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Wedding tips from Your Dream Day

February 3, 2011

We love help from our favorite vendors.  Today, it's Kathy from Your Dream Day!

Planning a wedding can be very stressful. 
Stick to these rules and you'll do fine! 

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1) Set a date and a budget and stick to it. There is a perfect wedding 
vendor for every price range.

2) Ask for referrals from vendors you've booked, friends or family. 
Check with the BBB about a vendor's history. If names are given to 
you by a wedding vendor, ask them how they got on that list. Some 
paid hundreds or thousands of dollars to be on that list!

3) Coordinating a friend, their own or their daughter's wedding doesn't 
make someone a professional wedding coordinator. Make sure you 
hire a professional at some point during the wedding planning process 
to make sure that you are on track, spending your money wisely and 
tying up all the loose ends properly. A wedding coordinator will save 
you hours in chat rooms, on the phone with vendors and attending 
unnecessary appointments and let you free your time to do other 
things.

4) Set a timeline of tasks that you need to take care of. For example, 
you should book your reception hall 12 to 18 months out; your 
photographer 9 to 12 months out; etc.

5) The number on the guest list will increase or decrease your budget. 
A good rule of thumb is that if you won't be friends with them five 
years from now, don't invite them! However, you do want to invite your
boss, appropriate colleagues, close friends and family. There will be 
family that your parents will request you invite and you'll need to 
accommodate those requests.

6) Invitations should go out six weeks before the wedding. DO NOT 
PUT YOUR REGISTRY INFORMATION IN YOUR INVITATION. This is 
an etiquette no-no. Instead, direct your guests to view your website 
for more information.

7) Take a break from the planning. Have a quality date night with your 
fiancé where you don't talk about the wedding at all. 

8) The rehearsal dinner should only be the people participating in the 
actual ceremony. However, you will have guests arriving a day early 
for your wedding and you can feel free to invite them to the rehearsal 
dinner if you feel inclined to.

9) Have an emergency kit the day of the wedding. A basic kit should 
have a needle and thread, stain remover, glue, nail polish, nylons, 
deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, hair pins, hairspray, double 
sided tape, comb and safety pins at minimum. A wedding planner will 
have a more complete kit to prepare you for anything that will go 
wrong. (And something will!)

10) Eat! Eat! Eat! on your wedding day.

11) Relax and enjoy the process and the event. A wedding is not 
supposed to be stressful, it's a celebration of the love you and your 
fiancé share. This is where a wedding coordinator can come in 
handy. You only get married once -- we do this for a living! We know 
how to keep you calm, collected, under control and enjoying the 
process.

12) IF YOU BOOK A BAND: Get them to add a clause to their 
contract which states that they will not drink alcohol at your event. 
This can be handwritten and initialed by both parties.

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