Hello!

 Thanks for checking in and congrats on your engagement!

I am so excited to share my tips for planning your dream wedding.

Follow these 10 helpful tips that I used and I promise it will be a breeze!

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1. Create a separate email account for your wedding: I am TYPE A, so this was a must. It helped me so much to keep everything organized. It’s NOT an option, just do it. You'll thank me later.

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2. Settle on a Wedding Budget: I’ll be sharing with you all my budget guide soon… but first, know how much money you are able to work with! Once this is set, the rest is easy!

 

3. Download or purchase a wedding planner/organizer: I was blessed to be gifted a few of these, but I found The Knot wedding planner was the best. It is laid out perfectly and organized in ways you just couldn't imagine. This planner also gives you some planning tips and helps you narrow down on themes and colors!

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4. Choose your Date & Venue: Once you have your date chosen, everything will start following into place. You can start by calling venues and vendors. HOWEVER, sometimes it’s best to choose your venue first, depending on the availability they can offer you.

 

5. Ask for a Preferred Vendor List: If you chose a venue that isn’t necessarily all-inclusive, be sure to ask the venue director for a preferred vendor list. This list will be super helpful when choosing vendors that you are not too familiar with; these vendors have a great reputation and have worked at your venue before if they've made the list!  Be sure to look them up on social media and see if you like their work. Reach out to them and start getting quotes! Also, if you know someone or have a friend that has a business who can potentially serve as a vendor to you, reach out to them! Who knows? You might get a family/friend discount!

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6. Create a wedding website: The Knot, Wedding Wire, Minted, and Zola all have free wedding websites you can create through their company sites. This was a huge life saver for me since I was able to add links to my registries, include wedding details, and add pictures from my engagement and bridal showers. I made sure to include the link to my website on my save-the-dates. Once I sent out my invitations in the mail, I included instructions to have guests RSVP online to my wedding website; this eliminated postage costs for return RSVP cards. 

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7. Create a Pinterest inspiration board: GET ORGANIZED! I’m sure you brides out there have been planning your wedding since middle school, like me, BUT now that you are officially getting married soon, narrow down your wants and needs for your big day to a new Pinterest board. This is going to help you keep organized and share your inspiration to your vendors. THEY WILL ASK YOU FOR THIS!!!

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8. Start a draft guest list: You don’t need to know right away how many guests you are having, but your vendors are going to want to have an idea. NEVER give them the exact number, at first. Start big than narrow down your headcount. It’s always good to know what you are getting yourself into, price-wise, and think, “OK, this is the absolute most it will cost if I have this many guests” … You follow me?

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9. Hire a Day of Coordinator: Having a Day of Coordinator will alleviate your stress and anxiety on your big day. Meet with your DOC at least one month before the big day and create a timeline and floor plan together. Give the DOC your contracts and contact information for all your vendors. This will come in handy for them just in case they need to reach your vendors on your big day or days leading up to it.  

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10. Wedding Dress Shopping: Do not go alone, but do not bring an entourage either. Come prepared to your consultations with an idea of style, color, and design in mind so you don’t waste your time trying on dresses you don’t fancy! Give yourself enough time to find a dress and allow for any necessary alterations. Sometimes, alterations can take up to 2-3 months to complete. 

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Happy Planning and Best of Luck!

XOXO,

Mandy