A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Your Own Wedding
Planning a wedding is no easy feat.
Attempting to plan and execute your wedding is even harder. From the get-go, the logistics of designing your wedding can feel a little overwhelming. There is quite a lot to consider, and with so many things to take into account, it can be pretty confusing as to where to start. In this regard, most brides-to-be would instead hire professionals to take care of the wedding planning that does it themselves. However, it has shown that planning your wedding can be rewarding and fulfilling. More importantly, it gives you better leverage over the planning process insomuch that you can decide on even the little aspects of your event. However, if you are unsure as to whether you should plan your wedding, here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of doing your event planning.
For a seamless wedding planning experience, avail of Hizon’s wedding packages that already comes with the wedding catering as well as a wedding coordinator.
ADVANTAGES OF PLANNING YOUR OWN WEDDING
Creating the Wedding of Your Dreams
One of the most significant advantages of planning your wedding is that you can make it look as precisely as you want it to look. In essence, planning a wedding by yourself gives you better creative leverage on the nitty-gritty details that would have otherwise to the professionals. In this regard, you can consider every aspect carefully and spend however much time and money you only wish to.
Keep track of where your money goes.
Planning your wedding allows you to keep tabs on where your money should go. More importantly, it gives you better control as to which elements to splurge on and which ones to skimp. As a result, you will be able to decide better which aspects are most important to you for your big day.
You can DIY
Crafty brides-to-be can save a lot of money by creating their centerpieces, decorations, invitations and whatever else they can think of. By going the DIY route, brides would be able to save on wedding expenses and create a wedding that is unique and personalized.
Flexibility
As you are operating on your timeline, you are at liberty to do wedding planning tasks as you wish. Your wedding planning timeline is not bound to a deadline, so if you are not in any rush, there is no need for you to stress over getting everything done within a specific timeframe. Planning your wedding allows you to do more thorough research and even change your mind along the way without complications.
DISADVANTAGES OF PLANNING YOUR OWN WEDDING
Time Consuming
Undoubtedly, planning your wedding takes a lot of time and effort. With this in consideration, planning your very own wedding is pretty much like a part-time job (or even a full-time one if you do not have much time to prepare). More importantly, as you need to ensure that everything is taken care of and every aspect has adequately addressed, you would need to dedicate many hours of work which means this is pretty much impossible for someone with a full-time job.
Potentially Costly
While planning your wedding allows you to cut costs on expenses, you might end up having to fork more cash than you would have had you partnered up with a professional. Wedding planners have been in the industry for years insomuch that they have deals with the suppliers and retailers they work with. In this regard, they can give you various discounts on decors, flowers, photo booths and the like.
Requires precision and diligence
Planning your wedding is no easy feat. As you are overseeing everything on your own, it can be difficult to pick out every single detail involved in the process. In this regard, you have to be meticulous as well as organized if you wish to have everything go your way. Your timeline might be flexible, but if you want to have everything completed on time, then you need to operate with a strict deadline.
Stress
Planning an elaborate and significant event such as a wedding is undoubtedly going to stress you out. As the bride-to-be, you would want everything to meet and satisfy your expectations. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Deadlines will be missed; plans are waylaid, your wedding caterer might have a few hiccups—these are just a few of the issues you might come across. For someone planning her wedding, a myriad of problems can be a tad bit overwhelming insomuch that the stress can take the joy of organizing your wedding away. So, weigh your options and determine whether the sole responsibility of planning your wedding is something you are capable of handling.
To minimize stress, avail of Hizon’s wedding packages that include both the catering for your event as well as your very own wedding coordinator.
STEPS IN PLANNING YOUR OWN WEDDING
Getting Started
Make the announcement
So, you just got engaged and are ready to share your big news with your family and friends. However, before putting your engagement on blast in social media platforms, let both of your parents know through a phone call or if possible in person. You might even want to tell some of your closest chums in person as well before declaring your affianced status online. Having your parents and closest friends know about your engagement through social media can feel somewhat detached. Plus, they would appreciate the gesture so much better if you broke the news to them first before anyone else.
Find inspiration from dreams.
Now that you are engaged it is time to be entertaining ideas for your wedding. Find time to sit down and talk with your fiancé and delve into your dreams. Know what both of you want and compromise on aspects and details you cannot agree. Determine what kind of wedding you want without discussing any financial information just yet.
