedicure? Tan? Facial?

• Start looking at bakers and bakeries.  Schedule a tasting before you choose to ensure you will like the final product. Take pictures with you as some do not use fondant, do certain shapes or styles or even allow over the top creativity.
• Book a photographer. Ask for recommendations from friends, ask for references, and definitely ask for a portfolio to get a glimpse of their style.  Anyone can take pictures, but how is a different story.
• Figure out the style and color for your bridesmaid dresses. Choose a certain dress, have them choose according to color, or mix and match.
• Book your florals.  Do your research on what is local, in season and make sure they have your date available.   Ask to leave a deposit to reserve that day and time. It will leave less stress later.
• Send out your STD’s or Save the Date cards to let everyone know…Yes, your getting married and to watch out for the invitation in the upcoming weeks. This allows your guests to take off time from work or schedule a vacation far in advance. 

4 Months

• Confirm your cake order, date and time of delivery. Make any necessary additional deposits.
• Reserve the groom’s tuxedo and the groomsmen attire
• Think about your invitation wording and design.
• Finalize menu and service details with your caterer or venue.

3 Months

• Confirm all rentals at this time.  Confirm date, delivery, and order details.
• Book a rehearsal-dinner. Send out invitations or cute notes inviting your bridal party.
• Book or block hotel rooms for you and your groom.
• Book your honeymoon and make all your other travel reservations.
• Consider specifics for your ceremony and reception such as a huppah, aisle runner, guestbook, memory candles, unity candles, etc.
• Purchase or make your invitations.
• Start addressing invitations
• Inform people you want to do readings as part of the ceremony.
• Get everything that you need for an out of country honeymoon (example: passport, birth certificate, visas, vaccinations, etc.).

2 Months

• Work on your vows
• Know your local marriage license requirements. It differs per county and will be the city in which you are married, not the city you live in.
• Make sure your wedding party has purchased their dresses, shoes, and accessories.
• Arrange any transportation for you, your wedding party, and guests
• Decide on wedding bands and have them sized to fit.
• Create or buy your favors and seating cards.

6 Weeks

• Confirm hotel reservations for any out-of-town guests.
• Arrange for parking or valet at the reception.
• Order all liquor and alcohol if it’s not included in the catering contract.
• Make sure you’ve got all your accessories.
• Create or buy ceremonial programs.  These are easy to DIY

The Month Of

• Do trials with your beauty vendors (hair, make-up, henna); schedule wedding-day appointments such as manicures and pedicures.
• Get marriage license and make appointments for blood tests (if necessary). Be sure to be aware of when the license expires. Usually 30 or 60 days.
• Discuss music with ceremony musicians and agree on final choices.
• Confirm honeymoon reservations.
• Schedule a follow-up meeting with the Officiant to go over ceremony timing and details.
• Work out a wedding day timeline.

2 Weeks

• Contact those guests who haven’t sent in RSVP’s to give an accurate guest count to your venue and or caterer.
• Confirm set-up instructions and menu items with your caterer.
• Call your venue manager and make sure your vendors have access to the site when they arrive.
• Determine any wedding day assignments for members of the wedding party, and make lists/info sheets as needed.
• Prepare your seating chart.
• Confirm all final payments with your vendors.
• Confirm location, date, and time with photographer; create a “must-take” photo list.
• Confirm delivery locations, times, and final arrangement count with florist, baker, limo, DJ, musicians, lighting, or any other vendor you have booked.
• Make sure your groom and his groomsmen have their tuxedo’s and that they’ve been fitted.
• Distribute your wedding-day timeline, and vendor contact list to all parents, bridal party, and vendors.
• Designate who will meet, greet, and handle each vendor on the wedding day.

The Week Of

• Put together an overnight bag for your wedding night and designate someone to deliver it to the hotel for you or drop off a few days before.
• Designate someone to collect the wedding gifts and any cash and deliver them to your room, a designated car, or a hotel lockbox.
• Leave a copy of your honeymoon itinerary with someone in case of emergency.
• Put final payments and cash tips in marked envelopes and give to a designated family or friend to distribute to your vendors on the wedding day.
• Prepare a wedding day emergency kit (aspirin, makeup, safety pins, mints, tampons, bobby pins, deodorant, etc.)

