tips for planning A wedding

By Hannah McCarthy
Executive Assistant

The Holiday Season is dreamy and romantic! It is no surprise that couples are getting engaged! With so many couples looking forward to their special day, we wanted to share some tips for planning a wedding!

Budget
Setting a budget for the wedding is the first thing to do! The budget will help you decide how much you can spend and what you want to spend it on. Below is a percentage breakdown of a wedding budget.

• Reception Venue + Rental Fees: 18%
• Food: 18%
• Photos + Videos: 10%
• Flowers + Decor: 8% *For Ceremony and Reception*
• Drinks: 8%
• Music: 8%
• Attire: 7%
• Extra Fees + Emergency Fund: 5%
• Day of Coordinator: 3% *A full-service coordinator will be 10-15% of the budget*
• Ceremony: 3%
• Beauty: 2%
• Cake: 2%
• Favors + Gifts: 2%
• Invite + Paper: 2%
• Transportation: 2%
• Wedding Rings: 2%

Binder/Checklist
Creating a binder and checklist for wedding planning is a great way to start the process! The binder will give you one place to store items like signed forms, receipts, orders, and other various documents. A checklist is great because it allows brides to see how their dream wedding can become reality. It is a practical way to see what is needed for the big day. Each time you complete a task, you can cross it off, and are one step closer to marrying the love of your life!   

Email Account for Wedding Planning
Making an email account will come in handy for your planning. This provides one place to communicate via email for all things wedding! Emails for the wedding will not get lost in the midst of emails from work, school, friends, or family. Our staff recommends a Gmail account. There are added bonuses to Gmail like Google Docs, Sheets, Forms, and many other tools to help organize the details of your big day!

Guest List
Start the guest list early! Having a general idea of how many people you want to invite will help you choose the venue! If you want to invite 150 guests and a venue only accommodates 50 people, you know that venue is not right for your wedding because you already created your guest list and know how many people you want at your big day!

Venue
Once a date has been picked, secure the venue. This will help finalize wedding details. Knowing the venue will provide a guest count limit. Each venue has a maximum of how many people it can accommodate, which helps to finalize the guest list. Venues typically have a preferred vendor list. Brides can see these vendors and decide who they want for coordination, catering, rentals, a DJ, decor, etc.

Color Scheme
Picking a color scheme early will be helpful when making decisions for the rest of the wedding. The color scheme will come in handy when designing the wedding website, choosing invitations, picking florals, determining the wedding party’s attire, selecting wedding decorations + rentals, etc.

Wedding Website
A wedding website is a great way for brides to communicate with their guests! On this website, make sure to include RSVP’s and the registry. You can also include food information, song requests, and even share fun information about the wedding party with your guests.

Trial Hair and Makeup
If you are getting your hair or makeup done, it is recommended to do a trial run. Some artists will do a sample of hair and makeup so that they know exactly what you want. Plan an outing with your wedding party afterwards. This will give you a night away from planning the wedding and you can also see how your hair and makeup will last!

Photographer
A skilled photographer can capture the wedding day so that couples can look back on these images for the rest of their marriage! There are so many great memories in pictures. Whether it is family or close friends, let your photographer know which guests to focus on so that you have them in your photos. In addition to telling your photographer who to photograph, let them know if you want any special poses with your wedding party. Photographers know how to make your wedding party look great, but you need to let them know if there are some special images you want taken!

​This list of ideas is not exhaustive, but we know these tips been beneficial for couples getting married. We hope this list is helpful for you as you are planning your big day! Please let us know if you have any questions about planning your wedding!