Sketch out a timeline
You might want to enjoy your newly engaged status for a while before deciding on a wedding date. However, while you do not have to set a fixed time now, it would be wise to have a rough idea of what month you want to marry in. By knowing approximately what month or date you want to marry in, you can figure out how long you have to get things organized and underway. More importantly, it is a good idea to determine what kind of wedding you have as your wedding size will dictate where you should appropriately hold the party. More importantly, it gives you an idea of how much it would roughly cost. In this regard, you and your fiancé should start making a list which you can later refine and condense as you progress through your wedding planning. For now, this should serve as your base.
Determine and delineate your budget
Have the money talk and ask your fiancé how much they are willing to spend on this wedding. Similarly, you should ask yourself how much you can contribute to making this wedding happen. From there, you can ask both sets of parents if they are willing to assist.
Organize
Now that you have the sharp details figured out, it is time to get organized! Buy a notebook or designate a folder in your computer solely for wedding planning. Separate it into sections for each budget category so that you would be able to track them down better. More importantly, it makes it easier for you to note down your expenses so that by the time you are near your limits, you can figure out ways to cut the costs.
Selecting a Venue
Look for an officiant and a place to get married.
Determine what kind of ceremony you want, and from there you can work your way to finding an officiant for your celebration. In this regard, determine if you wish to hold your wedding on a beach, a house of worship or your hometown. Take note: The logistics of your marriage would depend on the kind of ceremony you wish to have. Destination weddings are trickier to plan and would require you to ask your prospective wedding guests beforehand if they can travel and make it on your wedding day.
Find a reception venue.
After you have locked in on a venue for your wedding ceremony, you need to look for your wedding reception venue unless you plan on holding the reception in the same place as your wedding ceremony. However, if you intend on having a different reception venue, then you would need to go back to the drawing board and think of your wedding dreams and how you can execute them in reality. Do you want an outdoor garden reception?
If so, you need to consider other variables such as the possible weather on your wedding day. In any case, it would be wise to discuss a wide range of options before zeroing on one. In this regard, you would then have a list of alternatives at your disposal should your venue prove to be inadequate or inappropriate for the season you wish to get married. Schedule your visits to these places and begin narrowing down your options and condensing your list.
Finding and Hiring Suppliers
Know what you need
Each wedding is unique, and in this regard, you can expect to have a different set of services for yours. Your dream wedding might be something a little more practical and unassuming insomuch that you would only require only the barest essentials. Similarly, if you wish for a minimalist wedding, then it is likely that you are not going to need as many suppliers as a conventional one. With this in mind, identify what elements you wish to be present at your wedding and start considering vendors from there.
Research and Compare Prices
Not all suppliers are going to have the same prices. As the person behind the wedding planning, you need to be a little smart about who you choose to hire. Some suppliers might come in cheap but do not possess the necessary expertise you want while there are some that are priced at a premium but can guarantee quality execution in your visions. With this in mind, it is your responsibility to scour potential suppliers online and look for the ones with the best fit.
Caterer
Of utmost importance is the food you are going to serve to your wedding guests, so you need to find an appropriate wedding caterer for your event. In choosing a caterer, take extra care to include dishes that are vegan-friendly as well as dishes that the kids would enjoy. More importantly, you would want to know how the recipes would taste like so it is imperative to conduct a menu sampling beforehand. Also, do not be afraid to bargain and negotiate with your caterer as most of them are flexible with their prices and menus. To cut costs, you can limit the number of hors-d’oeuvres they serve during your cocktail hour.
Photographer and Videographers
If you want to book the best ones for your wedding day, make sure to schedule a meeting with them months in advance. As they are the known experts in the field, it would be understandable if their schedules are full. In this regard, you better make your bookings early to ensure that they can still save you a slot. However, regardless of their reputation and expertise, it is always best to take a gander at their catalog and observe their style in covering previous weddings. Is their artistic interpretation up to speed? More importantly, does it align with yours? These are two questions you need to consider before hiring a photographer and videographer.
Flowers and Décor
To know what kind of flowers and decors you should have for your wedding day, you need to determine what type of wedding theme you would want for yourself first. Put that against the reception site you have booked and envision the kind of table arrangements and other decorations you would like to have. Beach weddings typically require minimal decorations as the scenery itself already serves as a backdrop. Hotel ballrooms, however, would require more decorating as it is relatively a blank canvass you would need to fill up.
Musicians
There are no weddings without music. In this regard, booking your musicians is of the utmost importance in your wedding planning as well. Decide whether you want a DJ or a band for your wedding reception and arrange to hear them perform before signing them on. More importantly, they need to agree to stick the playlist you have created and ensure that they would not take any creative liberties when performing unless asked. Ask how they will be dressed and determine how many breaks they will receive and consider those.
