Planning from a Distance

It would be stressful to make arrangements from far distance when family can be helpful to have everything done. Making a trip for a weekend to Nova Scotia could help to know the coordinator you have or could be hired would make the day come true with all the information provided. The details/costs of decor and colours could be sent by pictures and emails to keep up to date for what you may want as your vision.

My husband and I planned our wedding from Alberta (edmonton) and got married in BC (kelowna). You honestly have to pick the right people. We had the most amazing vendors. Absolutely no issues whatsoever and having to postpone twice because of covid, they made everything headache free and moved dates for us both times. Every vendor conversation was through email. If you can set up video chats etc. It's not always bad experiences with planning a wedding from away. Read reviews is key!

Hi Alanna,

I also planned my wedding from afar - was living in Newfoundland and we were getting married in Ontario. It was also during the early days of the pandemic when all our initial consultations kept getting canceled at the last minute. While we could have asked some people for help, we were very hesitant to sign any contracts without actually seeing things like venues in person on our own. We ended up doing a ton of research to narrow down our venue selections, taking a week of vacation to fly over, and scheduling all our appointments that week, then made a decision.

With covid, we were able to do most of the other consultations on the phone. I don't think there was anything else that we felt the need to see in person as long a we could rely on good reviews and lots of photos online.

We did not have a full planner, but we did hire a day-of coordinator and decor companies who did everything for us on the day of. Planners often will customize packages to your needs and may be able to find something in between too.

We did consider getting married out in NL but we decide against it because there were some very important family members who were not able-bodied enough to fly over and we wanted an outdoor ceremony but the weather out there isn't the greatest.

I think at the end of the day, you can decide to get married wherever makes you happiest.

Do the research! Find local vendors in Nova Scotia and do some background research on them. Set up video chats etc.

I am planning a wedding away from home as well (only 4 hours away) But it's difficult to go visit places in person, do taste tests, etc. Do you have friends or family in Nova Scotia that can check things out for you?

It's normal to feel stressed and overwhelmed, imagine being a bride planning a wedding in her own city and the amount of stress that is? You are planning a wedding where you can't see anything or have the help so of course it's perfectly normal to feel the way you do.

See if you can find a venue that does it all or see if you can hire a wedding coordinator to help you and take that bit of stress off. Don't feel guilty for changing your venue to be where you live, it's your wedding and you can plan it where you want.

Just remember it's perfectly normal to feel the way you do and there's always a solution.

My co-worker just got married in Nova Scotia and she lives in Alberta. The only thing she brought with her to Nova Scotia was her dress, shoes and accessories. Everything else was done in Nova Scotia.

She hired a decorator for decor and set-up and that made it much easier for her. I would look into something like this so that way they supply everything and set up for you. This will also be all one cost (She ended up keeping her wedding under $15,000 for 70 people - for everything including the flights and the Airbnb). It is doable, just got to find the right people. After that, finding a photographer, florist, officiant, venue, catering and DJ was pretty easy because websites like Wedding Wire and The Knot has the majority of the vendors in Nova Scotia.

Also I have a friend who planned her wedding from Alberta and she did her wedding in novia scotia she ended up shipping all the decor everything there! And she had her wedding dress as her carry on! She said it was pretty stressful 😬
So if anything I’d definitely suggest decor rental if your into decor!

I am planning my wedding from 13 hours away from our venue!
I think finding vendors was a bit difficult but maybe that’s because it was 2020 when I was planning. So every meeting I had with vendors had to be over email or FaceTime. It took a lot of research to make sure they were the right vendors without meeting in person.

Secondly all of our decor is rental, there is no way we are traveling with a bunch of diy decor. Ofcourse after getting married to me decor was an important aspect that I wanted to fit into our budget! So to us it is worth it to hire a decor rental not have to worry about setting up, packing everything up to and from and packing up at the end of the night. I’d say because we are going with this option I don’t have to rely on family to help us out.
For rehearsal dinner we are having it at our Airbnb and picking up pizza. Again this insures I don’t have to rely on family to help
It is difficult planning from far away but it isn’t impossible! It’s does take a lot of work and planning. I am relying on my MOH who lives by my venue to help me out with anything that is needed. She is super reliable and told me I can count on her for anything that I need. So even if it’s not your family maybe a friend or bridesmaid that lives in Nova Scotia that you can trust may be able to help you! But you have to ask, most people don’t realize that us brides need a bit of help!
Another thing I’m doing to take away a bit of my anxiety is I’m going to stay with my MOH a couple weeks before my wedding that way if I need to be there to do anything, or something pops up and I need to be there , I’m not 13 hours away. If that makes sense. It’s nice to get things ready and not be so rushed. My fiancé will be coming on his own the week of the wedding. So anything I may have forgotten or need from home he can bring with him

I’m assuming your flying ?