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Samantha
Ontario

5 mistakes people make when planning a wedding

Samantha, on June 4, 2017 at 09:55 Posted in Before the wedding 0 4
Hello everyone!
First and foremost congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I recently planned my own wedding while running my own wedding planning business! Despite having my own business I noted somethings that came up during my own wedding that I feel are important to share!
Is wedding planning fun? YES!!! Can it be stressful YES!!! But can you avoid that stress? MOST DEFINITELY! If I had the knowledge I had today when planning my own wedding I would have saved myself a lot of time and pressure! So here we go 5 MISTAKES people make! If you avoid these you avoid STRESS
1) LETTING OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS CLOUD YOUR IDEA OF WHAT YOU WANT
Okay how does this make sense? What is wrong with other people's opinions? Isn't others opinions good? Yes they can be... But you have to understand where that opinion is coming from. Let's take mothers for example. Sometimes they have an idea of how they want the wedding to be portrayed to the guests. How important are wedding's in your family? in mine they are seen as one of the BIGGEST events in a person's life! Birthday's, religious events, graduations nothing compares to weddings! Wedding's are a whole SHABAM in my family! There is a certain "look" a wedding has to have and it has to be impressionable upon guests. There has to be good food, open bar, decorations on point, and never can it look like to little money was spent. is that a bad thing? Maybe, maybe not! Sometimes you may lose control of your own budget by trying to incorporate things that others want. For instance, Wedding invitations set the mood for the wedding. You can show by your wedding invitation what kind of a wedding you are having. Parent's might feel the need to go above and beyond when printing wedding invitations. Making sure it has "pop up lettering" " thick paper, Sealed envelope" all great ideas but something that can change your ideal budget of 3 to 10 dollars an invitation.
Most importantly aside from the money aspect that may keep fluctuating.. You also begin to lose sight of what you want when others insist on something you should have. You may in some way feel that what you wanted can somehow end up molding into an idea of theirs... and you lose sight of what your idea was and implementing it at all. Sometimes you begin to feel like you should try and please everyone else rather than arguing and getting your points disregarded! So how do you fix this?
MAKE A LIST OF WHAT YOU WANT! YOUR DEMANDS. Make sure each and every one is implemented. You can respect the opinions of others and implement their traditions without losing sight of your own!
2) NOT HAVING A CHECKLIST WHEN BOOKING VENDORS
You do not even know how many surprises you can get from vendors after you have booked them and think you are receiving something and you aren't. For example, you book a photographer and presume you get a free engagement shoot upon booking! Since the last 3 you went to provided it why wouldn't they? Sure they gave you a good price but why? ASK THE QUESTIONS! Each vendor you go to you should have a checklist! For photographers here is just a sample list. You see there package they are providing you is $4000 and you know its for video and photography.
1) For this price, how many hours does this include? is it full day or just a specific time frame?2) How many photographers and videoographers are included for this price?3) Is there same day editing provided?4) Does this include the travel time between locations? 5) What prints do I receive with this price or is it all digital?6) Will I be provided with a photo album and if so how many pages?7) Does this include thank-you cards?8) is an engagement photo shoot provided?
All questions should be asked PRIOR to booking or you may end up with less then you bargained for!
3) PAYING YOUR VENDORS PRIOR TO THE WEDDING
WAIT WHAT! THEY ALL ASK FOR DEPOSITS AHEAD OF TIME! That's okay, deposits are fine! You are securing their services prior to the wedding. But deposits are all that should be given. If your photographer or any other vendor is asking you for everything a week before the wedding you should be VERY CAREFUL! Why Might you ask? Here is an example. My cousin had a wedding last June. She paid the Limo Company a WEEK before her wedding. THEY SHOWED UP LATE! We did not get to the Church until HALF HOUR AFTER THE CEREMONY! To top it all off no AIR CONDITIONING ON A BUS! seriously Long gowns.. SUMMER WEDDING.. Not attractive by 12:00pm. Also her photographers whom she paid before hand! Didn't have her album or video ready until 1 YEAR after her wedding! They already had her money what is the rush? Make sure you ask for timelines for when everything should be done! You should not be paying a full amount until all services are included!
4) STATE YOUR BUDGET WHEN BUYING YOUR WEDDING DRESS.
HAHA Seems silly right! NO. So lets go back to my cousin.... Who stated her budget. Man was it a large budget and great for her! Her dress was stunning. but why was this a mistake? Because they took advantage entirely. They only came to her with dresses of that budget directly at it not under. Some slightly above. More importantly! They charged a ton for alterations. They also.. get this ordered her dress larger tricked her into telling her her size was larger then it actually was. 2 weeks before her wedding her dress is falling off of her and she was charged 800 for alterations. 2 weeks before the wedding is she going to fight it? NO. So what do you do? How do you stop this scam! Take your girls! Let the consultant know your girls are each going to pick a dress for you and bring it to the room. They know your budget let them do the work! They are bridesmaids after all! This saved me TONS of money on my gown and I only payed 250 for alterations!
5) NOT SETTING A GUEST AMOUNT WITH YOUR SOON TO BE SPOUSE
Anyone notice how your wedding list grows week to week? 150, 200,250 400 when does it end! Your family has one idea you have another! So what do you do? Agree on a number with your spouse and stick to it! Go as a united front to your parents and let them know what your number is and how many each of them can invite! If you have a budget and a number of 200 people in mind you can say we want 50 people you both have 75 people you can invite! This will allow for more order and more discretion in your guests and saves from having a whole bunch of people you haven't seen or heard of at your weddingSmiley smile
I hope this helps you in your upcoming wedding! Always remember it is about you and the groom!

4 Comments

Latest activity by Zoë, on June 7, 2017 at 07:07
  • Zoë
    Master June 2020 Ontario
    Zoë ·
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    Hi Samantha, Love your discussion! A lot of inspiration. I'm going to share it a lot with the other brides and maybe make a game about it. Thank you so much! Can't wait to see you in more discussions. Smiley love

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  • Symanne
    Curious July 2021 Ontario
    Symanne ·
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    This has literally been the most helpful discussion i have ever read
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  • Simone
    Master August 2017 Manitoba
    Simone ·
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    Hi Samantha,Thank you for providing these tips. For point 3, I will respectfully slightly disagree on this. When comes to vendors, any couples that book services with them should always have a written contract that's signed by all parties. They should be asking during the consultation how payment plans are setup and when all fees are due. Finally, it's also at the discretion of businesses to request all payments made prior to the event as its impacts their businesses. I'm sure there are cases, where some couples did not pay for the services after it was rendered which could be as to why some will requests payments prior to the wedding. As long as there is a contract, couples who feel the business did not provide the service rendered and what was agreed on can seek legal action. My advice in this category is to review the BBB, reviews on Google and the websites of the vendors beforehand to decide if they comfortable booking with them.
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  • Chelsea
    Master August 2017 Ontario
    Chelsea ·
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    Wow these are some great pointers! Thanks for sharing this with everyone! I definitely made sure I had a checklist when it came to vendors and that we asked everything we needed to! I remember getting very frustrated when people tried to push their opinions on me of how my wedding should be, but now I just nod my head and continue to do what I please !
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