Selecting Your Bridal Entourage
Selecting your bridal entourage is part of the planning process. Knowing who your bridesmaids are, who your maid of honor will be and the like form part of this process. For a more exhaustive and comprehensive bridal entourage selection process, check this article out.
Tips on finding your bridesmaids
Before curating a wedding entourage and asking your friends to be your bridesmaids, determine how many bridesmaids you want and afford. Ideally, brides would shoulder the bridesmaid’s dress, hair, and makeup but there have been weddings wherein the bridesmaids themselves have offered to pay for their attire. In any case, know what you can afford and then begin the selection process with these tips:
- Contemplate and think clearly before asking anyone. Take your time in deciding and do not ask away the moment you are engaged.
- Ask your fiancé if they have anyone they would want to participate in your bridal entourage. Similarly, ask them if you can enlist some of your male friends as his groomsmen as well.
- Be sure to include family members in your bridal entourage—both from the groom and bride’s side.
- Research other roles as you cannot realistically expect every single female friend you have to be a bridesmaid. In this regard, consider different roles other than being a bridesmaid
- Set expectations and let your bridal entourage know what is required of them on the wedding day. If they agree then enlist them. However, if some of them cannot deliver then be sure to have an alternative in mind.
Tips in Choosing a Maid of Honor
- Make sure all the candidates you have considered understand the kind of responsibility being a maid of honor entails. Ideally, it should be someone you feel closest to or who knows you best.
- Never be pressured into a decision or into making one. Take as much time as you wish and choose your maid of honor only when you are ready.
- Evaluate fairly and consider your options as well before arriving at a decision. Do not be swayed by fancy gifts given to win your favor.
- Go with your gut. Our intuitions know best, so you would do well to follow them.
- If you cannot decide between two individuals, enlist both of them as your maid of honor. It is your wedding after all; you get to call the shots.
Choosing and Buying Your Wedding Gown
Be impartial (Take the emotion out of the equation)
To make the wedding gown selection process more manageable, always keep in mind that you are operating within a budget. To ensure that you do not break your heart by falling in love with a wedding gown beyond what you can reasonably afford, ask the staff to show you a selection of dresses within a certain price range. Enlist the help of a close friend who can help you with this step and would be able to aid you in remaining level-headed as you shop for your dress. Remember, choose what is within the bounds of your budget and is practical for the kind of wedding you want to have.
Take note of your venue’s dress code.
The style and cut of your dress should depend on your venue’s dress code. While you are free to choose any dress as you please for garden and beach weddings, the same cannot be for places of worship. Typically, churches do not allow certain wedding gown types and styles to maintain the bride’s modesty. If you wish to get married in these venues, you need to respect and adhere to the dress code. However, to be sure what is allowed and what is not, you should coordinate with the officiant and ask what the dress code is.
Setting up a budget
Wedding budgets, no matter how meticulously planned, have a sneaky way of ballooning before you even realize it. To ensure that you do not go over your limit and have enough room for unexpected incidentals and must-haves, here are some of the things you can do to curb your potential expense:
Borrowing
You do not have to buy everything brand new. If your sister has a particularly lovely tiara, you would like to wear or if your best friend has killer shoes that you wish to rock with your wedding gown then, by all means, ask to borrow them! Remember, spending should be your last resort. If it can be borrowed, exhaust all means to get that piece of accessory before opting to buy it.
Utilizing DIY
If you have a creative streak and have relatives or friends with more or less the same talent, ask for their help in making decorations. To cut costs, you can opt to DIY some elements and aspects of your wedding such as the invitations and centerpieces. This labor of love can serve as their wedding gifts to you.
Create a signature drink
Instead of hiring a mobile bar and purchasing a myriad of drinks, opt to have one signature cocktail instead. In this regard, you can significantly cut down liquor costs and mitigate the possibility of having way too many drunk wedding guests. Alternatively, you can buy cases of wine at wholesale price and serve just that.
Tone down the wedding décor expenses
Understandably, you would want your wedding venue brought to its full aesthetic potential. However, this does not mean that your expense should bloom beyond what is necessary. The tone has done the decors and opts for alternatives instead of utilizing just flowers. Sure, foliage centerpieces may look attractive, but you can achieve the same effect with a combination of fewer flowers, candles, and another décor.
Avoid buying on impulse
Once you have everything, you need then stop shopping for more. If you have everything in your essentials list covered and see something to your fancy, you might want to put them down. Do not buy anything that is not on your list.
