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Friday, January 16, 2015

5 truths about wedding planning.

First off, I'd like to thank you all for your overwhelming well wishes and kind comments this week! I'm so excited to launch this new blog and dive deeper into this wedding planning business, so I appreciate your support more than you'll ever know! Before I get on with today's post, just a reminder - the $25 Starbucks Giveaway ends on Monday! Go enter!

My plan for Friday's on this blog is to give you 5 things about weddings - pretty general, so we'll see where it takes us!

Today's topic -


1. Unless you have an unlimited budget, it's going to be next to impossible to get everything that you want. If you know you this up front, it'll be easier to handle in the end. Make a list of what are must haves. Heck, if you want you could even go so far as to also make a list of what you don't necessarily care too much about. Once you have your list(s), start with the must haves. You never want to wait on something that is important. That budget goes QUICK! You don't want to be left with something on your must-have list and no money to spend on it.

2. You will have problems along the way. Whether it's having a hard time finding a particular vendor or a vendor you've contracted with backs out on you. Everything will not go smoothly all the time. But that's ok! It'll get figured out, so try not to stress too much about it immediately. This is also a big reason why having a wedding planner is a huge help! Your wedding planner can be there to not only calm you down, but also provide some alternative solutions that maybe you didn't think of!

3. People will not RSVP. No matter how simple you make it, for some reason this is an absolutely impossible task for everyone to get a handle on. This is why I suggest sending your invites out far enough in advance that you can realistically ask for them to be returned 6 weeks out from the wedding date. This gives you time to follow up with the stragglers, reassess the list (send invites to Plan B guests, if you have those) and get a jump start on your seating arrangements and table setups.

To add to this, people will likely ask about plus 1's or kids. I think it's important to make this very clear on your invites. There are easy ways to ask that your guests leave their children at home without sounding harsh. Just add a section on your website/details card with the subject of Children and say something like: "As this is an evening event, and we want our guests to kick back and enjoy the night, we ask that alternative arrangements be made for any children under the age of 16."

For plus 1's, I love the idea of including the number of people invited to the wedding on the RSVP card: "_ of 2 attending." This way they fill in their number, but see the max number expected to attend. Simple, subtle, and to the point!

4. The timeline will go array. Even if you are the timeliest of timely people and you are adamant that nothing will go off schedule, there's a 99.9% chance that it will. Your hair dresser will be late, pictures will take a bit longer or the guests will straggle in a bit later than planned. It's inevitable, but if you prepare yourself for this in the beginning, it'll be a lot easier to handle. Give yourself some extra time in the timeline. Even if you don't think the ceremony will last longer than 10 minutes, give yourself 20-30. That way, if you do start 5-10 minutes late, you're still on track for the cocktail hour and reception to go on as planned.

5. Your wedding weekend is going to go by faster than you'll ever imagine. You'll hear this one a lot. It's one of those things that will probably go in one ear and out the other because you hear it so often and you think "I know! I get it!". But trust me, it's also one of those things that you'll never truly understand until you're in the moment. Just when you think it's all going by at a good pace, it'll be Sunday morning and the party is over. Whenever you can, take a few seconds to take your surroundings in. Watch one of your bridesmaids get her hair done for a few minutes, go outside and take some time to breathe and think about the day. Anything you can do to "pause" time for a couple seconds is going to be worth it in the end. Although I will say, I think a good sign of a fun weekend is when it goes by in a flash. Nothing boring or terrible ever seems to go quickly, so if you feel like your wedding weekend lasted all of 5 minutes, then you probably did it right!

I hope none of this scared you new brides out there. That was not my intention. However, I think it's important to understand that while wedding planning is SO FUN (obviously I'm a little obsessed with it...), it's not going to be all rainbows and butterflies. If you prepare yourself for all of this up front, you'll be much less stressed and prepared to handle the not so great when it comes along!

Happy Friday, Friends! Have a fantastic (I hope long) weekend! See you on Monday!

*Linking up with April, ChristinaNatasha, & Darci.

4 comments:

  1. I know that I am going to go crazy when I don't get RSVPs back. I wish I already knew who was coming and who wasn't. I don't really have a 'B' list but there are people I wish I could have invited but we just didn't have space and I don't want to be rude and that person inviting them right before the wedding. :( I know I'm going to be stressing about the timeline but hopefully everyone will keep me calm. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. I'm always shocked when people are surprised that people don't RSVP. It's a given!

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  3. I got married last year and we did have someone RSVP with all of their kids on the response card when kids weren't invited! Awkward!

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  4. I never knew what a PAIN RSVPs were until we got married. And I admit, I was a late RSVPer as a single person because I didn't grasp how annoying it was to wait on RSVPs. Now, you better believe my response to a wedding is in the mail no more than three days after we get the invitation. I never want to be THAT person for anyone else.

    My wedding planner was amazing and I'm so thankful I had her to help out the last month and of course the day off. I've seen so many stressed brides that have to figure things out on the spot and I'm so glad I wasn't one of them. I know you'll do an amazing job when you plan weddings!

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