Corporate charters and venues

Ok, so let’s face it, finally proposed! You have searched high and low for the love of your life and you finally found him, congratulations!!! After visiting all major wedding related websites and bookstores you have an army of knowledge at your fingertips…But where to begin?

Stress is setting in, you are suddenly overwhelmed and what was supposed to be the best day of your life is turning into a nightmare. Breathe, exhale, and inhale! This is where I come into place. I have helped countless brides and grooms manage their weddings and most importantly, have reminded them what brought them here in the first place. LOVE!

The first step to a wonderful and semi-stress free wedding is to set the budget. Sit down with any and all financiers involved in your special day. Is your family going to cooperate? Is his? How much are you both willing to spend? These are all very important questions that need answers before you can go on dreaming about Calla Lilies and lace. Decide what your top priorities are, is the venue the most important, the food, the beverage service, entertainment or flowers. Write down all the elements of your wedding. Now, both of you (don’t forget your groom!) list them from 1 to 10, 1 being the most important and 10 being the least. Compare the list, you might need to compromise a bit… he might not think flowers are two, but he may think music is. Once you both have set your list of priorities you are ready to start planning. Please note; as much as you will try to stick with your budget rule of thumb be prepared to spend 10-15% over your budget.

With your budget in mind, spend your first $10 dollars on a binder/portfolio, labels, and highlighters. Yes, you need to be organized A.S.A.P. This is the biggest event of your life and Wedding Planner or not, you need to have control over what is happening. Hello kitty might not be an appropriate portfolio, unless you are having a Hello Kitty wedding. This is a great time to start thinking about colors. What colors attract you the most? Which do you dislike the most? Or if you have already chosen your color scheme try finding a binder that reflects your style and taste from whimsical to modern …this detail will give your vendors an idea of who you are.

A very important step that most brides and grooms leave for later and should be a priority, even before the reception tours begin is setting your guest list. The best way to determine this is by making a guest list together with your fiancé (yes, one of many list you will be faced with during this process). This does not mean you need to have everyone with full names, addresses and phone numbers. This is just a starting point to have an idea of how big or small a wedding you should plan for. This is also a great time to involve both set of parents; remember this is a very important day for them as well and they might want to invite someone you don’t have on your list.

All organized, you may now begin to look for your wedding venue. Now that you have determined the approximate size of your wedding, you may focus on the venues that can accommodate your size wedding best. Wedding venues should be meaningful, unique and bring excitement to you. Your catering manager should be accommodating and a pleasure to work with from the very beginning.

Now you are officially ready to start planning the wedding of your dreams. Go ahead, follow your heart, and indulge in all that is wedding related! This is your time! Enjoy it! You only get to be a bride for a short time, make the best of it, get a manicure, share the excitement with all of your loved ones and especially the man of your dreams who will shortly be “renamed” your husband.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.