Planning a wedding successfully takes a lot of organization. That being said, if you aren’t very good at being organized you have three choices: 1) become better at being organized or 2) ask the one person that you know that is best at organization that will be willing to help you each step of the way 3) hire a wedding planner or event planner.
In our last post we offered tips on where to get your wedding inspiration to make your wedding a true reflection of you and your fiancé. In this post we hope to help you bring together all of your ideas and be ready for the big day long before it is here.
If you are a great organizer or you are ready to take on more responsibility to be organized then it is time to get things moving forward. If you have someone helping you, then make sure you schedule frequent meetings that are never rescheduled or put off.
No one, not even a professional wedding planner that has been planning weddings weekly, can do everything in their head. You have to have something to keep you organized. While a smart phone or tablet can be helpful nothing is better than a good held in your hand organizer with a few packets of Post-It notes to jot down ideas that you can move easily from one section to another. Post-It notes should be everywhere: your dresser, your bedside, your desk, your purse, the kitchen counter, everywhere. You can write down ideas, to do items, questions, and other thoughts and quickly stick them into the appropriate area of your organizer. The best part about Post-It notes is that you can peel them away and throw them out once you complete the task or you write down the information elsewhere.
Picking the date, the time and venue is where you have to start. You have to decide those before you can do anything else.
After you are committed to being organized and have your tools in hand such as a smartphone (ready to put all your wedding contacts’ numbers in one grouping in your contact list and reminders of what is next on your list as dates approach), your organizer, and a few trusty wedding magazines or books, it is time to decide what parts of the wedding you have to hand off to professionals and get that part done as soon as possible. Music, pictures, flowers, and catering are the top four. Once you decide on which professionals to use then it is just a matter of narrowing down your playlist, which flowers, what food and what pictures you want from the professionals. How to find the right professionals can be difficult and take up time. Word of mouth referrals are fabulous and can save you time in narrowing down choices. Ask not only family and friends but also ask the professionals at your church or venue to give you referrals. Ask the professionals themselves for they have watched others work at many weddings and will be able to offer more neutral opinions. Then you can narrow down all of the suggestions and do taste testings of food, visual meetings to see flowers, meet with photographers and videographers and listen to music or visit a live performance of bands of your top choices to then make your final choice.
Keep in mind the more organized you are or at least appear and the more confident you are in your decisions and choices, then the less likely you are to get others pushing their own opinions on you, which can be a stressful and difficult situation depending on who is offering the advice. So it can pay off in more ways than one to be organized.
When you get contracts from professionals you will work with put a copy in a plastic protected sleeve in your organizer. Keep the original in a safe place within a folder at home. Make sure the contracts are as detailed as possible; the more detailed the better. Vague contracts that aren’t specific could cause a problem later on. Don’t leave anything to assumption, make sure everything is outlined, detailed and in writing with every vendor or professional you are using with your wedding.
As you get close to the wedding use key days to confirm all the points with your professionals, such as the 6 month, 3 month, 1 month and 2 weeks prior dates. It will help assure you that things are on point and that your professionals don’t have any questions for you.
While the wedding may be the most important thing going on your life, it may not be so for everyone else around you. Be considerate that life moves on even when you are planning a wedding. Take time to talk to your attendants, family and closest friends about what is going on in their lives and it will give you an opportunity to gain back perspective and keep you grounded. Those helping you will appreciate that you realize they have lives outside of your plans and approaching wedding.
Don’t forget why you are planning this wedding in the first place and make sure you take time out to spend time together. While you have a lifetime to spend together after the wedding, you want to remember this time as a happy and pleasurable time and so don’t neglect one another. Besides, rekindling the romance and taking a break from planning with a candlelight dinner, late day picnic, movie date or weekend get-away will help keep the twinkle in your eye for those wedding day pictures!
CAISO would like to be your wedding reception music professionals. Our skills, versatility to work in a variety of venues, experience and professionalism will allow you to put your efforts toward other plans and assure you will enjoy your wedding day along with your guests. Let us handle the music and set the ambiance of a celebratory moment. For booking information click here: CAISO booking information.
Comments