First Steps to Wedding Planning

You’re engaged! Congratulations! I bet you can’t wait to start planning, but you have NO CLUE what to do next. Well, follow along as I help you with just that!

Here are some helpful tips/tricks to help you plan your wedding. As I would highly recommend getting a wedding planner, I do understand some people want to do the work themselves, which is completely fine!

• Create a tentative guest list
• Pick a tentative date

This will help you figure out a budget if you can write up a mock guest list to provide to venues. If you know you want an elegant venue, but your guest list is 300 people, you would check the capacity of the venues to see who could hold your guest count.

Another fun fact, when you have your tentative list, always expect between 75-80% attendance. For example, if you have a 200 total guest list written up, multiply that number by 75% to give you an idea of what to tell venue’s your estimated guest count is.

• Set a budget
• Choose a theme/color scheme

Now that you have an idea of what your guest count and date might look like, you can set a budget. Any wedding can be just how you dream of, you don’t have to spend $100,000 to have a dream wedding. Ask yourself what your priorities are for your wedding.

Is it food? DJ? Decor? Prioritize those for more of your budget and create a spreadsheet to help you along the way.

After that, you can start messaging vendors! I use TheKnot and WeddingWire to search verified and reviewed vendors, then I take to Facebook and search there.

• Engagement Pics
• Choosing Your Bridal Party

Now you can move on to the fun part! 99% of the time, your photographer will throw in a free engagement session to get to know you and your soon-to-be-hubby. If you still haven’t found a photographer you like, you can always find a local photographer to take your photos!

This is your wedding ♡ don’t forget that! Take the advice with a grain of salt and do what your heart desires

Happy Planning!