Whether you’re hiring a wedding planner or not—it’s no secret that wedding planners know a lot about planning a wedding, from setting a budget and managing the guest list to designing the flowers and décor. But, even if you don’t have the budget for a full-service wedding planner, don’t stress. To help you kick off the planning process—and, more importantly, enjoy it!—we called on our wedding industry friends and asked them to share their many, many years of experience and wisdom with you.
From money-saving tricks to stress-reducing tips, read on as some of the country’s top wedding pros reveal the secrets their clients pay to hear!
Start With Your Budget
“Before you make a single decision about your wedding, you need to determine your ‘must-have’ guest count and then your target budget. We see frustrated couples who start the process by booking a venue that simply does not fit into their budget. You have to consider the total cost of your celebration before anything else.”—Lynn Easton, founder, Easton Events
Focus on the Ceremony
“Couples focus much of their energy and time on the reception. But without the ceremony, there is no reception. I tell my clients to put more energy into the vows, the actual ceremony, and how to make it unique and memorable. This is what will set the mood for the whole experience of the day.”—Mindy Weiss, owner, Mindy Weiss Party Consultants,
Keep the Day Personal
“A wedding should be personal and reflective of the couple—their stories, shared interests, family backgrounds, personal styles and travels—versus something built on recycled ideas from other weddings. I encourage couples to draw inspiration from the stories of how they met, what they did on their first date, and how they became engaged. It’s easy to find a few details from those stories that naturally translate into fun and unique elements on the wedding day. For example, for the couple who got engaged on a mountain one snowy night in Colorado, we decided to feature a snow machine at their reception. Guests were showered with snowflakes as they left the venue at the end of the night, and everyone loved how the moment was a nod to bride and groom’s engagement story.”—Allison Jackson, owner, Pineapple Productions
Become a Host
“Weddings are stressful—family tensions, financial stress, along with the pressures of maintaining religious traditions, and more. I tell my clients to think about their wedding as one big dinner party. This allows the couple to step away from the weight of the emotions and pressure surrounding the wedding and focus on some of the fun details. When they can step into playing the role of hosts and planning a beautiful and delicious dinner party filled with exquisite and memorable details, they really start to enjoy the process.”—Matthew Robbins, founder and creative director, Matthew Robbins Design
Ignore “Rules”
“Couples get wrapped up in what they are and are not supposed to do, that they completely forget this is the one day they can do whatever they please. There are no rules! I’m up for exploring all kinds of nutty ideas, and if it won’t work it won’t work, but we’ll never know until we chat about it. It can be as far out as ending the evening with the actual wedding ceremony, or as simple as skipping the bouquet and garter tosses. Nothing is set in stone—throw out whatever preconceived notions you had about how a wedding is supposed to go.”—Wendy Kay, owner and creative director, Birds of a Feather Events
