After the holidays, I’m going to run a series called,
Wedding Planning 101: How To Survive The Wedding Planning Process Without Losing Your Mind (or Wallet)
A debtkid reader, Kimberly will be authoring the series, and I will be throwing in my own two cents as well as I go through the wedding planning process myself.
Some of the topics we will cover include:
- Setting a budget
- Dealing with contractors
- Not losing focus on the real reason of the wedding
- Handling big ticket items
- The little things that add up
- Who’s running the show
- Enjoying your big day
I’m very excited for the series, and I hope you don’t mind a little wedding bliss around the blog the next few months : ).
Getting married is (obviously) a big deal for me. For reals, one of the reasons I wanted to make it big when I first started day-trading was to impress a girl. Yeah, I was dumb.
But I’m excited about the wedding planning process. My fiancee and I have already set our budget and she is a very frugal person, even more so than I, so I think we are going to be fine.
Got any wedding planning tips?
I’m taking the day off work tomorrow to go look at some venues, any last minute tips for me before I jump headfirst into the process?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Just a quick congrats! I’ve read your blog for awhile now and I’m so excited about your engagement! You deserve it!
Hmm… wedding planning. I think being realistic about timelines. It takes a LONG time to book spaces if you’re doing a big wedding. It takes a long time to plan a wedding in general. I’d totally encourage spending some time enjoying engagement before leaping into wedding planning–but maybe I’m weird.
Then, once you are ready to start planning, establish a team and ground rules. (Yeah, like fighting rules…. budget, and what executive decisions can be made and who really feels strongly about what parts, etc) For instance my hubby had really specific ideas about the ceremony, I was focused on making the reception family-friendly, so we went our separate ways and planned. He choose colors, and I planned around it. He chose invitations and I vetoed them because they looked something a funeral home would send out. So he gave me what info he thought was important (colors, styles) and I went from there.
In retrospect, there’s way more important things in life and marriage than fighting about the stationary, but it was an interesting exercise in learning how to express differences in a constructive way. Ultimately we were all looking for the same thing, choosing different ways to get there.
Try to schedule your wedding during the off-season if you can. There is so much competition for vendors during the spring and summer months that rates can be as much as three to four times the amount for the same item or service during the fall and winter, and you have a better chance of scoring the venue during the cooler months. Also you won’t be miserably sweating like a pig in your tux and her in her dress.
Also, we bought a couple types of artificial flowers and ribbon from Michael’s and used them to make bouquets for the wedding party. Now that the wedding is done, we are using them to decorate our living room. Every time I look at them I remember our wedding day and how much fun it was.
It is good that your fiancee is frugal too. It is easy to get caught up in all the hype that wedding vendors and dress designers create. A beautiful dress doesn’t have to cost a thousand dollars–the right dress is the one that gets the job done. I spent big bucks on a dress that ultimately didn’t fit on the big day (to my horror and dismay). On the day of my wedding, as I scoured mall department stores for something suitable, I realized that I would walk down the aisle in blue jeans and a t-shirt if I had to; at the end of the day, I would still be married to the man of my dreams. I did find something perfect for $150 (what a relief!), but even if I hadn’t, I would have been okay.
The one vendor worth spending money on is a quality photographer. Your wedding day goes by so fast and you won’t remember anything about it except how relieved you are to be married to the love of your life. A good photographer will truly help capture that moment and immortalize it.
I agree on the photographer! we spent huge money on a photographer who was really acclaimed for their portrait work…. but all of our wedding photos came out looking like they were taken in a tomb. It was horrible. Wish I’d gotten a photographer who specialized in weddings. I agree, I don’t remember any of the ceremony and very little of the reception. Wish the photos had been better. We didn’t get a video. I don’t think I would have ever watched it. Maybe the kids would have?
My best tip is to KEEP IT SIMPLE! During your wedding day the less stuff you have to worry about, the better.
Best of luck, and don’t borrow to fund the wedding!