Bride Advice from a 4.5.13 bride

dani1361 · May 2013

FIRST of all CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Just wanted to pop over to your board, because im missing planning a little & i wish i had some of these little tips when i started planning!

So heres some tips from a 4.5.13 bride

1. Do you! Its your day, and i know your thinking, "yeah! Im going to do what i want", but you have no idea what some people turn into when theres wedding planning involved! keep you and your future hubby at the top at all times!

2. SPANKS!!!!! enough said

3. Look into people who do cakes as a hobby, and not a profession only thing. We ended up spending 1/4 of what professional bakers wanted to charge us on a person a facebook friend recommended! And no one could tell the difference!! Saving every penny where you can, turns into a lot of pennies!

4. Flowers, I chose real. I dont like silk, but thats honestly a personal preference. But real or silk, seriously consider the amount of flowers and what you really want/ need. We ended up ordering "loose" flowers instead of centerpiece flowers and did the centerpieces are self. 12 centerpieces, and we saved $14 a centerpiece, just by doing it ourselves!! Also, look into whats in season. I chose gerber daisies. They turned out gorgeous and since theyre spring flowers, they were cheaper than other types.

5. BARGAIN!!! Who knew you could bargain with vendors?!?! I'll try anything to save a dime. I ended up talking our photographer, dj, AND officiant down on their price. All together saving over $500. Hello, who doesnt like saving money!? I told them, well than you, but so and so is giving me this quote.. works wonders!

6. I know a lot of you already have dates picked, but if your a Friday or Sunday, or any other day than Saturday-Bride, really pull the bargain card! A lot of vendors have multiples of something, so you can get a great deal. Just for planning on a non-popular day!

7. Think before you buy. Ask yourself, is it reall worth $70 for a headband? or cake topper? or whatever? lol Im a huge saver, and even i splurged on a few ( a lot) of things, i wish i didnt. *sigh*

8. ENJOY your wedding planning!! DONT be bridezilla!! BE ORGANIZED!

-okay that last one (be organized) was the key to the first 2. I had a binder, a huge binder with EVERYTHING in it! Copies of contracts with copies of checks i sent for deposits. Copies of menus, schedule, emails. EVERYTHING!!! I know it sounds crazy, but i have heard horror stories of things gone wrong due to contracts. I carried i with me everywhere. My MOH was in charge of it at the wedding and to make sure everything was upheld. It kept me sane for my 16 month engagement.

Okay, im done. But seriously, have fun. It goes by way to quick!! Youll be a MRS before you know it, and youll have no idea what to do with free time!! CONGRATS and best wishes!!!

MsHazelnut29 · May 2013

Thanks for your post. Let me first say that I didn't find your post hard to read at all so don't pay any attention to the grammar police that rummage through a site that obviously does not apply to them. I enjoyed your enthusiam and your tips are extremely helpful.

I have been engaged for 4 days (!) and I am already getting bombarded with comments and opinions. At this point, I don't even know where to start but I will take your advice about setting up a book. Theknot.com sells one on Amazon that has amazing reviews. All of the information out there is a little overwhelming! Also, I have always had a bakery in mind but you are absolutely right about finding a non-professional. This could mean a difference of a couple hundred bucks.

Your tips are greatly appreciated expecially for the newbies like myself! If you can think of anything else, please post again! At this point, I think I am going to hold off on the planning for at least a month so I can enjoy my engagement!

dani1361 · May 2013

Thanks MsHazelnut, Congrats on your engagement! I woudnt even splurge on a book from theknot. You'll be over paying for something that will cost you only $5-10 making on your own. Just buy a giant binder, page separators with tabs to mark which each is, and page protectors to store everything. You can go online and google wedding organizer which will give you a bunch of printable lists, i just printed the ones that applied to me. I had categories for guest list, contracts, rsvps, budget, schedule, and emails. Just think about everything. Everything is important, so just stay organized!

Enjoy your engagement, have fun, and good luck on your big day!!!

ChiGirl2013 · June 2013

As another 4/2-13 bride who knows dani, I totally agree with her on saving all the emails you receive/send between your vendors. In fact, I would try to do as much over email as you can so you have a paper trail.

I got burned - BADLY - by our wedding coordinator, who happens to have over 1,000 amazing reviews on Yelp and an A+ with the BBB but he turned out to be a class A jerk who took our money and didn't provide the services he promised. He won't refund the money for the services he didn't provide and now we're looking into lawyers to get our money back. The only thing that's saving us is all the emails I have from him, where he talks about providing the services. Even if you don't print them out (you can always access them from your phone on the wedding day if you need to) create a special folder in your email account and save every last one of them.

I will also add that when you do a contract with a vendor, make it as detailed as possible. If that means it's 5 pages long, so be it. If you have to ask your vendor to add something to the contract, don't be afraid to do that too. If they're not willing to put it in writing, expect that it won't happen on your wedding day.

Aside from the wedding coordinator fiasco, we had an AMAZING wedding day! I'm glad we scheduled a carriage ride for just the 2 of us right after the ceremony on the way to doing our formal photos so we could have some alone time. We both agreed that was the best part of the day, next to making our 9 year relationship official. :-)

Bride Advice from a 4.5.13 bride

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