Canceled our original venue (and got my 'non-refundable' deposit back!)
Found a new ceremony site/reception hall
Found a new caterer
Discussed contract changes with the DJ
Finalized colors (woo-hoo!)
I'm so excited for our new spaces! Our new ceremony site is in a garden so I won't need any flowers there and the new hall if gorgeous. And, even though the venues were a little bit more- catering is SO much less! And now we can bring our own alcohol too for additional savings. I still need to contact the photographer and florist about the change, but those are less of a concern than the DJ.
My MOH has her dress and two of my bridesmaids found dresses they like they just have to order them. I am letting them choose their own dresses. I just picked a vendor, color and fabric. I researched the MU/Hair Stylist I want, She did my hair for my friends wedding and she managed o get my hair to stay curly the whole day... that is nearly a miracle.
I feel like everyone is stressing way more than I am. Am I the only one that is kind of relaxed about wedding planning?
Already done: -Secured church and time for ceremony -Secured reception site -Said yes to the dress! And veil -Decided on colors -Hired photographer -Just took engagement pictures -Ordered and addressed save the dates (still haven't mailed them. Oops) -Did wedding registry -Decided on a bridesmaid dress -Decided rehearsal dinner location -Attended marriage prep class
In the middle of: -discussing honeymoon spots -got in touch with a dj -tried booking a block of hotel rooms but they said it was too early -tried hiring limo/shuttle service but they said it was too early -in talks with what time we want reception -have ideas for "videographer" (liking the idea of wedit or weddingmix) -tried someone out for makeup -book rehearsal dinner -have bridesmaids actually order their dresses -trying to meet with the priest but he keeps changing the date (hope that's not a sign of things to come) -trying to get my mom to decide on a MOB dress
Need to: -Find bakery and do cake tastings (can NOT wait, and I don't even like cake) -Decide on suits and get those ordered -Find a florist -Book hair/makeup -Decide on all the catholic ceremony things (readings, songs) -Find invitations -Get WP gifts -Decide on favors and reception decor -Decide our menu -Get jewelry/shoes
Geez, I've pretty much half-assed everything so far. I'm ready to go elope! Haha
I know im late but I live off the checklist on here. Ive printed it out and have each month stapled to my planner. I live and breath my checklist it helps out alot
All I have left is: Booking honeymoon flights Buy the candy for my favors Tuxes Rehearsal dinner Alterations Book and do a hair and m/u trial. Invitations
I just booked my flights for my honeymoon. I have also paid off my photo/video/photobooth company and honey moon. Only things I have left to book: Rehearsal dinner (I am having a pizza party for it) Alterations Invitations Gifts for bridal party Tuxes And then we have to finish paying for the venue and florist. I want to be able to just show up on my wedding day and not worry.
I am super annoyed. My hair and mu artist called me to get more details on for styles and all of that. When I spoke to her the first time we only needed four girls to book her. Now she tells me six. So I had to cancel with her. And she was not even apologetic about it. She was actually super snobby about it as in "Yeah I cant do a wedding with less than six girls so oh well. Good luck" I was really happy about booking her because she did such a great job at my friends wedding 3 years ago.
She was in a hospital rehab facility recovering from surgery. I booked over the phone. She called me the other day to get more info and thats when she said that she cant do it. You would think that a woman that will be out of work for 5 months and said that she was so upset that she had to give brides to friends so that she could have her surgery wouldnt turn down making $700 for a few hours work.
Oh my gosh I feel so far behind !! I just got engaged a week ago & we plan on having our wedding in April .
So far I have :
-said yes to my fiancé
Ahhhhhh ! After reading this thread my stress level just tripled !
It'll be okay! I know it's super overwhelming, but really just give yourself a week to enjoy being engaged first before going straight into planning.
It'll all work out. I would say find your venue first, and then go from there. It makes it a lot easier to plan the other stuff if you know what place you're working with.
Oh my gosh I feel so far behind !! I just got engaged a week ago & we plan on having our wedding in April .
So far I have :
-said yes to my fiancé
Ahhhhhh ! After reading this thread my stress level just tripled !
Same boat! I booked the venue yesterday and have a dress... and here I was thinking it would all be ok. Then I read this board! SO MUCH TO DO!!! Ok, back to researching and emailing potentials.
