Looking for help planning my wedding!

Re: Looking for help planning my wedding!

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  donethat member

  

  January 2014

  Take a deep breath!  

  
  

  Flowchart:
  

  1)  Are you marrying the right guy?

            If YES - that's the main thing and all of these other details are just little decisions!  But, likely NOT life changing.

  
  

            If NO - please stop.  That's all

  
  

  I have some ideas for you, as do the other wedding-loving-ladies around this board ... but for now

  
  

  Take a deep breath, and relax........   it's all good if you answered YES above.   

  
  

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  saacjw member

  

  January 2014

  foreverlaur said:

  I'm looking for help with a wedding timeline! The ceremony and reception are at the same location (country club).  I have the reception venue for 5 hours (up to 11pm) and 1 hour for a cocktail hour.  The ceremony is before that, obviously.  Some say to do the first dance right after the grand entrance because all attention is on you.  Some say to do speeches right away too because everyone is there and paying attention.  Some say not to cut the cake right after dinner because it signals it's OK to go and others say to cut it right away because you don't want to interrupt the party for cake cutting.

  
  

  My thoughts --- what do you think?

  
  

  Ceremony~ 4:30 PM
  

  Cocktails/Hors d'oeuvres ~ 4:50 PM - 6:00 PM
  

  Grand Entrance~ 6:05 PM
  

  First Dance~ Immediately after Grand Entrance
  

  Toasts~ 6:15 PM

  Dinner~ 6:45 PM - 7:45 PM (buffet or family style)
  

  Cake cutting~ 7:50 PM - 7:55 PM (Cake served during following dances)
  

  Father/Daughter Dance~ 8:00 - 8:05 PM
  

  Mother/Son Dance~ 8:05 PM - 8:10 PM
  

  Bouquet Toss~ 8:10 - 8:15 PM
  

  Dance/Party~ 8:15 PM - 11:00 PM
  

  
  

  My recommendation- cut the cake and do all of the dances right after dinner. Don't make people wait around for you to dance before they can eat, make them happy with some food. We cut the cake before starting dancing, because they had to take it back and cut it into smaller pieces before serving, but when you find a DJ, ask them for recommendations because they have a better idea of how things flow. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  I'm trying to save money on flowers.  Is it worthwhile to pay a florist to do my bridal bouquet, bridesmaid bouquets, corsages, and the boutonniere and then do DIY for the ceremony flowers and centerpieces? My artistic ability isn't much )

  
  

  I found it worthwhile because it was one less thing to deal with. We didn't make our centerpieces because it was part of the package at our reception hall, but they would not be hard to replicate. DIY centerpieces and ceremony flowers are not too hard, depending on what you do. They can be as simple as taking a vase and sticking a candle in it. 

  
  

  Anyone know an affordable place to rent table linens and table runners? My venue provides white linens, non floor length.  They have a place they can get them from and say they charge me at cost, but they're $14.50 per linen and $8 per table runner and that seems expensive to me? 

  
  

  No clue, included in our reception hall. 

  
  

  So I have no desire to see my fiance prior to the ceremony.  Me and the girls are getting ready at his parents house and him and the guys will be getting ready at our house.  We'll take pictures at our respective "get ready houses."  Our get ready house backs up to beautiful woods which ends up at a river and the guys get ready house is across the street from a beautiful park and the house backs up to cornfields.  We'll likely each stop elsewhere to take pictures on the way there.  We're getting married at a country club and can also take pictures there.  My fiance and I will do "look no look" pictures prior to the ceremony but that's it.  We have the 1 hour cocktail hour to take all the family photos, photos of the entire bridal party, and photos of just the two of us! Yikes! Anyone have any tips on how to pull that off? We'll have 2 photographers. We also plan to sneak off during dinner to take sunset photos together.
  
  Talk to the photographers. Mine had all of the timing figured out once we told him what we were doing to get ready, if we wanted a first look, and where were going to be. 

  
  Finally, any engagement photo ideas? We have thought about Homestead Park as it's close to home but would like another location too! We're also going to wait until May/June when it is pretty and green to take engagement photos.  We'll take a few photos for save the dates before then with a family friend amateur photographer.

  
  

  Thanks!

  My final piece of advice- relax and see @donethat's post. Don't stress the smaller stuff, like your schedule, because that might change day of. It did for us. That's OK, you have a start and end time. Talk to your vendors, they're professionals and should know what's up, they can help you with the details and probably have DJ and linen suggestions. 

  

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  photokitty mod

  

  January 2014 edited January 2014

  Check with Krogers for your flowers. I used the Kroger in German Village and it was SUPER cheap. All my flowers (2 bridal bouquets, 2 boutonnieres, baby's breathe for 20 centerpieces) cost less than what I was quoted at any florist in town for one bridal bouquet. 

