Lets Plan A Wedding: Pt. 1
If you’ve been following me on Instagram for any length of time, you know I have NO issue handing out wedding planning advice regularly. I recently decided to take things out of stories and start a series on my profile posts. While this didn’t seem like an earth-shattering idea, apparently a lot of people resonated with what I had to say when they could see it in writing. To keep that trend going, I figured a blog post couldn’t hurt. So, welcome to Let’s Plan a Wedding, part 1!
Guest Count means EVERYTHING
- The amount of tables and chairs.
- The number of linens.
- The amount of centerpieces.
- The amount of tabletop rentals.
- and so much more.
- Not to mention…… it decides what venue can even hold your event
- Even IF you have a Food + Beverage inclusive venue
- With venues that include:
- tables, chairs, linens, china, bar, food and staff
- Your guest count decides how you hit your minimum, your services charges, gratuity fees AND if you have enough of your budget left to complete your vendor team
Get comfortable with the word: BUDGET
Contrary to popular belief, budget does NOT mean cheap.
Multi-millionaires have a budget.
Corporations have a budget.
I have a household budget.
“We are on a budget” does not mean what you think it means and you need to get comfortable with MONEY to plan a wedding.
Your BUDGET will evolve
That first magical number you throw out, it will not stick.
Why?
Because it is usually made off of research that doesn’t apply to you, old wives tales about how much weddings should cost and people flat out LYING to you about what they spent on their weddings.
It also doesn’t account for inflation, post pandemic pricing or increased cost of living. AKA your cousin that got married 2 years ago, did not incur the same costs you will.
The word WEDDING doesn’t make it cost more
The fact that it is a wedding, does.
If you want your wedding vendors to put the same effort into your big day as I do my son’s birthday party, that is a mindset shift you need to address.
Weddings have strict venue deadlines, costly expectations, demand close to perfection and are physically exhausting. Nothing about it is like any other event and it should not be compared in pricing.
Be prepared to take TIME OFF
You know what happens on weekends?
Weddings.
You know what happens on weekends that might not have a wedding?
A personal life.
Make sure when you are planning your tastings, engagement photos, walk throughs, floral consults, hair/makeup trials and more, that you condense them into 2/3 days. Planners help with this scheduling all the time. Minimal time off for the client and un-rushed time and concentration from the vendor team.
Do you have any HAVE to have vendors?
Ask them what their availability is before locking in a date!
Sometimes the time of year is more important than the specific date. Sometimes the date is a HAVE to have. You will want to know whic is the priority for you before you write any checks!
Example: TEG does not take weddings between Christmas and New Years. If, I was someone HAVE to have, they would want to know before signing a venue contract.
THINK about that wedding party
I know it is tempting to make everyone a part of an exciting day. Apply a waiting period between getting engaged and deciding your wedding party.
Look at your walls. Who do you want hanging in frames when you celebrate 10 years of marriage?
They set the tone for your entire day. I have literally seen wedding parties ruin timelines and cause stress that vendors cannot fix.
BREATHE… your marriage is the most important
TEG really fell hard into it’s financial guru niche because I want my couples to start their marriage off as monetarily comfortable as possible.
A wedding is ONE day. It is a fabulous, memorable, forever nostalgic, beautiful and worth the investment day but that investment is never the same for each couple or their families.
When you wake up the next day, I want champagne-laced make out sessions, ring selfies and room service. That is always the end goal.
Let’s plan a WEDDING
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