Once upon a time when you were just a little girl (or a little boy if you’re one of my male readers) and at some point you dreamed about getting married. There were most likely horses, perhaps a handsome prince or princess there, all your family and friends, and a truly happily ever after. You might have imagined everything with white tulle and a large princess gown that looked like something out of a Disney movie.
Perhaps your wedding day may even reflect that as you begin planning for it in the coming year. However your wedding was planned, I’m sure it was wonderful. I had always dreamt about getting married and living a life of adventure and happiness. I think as my wife and I evolve in our relationship and marriage, I’m finding that we certainly are living up to those dreams.
But I can say that our wedding day was a little different than what we perhaps dreamt about as kids. Due to some unforeseen financial circumstances, we were very limited in our budget for our wedding and compromises had to be made. By the end of our wedding, we had spent one of our best days with wonderful people, dancing, laughing, and enjoying our time with one another.
While compromise is an important part of life–it shouldn’t be a burden to your wedding day. This could mean monetary compromise, last minute decisions, or something else. Below are a few steps to ensure that your wedding day runs smoothly and that you get the wedding of your dreams.
4 Easy Steps to Plan Your Wedding!
Step 1. Identify your maximum budget for your wedding, reception, and honeymoon. Knowing the amount of money you’ll be able to spend on one of the most important days of your life will keep the table and communication between you and your fiancé open and clear. Having two very different budgets in mind and not communicating them will cause turmoil and while I am an avid believer in the “happy wife, happy life” motto, your wedding does have two main components, that bring you and your fiancé. It also helps to create a dialogue for the next step and keeps the lines of communication open.
Step 2. Choose your top 5 priority items that most importantly will define your wedding day. These can be vendor choice preferences such as deciding to have a videographer, hosting fireworks after your reception, a specific dream venue, or something like importing your favorite beer from out of state. Some of these options may come at a premium cost but by choosing to highlight those and if the budget becomes less flexible as time goes on, the day will have the highlights you’ve always wanted and you’ll enjoy the day so much more.
Step 3. Communicate your budget and priority items to those who will be assisting you. Whether it’s your mother, a bestie, or even a wedding planner, their job when taking these responsibilities is to reduce your stress and to help you enjoy the planning process. I am an avid believer in getting what you want, within budgetary reason. Perhaps it’s not possible to fly 150 people to the Bahamas for your wedding and reception on the beach (or maybe it is—hello Bahamas!) but your special day needs to still remain just as I stated, yours and special. By clearly communicating with those assisting in your wedding preparations, you manage expectations and help others to keep the same vision and goal in mind while planning and preparing.
Step 4. Live happily ever after. By using this guide and adapting it to the approach you take for your wedding, you will find that your day runs much more smoothly. This day has been in the making since you were born and dreamt about since you were little. It should be perfect and define your love for one another.
A few other helpful hints that will make your wedding day even more stress free.
- Hire a day of wedding coordinator. This person will help you create a timeline and implement all of the behind the scenes actions that need to take place so you can focus on being a bride or a groom and not a wedding planner.
- Invest in vendors that you’ve met with, enjoyed being around, and that have relevant wedding industry experience. There are lots of Facebook groups, mutual friends, and “frendors” as I like to call them that offer their services. While your wedding day is based on a budget according to step one from above, your money should be wisely spent. Wedding professionals spend countless hours refining and honing their skills, creating workflows to enhance their client’s experiences, and have all of the details planned in advance of your wedding day.
Hiring a quality DJ will ensure that your reception runs seamlessly. Investing in catering will enhance your guests experience while you’re having photographs taken during cocktail hour.
A knowledgeable photographer will have backup cameras in case of accidents and communicated with you prior to the wedding about their timeline. While there are many things to think about, on the day of your wedding–you should just be thinking of how this day is the beginning of your happily ever after.
I hope that this information is helpful as you pursue your dreams and begin building your future together. If you’d like to chat in person about my services as a photographer, send me an e-mail and we can chat over coffee, my treat!
Cheers!
Nate
New Adventure Productions is owned by Nate Dale, a Lafayette, Indiana wedding and elopement photographer. We travel nation and worldwide to capture beautiful and intimate weddings and elopements while providing a guidance, love, help along the way.
He is married to the love of his life, Felicia with their two doggies, Pika and Princess.