Draft your guest list
Who to invite
Your guest list plays a pivotal role in determining your overall expense. In this regard, you have to be very exacting as to who you should invite—especially if a strict budget constraint you. Remember, there is no need to ask everyone you know if you do not feel a special connection with them. After all, this is your day (and you are paying), so you should have a say on your final headcount.
Picking out sponsors
From your guest list, pick out your wedding sponsors. Your wedding sponsors can be as many or as few as you wish. However, keep in mind that these are the individuals who have had some mentorship role over you where they offered you guidance. These are the people who would likely provide you with sagely marital advice and would be the one to witness your union.
Scale down your final headcount
By now, your rough approximate for your wedding guests can still be amended. As early as a month prior, ask your prospective wedding guests whether they can make it to your wedding and indicate how many seats you have reserved for them. Some of your guests might not be able to RSVP or even make it so you can refine and condense your guest list accordingly.
Sending out invitations
When to send out wedding invitations
Typically, wedding invitations are sent six to eight weeks before the wedding as this timeframe gives guests plenty of time to clear their schedules. For wedding guests out of town, this is enough time to make travel arrangements. However, modern weddings have created a way to announce the day of their marriage before sending out formal invitations. To give your wedding guests a heads up as regards your wedding day, you and your fiancé can create a save the date video which you can then use to announce your wedding date to your guests. Create a social media page where your prospective guests would be included so that they can direct all their questions there. Similarly, they can see all announcements in a consolidated platform which is a lot easier and more convenient for them.
Tips in creating your wedding invitation
- Define your wedding style as this should be reflected in the kind of invitation to your wedding. Include pertinent details such as the time, date, venue and the dress code.
- More importantly, indicate how many seats are reserved. Know your colors and incorporate this into your wedding invitation. If you wish, you can utilize your wedding theme and motif in creating your wedding invitations as a subtle hint to your guests.
- Do not crowd the card. Be sure to include only the essential details and avoid adding way too much information.
- Always ask your guests to RSVP and remind them of the wedding invitation. This helps you determine your final guest count.
Wedding day hair and Makeup
Plan an exercise and fitness regimen
You want to look your best on your wedding day, but your dress and makeup would only serve to enhance your aesthetic. In this regard, you need to work on the foundation yourself. With this in mind, have an exercise and fitness regimen if you are planning to shed off some pounds before the big day. Make sure that it is a realistic goal and routine so that you can commit to sticking to it.
Get adequate rest
Planning your wedding might be hard work, but you need to get rest as well. Do not skimp on sleep as it might compromise your overall health and immunity leading to sickness. You do not want to get sick anytime now—especially when you are only weeks or even days away from your big day. Get enough rest as you will look your best this way.
Look for a hairstylist
You might want a new look for your wedding, but you need to have a hairstylist that you can rely on. Be sure that you are already well aware of their work and are comfortable with it as you would not want to have an unwanted surprise sprung on you on your wedding day. If you are planning to use accessories, bring them over and ask your hair stylist to practice them on you. Alternatively, you can try a series of hairdos and choose the one that looks best with your headpiece, dress, and veil.
Practice your makeup
To ensure that you will be happy with your look on your wedding day, have a makeup artist do a test run on you. Experiment with different looks and go with the one that suits you best.
OTHER USEFUL TIPS
- Set a budget and commit to sticking to it.
- Hire a caterer with free event coordinating services. In this way, you hit two birds with one stone and only at a single expense.
- Create a list of priorities so that you would know which elements and aspects would demand more of your time and which ones require immediate attention.
- Always include your fiancé in every step of the planning process. Remember, the wedding is about the BOTH of you.
- Create a master checklist. Refer to this list every single time you have accomplished a wedding planning task.
- Decide on one wedding style and let that dictate the rest.
- Limit your options. Appreciate what is out there but do not consider every single one of them or you are going to end up overwhelmed and unfocused.
- Draw inspiration online. In this regard, have a vision board filled with the things you like and try to find a common theme among them. From there, you can create a unique concept of your own.
- Do not rush into decisions. Sure, you might be working under a strict timeline but take your time and contemplate before deciding on something. After all, you do not want to end up regretting what you chose when you could have had something better and for a fraction of the price you paid.
Planning your wedding might not be an easy feat, but it is a doable one. However, keep in mind that to mitigate costs and expenses, you need to be shrewd in creating your budget. More importantly, you need to commit to this project to make it happen. Executing your wedding plans and visions might not be the easiest thing to do, but it is one of the most fulfilling and rewarding things you can ever experience.
