When couples become engaged, it is such and exciting moment! Everyone starts running in every direction. They soon find out that they have made some pretty major decisions before they have had time to form a complete plan. We have helped many couples plan their weddings and because of that we have the experience to help our couples avoid the pitfalls. We have compiled a guide here on this blog that will help you at least not make any major mistakes. So here we go—
Become Engaged
Discuss what each other wants and expects for their wedding. Questions like, do you both want a big wedding, do you want a church wedding, what season do you both like, how a wedding will be paid for, is there anything that either one of you do not want at the wedding., what are the possibilities about different venues. Just make sure you discuss expectations, desires and wants with your future spouse before involving anyone else in your news.
After you discussion with your future spouse, share your news with your loved ones. You will find out that everyone has opinions about your wedding. It will be nice that you have already discussed your thoughts with your significant other when these opinions start flying.
Determine who is going to help pay for this wedding and determine a budget. Most people have no idea what to budget for a wedding. It is determined by what type of wedding you want to have. If you want to do it inn your backyard and do everything DIY, it could be fairly inexpensive. If you want a band, catering, a good amount of guest, an beautiful decor. Depending on your location, 200 dollars per guest will be a budget for a 2-3 appetizers, a chicken entree, a photographer for about 6 hrs, most likely a DJ or an lesser expensive band, nice decor. but nothing terribly custom. At The French Bee our clients usually spend 300-700 per guest. So if you are looking on our website at our portfolio, you will know what to expect.
Now that you have determined your budget, it is time to nail down your venue, and vendors
I would suggest contacting two to three wedding planners at this time and picking out the one that you feel the most comfortable with. Don’t make decisions based one cost, find out what services that they offer and make sure that you are truly comparing apples to apples. At The French Bee, we help you with all aspects of the wedding from invitations to when you make your grand exit. Just do your research.
Next nail down your venue for your ceremony and reception. Make sure all the contracts are signed and a deposit is in place.
Now it is time to ask your bridesmaids and groomsmen to stand up for you
Your wedding planner should be helping with your other vendors at this time such as your photographer, caterer, bakery, entertainment, transportation, and floral designer. Once all these major players are in place, it is possible that you may have a little downtime, depending on how long away your wedding is.
Your next task will be shopping and ordering your wedding attire. If you are ordering a dress, sometimes they take quite a while to come in and you will need some time for alterations before your wedding.
Now that you have picked the wedding attire, you will have some ideas of the color palette you will be using for your wedding. It will be time to start working with your wedding planner on design and your floral designer on your flowers.
At The French Bee, We suggest sending out Save the Dates about six months in advance and your invitations about 6-8 weeks out, We also ask that the RSVP be 30 days out. That way it gives you time to let all your vendors know.
30 days out, this is when most vendors will require their last payments. So be ready for that
So this is just a few tips about getting ready for your wedding. Obviously it is a lot more than just what is listed above. As wedding planners, our main goal is to let you know that you need a plan before you go to far and get yourself in trouble. I can’t tell you how many people call us half way in and they have hired a vendor that takes entirely too much of their budget. For instance just last week I had a lady call me and told me her budget for the wedding was $45000 which is a big number but, she had committed 15000 to a band. She wanted to invite 200 guest and I explained that we couldn’t help her because I did not feel like we could keep her within her budget and produce a wedding that she expected. Had she called us from the beginning we could have given her different budgets for different categories and help her be able to be more knowledgeable about her spending. Things add up fast, just be careful.
