Freaking Out

sweetpea70189

So my wedding is supposed to be scheduled for April 14, 2012, but now the church is saying that they have to ok it through the diocese beause that day is the Saturday after Easter.  I guess this is part of something called the Easter Octave.  (I am not Catholic, my FI is, so I don't know a whole lot about how the Catholic holidays work).  To make matteres worse, I moved to Scottsdale, AZ four months ago as my FI and I both started new jobs down here.  Needless to say, I haven't had any time to plan anything.  All I haved planned/booked is my church(maybe) and reception hall.  I feel like I am so behind and I can't catch up.  It is getting extremely difficult with both of us working full time and the three hour time difference(Pittsburgh is three hours ahead of Scottsdale) to get anything planned or done. 

Does anybody have any suggestions for florists, dj's and cake places?  They have to be a reasonable price since we are having to use some of our wedding money to pay for our flights home for holidays and for the actual wedding itself.  Also, I am looking at getting my bridesmaids dresses from either Alfred Angelo or David's bridal because I have one bridesmaid in State College, one in Pittsburgh, one in Cleveland and one in Washington D.C. so I need a chain place that will allow these people to go to a store near them.  Has anybody ever worked with different stores? Ex. I am going to be working with four of the same stores. 

Sorry this is a lot in one post.  I am just on the verge of panicking becasue this "planning from a distance" is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

Thanks everyone

Flowerstar1023

Yuck! Sorry to hear that the church is making things more stressful and that you're having to coordinate so much while being busy and dealing with a big time zone difference! At least you can enjoy sunshine the rest of the year!

Florist: We're going with KS Kennedy. Inexpensive, easy to work with, enthusiastic, and totally willing to do everything via email. 

Hopefully for Cake and DJ others will have good suggestions...

Bridesmaid dresses - what about somewhere like JCrew? All online but very easy to coordinate and doesn't require the hassle of ordering a dress months in advance from four different stores. Can find dresses in a variety of silhouettes and colors and they might actually be dresses they could wear again...

lindsayloo1212

I'm sorry for your stress! I can't imagine planning from out of town, especially from so far away! Have you considered using a planner? I ask because even though it is more money up front, they can work with your budget in order to choose vendors who are well recommended and within your price range plus they take care of things you can't do from OOT.

We are using Sumer from SImply Perfect Weddings - this is the website with pricing info.
http://www.simplyperfectwedding.net/index2.php?v=v1

Our florist stayed right within our budget and a lot of the girls on here have used her/are using her. Carrie Anne Powell is her name and here's the website:
http://capfloraldesigns.com/

HTH.

InkedMegs

What part of Pittsburgh is your ceremony (maybe)?  Reception?

For your girls, is there any chance they are from Pittsburgh and will all be together around Thanksgiving?  If so, maybe you could all take a day and get together to go shopping.  This might alleviate some stress of being forced to go with DB or AA.  If they can't get together, DB was fine to work with when I had to get a BM dress for a friend's wedding.  We ordered from different stores and from my perspective (maybe the bride saw something different), it seemed as though everything went smoothly.

I can imagine this would be super stressful.  My advice would be to list your To Do's and prioritize them.  Knocking out little chunks will make you feel soooo much better!!

cgyvhu

I'm also planning from OOT: FI lives in DC and I live in Boston.  It's been difficult, and when we do go back to Pittsburgh, we try to meet with bunches of vendors at once.  We're also planning an April 14 wedding, but we've been engaged for 1.5 years and starting booking things like our photographer and venue a year ago.

being completely honest, there is no way I'd be able to do it on my own if I hadnt started planning that far in advance.  I would ditto linday and recommend looking into wedding planning services.

Other than that, try emailing lots of vendors and only consider the once that are responsive to email.  That's what I did, and it's made communication SO much better than I expected. There's a recommended vendor list at the top of the board, and if you want my personal list of vendors who were responsive to me, send me a PM.

good luck!

ginny814

Hmm, I'm getting married at a Catholic church on the 14th and my priest never mentioned having to get this "approved."  Maybe I should check up on that, haha.

I'm planning from out of town, too, and have gone with Alfred Angelo;  I was able to look at the dress here in the DC area and my girls will be looking/trying them on in Monroeville.  But for you, I would definitely go with David's.  They are EVERYWHERE and it would make things very easy for your bridesmaids.

Have you considered exending your wedding date (since you haven't booked a lot yet)?  Did you put a deposit down on anything yet?  As mdphd said, being out of town makes things very stressful and I, too, went with a 18 month engagement; it really helps.

sweetpea70189

Thanks for all the tips everybody.  We've been engaged for over a year now,  but last year I was finishing college and he was working full time so a lot wasn't planned then.  I have looked in to moving the date but the church doesn't have the other dates I want open and the reception place does, but with limited space.  I am just at a loss for what to do.  We've put a deposit down on our reception place, otherwise I would maybe suggest doing something a little bit smaller and low key, but with the deposit down we have to use the place or we pay for the whole thing regardless. 

My wedding ceremony is scheduled to be at St. John and Paul in Wexford with the reception at the Marriott in Cranberry.  The girls in my wedding party are my twin sister, my future sister-in-law, and my FI's cousin.  My sister is teaching out in state college so she is swamped with school work and cant help plan much, my future sister-in-law is in college in Ohio and my FI's cousin is in D.C. still in high school.  I feel like I am stuck in a rut.  My parents and his parents and my grandparents are willing to help but there is only so much that they can do.

I have started emailing a number of flower places.  My main concern now is the DJ and the dresses.  I think those are the few big things that I need to get booked.  But then again I am at a loss for what all needs done. 

Sorry for venting.  I don't know many people down bhere in AZ and I know my family and friends back home are trying to help all they can, so I don't really have anywhere else to turn with all of my worries.  You girls are the best!  Thanks so much.

williaam2

I'm using Steven Vance for our ceremony, cocktail, and reception music, and I've been very impressed with how reasonable his prices are.  He works with a variety of musicians and DJs, so I imagine that he'd be able to find someone good who fits your budget!

I also have some out of town bridesmaids, and what I've done to make my head hurt less is to look for some of the more popular lines (Bari Jay, Jasmine, etc.) and do a search for stores that carry them in all of the cities that my girls live in.  I'm relying on my maids to be responsible for ordering from the store that's most convenient for them with the general information I provide.  It's working out perfectly without having to stick to DB or AA (I couldn't really find a style at either place that I liked).  

Good luck with everything!  It will be ok in the end, no matter what - you're marrying your perfect person  

brianangelo

I deliver for a cake shop about 50 minutes from Cranberry, and we have had many samples from shops in that area (we have friends and relatives nearby). It would be worth calling to set up a consultation with them next time you're in the area. I think you will be thrilled with the cakes and quite happy to check that off your list. Good luck, and enjoy!