You said “I Do”, Now what?

Wedding planning can be a stressful time, but we’ve combined a few tips to help you plan your big day.

1: Celebrate

This is a momentous occasion in anyone’s life. Most people don’t get engaged that often, so enjoy it, and bask in the moment. You have a little time before you need to start pulling out your hair. The best thing to do is communicate. Talk about your visions of your big day. Early communication is huge to get aligned on what you both want.

2: Set a Budget

Knowing what you want to spend is really important. At the end of the day this is one of the most contentious parts of wedding planning. Some of your major spend areas are going to be, food, venue, dress, and coverage (photo and video).

In general, wedding photographer prices in the U.S. tend to range between $1,150 and $3,000, with the average wedding photographer cost hovering around $2,000. Your wedding photographer will likely comprise about 12 percent of your overall wedding budget.
-Wedding Wire

Based on an internal study of over 27,000 couples who got married last year, the average wedding videography cost is $1,800. This comes in lower than the average cost of wedding photography, but it's still a worthy expense if you want to relive your wedding day long after you say "I do." Last year, 37 percent of our survey respondents added a videographer to their lineup of pros.
-The Knot

Most of our clients spend between $3000-5000 for a typical 8 hour day.

Wedding guests are there to celebrate you.

3: Plan the Guest-List

One of the most important factors on your wedding day will be the guest list. Knowing how many people you’ll need to seat and feed is extremely important. Your guest count will determine which venue you can use, how you will feed them and what you can serve.

For example if you have a fairly young crowd you can do an evening wedding that doesn’t need as much seating in the reception, however you’ll want to make sure you have seating for those that are a little seasoned.

Once you have your guest list everything else starts to be easier to answer.

4: Find the space you love; then look at their calendar.

Knowing how many people you will need to house will then help you find a space. Some larger wedding parties can’t use every wedding venue. Once you’ve found the space you love, reach out to us, and we can create a plan for coverage for your day.

One thing that is often overlooked is parking. Make sure parking is clearly marked and people know where and where not to park. Last thing you want to do is figure out how to take care of 20 parking tickets.

PRO TIP: Drive the major highways and give specific landmarks and turns. For example coming from south go north on 75, exit 245…..

This gives your party real information even if they all have GPS on their phones.

5: Let the vendors do the heavy lifting

Now that you have your guest list and a venue the next step is to look for your team. Reach out to your network for referrals on event planners and event coordinators. This will save you time and headaches. Vendors know who they like to work with and who they would never work with again. They are often a key source for recommendations.

We have some preferred vendor lists and are on a few preferred vendors list if you are looking for any recommendations

6: Time is of the essence

Trying to find vendors that come as a team is one of the many reasons clients choose us. We have a whole team. A whole group of event cinematographers and photographers that are used to working together. This is often overlooked, because people think “it will be fine”. We coordinate with other vendors on the day of your event, but we know our team and who is strongest in certain areas. Also there’s only one deposit to pay.

7: Go to Bridal Shows

Still not sure what and who you want to have on your big day. Go to a bridal expo. All the vendors are in one building and you can often find that one key vendor you’ve been looking for. Also at these shows many vendors are competing for your event, which leads to discounts and promotions on their standard rates. Also they have cake tastings so its a Win-Win.

Bonus Tip: Give your parents a few invites.

Depending on your age, your parents friends are usually established and know what you’ll need to start out on this new life. They give great gifts and they are some of the closest people in your parents lives. It will save you a lot of stress restricting your future mother-in-laws guest list.