The Day/Night Before

• Your rehearsal dinner.
• Confirm transportation to airport for your honeymoon.
• Pack for your honeymoon
• Make sure you have your vows or give to your Officiant ahead of time.
• Get a good night’s rest!

Your Wedding Day!

• Relax, smile, and enjoy the day!

The Month After

• Make sure all vendor bills have been paid in full.
• Find out when you can expect wedding photos and/or video.
• Within two months of your wedding, send all thank-you notes
• Start getting appropriate documents changed to your married name such as your social security card, driver’s license, bank accounts, credit cards etc.  Some will require a copy of your signed and documented marriage license will be made available a few weeks after your wedding.

Wedding Planning 101

There is a GAZILLION websites, forums, blogs, tutorials, video’s, books, television shows on how to plan your own wedding. They think that if they can overwhelm you and get you all flustered, you will hire a professional to do it for you or waste tons of money trying to find out how. You really don’t have to.  DOC’s or Day of Coordinators are wonderful as they coordinate your actual wedding day, but there is no need to freak out and go blow a much needed portion of your wedding budget on a wedding planner, books, and how to’s.

Follow these basics and you will be just fine! I PROMISE! =)

GET ORGANIZED

• Create a wedding website using free services such as www.mywedding.com.  It is a creative way to post your wedding information online and keep your guests informed.  Share your engagement story, post venue addresses, list registries, introduce the bridal party and more! There are great freebie sites out there, so don’t go buying one…it isn’t budget friendly.
• Decide on a wedding date.  This gives  you a timeline and gives you leverage when talking to vendors.  A vendor will not negotiate if you don’t have a date set. Time of year and day of wedding have a large impact on pricing. (Ex. Friday vs Sat and Winter vs Spring)
• Create a list of guests.  This is strictly preliminary as your guest list will change throughout the planning process and be dwindled down a little as you near your wedding date.  In doing so, this will give you an idea on what kind of venue your are looking for.  Certain venues hold a maximum number of guests and come at different price points.  Going with a guest count in mind saves a lot of legwork and wasted time.
• Make a reasonable, obtainable budget and stick to it! I can’t stress this enough! DO NOT take out a loan for your wedding. DO NOT get into debt.  Do what you can safely afford because after the honeymoon, reality will rear its ugly head.
• Join my blog! Get tips, tricks, posts, giveaways, ideas, and meet Bridal Blogger’s document their wedding planning directly to your email.
• Join me on Twitter and Facebook!

EDUCATE YOURSELF

• Know what flowers are in season for your weddings time of year. This will save you a ton of money by buying in season and in abundance vs florals that are ordered and shipped.
• Try local vendors first as they will be a little cheaper than out of town vendors who charge mileage, lodging, or add commute time to their price. Try a vendor who is just starting out.  Often times all they want is a testimonial, some great photograph’s or a reference in exchange for low pricing and experience.
• Go Bridal Shopping! YAY! my favorite part! Decide the  type of gown most flattering to your body type to narrow down your search. Shop within your price point! DO NOT try on Champagne if your on a beer budget. 
• Search online.  Often you can search gently used gowns such as on the Bridal Exchange at much lower prices.  So if you want that designer gown, it will be considerably less by buying gently used.  They are also worn less than 6 hours.
• READ EVERYTHING YOU SIGN
• ASK FOR CLARIFICATION OF CONTRACTS
• KEEP COPIES OF PAYMENTS, CONTRACTS, AND RECEIPTS

Learning a few of these basics can get you off on the right foot. Knowing basic rules of planning, keeps you ahead of your vendors and in the know.  Think outside the box if your on a strict budget and get creative using alternative resources.  Just because your getting married doesn’t mean you must  go with tradition or what is accepted.  It is YOUR wedding and should be a unique blend of your personalities.  It’s YOUR day.  It doesn’t have to be stressful.  It should be fun and exciting!  If you to know when, what and how, get our wedding checklist.

Happy Planning!