February 29, 2020
The Next 5 Steps after “She Said Yes”
From choosing your perfect location to saying I do, picking out the theme, allllllll those cake tastings, forming the time-line of weekend and day-of events, menu planning and selecting your vendors to create a night as elegant and beautiful as your love story, planning a wedding is anything but icing a cake. I mean, even icing a cake is a challenge! But lovely, I just want you to take a deep breath right now. Relax your mind and body and embrace confidence.
In this post I am going to share my top 5 wedding planning tips with you, that will ease the wedding planning stress, help you embrace your creativity in planning your perfect night, and give you confidence in your choices for one of the most important days of your life. The day you say I do!
The first thing before you make any choices about that luxurious honey-moon cruise, the gourmet, melt-in-your-mouth cake, designer dress that just screams WOW, or photographer and videographer who’s work you’ve been obsessing over for years, you need to be realistic about your budget. The average wedding in the US cost $38,000 dollars in 2019 according to this article by Business Insider. If you spend about 12 months planning your wedding, and are booking and making vendor payments in installments, that’s a little over $3100 a month. Whatever the numbers may be, keep to your budget and make sure your biggest purchases are going towards the things that matter most in experiencing and capturing one of the biggest days of your lives.
2. Location
The second most important choice to make is the location of your ceremony and reception. Where you get married will affect which vendors can be of service to you on your wedding day. Certain vendors like your caterer and DJ may not service certain locations, and this location choice is also going to affect your wedding photo and video products after the ceremony. What do you want as backgrounds to your wedding photos? A beautiful high end vibe at a hotel or venue downtown? A modern, boho floral inspired wedding on location at a beach or in the mountains? Choosing location also narrows down your wedding date, does the venue have your day available? It also narrows down who your other professional vendor options are, such as photo and video as many experienced and high end photographers are booked 1-3 years out.
3. Vendors
While this is the 3rd on the list, vendors are one of the biggest factors in creating your perfectly romantic and dreamy wedding. The wedding coordinator is on top of their game and understands your needs, assists in putting together and keeping track of all the pieces of the puzzle for your day. Your professional Photo + Video team has an abundance of experience in capturing love stories, they vibe perfectly with your personality, make you feel confident and happy, and truly can create magic out of any location. You absolutely love their online portfolios and their style reflects all the things you love about wedding photography and video. Your DJ will keep your guests entertained and in the moment, and your caterers – satisfaction to already full hearts and minds present on your day.
4. Theme
Now that we know how much you can spend, where you’ll be married and the professional team who will be sharing, supporting and serving in the moments with you that build the foundation of memories of your love story, we can focus on the theme. Your location choice can definitely assist in reflecting your style and taste (country chic, boho, modern, etc.), but before picking your colors you also want to think about post wedding products like canvas, prints and photo albums. High end products such as prints, albums and video can last generations – planning your theme around the content and style that you want to be sharing with generations to come.
5. Self Care
The last but not least tip I want to share with you is to breathe, practice self care and take care of yourself physically, mentally and emotionally through this planning process. While it’s exhilarating to be planning the day of your dreams to marry the love of your life, it’s going to come with some stress and frustration, and darling you need to know that’s 100% normal. Recenter, pamper yourself, take time to enjoy the moments and remember that your wedding is about marrying the love of your life, and that all the details are pieces that will fall into their right places and create your history in the biggest love story you and your family will be sharing in and talking about for generations.
Just know gorgeous – you have a community of support, encouragement, and help, and we are absolutely all cheering you on.
Xx,
-Sarah Jane
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