For Brides | How I Planned Our Wedding in 6 Months

Welcome back to the 2nd installment in my Wedding Wednesday blog series! I have loved the feedback from starting this series and hearing from brides to be. They are excited to learn tips and what they can expect on their wedding day. This week’s topic seemed like the logical next step in the series. It was going to sharing tips in planning your wedding but then I thought it would be helpful to share how to plan a wedding in a smaller timeframe. The average engagement can last anywhere from 9 to 18 months. This can be for multiple reasons. The couple may be finishing up their education prior to the wedding. The venue you want may be booked up for the year. You want to save up a bit more to have the day of your dreams. Well, my story is a bit different and I was able to marry my love within 8 months of his proposal. While we were engaged for 8 months, I really spent 5-6 months planning before the entire day came together. If you do not want to wait a full year or more to marry your sweetheart, this is the blog post for you. I am going to tell you the top 3 things that allowed me to successfully plan our wedding within 6 months.

1.   Book your biggest vendors first!

These are the vendors who will play the biggest part in your wedding day!

-      Venue (date): Where and when will you marry the love your life? The venue and its available dates will determine this for you. Other vendors cannot be booked until you know when and where you will be having your wedding. You also will not be able to carry out your theme details until you know the venue that will host your guests. Will you have an elegant ballroom? Will guests join you in a rustic yet romantic country setting? Maybe you’ll have a nautical theme by the water. Your venue plays a large role in choosing all of the other aspects of your wedding day.

-      Photographer and Videographer: I am very partial to this vendor! I get to share a personal story for this topic. Being a wedding photographer myself, I knew that I wanted to book my photographer first because I wanted to work my budget around photography. It was my first priority of the day because I knew that our photographer and videographer were the keys to capturing our day. Documenting the day for you to relive forever is a major responsibility and honor for your vendor. Everyone asked me two things once Evan proposed.  

1. When were we getting married?

2. Who was going to be the photographer?

Being so connected in the wedding industry, and even more so within the photography community, I had a long list of photographers I knew I would trust with our day. I chose my sweet friend Kari Bowman of KariMe Photography. Kari helped me out when I was getting started in my business and she has always been such a support. I thought it would be incredibly special if she would be able tocapture the biggest moment in our lives. Plus,her style is timeless and I knew we would love our photos just as much in 30 years as we did the day we got them back. Kari was incredible! She captured everything from the moments you can plan to the sweet moments Evan I and I never foresaw, and those are some of the most precious moments. 

Another vendor you should consider is a videographer. I have heard many couples express their regret in not having their wedding day on video. True you can set up a go pro or have someone video on an iPhone but I promise you it is not the same. A professional will capture every soft-spoken word as well as the moments outside of the ceremony. We hired Chris Printz of Chris Printz Productions and he did a phenomenal job. When the teaser trailer of your entire wedding day makes you and your husband cry you KNOW the video will be special. Chris was great to work with and was very respectful of Kari as she was capturing the day herself. It is important that if you hire both a photographer and videographer that they both work well with other professionals. They both have a very important job and need the space to do it properly. 

-      Caterer: Here is a guarantee about your wedding day: you will be starving and need to celebrate with a PHENOMENAL meal! You should eat well and feed your guests well, as a thank you for taking the time to come celebrate with you.  It is important to take your guests into consideration when choosing the food for your reception. While it can be difficult to choose a meal for anywhere from 50 to 300+people, it is courteous to take certain dietary needs into consideration. For example, if you know that a few of your friends and family are vegan, vegetarian, or gluten free, be sure to provide more than one option for them to enjoy. Catering companies are well equipped and prepared to serve a multitude of needs for a large number of people. They are professionals after all.

2.   Have a clear vision and commit to it.

More than likely you have been thinking about your wedding day since you were a little girl. From the first time you watched Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty dance with Prince Charming, you were hoping to marry your own Prince some day. It is a day that you have contemplated and planned over and over in your imagination.  Now with access to Pinterest you can put together a vision board for all of the aspects of your dream wedding. This can be a huge help to you OR it can weigh you down.  If you are on a shorter timeline try not to allow Pinterest to overwhelm you with all of the amazing ideas it provides. I knew I only had a certain amount of time to make my decisions on my style, dress, colors, etc. This was a good thing because it forced me, a naturally indecisive woman, to make my decisions and commit to them. I did not have the time to change my mind or debate between one wedding gown or another. Should we have roses or peonies in our floral decor? Will my bridesmaids wear the same dresses or should they all wear coordinating styles? Having a clear vision can help you in making decisions on the little aspects you may be debating between.

3.   Hiring a Wedding Planner Makes EVERYTHING Easier!

Trust me when I tell you that working with a wedding planner will make your life SO MUCH EASIER!  We had a fantastic company helping us in our planning. Blueprint Event Company started out in providing our tables, chairs, and linens. Then we learned that they could help us provide and plan everything! They provided everything visual about our ceremony and reception. The flowers, the backdrops, and the décor; they were all produced by this phenomenal team. I met with Whitney, the wife of this husband/wife company, and basically showed her my vision board for the day. We talked about colors, styles, and specific items I wanted to include in the day. Whitney sketched out what I described and then brought it to life! I had drawings of what our ceremony space would look like but when I saw it on our wedding day, I was blown away. The day was more than what I dreamt of and it was brought to life by this amazing team. If I had been alone in figuring out how to bring our day to life visually, I would have been lost. Normally a full wedding planner will also help you in booking a caterer, venue, florals, DJ, etc. 

If you can make room in your budget for a professional wedding planner it will be money well invested. 

Bonus Tip: Get married on a Friday or Sunday.

It is not well known that mostvenues will offer a discount to book your event with them on a Friday or a Sunday. These are the days that a venue may be open but does not experience a lot of traffic. Prior to deciding to get married in my home church I was looking at outdoor venues near us. When I was considering another venue I hoped to get married on a Sunday afternoon exactly for this reason. I know many brides have debated about getting married on a Friday but were fearful their loved ones would not be able to attend due to work.I have shot a few Friday weddings and I can tell you this: your loved ones will truly make the time to be there. If they have the notice to take time off of work, thenthey will make it happen.