In this five-part series with Penny Pinchin’ Mom, we dig into everything from money to venue to mistakes.
This is the continuation of our Wedding Planning five-part series with Penny Pinchin’ Mom. In the first two blogs, we discussed where you should start wedding planning and how much a wedding costs.
Over the next three posts, we dig more into how to find a venue, how to select your venue and what mistakes couples make.
Blog 3 – How to Find the Perfect Venue for Your Wedding
Most couples believe one of the most important and hardest part of planning their wedding is finding the venue. They are not wrong. Finding the venue that feels right can be challenging, especially considering how many there are and how much their offerings all differ.
In this blog post, we go into detail about how far out venues book, how to pick where, should you have your ceremony and reception at the same place, what all venues include, and what venues don’t tell you.
Our favorite part of the blog is where we discuss what all might be included in your venue. The more your venue includes the better. This means you can spend more money in other areas, so it is vital to know everything that is and is not included so you can properly compare venues to each other. Here is a list of items to ask about:
- Tables
- Chairs
- Linens – ask what colors and lengths
- Staging
- Dance Floor
- Lighting
- In-house catering, exclusive catering or open catering
- In-house bar, exclusive bar providers or BYOB
- Décor
- Place settings
- Security
- Tax
- Staff
- Service Fee
- Fees for flipping the space between ceremony and reception
- Ice Machines
Blog 4 – Selecting the Right Vendors for Your Wedding
In the most shared post of the series, we dig into what you need to know when hiring your dream team of wedding vendors. Picking the vendors, while it can still have its stresses, is the fun part.
In this post, we dive into what to expect, what to look for, how to book and provide a few warning signs.
The first thing we do with our couples is focus in on their ‘ones.’ Vendors who can only take one wedding a day.
This includes:
- Venue
- Wedding Planner
- Band/DJ
- Officiant
- Photographer
- Videographer
- Transportation (if you want a specific vehicle)
Unless these people have associates, who handle their own weddings, these vendors are usually only able to take one wedding a day. Caterers, florists, stationary designers, hotel blocks, etc., can all handle numerous weddings.
Still, this is a pretty lengthy list of ones. We recommend looking back at your priorities and start with your #1 ones. If band/DJ is critical to you, look into and meet with them first. If photography is where it is at for you, then start there.
Blog 5 – The Most Common Wedding Planning Mistakes
This was by far the most fun blog post to write of the series. We see many mistakes made by couples during the wedding planning process. Chief among them, enjoying the process. Weddings shouldn’t be stressful.
Here are the other big mistakes we see couples make:
- No set budget
- Spend too much on venue and dress
- Make assumptions
- Wait too long to book vendors
- Keep up with the Jones
Our favorite part is the last one about keeping up with the Jones. A little bit from the blog:
Your wedding is exactly that, yours. You are the one who will have all the memories and photos. You are the one who is inviting your family and friends to celebrate in what will likely be the only time in your life you will have all these people together in one room. It is your day. Have the wedding only you can have.
Don’t listen to Carol down the street about how much she spent on her daughter’s wedding. Or Karen about how if you are not serving a plated meal, it is not considered a wedding.
Don’t get sucked into the Pinterest, bridal magazines and wedding vendors marketing tools, and think you have to do what everyone else is doing. As vendors we will always show you our most impressive weddings or events because we want you to be so wowed with us, you book us instantly and don’t consider anyone else.