Engaged and swimming in the details?
Do you remember when you first got engaged -- swimming in all the details of your wedding day? It's time to get your head out of the water.
Recently I've spoke with, and have seen engaged couples (brides, typically) who are drowning in details. They are heading to Barnes and Noble, or buying the biggest Wedding Planners book on Amazon. From there, they start organizing their Pinterest boards and contacting all the vendors in the area. These things aren't bad necessarily, but I feel there's a better way to do things.
1. Celebrate. Before you look at a venue, or change your Pinterest board from "Imaginary Wedding" to "It's happening on 9/03/2017," celebrate. There are people surrounding you that deserve to know first, and celebrate with you.
2. So you've changed your Facebook status to engaged. Now, everyone and their cousin will start congratulating you (which is wonderful) and then telling you what to do, and what not to do (not so wonderful). Though sometimes this can be beneficial, it usually leads to feeling more overwhelmed. So instead of trying to respond back to everyone, follow-up with another status, comment, what have you, that says "We appreciate your congratulations and well wishes, and will be in touch with those that have responded with great ideas and offering help." This means you can leave out the ideas that were for 20 years ago, or your elementary friend that thinks they're going to be invited.
3. Planning time. Going out and buying a book sounds great (especially if you are a list person). But, when you buy a book of 300 pages and you flip through it and see that only 20 of those pages are relatable to you, and your wedding -- it's not worth it. Instead if you do purchase it, a week later you're going to be thinking, "Do I need to meet with 10 different caterers to find the best one?" No. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do including read through pages about a hotel reception, when you are having everything at a barn.
4. At this point you will know if you want to continue planning your wedding by yourself (and with your closest friends -- not broadcasting every detail on social media that there will be no surprises for your guests), or hire a planner. You also might realize, as you should, "I want to plan everything, but on the day of, I won't be able to put into play and take care of all these details." That's when you hire a day of coordinator.
5. Your engagement is what you make of it. If you have given yourself at least 8 months to plan your wedding (it can be done a lot quicker if need be) and you are finding yourself overwhelmed, ask for help. Have you known you were going to need spray painted chalkboards, but you saved it for the last three weeks of your engagement? I'm sorry, but you should have done it, or asked someone else to do it sooner. As a planner I can only do so much, and give so much advice, but if you don't put into practice what I am telling you to do, and in the time frame to do it, it's on you.
There you have it. Will you be overwhelmed? Yes. Will you overcome it? You can. Figure out your budget, stop comparing your wedding to the latest Pinterest trends, ask for help, and enjoy it. This could be (and should be) the last time you will ever be engaged. Enjoy it. Take dates with your fiance that you don't even talk about the wedding (and on other days discuss with them what they would like to be a part of!)
We will be here when you need us to help. But contact us now. There's only a few things more disappointing than a soon to be bride seeing a vendor booked because they waited too long. And there's only a few things, I, as a vendor dislike more than seeing an incredible wedding pass by because I've already been booked for 3 months on your wedding day.
Best wishes,
Candice Mock
Wedding & Event Coordinator