First 5 Steps for Planning Your Wedding

Omg you’re engaged!!! After all the excitement I’m sure you felt a lot of pressure when you started thinking about planning your wedding. From a girl who has worked alongside brides while they plan, and photographs weddings almost every weekend, I have a few tips to help you make your wedding planning completely stress free.

1. Choose a Wedding Date

Before you reach out to vendors and start planning, make sure you have your date set!

2. Set a Budget

It can be tempting to want to go on Pinterest looking for inspiration right away, but before you do that, make sure you and your spouse talk about your budget for the big day. Finding vendors will be way too overwhelming without a budget! Before you reach out to vendors, it is important to have a budget set so you know who is going to be the best fit for you.

3. Prioritize What’s Most Important

Decide what about your day is the most important to you both. Prioritize those things and decide what is worth spending a little extra money on. Make a list of the things that are most important to you and your spouse. This is different for every couple, so don’t feel bad for putting your priorities first. Maybe you want to put extra money towards a photographer because the photos are what matter most to you. Maybe you’ve always dreamed of the perfect wedding dress, but you might have to splurge to get it. Make a list of the top 3 things and find ways to do the other things with the help of your family and friends instead of spending a ton of money.

4. Decide on a Theme

What does your dream wedding look like? Go to Pinterest and notice what stands out to you. Are you drawn to the classic, traditional style weddings? Or maybe the mountaintop weddings? What colors do you want to incorporate? Would you prefer a big wedding or a more intimate one?

These little details will help you find the best vendors for your vision. With a clear vision, you’ll be able to choose a venue that fits your style, find a photographer that specializes in the type of wedding you want, etc.

5. Choosing Vendors

Using your list of priorities, begin to look for what’s important to you. During this process, use your theme to choose vendors that fit your vision. For example, a lot of photographers have a specific style of weddings that they specialize in, and every photographer has a different shooting and editing style. This same idea applies to all different types of vendors. Choose only the people that you fall in love with, and narrow it down from there. Once you have your vendors booked, you can start making the timeline!!

Bonus Tip for making your Timeline: 

One of my biggest tips for couples is to always build extra time into your timeline. Always. Chances are, something will run a little late, and with extra time built in you won’t have to worry about it throwing the whole day off.
And, as a photographer I have to say, leave plenty of time for family formals and your portraits, you don’t want to have to rush documenting your day!

YOU GOT THIS BABE. And I’m always here if you need help!! Go crush that wedding planning.

Xoxo, Erin