Oh my gosh I feel so far behind !! I just got engaged a week ago & we plan on having our wedding in April .
So far I have :
-said yes to my fiancé
Ahhhhhh ! After reading this thread my stress level just tripled !
Same boat! I booked the venue yesterday and have a dress... and here I was thinking it would all be ok. Then I read this board! SO MUCH TO DO!!! Ok, back to researching and emailing potentials.
If you have any wedding expos in your area, it's great to be able to meet a ton of vendors in person. We were able to meet ones we had booked and were so happy that they turned out to be super nice in person as well.
It gets really overwhelming, so I encourage you not to look at the whole huge checklist the knot has, or even our lists....otherwise you'll probably feel like running away screaming. I was panicking when I saw how much there was to plan!
Just focus on a couple of things each weekend if you can. Then it's more managable. I would say first off, figure out your budget. Figure out what is important to each of you. What sort of venue are you both envisioning? Do that first.
I really wish we had maybe looked around more at venues, as ours we have to buy 2 cases of wine, a day of planner, and use their catering. But all in all everything works out.
Figure out areas you can splurge on [for us it was photos] and areas you don't care saving on [for us it's flowers]. You'll get it all figured out and I promise it'll all come together!
We just picked flowers this weekend, waiting on the official quote and list of flowers.
We need to get my son a suit, he's walking me down the aisle.
FI needs to get his white vest and tie.
We got to see the wedding site (it's a DW a few hours away). It was gorgeous and I'm now getting really excited, and hoping the next few months fly by!
I made myself a "to do" list and I'm slowly crossing things off of it. I went out today and basically cleaned out every dollar store in my city and the city east of me of their black/blue/silver wine bags that we need for our favours.
Re: What wedding planning are you doing right now?
We still have to:
To add to my completed list:
My MOH has her dress and two of my bridesmaids found dresses they like they just have to order them. I am letting them choose their own dresses. I just picked a vendor, color and fabric. I researched the MU/Hair Stylist I want, She did my hair for my friends wedding and she managed o get my hair to stay curly the whole day... that is nearly a miracle.
I feel like everyone is stressing way more than I am. Am I the only one that is kind of relaxed about wedding planning?
We have:
Secured the venue
Secured the reception site
Secured the hotel
Hired a minister
Hired a photographer
Hired HMU
Hired a florist
Ordered cake
Ordered catering
Sent STDs
Ordered invites
Hired the party bus (Vegas Wedding)
Purchased dress
Purchased MOH dress
Purchased shoes
Purchased veil
Purchased jewelry
Started ordering favors, decorations, and wedding party gifts
Decided on honeymoon location
Already done:
-Secured church and time for ceremony
-Secured reception site
-Said yes to the dress! And veil
-Decided on colors
-Hired photographer
-Just took engagement pictures
-Ordered and addressed save the dates (still haven't mailed them. Oops)
-Did wedding registry
-Decided on a bridesmaid dress
-Decided rehearsal dinner location
-Attended marriage prep class
In the middle of:
-discussing honeymoon spots
-got in touch with a dj
-tried booking a block of hotel rooms but they said it was too early
-tried hiring limo/shuttle service but they said it was too early
-in talks with what time we want reception
-have ideas for "videographer" (liking the idea of wedit or weddingmix)
-tried someone out for makeup
-book rehearsal dinner
-have bridesmaids actually order their dresses
-trying to meet with the priest but he keeps changing the date (hope that's not a sign of things to come)
-trying to get my mom to decide on a MOB dress
Need to:
-Find bakery and do cake tastings (can NOT wait, and I don't even like cake)
-Decide on suits and get those ordered
-Find a florist
-Book hair/makeup
-Decide on all the catholic ceremony things (readings, songs)
-Find invitations
-Get WP gifts
-Decide on favors and reception decor
-Decide our menu
-Get jewelry/shoes
Geez, I've pretty much half-assed everything so far. I'm ready to go elope! Haha
Completed:
Purchased dress
Decided on wedding colors (blush pink & white)
Booked florist
Sent out Save the Dates
Booked venue
Booked DJ
Booked officiant
Decided on bridesmaid dresses
Need to do:
Book photographer
Design and order invitations
Find a makeup artist
Order favors
Decide on wedding and reception songs
Order shoes (waiting for spring 2014 line to come out; I want pink shoes)
Cake and food tasting
Order bridesmaid dresses
Order rental reception chairs
Groomsman tuxedos (letting the FI handle this one)
So far I have :
-said yes to my fiancé
Ahhhhhh ! After reading this thread my stress level just tripled !
