Unmeritied Wedding Advice
I know nobody asked for this, but I can't help myself. Now that my wedding is over, I am a (self-titled) expert wedding planner. So, I thought I would share my advice on how I planned my wedding and loved every second of it. (Can I plan your wedding? I seriously would love to.) Anyway, these are my top 7 tidbits of wedding-planning wisdom...
1. BE ORGANIZED!
Get yourself a binder and a three-ring hole puncher. And stick EVERYTHING in this binder. Seriously, everything. Receipts, menus, color swatches, floor plans, pictures of flowers, you name it. I added a few tabs to sort things through even easier. So many times I needed something in that binder that I otherwise would've thrown away or it would've gotten lost.
Also, create a folder in your email for wedding stuff. And drag all your emails in there too.
2. Get yourself a checklist
Oh, heck yeah. I love checklists more than I love most things. And I had an AWESOME wedding checklist. I organized it by months. Like, three months away so I must do this... And the great thing about lists is, once you start, you can keep adding things to it. And you don't forget! Seriously, without my checklist I wouldn't have gotten 90% of the things ready for my wedding on time. There are just too many things to remember. If you want my awesome checklist, holla at me and I'll forward it to you.
3. Don't delegate.
Nope, never delegate. I know you have to be a very particular kind of person in order to find this piece of advice helpful, but in my wedding experience, delegating brought me more stress than anything else. Because leaving details of the most important day of your life to someone else, who probably doesn't care as much as you do, ends with stress. They're either late and past the deadline that they said they would get it to you, or don't put enough time into something and make it look sloppy, or don't listen to what you want because they think their idea is better. I am very appreciative for everyone who helped me with various wedding duties, but those were the times that I was the most stressed. So just don't do it. If you can, do everything yourself.
4. Pick one thing to splurge on.
Weddings are crazzzzyyyy expensive. The average wedding in 2013 cost like $28,000 or something. I know some people can afford whatever they want, but I was on a budget. I tried to cut costs and corners wherever I could. And usually, it worked for me. But, if there is one thing that you'll be disappointed with if you can't get it exactly how you want it, then splurge! It's your wedding day! For me, it was my dress and my hair. I definitely spent more money on those things than I originally planned, but it was my wedding day and I wanted to be the most beautiful person in the room. And in the end, it didn't kill me financially. I made some budget cuts other places. One of my friends is getting married in May and flowers are super important to her, so that's her "one thing" to splurge on. I can't exactly relate to loving flowers, but I nod my head in approval and say good for you. It's your dang wedding so spend a little extra cash.
5. Ditch pinterest
A few years ago, I started a wedding board on pinterest. Judge me if you want. By the time I got engaged, I had a ton of "good ideas". Revisiting those pins and while searching for others, I realized that pinterest sucks for weddings. Unless you have a million dollars and can afford the designer gown and crystal chandelier-ed reception venues that you've pinned, you're out of luck. But, you say, pinterest has a lot of crafty wedding ideas too. That's true. But in my experience, you have to be a dang carpenter before you can construct half of the stuff on there. Don't get me wrong, I love pinterest as much as the next white girl and spend too much time on it while I'm at work, but it just isn't helpful for practically planning a wedding.
6. Instead, steal other peoples ideas.
The main difference here is practicality. Other people have done these ideas so they must be do-able. I stalked tons of wedding photography websites for ideas from other brides. That's how I got the idea for my guest book and centerpieces.
7. Have perspective.
This may seem like it's in conflict with #4 but oh well. Your wedding day is important. SO important. But it is not everything. It is not worth getting stressed out or constantly crying or starving yourself or worth your entire savings fund. At the end of the day, as long as your groom, your officiant and two witnesses show up, you're going to get married. And life is going to go on. Other people start to forget the details of your wedding. You actually start to talk about other things again. And it just kind of fades into the background. So just remember that it's only one day and to focus on Jesus, who will be with us for eternity.
1. BE ORGANIZED!
Get yourself a binder and a three-ring hole puncher. And stick EVERYTHING in this binder. Seriously, everything. Receipts, menus, color swatches, floor plans, pictures of flowers, you name it. I added a few tabs to sort things through even easier. So many times I needed something in that binder that I otherwise would've thrown away or it would've gotten lost.
Also, create a folder in your email for wedding stuff. And drag all your emails in there too.
2. Get yourself a checklist
Oh, heck yeah. I love checklists more than I love most things. And I had an AWESOME wedding checklist. I organized it by months. Like, three months away so I must do this... And the great thing about lists is, once you start, you can keep adding things to it. And you don't forget! Seriously, without my checklist I wouldn't have gotten 90% of the things ready for my wedding on time. There are just too many things to remember. If you want my awesome checklist, holla at me and I'll forward it to you.
3. Don't delegate.
Nope, never delegate. I know you have to be a very particular kind of person in order to find this piece of advice helpful, but in my wedding experience, delegating brought me more stress than anything else. Because leaving details of the most important day of your life to someone else, who probably doesn't care as much as you do, ends with stress. They're either late and past the deadline that they said they would get it to you, or don't put enough time into something and make it look sloppy, or don't listen to what you want because they think their idea is better. I am very appreciative for everyone who helped me with various wedding duties, but those were the times that I was the most stressed. So just don't do it. If you can, do everything yourself.
4. Pick one thing to splurge on.
Weddings are crazzzzyyyy expensive. The average wedding in 2013 cost like $28,000 or something. I know some people can afford whatever they want, but I was on a budget. I tried to cut costs and corners wherever I could. And usually, it worked for me. But, if there is one thing that you'll be disappointed with if you can't get it exactly how you want it, then splurge! It's your wedding day! For me, it was my dress and my hair. I definitely spent more money on those things than I originally planned, but it was my wedding day and I wanted to be the most beautiful person in the room. And in the end, it didn't kill me financially. I made some budget cuts other places. One of my friends is getting married in May and flowers are super important to her, so that's her "one thing" to splurge on. I can't exactly relate to loving flowers, but I nod my head in approval and say good for you. It's your dang wedding so spend a little extra cash.
5. Ditch pinterest
A few years ago, I started a wedding board on pinterest. Judge me if you want. By the time I got engaged, I had a ton of "good ideas". Revisiting those pins and while searching for others, I realized that pinterest sucks for weddings. Unless you have a million dollars and can afford the designer gown and crystal chandelier-ed reception venues that you've pinned, you're out of luck. But, you say, pinterest has a lot of crafty wedding ideas too. That's true. But in my experience, you have to be a dang carpenter before you can construct half of the stuff on there. Don't get me wrong, I love pinterest as much as the next white girl and spend too much time on it while I'm at work, but it just isn't helpful for practically planning a wedding.
6. Instead, steal other peoples ideas.
The main difference here is practicality. Other people have done these ideas so they must be do-able. I stalked tons of wedding photography websites for ideas from other brides. That's how I got the idea for my guest book and centerpieces.
7. Have perspective.
This may seem like it's in conflict with #4 but oh well. Your wedding day is important. SO important. But it is not everything. It is not worth getting stressed out or constantly crying or starving yourself or worth your entire savings fund. At the end of the day, as long as your groom, your officiant and two witnesses show up, you're going to get married. And life is going to go on. Other people start to forget the details of your wedding. You actually start to talk about other things again. And it just kind of fades into the background. So just remember that it's only one day and to focus on Jesus, who will be with us for eternity.
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