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Thank you to the wedding industry for not making me pay for procrastinating

redheadbride15redheadbride15 member
500 Love Its 500 Comments Third Anniversary Name Dropper
in Chit Chat
I'm a really, really, really bad procrastinator. My wedding is May 30 (just a little more than 3 months away), and this week I finally booked my caterer, DJ, and ceremony musicians - all like 6 MONTHS AFTER the recommended timeline. I had this terrible sense of dread that my procrastinating ways would cause me to either stress-out big-time, or be stuck having to hire the crummy vendors with no experience and bad reviews. But I'm amazed I managed to get my first or second choice vendor for everything! My dress came in 3 months earlier than I needed it for fittings (that was one thing I sort of stuck to the schedule on).

Please, ladies, don't follow my example. If, however, you are waaaaaay late on things then don't freak out too much. It'll probably still work out.
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Re: Thank you to the wedding industry for not making me pay for procrastinating

  • tj&cwtj&cw member
    100 Comments 25 Love Its First Anniversary Name Dropper

    I am the exact opposite =). I think I would be drinking heavy if I was not ahead of schedule.

    Glad to hear that things worked out for you!

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  • redheadbride15redheadbride15 member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    Well as soon as I had a groom, a venue, and an officiant I figured the rest was sort of superfluous so I started slacking. I still need a cake, some invitations, two wedding rings, and a marriage license. And my dress needs alterations. No problem! I'll try to take care of those things before a week before the wedding :P
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  • jenna8984jenna8984 member
    5000 Comments Fifth Anniversary 500 Love Its First Answer

    Omg I could never. I would have panic attacks if my shit wasn't booked like 9 months out.

    My friend did your style....hers was Memorial Day weekend last year and she was still tasting different caterers into late March.

                                                                     

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  • charlottesmom0626charlottesmom0626 member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments Third Anniversary First Answer
    I'm so happy everything worked out for you!!

    I had to book all of my preferred vendors 18 months out because my wedding is in June and that month fills up fast here.
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  • redheadbride15redheadbride15 member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    Maybe late May isn't a popular time for weddings in my area? I've been amazed at people's availability (and eagerness to take my money!) so late in the game. But my venue had basically every weekend in May available when I booked in September (even though June-Oct was already almost completely blocked out).
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  • lyndausvilyndausvi mod
    Moderator Knottie Warrior 10000 Comments 500 Love Its
    People plan events (weddings, big birthday parties, company parties) in under a few months all the time.   

      It's only the wedding industry that gets has all the inexperienced people thinking if they don't plan 18 months in advance they are completely fucked.   

    Granted you may not get the exact person/venue you want, but you are not completely fucked either.   

    Every place I've worked has pop-up events.      It's not unusual to be told that we just booked an event 2 weeks from now  that has 200 people party with dancing and whatever.  Sure more often then not we have more like 6 months, but plenty are organized in under a few months.







    What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests.  Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated. 
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  • redheadbride15redheadbride15 member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    That's true... I never understood why a wedding would need so much advance planning when another big party would not. I have 70 guests at my wedding and started planning about 8 months before the date. We threw an enormous joint 30th birthday party for my brother and cousin a couple years ago with >150 guests and we planned it in about a month.
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  • badbnagdwaybadbnagdway member
    1000 Comments 500 Love Its Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Our engagement will be about 8 months long, so a lot of those schedule/checklist things would say I was behind from the get-go. Our ceremony venue is super popular so we were lucky to get it when we did. It just worked out that our VIPs were available on the only day they still had available in the spring. I didn't get serious about caterers until about four months from our date and did not have a single person tell me they were booked. Aside from one DJ who had a conflict, the only vendor we had difficulty with was photographer. A lot of the good but within budget photographers were booked a year in advance. We were lucky that our photog gave us a $400 discount so we could have a second shooter but stay in budget. I also got a on off the rack dress, so that was not an issue. 

    I know someone who completely planned a wedding in 3 months. It's definitely possible. Geography and wedding month probably play heavily into it. I'm surprised things aren't booked for end of May just because around here May starts wedding season for sure, but we are also in the south and it gets hot here by June. 
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  • redheadbride15redheadbride15 member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    This definitely sounds like us. Our engagement will have been 9 months. It would have been shorter if I hadn't convinced FI that we needed more than 3 months to plan (we were engaged in July - he initially said he wanted to get married in the fall of 2014).

    I'm in New England and we currently have 5 feet of snow on the ground. At this point I'm just hoping it will be melted by May 30th... not worried about it being too hot, for sure! Maybe all the other brides had a sixth sense and knew it was going to be the snowiest winter on record and decided to wait until July.
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  • badbnagdwaybadbnagdway member
    1000 Comments 500 Love Its Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    redheadbride15 said:
    This definitely sounds like us. Our engagement will have been 9 months. It would have been shorter if I hadn't convinced FI that we needed more than 3 months to plan (we were engaged in July - he initially said he wanted to get married in the fall of 2014).

    I'm in New England and we currently have 5 feet of snow on the ground. At this point I'm just hoping it will be melted by May 30th... not worried about it being too hot, for sure! Maybe all the other brides had a sixth sense and knew it was going to be the snowiest winter on record and decided to wait until July.
    Ah, makes total sense then. I am originally from New England. Most of my family currently lives in RI and I spent many years there. Winter frequently stretches into April up there. My sister got married in July in Vermont and it was an "unseasonably hot" 80 degrees that week. Where I live it's not unusual for the temp to hit 85 in May, and it would be unheard of for the temp to be below 50 at that time of year. 
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  • redheadbride15redheadbride15 member
    500 Love Its 500 Comments Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    Yeah, April is definitely NOT the best wedding month in New England. Mud, mud, mud everywhere! My wedding will be in northern NH and it's usually relatively nice up there by late May. I wouldn't have planned something outdoors, but it should be in the 60s and very, very green (which I love!).
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