  ~xoxo~

  
  

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  OHBride85 member

  

  January 2014

  Good advice @photokitty! I would have never thought to look there.

  
  

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  misspuppychow member

  

  January 2014

  Did you just use Pinterest and wedding magazines for ideas on how to arrange them? Where did you get the ribbon and supplies to hold them together? How long before the wedding did you buy them and arrange them? I worry about the flowers not being super fresh the day of the wedding because I'll have to buy and arrange them at least 36 hours in advance of the wedding starting.

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  caitlinmca member

  

  January 2014

  For flowers, check with the flowerman, they have a DIY option that I was absolutely against as I am not crafty, didn't want to take the time or effort to do a few days before my wedding, but I hear it saves a ton of money, and they have staff that help you a ton while you are putting your stuff together onsite. They also have fridges that they keep your flowers in and the Columbus flowerman includes the ribbon and "holding vases" in the price. Not sure how much it costs as we are not to the flower point yet, but this is one option I am going to look at now, and you also can bring your girls/moms with you or a mixture of people, your fiance whoever you want, they just say nobody under 12 yrs of age. http://flowermanblog.com/about/do-it-yourself-wedding-flowers/
  

  

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  photokitty mod

  

  January 2014

  foreverlaur said:

  Did you just use Pinterest and wedding magazines for ideas on how to arrange them? Where did you get the ribbon and supplies to hold them together? How long before the wedding did you buy them and arrange them? I worry about the flowers not being super fresh the day of the wedding because I'll have to buy and arrange them at least 36 hours in advance of the wedding starting.

  No, no...they made the bouquets and boutineers. the babys breathe i put in small vases i got at Michaels. It was cheaper than flowerman...i got a quote there too. We didn't Do anything arranging them or ribbons. I can show you a pic if you want.

  ~xoxo~

  
  

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  misspuppychow member

  

  January 2014

  That's what I was thinking of doing... Paying someone to do the ceremony stuff like bouquets and such.... and doing the decorations and centerpieces myself.

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  swiftangel member

  

  January 2014

  I am using High end silk flowers that you can't tell aren't real. foreverinbloomflowers.com. Talk to Amy Colt ( the owner ) to see if she can what you what you need in  time and how much would she charge you. She can send them anywhere. Or you can tell her what you want for real flowers ( she does both) and get them to  you. She is great with communication and works with in any budget. I told her that I don't have a big budget for flowers and for the church decorations. She gave me so ideas for DIY to help cut down cost and even suggested different flowers for my boutique to help cut the cost down. She sent me pictures of everything she was thinking so I will not have any surprises. 

  -Andrea

  
  

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  melbenso member

  

  January 2014 edited January 2014

  Re: Photography - Your photographer should help you plan out a timeline.  At least mine is.  We are using Jenni at My Studio 23 (we were really impressed with her, she got great reviews here, and her prices were the best we found).  Part of the package includes a planning session with her about a month before the wedding, where we will sit down and go over a timeline for pictures before and after the ceremony and a discussion about what kinds of photos we want and who we want photos with.  For example, both of our extended families are fairly scattered across the country, so in addition to photos with our immediate families right after the ceremony, we will be doing photos with each of our families at some point after dinner. 
  
  Re: Flowers- I'm not very crafty, so I opted not to do DYI flowers.  What is your budget?  This might make a big difference in whether you should DYI or not.  I ended up going with Connells Maple Lee Flowers.  They were very affordable and Jill, their wedding florist, is great.  She had tons of ideas and suggestions when I met with her to decide whether I wanted to book them. They also include holding vases for bouquets in their price.  But my venue provides a basic centerpiece, and I prioritized other things above fancy centerpieces, so we are just getting some loose flowers to scatter around each of the centerpieces, to add a little bit of a personal touch.
  
  Re: Linens - if your venue doesn't provide them, ask if they have a recommendation.  My venue provides basic linens (white table cloths, white napkins) but has a contract with a linen service for reduced prices if we want to rent chair covers or fancier table linens.  The venue will also make all of the rental and set up arrangements with the company if we use them, which is an extra bonus.
  
  We skipped engagement photos, so I don't really have any tips there, other than to say, pick a place that is special to you both.  For instance, I have two friends who met through political activism.  They did their engagement photos outside the Statehouse.
  
  And regarding a specific timeline for the wedding, I think you can put that off a bit in your planning until you have all of your vendors booked, etc.  Also, talk to your contact at the country club.  Even if he/she is not a wedding planner, he/she has certainly dealt with weddings before and may have some suggestions regarding timelines.  The catering manager at our venue did and we have a planning meeting scheduled with her to work all of that out about 6 weeks before our ceremony.
  

  

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  MillerMB1 member

  

  July 2014

  Check out Maria-Lynn Floral too. They are great, really responsive, and will help you work with whatever your budget is.... http://www.marialynnfloral.com/
  

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