Booking honeymoon flights
Buy the candy for my favors
Tuxes
Rehearsal dinner
Alterations
Book and do a hair and m/u trial.
Invitations
Everything else is booked and mostly paid for.
Rehearsal dinner (I am having a pizza party for it)
Alterations
Invitations
Gifts for bridal party
Tuxes
And then we have to finish paying for the venue and florist.
I want to be able to just show up on my wedding day and not worry.
We got some more things done this month.
I got my dress, jewelry, undergarments and veil yesterday from my dress appointment at DB! I'm soooo excited to get to wear my dress!!
We also booked our photographer and gave the deposit.
My bridesmaid and MOH have each started getting their dresses.
I won a free bouquet for me at the Bridal Expo I went to, so that was awesome and today I met with the florist. She's super nice.
I feel really happy because all of our vendors have been amazing so far and I love their personalities.
We still have to:
At least the list is getting smaller and we're almost finished. Thank goodness because our budget doubled as we planned.
I was really happy about booking her because she did such a great job at my friends wedding 3 years ago.
You would think that a woman that will be out of work for 5 months and said that she was so upset that she had to give brides to friends so that she could have her surgery wouldnt turn down making $700 for a few hours work.
It'll all work out. I would say find your venue first, and then go from there. It makes it a lot easier to plan the other stuff if you know what place you're working with.
and congratulations!!
If you have any wedding expos in your area, it's great to be able to meet a ton of vendors in person. We were able to meet ones we had booked and were so happy that they turned out to be super nice in person as well.
It gets really overwhelming, so I encourage you not to look at the whole huge checklist the knot has, or even our lists....otherwise you'll probably feel like running away screaming. I was panicking when I saw how much there was to plan!
Just focus on a couple of things each weekend if you can. Then it's more managable. I would say first off, figure out your budget. Figure out what is important to each of you. What sort of venue are you both envisioning? Do that first.
I really wish we had maybe looked around more at venues, as ours we have to buy 2 cases of wine, a day of planner, and use their catering. But all in all everything works out.
Figure out areas you can splurge on [for us it was photos] and areas you don't care saving on [for us it's flowers].
You'll get it all figured out and I promise it'll all come together!
We got some more things done!
Still have to:
FINISHED:
- Booked the venue
- Hired the DJ
- Hired the florist
- Hired the photographer (we decided not to have a videographer)
- Hired the day of coordinator
- Sent out the "save the dates" (I ended up just including a note in our Christmas cards)
- Ordered the cake
- Booked the hotel
- All the bridesmaids have their dresses
- I have my dress, veil, sash & shoes
- Made my hair appointment for day of
- Scheduled the officiant (one of our many pastors)
- Registered
- Send Bridal Shower thank-yous
Things yet to be done:- Finalize things with our caterer
- Finalize tuxes
- Finalize guest list
- Start assembling the welcome bags for out of town guests
- Figure out a guest book (don't want a book or a sign-able picture frame, suggestions??)
- Order and send the invites
- Figure out what I'm doing makeup-wise
- Finalize ceremony
- Finalize music list
- Figure out ceremony music & readings
- Get marriage license
- Order return address labels & postage
- Table numbers
- Pails for the sparklers
- Engagement photos
- buy a hanger for my dress for pics
- "Reserved" signs
- Write letter to my man to open on April 5th
- Try on dress with all of accessories to see how I like it (update, they look AWESOME!!)
- Hair trial
- Makeup trial
- Decide on what beer&wine to buy and then buy it (Total Wine lets you return unused items!)
- Purchase garter
- And a million other things (it keeps getting longer...oh boy)
I'm just glad that I'm going to be meeting with my coordinator this week, so that I can get a grip on all the little things that are piling up.