Advice from a Wedding Planner or 10.
There is just so much to say and so much wedding planner advice to give. There so much we can all say on how to plan a wedding and how to do it with as little stress as possible.
We love getting to work with our clients and break it all down for them in bite-size pieces and make it fun. We feel like if you’re not having fun then you’re doing something wrong. There are always ways to take stress out and there’s always time to take a minute to figure out any problem. We love getting to pause and take that time with our clients and work with them to figure out problems and make the whole experience that much better and fun! It should be fun and memorable. You don’t want to think “Wow, I’m glad that’s over!”.
With some of our clients they just want a little help, and that ok. Some clients want Hourly Consultation or just Day of Coordination. We don’t mind, but we love getting to put together posts like this to help them out too!
Here’s some advice from our Wedding Planner friends out there.
“Don’t have a 3 hour break in between your ceremony and reception. Although sometimes as Catholics getting married you are limited in the times you can choose to get married. Either 2:00pm or 7:30pm. Give something for your guests to do in that down time.” Cindy – All about you DJs
“Don’t get tied down talking to one guest (helping solve their problem of the day) and end up missing having fun at your own reception!” Sandy – Johnson & Johnson Wedding & Events
“Always lay out your expectations to your wedding party. And do this early on. Make sure they know what they should be doing, when, and what sort of financial commitment things will be. They are your friends after all, so be open and honest with them. Don’t expect the world from them if you haven’t had a chat at all about it. And have a little grace, they may have never been in a wedding party before and have no clue what to do and not do.” – Amanda, Amanda Douglas Events
“A nice added touch to a wedding is to have a toiletry basket in the ladies room filled with travel size items that guests might need throughout the evening. It’s the added little touches that make an event.” -Jeannae – Stonesby Events
“Have your planner create a wedding party itinerary for your to hand out to your bridesmaids- it can be themed with your wedding colors, and provides the important information, like where to be and when! My brides and her wedding party always love these smile emoticon.” – Samantha, wwwplanourdayhouston.com
“Truly consider either a first touch (not a first look… keep a wall or door between you so you do not see each other. You can simple hear each other and touch hands) or letter/gift exchange. Besides the fact that sits great for photos, it calms your nerves, gives you a sense of comfort and reminds you what the day is truly about… each other”. – Athena DeVonne, Coalese Creations
“Brides trust in your event professionals, they were hired to make your day special and stress free, allow them to do that”. – Shatovia Todd, Roxie Bella Event Design
“Often wedding venues are not right next to places to grab food and you really don’t want your vendors in the position to have to go and find food offsite. Basically every wedding requires capturing moments (for us photographers) on and off during dinner ( when we also would be eating, as it’s the perfect time since people don’t want photos of themselves eating)… That’s just poor planning for those that listen to various blog on this” – Micah Robinson
“Day of Coordination is no longer just the day of…meet with your planner 30-45 days in advance of your wedding to tie up any loose end this way there are no surprises on the day of your wedding.” – Stacie Bittle, My Eventful Life
“Always always always do a FULL test run of decor items. I did a wedding once where we discovered the morning of the wedding that the tin buckets we were using for fresh flower centerpieces did not hold water. We figured out a solution and everything was fine, but we could have saved my team a whole lot of last minute scrambling if we had done the centerpieces test with water rather than just sticking the flowers in the buckets to do a visual test.” – Dara Fennell Baker, Inspiration in Creation
